[ExGemini]

Hello good people.

I've been using Kodi since it was on the good old glorious first xbox and I come to you with a problem that I've encountered in recent days.

Kodi 18.5 is installed on a very light Windows 10 machine, been there few years now.
Audio goes inside a Yamaha Av receiver via HDMI and then outputs onto my good old Panasonic Plasma Tv.

I've noticed in the past few days this weird behaviour: any video that has AAC as audio and it is 5.1, only come out on left and right channel.
I tried all combination, including disabling passthrough for the receiver, swapping the WASAPI protocol for the DIRECTSOUND one, even if it pretty much kills the option of my receiver to decode DTS and all that stuff.
Nothing worked.
For a good measure I did a clean windows 10 instal and then Kodi as well, but the result is always the same.
Odly enough any other source that has 5.1, DOLBI with all its variations etc, works like a charm.
Even a 2.0 aac works fine.

And I never had this issue since few days ago. I probably did miss something when I jumped from 18.4 to 18.5, maybe?
When I load a video file with audio 5.1 aac and check the info of the file while it runs, it does identify the challens properly: FL, FR, FC, LFE, BL, BR, ff-aac, 32bits, 48,000 hz etc.

Any suggestions?

UPDATE
I managed to fix the issue setting the speakers to 2.0 and then using the transcoding option.
What I don't understand still is why this happens now.
It worked fine up to few days/weeks ago, no problem on any signal, even the True HD and DTS Master Audio.

Are the current settings I've implemented the proper ones?

[PatK]

Not sure what has transpired in the past, but suggest utilizing this and this following along the set-up. Audio (wiki)

When you say you have set "the speakers to 2.0 and then using the transcoding option." is that channels set to 2.0 wasapi and an AVR setting?

[ExGemini]

Not sure what has transpired in the past, but suggest utilizing this and this following along the set-up. Audio (wiki)

When you say you have set "the speakers to 2.0 and then using the transcoding option." is that channels set to 2.0 wasapi and an AVR setting?

Yes, pretty much like in AVR HDMI settings of the guide, but instead of setting channels to 7.1, is set to 2.0 and it seems works across all the range.
If I set it abouve 2.0 the "ename dolbi digital transcoding" is not even there as an option.

What I find strange is that inside windows, in the pannel about the TV it does recognzie 8 channels, all the frequencies and it allows me to set how many channels I have, but when I do the sound test, it does only the left and right channel.

Again: Pc->HDMI via Intel GPU->AVR Yamaha->Plasma TV.
Worked fine up until few weeks ago, didn't change settings and all of a sudden that issue happened.

BUT!
If I bring down the number of speakers to 2.0 inside Kodi, the transcoding option shows up and all works across the range, from stereo to full blown DTS Master Super Duper.

[PatK]

set to 2.0 and it seems works across all the range.

The Number of Channels see http://kodi.wiki/view/Audio_troubleshoot..._is_2.0.3F thus it's perfectly possible to send 5.1 (encoded formats such as Dolby Digital) over 2 PCM channels. Just wondering if you have ARC connected to your AVR and that is bringing it down to 2 speakers.

[ExGemini]

set to 2.0 and it seems works across all the range.

The Number of Channels see http://kodi.wiki/view/Audio_troubleshoot..._is_2.0.3F thus it's perfectly possible to send 5.1 (encoded formats such as Dolby Digital) over 2 PCM channels. Just wondering if you have ARC connected to your AVR and that is bringing it down to 2 speakers.
There is no page to the link you sent me.

ARC? What is that?

[jjd-uk]

From your description it suggests the audio end point is being seen as the TV and and the AVR, so do you have your AVR setup to send only video to the TV? or both video and audio to the TV?

[ExGemini]

From your description it suggests the audio end point is being seen as the TV and and the AVR, so do you have your AVR setup to send only video to the TV? or both video and audio to the TV?

Mmh Frankly I don't know.

It's an issue that never presented itself up until recently and I didn't change anything software or hardware wise.
TV ... well I cannot remember the last time I actually used the TV speakers cause the TV itself is hooked to the receiver via HDMI and Optical cable for the audio out.
In short when the rare times I watch tv, I switch the AVR on Tv and it outputs audio via the optical cable hooked between the two.

[1nnersense]

Guys this thread is crazy!!!
I was looking for this about almost 3 years now and i dropped my research because i thought it was impossible! 
My current setup now for mkv's is Android TV Box + Nova Player + Yamaha AV and i was very disappointed that i get only 2 Channel in most of the super-compressed releases wit 5.1 ACC audio stream.
I tried the setup described here by ExGemini (KODI + speakers to 2.0 + transcoding option) and voila! I couldn't believe when Dolby Digital appeared in the screen for Yamaha!
I was so suspicious that i have downloaded acc test file from Fraunhofer and checked that it works for real with true channel separation!!!
This is crazy, many thanks!!!
No more spending hours for reencoding, no need to search for biger version of the mkv's with DTS or Dolby Digital sound, no need to upgrade to new expensive AV, just a simple tick to the transcoding option!

I really wish that there was an option for Nova Player to transcode on the fly ACC, or even something to transcode audio from all players installed in the Android TV Box.
I will check the thread often for any new findings.
Once again many thanks and respect

[mhinz]

Hi all
great thread! I have the exact same problem. I am using Kodi 23.0 on Xiaomi TV Box S 4K (2nd. Gen) with Yamaha RX-V479. All movies on ACC only played on 2 channels. I followed this approach in setting speaker to 2.0 and ename dolbi digital transcoding, that almost solved the issue. My Yamaha AVR now switches very quickly between 2/0/0 and 3/2/1... hardly able to hear anything :-(
I don't have the option SPDIF under Passthrough output device. I find two different entries to chose from. Using the one with RAW it switches less back and forth than the other. Does anymore has experience with the Xiamoi Box?

[mhinz]

ok, that is interesting. I just turn everything on again to get the correct dropdown values out and now it studently works smoothly. I set the speaker to 2.0 again.
Btw, my Kodi is 20.3 ;-)

Here my settings:
Audio output device:
- AudioTrack (IEC), Kodi IEC packer (recommended) <- chosen
Passthrough output device:
- AudioTrack (IEC), Kodi IEC packer (recommended)
- AudioTrack (RAW), Android IEC packer <- chosen

[black_eagle]

If you want multi-channel AAC from Kodi, set the number of channels to whatever your AVR and speaker layout is.  EG, 5.1, 7.1 or whatever.  AVR will show Multichannel PCM for the correct number of channels when playing AAC multi-channel audio.  Or at least, mine does. For the passthrough device you should choose the Kodi IEC packer.

[mhinz]

Thanks for quick reply!!
With IEC chosen my yamaha AVR is constantly switching between 2 channel and 5.1. with 5.1 Speaker my AVR just plays 2 channel. Only with my setting in last post it works for me. Quite strange. Will read the other comments in here now.