Kodi Community Forum - Surround sound configuration / channel assigning

Hi,
I have been using Kodi 'Krypton' for quite a while, on a pretty basic level. I have noticed that the assigning, or routing, of surround sound channels seems to be incorrect: when viewing a 5.1 channel video, I hear the audio that should be coming from the side (5.1) speakers coming from the rear (7.1) speakers. I checked the configuration of my audio device in Windows (10, 64-bit), and as the configuration test runs, audio comes from the physical speakers as per the on screen diagram (Left, Right, Centre, Sub Surround Left, Surround Rear Left, Surround Rear Right, Surround Right) so I know my speakers and OS are configured correctly (or at least configured the same). I figured this may be a glitch/bug, so downloaded and installed 'Leia' but have the same result.

Interestingly I get the similar results with VLC. When DirectX output module is configured for 7.1 (8 channels for the wav out module), the surround channels from a video with 5.1 audio are routed to all the surround speakers (side and rear). When DirectX is configured for 5.1 (6 channels for the wav out module), the side surround channels audio is heard through the rear speakers. An VLC update (3.0.7.1 - 64-bit, configured as 7.1 channels) sees the same results I'm getting in Kodi - side speakers audio being routed through to rear speakers, no audio to side speakers.

Is there a work around for this (apart from re-wire or relocate the speakers each time I use Kodi)? Does Kodi use VLC for playback (or the same code), or is there a DirectX configuration that needs tweaking?

Thanks

In Kodi try settings>system>audio>Wasapi; number of channels 2.0; passthrough Audio quickstart guide (wiki) Did that help?

I guess you have the Directsound device selected in Kodi? what happens if you selected the WASAPI option for your audio device?

Try this Dolby Digital test file to test what channels are used https://drive.google.com/file/d/17XxiViZ...sp=sharing

Thanks guys,
Changing the audio output device to WASAPI did the trick. Didn't need to change to 2 ch pass-through mode (didn't try it as just changing the output device did what I needed it to).

jjd-uk, I downloaded your file for testing, thanks but was only working through 2 channels (VLC) - front left and front right. I checked the properties and it said it is 2 channels. Confirmed this in Kodi too.

(2019-06-23, 07:43)MRCadle Wrote: [ -> ]Didn't need to change to 2 ch pass-through mode

You need to change to HDMI 2 ch and passthrough for the AVR to decode it.

(2019-06-23, 16:30)PatK Wrote: [ -> ]
(2019-06-23, 07:43)MRCadle Wrote: [ -> ]Didn't need to change to 2 ch pass-through mode
You need to change to HDMI 2 ch and passthrough for the AVR to decode it.

It seemed to work correctly without. I'm sending 8 discrete channels to the receiver, so I guess it's not really decoding anything (audio multichannel), the PC/Kodi is

(2019-06-23, 07:43)MRCadle Wrote: [ -> ]jjd-uk, I downloaded your file for testing, thanks but was only working through 2 channels (VLC) - front left and front right. I checked the properties and it said it is 2 channels. Confirmed this in Kodi too.

Don't know what on earth you are looking at but that is a 5.1 file https://pastebin.com/TRYt6zms

Since it's working with WASAPI then it was Windows screwing up the mapping before, as with Directsound sends audio through the Windows OS mixer, whereas with WASAPI Kodi keeps full control and send the audio direct to the audio device.