[FXB78]

That brings up the question, why isn't Kodi in the Amazon app store?  I remember it was there many years ago and then removed.  Did they give a reason?  Meanwhile Kodi forks like MrMc are still there.

As I remember MrMC disabled third-party addons, thus limiting its use as a piracy tool.

[porter944]

The new Chromecast w/ Google TV. I got one, seems to work fine for what I need. And it doesn't freeze on HDMI-CEC like the AFTV 4K does on my setup.

Thanks for that info. Full passthrough of all audio? DTS, AC3, PCM, all multichannel? If so, sounds like my KODI box. Support SMB mapping, or do I need to enable UPNP?

As far as I understand, The new Chromecast w/ Google TV,  doesn't do Multichannel files like AAC-5.1 and it doesn't do DTS-HD or Dolby-HD. In the $50 price range the X96 Air can do all of those with coreELEC on an SD card. I picked one up. The remote's not great but it can be replaced with a  WeChip G20S or something similiar. The X96 Air uses the AMLogic S905X3 board. wrxtasy mentions the board on his "Pick the Right Kodi Box (updated November 2020) thread" here: https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=252916

[mountainhill2]

I'm on Leia 18.9.
Setting AFTV4K Audio Output to "Stereo".
Kodi output to 5.1 (as I only have 5.1 speaker system)
AVR Pioneer SC-LX77
Kodi Multi-channel audio (AAC, DTS, Dolby) all output as 5.1 PCM by AVR.

If AFTV4K Audio Output is on "Best Available", Kodi multi-channel audio all transcoded to DD+

I don't think there's such a thing as "some HDMI implementation difference between AVRs" in this case.
It's really about AFTV4K/Kodi's implementation.

I've never had to set the stick to "Stereo." It's always been on "Best Available."

"HDMI implementation" was meant to include handshaking issues, which can occur even on the same set of equipment as you switch inputs. I documented the first case I ever saw of that myself in these messages, which occurred while using the recent cursed Amazon 6.2.7.7 release:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2994883
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2994910

As I wrote in the second one, power-cycling the AVR restored the PCM 7.1 state. However, this workaround doesn't really help, because as I wrote there and in a subsequent message, the stick spontaneously reboots from time to time, which it never did before. I'm currently on my other stick with 6.2.7.6 and hoping that disabling sleep keeps it from auto-updating, as it apparently did for the 6.2.7.7 one, which hadn't updated since March before I stupidly manually updated it last week.

BTW, like you, I also only have a 5.1 speaker system. However, as my AVR is 7.1, there's no point in not setting Kodi to 7.1 and letting the AVR sort it out, so that's what I do, and it does sort it out correctly per audio test files.

My AVR is also capable of 7.1.
After the recent AFTV update, if I set it to "Stereo" in AFTV, 7.1 in Kodi, I will lose the 2 surround back channels, i.e. my AVR will not know how to map them to the 2 speakers at the back.
But if I set it to 5.1 in Kodi, the 2 surround back channels will be mapped correctly to the 2 back speakers by my AVR.
Another strange thing ... but I'll live with it for now.

[p750mmx]

Doesn't support 24p though, unless something changed recently.

This is still the major disappointment, fixed (chosen) framerate within any app you use. If they don't fix this, it's a bummer.

[hdmkv]

It's far from ideal for those who notice. I've given up on these kinds of sticks, dongles, etc. for Kodi use in my home theater, but for family room TV with a soundbar, those are perfectly fine. For HT, nVidia Shield TV, Vero 4K+, ODROID N2/N2+, and cheap (but perfectly suitable AMLogic S905X3) CoreELEC boxes.

[Kodroid]

I think this is the reason why 6.2.7.7 made such drastic audio changes.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick now support streaming music through Amazon Music HD at up to a 24 bit depth and a 192 kHz sample rate. Previously, the only Fire TV model that was capable of streaming the higher quality music was the 2nd-gen Fire TV Cube.
To stream at the improved quality, you need to have the latest version of the Amazon Music app installed, which is v3.3.581, and you need to manually enable HD audio within the app’s settings menu which can be accessed through the user icon in the upper right corner. Of course, you also need to have an Amazon Music HD subscription.
For the Fire TV Stick 4k, the device needs to be running Fire OS version 6.2.7.7 or greater and for the Fire TV Stick 3, the device needs to be running Fire OS version 7.2.2.3 or greater. Check for updates to both the OS and the Amazon Music app under Settings > My Fire TV > About. It’s unknown if other Fire TV models, such as the Fire TV Stick Lite, are also gaining support for the enhanced audio quality.

https://www.aftvnews.com/fire-tv-sticks-...s-192-khz/

[Mark_Venture]

So does this new audio issue impact just the 4K Stick?   Or does also impact the 1st Gen or 2nd Gen Cube?

[mamachan]

I think this is the reason why 6.2.7.7 made such drastic audio changes.

