Kodi Community Forum

Hi there,

Currently have a surround sound system connected via TOSLINK optical cable to my HTPC. Works great, except changing volume gives me the reply: Passthrough in use.

By changing the output to Analog instead of Optical S/PDIF, it stops using the passthrough and is now able to control the volume, but all surround sound data is lost and directional audio such as voice disappears.

Is there any way to change volume neatly while using Optical S/PDIF?

When using optical (passthrough) you're meant to control the volume on the amp. Do you not have an amp and the HTPC is connected to some 5.1 PC speakers?

I have the same issue (altough I dont get the "Passthrough" message. My volume indicator still goes up and down (Skin = Transparency)+(dual audio output patch)) this is how it is expected to work as xbmc is not interfearing with the audio in any way. its passing untouched audio data straight to the amp. There is at the moment, work being carried out on a new audio engine which will hopefully allow us to adjust the volume of DTS/DD through xbmc. but this wont be intigrated into xbmc until at least version 12 (afer eden)

By definition passthrough can not alter the bitstream going into the receiver. To change the volume of it you'd have to decode the bitstream, alter the sound to reduce the volume to all channels, and re-encode it. That is far from ideal.

I'd suggest getting a nice remote that can control the volume of the receiver with the volume controls while controlling your HTPC with the rest of the buttons (like a Harmony or something).