[dafrizz]

Can someone confirm for me whether it's still not possible to play multichannel AAC audio via spdif/passthrough.

I've got a number of files with multichannel AAC encoding and unless I convert them to AC3 I get an "error initializing audio device" when trying to play them.

My audio settings:
Audio output: digital
Dolby Digital/DTS capable receiver: yes
Audio output device: iec958
Passthrough output device: iec958
Downmix multichannel to stereo: yes

Not sure if the last one should be "no" but it shouldn't make a difference with passthrough I think.

Thanks for any help.

[xbmcuser01]

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=83614

and make sure you do NOT have "xbmc-live" (use Ubuntu/regular xbmc) and do NOT downmix to steareo!

Good luck!

[dafrizz]

I'm running arch, so no pulseaudio here

I switched off "downmix to stereo" and tried with the files from here.

AC3 gives me full surround, AAC gives me 2 channels only and they are mapped wrong as well.

I'm running 9.11 R-Arch, compiled April 12 2010.

Any idea how to fix this ?

[xbmcuser01]

Did you read the topic I referred to? I reminds me of the probs w/ 44 kHz DTS passstru. Try (its in the other topic):

Summary of 44.1 kHz DTS passtru fix/workaround: create a file called /home/my_name/.xbmc/advancedsettings.xml and put the following text in it:

Code:

<advancedsettings>
        <audio>
                <dvdplayerignoredtsinwav>true</dvdplayerignoredtsinwav>
        </audio>
</advancedsettings>

then highligt a 44 kHx DTS file in XBMC and press C (or the Win contextmenu key) and choose to play the file w/ the DVDplayer instead of the (default) PAplayer.

Dunno if it works for AAC but chances are it will.

[prae5]

I'm running arch, so no pulseaudio here

I switched off "downmix to stereo" and tried with the files from here.

AC3 gives me full surround, AAC gives me 2 channels only and they are mapped wrong as well.

I'm running 9.11 R-Arch, compiled April 12 2010.

Any idea how to fix this ?

First thing you are going to want to do is upgrade to a newer build. That build is nearly a year old. Grab one of the dharma beta's.

This is assuming your receiver can decode aac, which the majority still dont. What are you trying to play them through.

[dafrizz]

This is assuming your receiver can decode aac, which the majority still dont.

Mine doesn't. Does that mean no multichannel AAC via spdif passtrough for me ?

This is the bit I'm still confused about: can xbmc play multichannel AAC audio via optical out with a DTS/AC3 (NOT AAC) capable receiver ?

[prae5]

Passthrough does just what it says, it pass the audio through untouched to your receiver for decoding. If your receiver does not support aac then it wont be able to decode it.

In the future you should be able to have this re-encoded on the fly to ac3, but for the moment you will need to downmix.

[dafrizz]

Thanks for the clarification. I suspected that this was the case but even after sifting through numerous threads I wasn't sure.

Guess I'll continue to convert those files until transcoding on the fly becomes available.

[nessus]

Passthrough does just what it says, it pass the audio through untouched to your receiver for decoding. If your receiver does not support aac then it wont be able to decode it.

In the future you should be able to have this re-encoded on the fly to ac3, but for the moment you will need to downmix.

guys, don't spread FUD. yes, xbmc transcodes multichan aac/whatever to ac3.

So... is this working or not.

Is Dharma Final capable to transcode on-the-fly via digital spdif/hdmi output multichannel AAC to multichannel AC3 in (mkv) video files ?.

In my AV Receiver which is not capable to decode multichannel AAC, (and with Dharma Final) i am still getting only 2.0 channel stereo sound via digital spdif output.


Cheers
Nessus