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Full Version: [ANDROID][KODI 17.6] System menu sounds but no movie sounds during playback
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Hello everybody,

New member here, but not new to Kodi/XBMC.  I have owned several Android boxes for the purpose of streaming movies we own from a Synology NAS to several TVs in the house, as well as portable media play-back.  Up until recently, we owned two MXQ Pro boxes that I bought off Amazon.  They work great for a $35 box.  Play blu-ray rips with ease.  I always wiped the existing Kodi install and installed whichever was the latest version of Kodi.  I have one in my truck hooked up to a 27" LCD for the kids on long trips and another in our family room hooked up to a Denon receiver using a J-Tech Digital HDMI to HDMI + audio splitter box (the Denon receiver doesn't have HDMI inputs) that sends SPDIF optical to the receiver and HDMI to the TV.  I recently updated that MXQ to 17.6 and it is working perfectly (audio settings are 2.0 channels, allow pass-through, DTS enabled receiver enabled, AC3 transcode enabled, DD enabled receiver enabled).  The MXQ runs Lollipop and I have audio set to HDMI.  Receiver picks up the 5.1 and plays it back perfectly.  Playback is achieved through ethernet and the ethernet at each location comes from a Wi-Fi AC range extender with gigabit output.  File shares are setup using NFS to our Synology NAS

So, I recently purchased two more M9C boxes that run Marshmallow.  They seem to be pretty similar to the MXQ Pro, but with slightly updated components.  I put one in the master bedroom and connected it successfully to our TV in there using the HDMI cable.  The TV is connected to a 2.1 soundbar using an optical cable and playback has been perfect.  The second box is in our home theater upstairs and it is giving me fits, which is the point of this message.  Log file for the fits is located at:

http://paste.ubuntu.com/26388032/

The home theater has a slightly newer Denon receiver that has HDMI inputs.  That being said, because the previously mentioned system works so well, I bought another J-Tech Digital HDMI to HDMI + audio splitter box and SPDIF optical cable.  I configured the Marshmallow OS similarly to the Lollipop OS configuration (audio output = HDMI).  I wiped the existing Kodi that shipped with the box and ran a fresh install of 17.6.  I set it up just like the family room unit mentioned above (2.0 channels, allow pass-through, DTS enabled receiver enabled, AC3 transcode enabled, DD enabled receiver enabled).  Just like the family room unit, it is connected to our network using a Wi-Fi AC extender with gigabit ethernet coming into the media player box.  Identical file shares back to our NAS.  When I open up Kodi 17.6, I can hear the system menu sounds of clicking when I move around... but when I playback a movie, there's no sound from the movie.  I have tried changing the audio channel setting from 2.0 to 5.1 to 7.1 to no avail.  I also tried removing the J-Tech Digital box and went straight from the M9C box into the receiver with the HDMI cable, no difference was seen.  To prove that it isn't something with that receiver, I also took that M9C box down to the family room and plugged it in place of the MXQ Pro box there and there was still no sound coming out.  The MXQ Pro box was taken up to the home theater and I was able to get sound playing with a movie.

I figure there is something in the settings on the 17.6 install in the M9C box that I'm just not seeing.  I thought about removing 17.6 and re-installing again, but wanted to post here first with the log file to see if someone could see something.

Any suggestions?  Thanks for looking.

-Louie
disable passthrough...
(2018-01-15, 01:41)rontonomo Wrote: [ -> ]disable passthrough...
 Sorry, crazy week at work.  Just disabled pass-through and there is sound getting to the receiver now, but it is only two channel audio.  That is with the HDMI cable connected directly from the M9C box to the receiver.  I tried it with pass-through disabled and the channels in the Kodi Krypton audio menu set to 2.0 and also 7.1 with the same result (sound, but only two channels showing up on the Denon receiver display).  I then went and stuck the J-Tech Digital box back in with pass-through disabled in Kodi Krypton audio settings and the channels set to 2.0 and 7.1 and the receiver is still showing only two channels of audio with the sound working.  The receiver has the 'Digital' and 'PCM' lights illuminated on the display, but it is not receiving 5.1 or 7.1 like I am capable of doing on the MXQ + J-Tech Digital + Denon receiver setup I have in the family room.

Any other ideas or suggestions?

Thank you!

-Louie
New interesting twist (maybe).

In doing some additional testing tonight, I decided to try out several different movies.  It turns out, movies that have a Dolby AC3 5.1 or a Dolby TrueHD track WILL play just fine from the M9C box to the Denon receiver (with pass-through enabled in Krypton I should add) using the HDMI cable.  So why in the world would movies with a DTS-MA track NOT play?  Again, on the family room setup which is an MXQ box and a Denon receiver, I can play movies with either DTS-MA and TrueHD tracks.

Thanks,

-Louie
Dolby works byself.
Disable DTS / DTS-HD and TrueHD and keep AC3 as is. Additionally set speakers to 2.0 and enable Dolby Transcoding.
(2018-01-20, 09:21)fritsch Wrote: [ -> ]Dolby works byself.
Disable DTS / DTS-HD and TrueHD and keep AC3 as is. Additionally set speakers to 2.0 and enable Dolby Transcoding.
 So my Krypton install doesn't have an option to disable TrueHD or DTS-HD, it only has an option for DTS-enabled receiver and Dolby Digital enabled receiver.  I went in and disabled the DTS-enabled receiver and now I have AC3 successfully coming through in movies that had a DTS-MA soundtrack!  Thank you Fritsch!  I guess my next question is, why?  Does that imply that my Denon receiver is not capable of receiving DTS or DTS-MA?  It states that it is capable of DTS and DTS-ES but it is an older receiver.  The home theater has 7.1 so maybe it is time to get a newer receiver that can receive DTS-MA soundtracks?

Thanks again,

-Louie
Your box is the problem, not your AVR.
(2018-01-20, 18:16)fritsch Wrote: [ -> ]Your box is the problem, not your AVR.
Ok!  Thanks for the input.  I just read your signature and I think maybe I will follow that signature's advice.

-Louie