[stryba]

Hi there,

I read in the milestones that Dharma was able to transcode other audio formats otf to ac3 which in return can passed through to A/V receiver.
I'd really like this feature because it would solve a lot of channel mapping issues I have with AAC audio streams (center on subwoofer etc.)

But it seems I'm not able to get this to work.

My htpc uses an NVIDIA G210 card with hdmi passthrough (this works with DTS and AC3)
Normal audio output (not converted) works too (except from mp3 mono files <- anybody a solution for this?)

I have Dharma beta2 on Lucid and have the audio setting set to HDMI with AC3 and DTS passthrough activated.
But playing AAC or any other audio format for that matter doesnt seem to transcode to AC3.
Do I have to do anything else?

Thanks
Stefan

[lloydsmart]

srtyba - Hi,

I'm afraid I can't answer your transcoding question. I seem to remember seeing it when I ran svn trunk, but since switching to the Dharma beta 2, it seems to be gone from the settings page. I think it's probably buried in advancedsettings.xml somewhere now, just a guess.

The main reason I'm replying to your thread is that you mentioned channel mapping issues, such as sub playing on centre etc. I have exactly the same problem with multichannel audio when it's not bitstreamed, just like your AAC files. I started a thread about it here, so maybe you'd like to take a look? I don't actually have a working solution yet, but I figure the more people I can find who have this same problem, and bring to that thread, the better.

As a bonus, if we can get multichannel audio working properly you'll have slightly better sound quality than if you transcoded to AC3. I don't know how important that is to you but I thought I should mention it.

Good luck with the AC3 thing too, if that's what you ultimately decide to use. Let us know in this thread if you find the answer.

[stryba]

Hi actually read the thread you started this morning and will try flomasters solution for asound.conf, it might work in my case even though it did not in yours.

But then again, I also like to have the transcoding option in case it does not work out.

Thanks for your answer though. Good luck from my side too.

[Venares]

Setting your output to S/PDIF should force all audio above 2-channel to be converted.
Works for me anyways.

[stryba]

Setting your output to S/PDIF should force all audio above 2-channel to be converted.
Works for me anyways.

That's what I thought. But as I said I set it to HDMI but apparently it does not work. All I get from AAC 5.1 is basic pcm stream not explicit Dolby Digital stream. It's same as I got with Camelot.

[stryba]

Ok after checking again it seems that SPDIF does the trick even though my setup does not involve SPDIF in anyway. That is confusing and I think setting to any digital configuration SPDIF or HDMI and an 5.1 resp. 7.1 sound configuration in combination with a AC3 capable receiver should activate it.
I didn't try SPDIF before because I don't use it physically.

[neo117]

Ok after checking again it seems that SPDIF does the trick even though my setup does not involve SPDIF in anyway. That is confusing and I think setting to any digital configuration SPDIF or HDMI and an 5.1 resp. 7.1 sound configuration in combination with a AC3 capable receiver should activate it.
I didn't try SPDIF before because I don't use it physically.

I have been struggling with this for weeks. now that i made that change it works like a charm. this seems like a silly and undocumented way to enable a feature that many of us have been waiting forever for!

[Goga777]

advice from bobo1on1 - enable dolby digital capable receiver and set speaker config to 5.1

[bobo1on1]

^ and set audio output to spdif, since hdmi can handle 5.1 pcm just fine.

[hacunha]

I almost the same situation.
I have a AppleTV 1st Generation, with XBMC 10.0-rc2 r35567. I installed Crystal HD card yesterday and updated the XBMC using the Download menu, under Maintenance menu.
My AppleTV is connected to the LED TV by a HDMI cable.
Also my AppleTV is connected on a Onkyo receiver by an optical cable.
I would like to play mkv files, such as http://eztv.it/ep/17980/dexter-s04e1...hdtv-x264-red/.
The video playback is fine, also my receiver identifies the Doby Audio signal. But on the TV speakers I only get noises. I did select as the audio output coax/optical, Dolby(AC3) compatible receiver and dts.
I have tried also enabling and disabling AC3 passthru under Maintenance, Settings menu.

What else can I do to solve it?

At this moment I am putting the TV on mute and having the sound out over the receiver. Not sure if that will harm by TV speakers.

Any doubts on this?

Thanks!

[Goga777]

which player - paplayer/dvdplayer support this feature - AC3 (dolby digital) transcoding ?

[hacunha]

I am using the standard players available on AppleTV, I didn't install anything special. In my case I have nitoTV, Saphire, XMBC and Boxee installed.
But I am using XMBC, since it is compatible with the Crystal HD card. And when using it I receive the noise sound on TV, but the same video is fine under nitoTV and Boxee.

[dc@mac]

Hi,

I have exact the same Problem as hacunha. In may case the TV is connected via HDMI from the AppleTV and I hve an optical audio out from the AppleTV to my Receiver which works fine.

I tried some mkv with AC3 and / or DTS, some xvid Videos, all have the same Problem. Even Downmix to 2.0 did not work.

I am using XBMC 10.0-rc2 r35567 and the latest CystalHD Driver (1.75?).

Any Idea someone?

DC