[Assimilator]

Apple TV 2 4.1.1 XBMC 10.0-7 (i think (ran apt update today)) Receiver = Yamaha RX-V1900
TV = Panasonic Viera THP50VT20A

Setup that does NOT work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > Panasonic TV > Optical > Receiver
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
HDMI
5.1
AC3 on (Causes hi pitched digital static)
AC3 off (Center channel outputs to right speaker)

Setup that Does work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > Panasonic TV (For Picture only)
Apple TV2 > Optical > Receiver (For Sound)
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
Optical
5.1
AC3 on (Reveicer now correctly detects Dolby Digital Signal Center channel outputs to Center Speaker correctly )

There is clearly and issue with HDMI passing the AC3 to the TV and back out to the receiver but not sure if it's the TV or XBMC

EDIT: Dont think it's the TV becasue the tv speakes also reproduce the digital static when XBMC is in HDIM mode and AC3 on and the TV will play dolby digital from a ps3 or xbox 360 over hdmi so XBMC must be the issue. Can we get an XBMC developer to fix this in the next update ?

[x2funwheels]

Hi. Yes I too also have found that:
A) When AC3 and/or DTS Receiver capable receiver enabled under system audio settings that a digital noise "or hiss" can be heard through the TV speakers via HDMI (aswell as 5.1 through receiver... well I just turn the TV audio down)

B) I am also having troubles in enabling the DTS & AC3... it enables fine... but every time I load XBMC they auto-default to OFF again and therefore only 2 channels output from receiver unless I change the settings again. Ruddy Annoying!

Has anybody else come across this?

[Memphiz]

check the file permissions of /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC ... for getting shure ssh in and do

chown -R mobile.mobile /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC

this should ensure that you have write access to the settings files

[x2funwheels]

Thanks.

I will check permissions for that tonight.
I had resolved this by editing the /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC/guisettings.xml file (AC3 & DTS Pass-through to True)

This then enabled 5.1 and AC3 audio, plus when resetting XBMC/ATV2 the DTS & AC3 options remained enabled!

[jama76]

Hi everybody and great work all of you.
I am totally lost here. I have my atv2 connected to Receiver by hdmi and from there to tv.
When turning DTS on in the xbmc meny I only here noise when trying to turn on a DTS movie.
I have edited the guisettings according to the thread. I have checked my Denon receiver and it is on auto. Do you have any idea of what to do? When running through optical eveyrything seem to work fine, but I only have one input in the receiver, so need the hdmi to work. I would appreciate any help so much. Thanks in advance.

[AlatarVinyamar]

My setup also:

Apple TV 2 4.1.1 XBMC 10.0-7
Receiver = Technics 5.1 DD and DTS
TV = Samsung
Setup that does NOT work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > Samsung TV > Optical > Receiver
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
HDMI
5.1
AC3 on (Causes hi pitched digital static)

[crempel]

I was having the same problem with the receiver not receiving 5.1 and the dialogue happening in the right channel using HDMI. On a whim I changed the audio output setting to Optical/coax and my receiver suddenly receives DD 5.1 through the HDMI cable not an optical/coax cable. So far it's working.

[beattz]

Apple TV 2 4.1.1 XBMC 10.0-7 (i think (ran apt update today)) Receiver = Yamaha RX-V1900
TV = Panasonic Viera THP50VT20A

Setup that does NOT work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > Panasonic TV > Optical > Receiver
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
HDMI
5.1
AC3 on (Causes hi pitched digital static)
AC3 off (Center channel outputs to right speaker)

Setup that Does work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > Panasonic TV (For Picture only)
Apple TV2 > Optical > Receiver (For Sound)
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
Optical
5.1
AC3 on (Reveicer now correctly detects Dolby Digital Signal Center channel outputs to Center Speaker correctly )

There is clearly and issue with HDMI passing the AC3 to the TV and back out to the receiver but not sure if it's the TV or XBMC

EDIT: Dont think it's the TV becasue the tv speakes also reproduce the digital static when XBMC is in HDIM mode and AC3 on and the TV will play dolby digital from a ps3 or xbox 360 over hdmi so XBMC must be the issue. Can we get an XBMC developer to fix this in the next update ?

Just wanted to report that I have the exact same setup as Assimilator, although with different brand TV and receiver (Samsung LA40R71BD and Yamaha HTR-5950 respectively), and have very similar experiences.

