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Android Transcoding to DD+? - Printable Version

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Transcoding to DD+? - Zuikkis - 2021-09-08

I have Kodi running on a Sony Android TV.

TV is connected to AVR with eARC hdmi.

TV eARC doesn't seem to support raw multichannel PCM, but DD+ (e-ac3) is passed correctly. I can play files with DD+ audio in Kodi and the AVR is showing it is receiving DD+.

But if playing for example 6ch AAC, the best I can get is Kodi transcoding it to AC3.

So my question is; why doesn't Kodi transcode to E-AC3 instead, even if when I have it ticked? Or perhaps there should be a separate checkmark "Transcode to E-AC3", as there is for regular AC3? See my screenshot below (sorry for Finnish locale) Smile

Image

Transcoding to DD+? - Zuikkis - 2021-09-10

Hi,

already posted to "Feature requests" but since this is perhaps most interest to Android users I'll ask here too.

My Android TV (Sony) can output DD+ through eARC, but multichannel PCM does not work. DD+ works fine in Kodi, if video has DD+ audio.

But if video has multichannel AAC for example, my only option is to transcode that to regular Dolby Digital, right? It would be great to transcode to DD+ instead for extra quality and 7.1 channels.

RE: Transcoding to DD+? - FXB78 - 2021-09-10

Audio in Kodi often causes confusion, I barely understand it myself even now  Smile  However, perhaps you can pass it through as PCM, this thread may help https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=348375&pid=2975638#pid2975638

RE: Transcoding to DD+? - Zuikkis - 2021-09-10

(2021-09-10, 13:26)FXB78 Wrote: Audio in Kodi often causes confusion, I barely understand it myself even now  Smile  However, perhaps you can pass it through as PCM, this thread may help https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=348375&pid=2975638#pid2975638

Sorry no. Sad If I select multichannel PCM, my TV will convert it to stereo.

DD+ is the best that goes through..

RE: Transcoding to DD+? - micman12 - 2021-09-15

That would be a great feature. DD+ transcoding could probably fix an annoying bug on my Magenta TV Stick (=Amlogic based Android TV stick sold by a big ISP in Germany). This android stick can only output PCM 2.0, DD and DD+. So the only way to get any surround sound to my AVR is to use the DD transcoding. Although not perfect, this works fine as long as no application is launched which triggers DD+. When this happens the stick always outputs DD+ until rebooted. This forced DD+ output breaks the DD transcoding in Kodi. The DD that somehow gets converted to DD+ only consists of distorted noises and is unusable.

RE: Transcoding to DD+? - Zuikkis - 2021-09-16

Some more detail..

It seems current ffmpeg can't encode 7.1ch DD+. Only 5.1 maximum. So I assume it would be too difficult to add 7.1 encoding to Kodi.

5.1 would be possible but perhaps a bit useless. Sure it has more bitrate than regular DD but I'm not sure if it's really noticeable.

Plex has 7.1 DD+ encoding, but they are using some external utility "EasyAudioEncoder" which supposedly contains a real licensed Dolby encoder.. You can download Plex and find this utility there. It works from the command line.