[Laeghaire]

Hello, I have been searching the forums and googling for some hours now with no result to my issue, similar but not the same so I decided to post this.
If I have overlooked a solution I apologise beforehand.

I have a Mac mini and a marantz receiver with HDMI 1.4a compatible. It can do 7.1 but I set it up to 5.1 in Mac OSX settings cause thats what its running

The output Kodi gives me is always multichannel instead of DTS or DD5.1. According to guides:

• I have selected 5.1
  
• I have ( after some gruesome skin switching ) enabled expert mode and told Kodi I have a DTS, DD5.1 receiver and enabled pass through
  
• I have checked if the video/picture sync option is on... it was off.
  

I have noticed 3 devices, System default, HDMI-AVRmarantz : These 2 show up in my system settings aswell
and the 3rd: HDMI-default, whatever of the 2 HDMI I choose the problem persists.

I have installed PLEX and plex plays everything I throw at it correctly: My receiver says dd5.1 or dts so im sure nothing is screwed up in my system settings
and my hardware can support it. Same goes for VLC.

I do prefer the picture quality of Kodi, but this is a bummer, why is it so resilient just passing the audio through ? Can I do anything else ?

Thank you for taking the time to read this and maybe help me out.

[Memphiz]

Try setting speakers to 2.0 in kodi - and post a debug log (wiki) with your current settings before.

I don’t get it why people get nervous as soon as their amp doesn’t show dts or dd logos ... letting kodi decode the audio and pass it as multi channel pcm to the amp gives surround sound aswell and allows kodi to do better audio/video sync ...

I never use pass through - always 5.1 pcm ...

[Laeghaire]

Hi thank you for the answer

Hm well I just like to have the original bitstream on my receiver and let it handle it the way I tuned it,  dont need an extra layer of encoding in between that doesn't make sense to me.

2. I must revise the original posting:

Kodi does pass DD5.1 I rechecked all my library files and like 95% are in DD5.1 PLUS. Now my reveiver CAN handle that as well. 
Only in Kodi there is no option to tell it that I only get  DD5.1 and DTS ( 2 checkpoints ). I think that is why it reencodes the plus
streams.

How to I tell Kodi I dont want that and my receiver can do a lot more ? Is there a config file I can manually edit ?

[Laeghaire]

So I found the config file in .../Users/Library/Application Support/Kodi

My goal was to see something exactly like this :



I just manually set the values ( here in red and bold ) to true and restarted...but ...there seems to be an ( incorrect ) check on startup what my receiver can handle. and it reverts to false
or I edit wrong and thats why it reverts ?
I understand this is freeware ( and great at that I cant begin to do a list of what I LOVE about Kodi, especially the smart library handling ) but this feels just very forced.
Why an expert mode if then I cant say : I don`t care what you detect..pass the signal ?

I tried the same thing on a Mac Pro with a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable..same result.

 <audiooutput>
        <ac3passthrough default="true">true</ac3passthrough>
        <ac3transcode default="true">false</ac3transcode>
        <atempothreshold default="true">2</atempothreshold>
        <audiodevice>DARWINOSX:HDMI-Default:stream0</audiodevice>
        <channels>6</channels>
        <config default="true">2</config>
        <dspaddonsenabled default="true">false</dspaddonsenabled>
        <dtshdpassthrough default="true">true</dtshdpassthrough>
        <dtspassthrough>true</dtspassthrough>
        <eac3passthrough default="true">true</eac3passthrough>
        <guisoundmode default="true">1</guisoundmode>
        <maintainoriginalvolume default="true">true</maintainoriginalvolume>
        <passthrough>true</passthrough>
        <passthroughdevice>DARWINOSX:HDMI-Default:stream0</passthroughdevice>
        <processquality default="true">30</processquality>
        <samplerate default="true">48000</samplerate>
        <stereoupmix default="true">false</stereoupmix>
        <streamnoise default="true">true</streamnoise>
        <streamsilence default="true">1</streamsilence>
        <truehdpassthrough default="true">false</truehdpassthrough>
        <volumesteps default="true">90</volumesteps> 

This is what my receiver manual says (If I select auto it will automatically detect standard signals ):

DOLBY DIGITAL This mode can be selected when playing sources recorded with Dolby Digital.
DOLBY DIGITAL EXz1 This mode improves the depth, dimension, and expressiveness of the sound stage by sound eld playback including surround back channels.
DOLBY TrueHD This mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in Dolby TrueHD.
DOLBY DIGITAL PlusThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded with Dolby Digital Plus. 
DTS NEO:6This mode can be selected when a DTS NEO:6 decoder is used to play back 2-channel source in 6.1/7.1-channel surround sound including the surround back channel.
There is a “Cinema” mode optimized for movie playback, and a “Music” mode optimized for music playback.DTS SURROUNDThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS.DTS ES DSCRT6.1zThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS-ES. Provides optimum playback of DTS-ES Discrete signals using surround back.
DTS ES MTRX6.1zThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS-ES. Surround back channel data encoded in DTS-ES Matrix recording software is played from the surround back channel.
DTS 96/24This mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS 96/24.
DTS-HDThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS-HD.
DTS ExpressThis mode can be selected when playing sources recorded in DTS Expres

[Memphiz]

So you are trying to pass through hd audio formats. That’s not possible on Mac osx - it’s limited by the drivers ...

[Laeghaire]

Thank you, I suspected as much I left true hd passthrough off since I was sure that would not work on osx, so DD5.1 plus counts as  a hd format ?

[Memphiz]

It’s a format that needs 96khz sample rate when passing through - this is not possible on OS X (same restriction as for all other hd audio formats)

[Laeghaire]

Thank you for the time to clear that up.

I suspect Plex takes the Core dd5.1 of dd5.1 plus and passes it through.I always get a dd5.1 doesn't matter if its plus or not. Im gonna stick with Kodi still, 
the surround pcm is sufficient and it does a lot of other things much better.

thanks

[ellekz]

I don’t get it why people get nervous as soon as their amp doesn’t show dts or dd logos ... letting kodi decode the audio and pass it as multi channel pcm to the amp gives surround sound aswell and allows kodi to do better audio/video sync ...

I never use pass through - always 5.1 pcm ...

 Sorry to revive a slightly older thread @Memphiz but I've found it via Google when searching for my "issue".

I have compared the sound quality of DD-passthrough to my receiver and letting Kodi do the decoding (as 5.1) with the same clip. To my surprise the passthrough-audio had more bass and was more crisp, the overall audio seemed to have slightly more clarity. I have all EQ and other gimmicks turned off in my receiver. When letting Kodi do the decoding the receivers does show "Multi channel PCM".

I'm not really all that into audio-stuff and it's probably because I've set up something wrong or something. Right?
I do have mostly the default settings. Channels to 5.1, resample quality to high, Output to Best Match. Kodi is connected via HDMI to my receiver, which is connected via HDMI-ARC to my TV.

[Laeghaire]

Time has passed and since Catalina now supports it, will Kodi too ?

[razcakappa]

Time has passed and I'm bit late to the party. Right now I'm having the same issue. Is there any viable fixed or have you completely changed the hardware setup?