While I dont have any AC3 content to test, I have plenty of movies with DTS audio tracks. In the above setup that DOES NOT work, DTS signal similarly produces high pitched digital static. I have not experienced the problem with centre channel outputting to right speaker, though I have not tested thoroughly.

In the setup above that DOES work, DTS is recognised on the receiver and everything plays fine EXCEPT that whenever a movie starts playing or when I skip forward/backward in a movie, I get a short, sharp "click" noise that is equivalent to the digital static described above, but only occurs for a very short moment. While I can live with this for the time being, I am worried that after extended use of XBMC this might adversely affect my speakers, so I hope this is a bug that can be fixed.

Also wanted to say thanks to the dev's for all their efforts!

[bircoe]

I had a similar experience...

Working:
Apple TV2 > HDMI LG TV > Optical > Pioneer Reciever

Not Working:
Apple TV2 > HDMI Panasonic TV > Optical > Logitech z5500

Same Apple TV, the difference being the cables and components, interestingly the "digital static" happens weather optical is coming out of the TV or directly into the Logitech's, the Panasonic/Logitech setup works perfectly with a Playstation 3 playing videos with AC3 and DTS audio.

The problems with audio should probably be moved into a thread directly relating to the topic, this thread was a how to for enabling DTS and AC3...

[hovnarr]

Yeah, when I had the HDMI plugged in that's all I used, and I've already jailbroken it twice to try to fix it.

edit: I put all the <audiooutput> block inside advancedsettings.xml, forcing it to mode=1 using the optical cable and it works now.

<audiooutput>
<ac3passthrough>true</ac3passthrough>
<audiodevice>Default Output Device</audiodevice>
<channellayout>5.1</channellayout>
<dontnormalizelevels>false</dontnormalizelevels>
<dtspassthrough>true</dtspassthrough>
<mode>1</mode>
<passthroughaac>false</passthroughaac>
<passthroughmp1>false</passthroughmp1>
<passthroughmp2>false</passthroughmp2>
<passthroughmp3>false</passthroughmp3>
</audiooutput>

Pretty sure my TV can't handle AC3 or DTS passthrough from HDMI after all the messing around I did with settings on everything.

When I change value in guisettings.xml to 5.1, then close connection and restart atv. I then start xbmc and starts a movie, after that i close and check value in guisettings.xml again, it says 7? I dont seems to be able to keep 5.1?

[Noir86]

I'm having problems decoding Ac3 this is my current configuration:

Setup that almost work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > SHARP Aquos TV (For Picture only)
Apple TV2 > Optical > Receiver, it's a Kenwood (For Sound)
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
Optical
5.1
AC3 on (Passthrought not working at all, hiss noise on the reciver throught optical)
DTS on (Passthrought prefectly fine to the reciver but hiss noise on the tv throught HDMI)

So i'm thinking its the XBMC having problems with AC3 passthrought because with DTS is perfectly fine, well excepting the noise on the tv by HDMI cable.

[Maetrik]

Working:
ATV2 4.2.1 ---> HDMI ---> Onkyo TX-SR507 ---> Samsung TV (via HDMI again) - no sound problems or statics at all.

[Stiffler]

Working:
ATV2 4.2.1 ---> HDMI ---> Onkyo TX-SR507 ---> Samsung TV (via HDMI again) - no sound problems or statics at all.

Yes I have this setup x2 with an Onkyo's 607 (5.1 surround) and 308 (2.0) and both seem to work perfectly. Although in neither instance is the sound on the TV used at all.

[zhengying]

I'm having problems decoding Ac3 this is my current configuration:

Setup that almost work:
Apple TV2 > HDMI > SHARP Aquos TV (For Picture only)
Apple TV2 > Optical > Receiver, it's a Kenwood (For Sound)
XBMC setting playing .MKV file:
Optical
5.1
AC3 on (Passthrought not working at all, hiss noise on the reciver throught optical)
DTS on (Passthrought prefectly fine to the reciver but hiss noise on the tv throught HDMI)

So i'm thinking its the XBMC having problems with AC3 passthrought because with DTS is perfectly fine, well excepting the noise on the tv by HDMI cable.

I have similar setup with 10 years old Kenwood receiver(No DTS support). I tried all combinations and couldn't get AC3 working. I read all posts in this thread. Is it related to receiver or XBMC somewhere?

[bircoe]

Similar to what? Noir86 listed 2 different setups...

If you have the ATV2 connected to your TV via HDMI then optical to the receiver then chances are your TV doesn't support AC3 or pass-through.