[dajana.s]

Enable Dolby Transcoding

Hi, where do I enable "Transcoding"? I cannot find that function in KODI. And if you set the speakers to 2.0 - I have real 5.1 speakers - won't the multi-channel be lost? I don't quite understand that. And I should NOT enable DTS, Dolby True HD in the passthru section of KODI then!?

[izprtxqkft]

Hi, where do I enable "Transcoding"?

https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/System/A...assthrough

[dajana.s]

I found it, have to try out if it will work on the long run. I always encode films with AAC because I reduce the bit rate of the audio to 512 and also want to save storage space thanks to x265. I can't hear the difference between 512 and 1536 myself, but in the end the file is much smaller.

[izprtxqkft]

I always encode films with AAC because I reduce the bit rate of the audio to 512 and also want to save storage space thanks to x265

recommend encode to EAC3 instead, it will be more widely supported as this is what's used by modern streaming services (netflix,hulu,prime) as well as being multi-channel and i personally can't tell a difference with my audio equipment
on a sidenote
the audio isn't usually going to save you much space, encode some audio-only to see what you're actually saving
and if you look when backing up your disc much of the time they will include a standard AC3 track instead so you might not have to encode at all

[dajana.s]

Yes, I have already measured the difference once. Depending on the film, there were 1.5 GByte less per film (512 instead of 1536 Bitrate) and that makes a lot of difference for many films.

[izprtxqkft]

Yes, I have already measured the difference once. Depending on the film, there were 1.5 GByte less per film (512 instead of 1536 Bitrate) and that makes a lot of difference for many films.

i guess it's a matter of perspective
i do 1:1 remux, bluray is ~30GB and 4K bluray is ~50-80GB so from my point of view 1.5GB is almost negligible, about as much "overhead" as saving artwork with my media
-----
you do you i'll do me, we don't have to agree

[dajana.s]

Well in my case I want final files of around 3-4 GByte (x265). So in this case +1,5 GByte is much when you have many movies.

[fritsch]

It does not matter to kodi. No matter what is in there ... kodi can - for computers / soundbars / shitty boxes ... decode and even transcode all content to AC3. So keep and get whatever you want ... it does not matter, but make sure to have the proper kodi configuration.

[dajana.s]

Yes, I am now using 2.0 and just activated AC3 and Transcoding to AC3 - will there be no loss of quality when AAC gehts transcoded by KODI?

[fritsch]

You use a soundbar, which cannot output lossless content and you ask for kodi?

[dajana.s]

As I have already described, I do not use a soundbar, but a 5.1 surround sound system with full speakers and Yamaha AV receiver.

[fritsch]

AAC is decoded to PCM by kodi - let's consider the decoding "lossless" in the sense of no further errors / bit averaging / etc. will happen here. In a perfect world (box can output multi-channel) exactly this would hit the speakers. With kodi doing Dolby Transcoding, those PCM samples are "encoded again" to a 640 kbit/s AC3. As the bitrate is quite high of kodi's encoder ... I don't think you will hear that for an average movie too much.

[dajana.s]

Okay, because I have the impression that, for example, dialogue from the centre speaker sounds "tinny" with transcoding compared to when I play it back (which works when starting a film) without transcoding and with all pass-thru options activated.

[MrMagic]

@dajana.s What does your receiver show as input signal if you set the speakers to 5.1 and turn transcoding off? Kodi should then output a 5.1 LPCM signal if I understand things correctly.

[dajana.s]

@MrMagic The AV receiver then displays PCM and it sounds incredibly good (clear sound, nicely balanced volume, voluminous). But as soon as you press pause, fast-forward, the display flickers and changes to Dolby Digital Plus, for example. Or the sound is suddenly only stereo (right and left speakers only). This sounds terrible. The ONLY thing that helps here is to quit and restart KODI completely. Setting to 2.0 and AC3 and AC3 transcoding means that only "Dolby Digital" is displayed for each film instead of PCM, but it no longer randomly switches to stereo anymore (fortunately).

When pausing, the AV receiver display still switches to Dolby Digital Plus and back to Dolby Digital when resuming. This keeps the surround sound, but it still just feels like a bad workaround.