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and the 3rd-gen Fire TV Stick now support streaming music through Amazon Music HD at up to a 24 bit depth and a 192 kHz sample rate. 

...... I only get 16/192 with AFTV 4K and Denon 1600H (UHD setting in app actived).
I think AFTV 4K and denon don't get along very well

[noggin]

Doesn't support 24p though, unless something changed recently.

The Google device does support 24p (23.976 to be precise).  You just have to toggle it manually outside Kodi if you intend to play content at various framerates.  If all you watch is movies and TV series (99% of which are 23.976), you can just leave it at 24p all the time in the Android display settings.

It's only 99% of TV series if you only watch stuff shot in North America...  Almost all European TV shows on Netflix (and Prime) are almost always 25fps, plus all the live sport on Amazon Prime is 50fps now. (They have Premiere League football, Grand Slam and other tennis etc.)

For those of us who switch from The Crown (25fps) to football (50fps) to Mindhunter (24fps) it's quite important to have frame rate switching...

[sirmedia]

I think AFTV 4K and denon don't get along very well

Quite possible why I've been seeing lots of AFTV hard freezes with HDMI-CEC over the past 2+ years.

[Wagg]

It's far from ideal for those who notice. I've given up on these kinds of sticks, dongles, etc. for Kodi use in my home theater, but for family room TV with a soundbar, those are perfectly fine. For HT, nVidia Shield TV, Vero 4K+, ODROID N2/N2+, and cheap (but perfectly suitable AMLogic S905X3) CoreELEC boxes.

S905x4 boxes are starting to trickle out so that will probably be a better option because of the AV1 support. Looking forward to seeing what the S908x boxes will offer.

[sirmedia]

Here's a new one: DD5.1 audio, no sound at all passed to my Denon AVR from Kodi, but Prime Video works, of course. This is getting better and better. Glad I got that CCGTV as a backup.

[boat32]

Here's a new one: DD5.1 audio, no sound at all passed to my Denon AVR from Kodi, but Prime Video works, of course. This is getting better and better. Glad I got that CCGTV as a backup.

Similar here. Was working great until 2 days ago. Prime video and Netflix apps still deliver 5.1 audio from Firestick 4K. I have LG C9 TV connected via hdmi to eARC port to Sonos ARC soundbar. Cannot get 5.1 audio from any Kodi streams sent to my Sonos system anymore. Anyone have a way to fix this?

Firestick audio settings - Best available
Kodi - speakers set to 2.0 (have tried 5.0 and 5.1 too), AC3 enabled, AC3 transcoding enabled, DTS disabled. 

This is frustrating!! Can anyone suggest a way to get 5.1 audio again?

[jubilex]

My Fire 4k stick does not seem to recognize that the projector connected to my AVR is capable of 24hz. Is there anything equivalent to this command for the Odroid that lets you capture and save display capabilities, or is this strictly Linux/AMD and there's no counterpart on Android/Amazon?:

Code:

cat /sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0/disp_cap > /storage/.kodi/userdata/disp_cap

[himey]

I'm on Leia 18.9.
Setting AFTV4K Audio Output to "Stereo".
Kodi output to 5.1 (as I only have 5.1 speaker system)
AVR Pioneer SC-LX77
Kodi Multi-channel audio (AAC, DTS, Dolby) all output as 5.1 PCM by AVR.

If AFTV4K Audio Output is on "Best Available", Kodi multi-channel audio all transcoded to DD+

I don't think there's such a thing as "some HDMI implementation difference between AVRs" in this case.
It's really about AFTV4K/Kodi's implementation.

I've never had to set the stick to "Stereo." It's always been on "Best Available."

"HDMI implementation" was meant to include handshaking issues, which can occur even on the same set of equipment as you switch inputs. I documented the first case I ever saw of that myself in these messages, which occurred while using the recent cursed Amazon 6.2.7.7 release:

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2994883
https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid...pid2994910

As I wrote in the second one, power-cycling the AVR restored the PCM 7.1 state. However, this workaround doesn't really help, because as I wrote there and in a subsequent message, the stick spontaneously reboots from time to time, which it never did before. I'm currently on my other stick with 6.2.7.6 and hoping that disabling sleep keeps it from auto-updating, as it apparently did for the 6.2.7.7 one, which hadn't updated since March before I stupidly manually updated it last week.

BTW, like you, I also only have a 5.1 speaker system. However, as my AVR is 7.1, there's no point in not setting Kodi to 7.1 and letting the AVR sort it out, so that's what I do, and it does sort it out correctly per audio test files.

My AVR is also capable of 7.1.
After the recent AFTV update, if I set it to "Stereo" in AFTV, 7.1 in Kodi, I will lose the 2 surround back channels, i.e. my AVR will not know how to map them to the 2 speakers at the back.
But if I set it to 5.1 in Kodi, the 2 surround back channels will be mapped correctly to the 2 back speakers by my AVR.
Another strange thing ... but I'll live with it for now.

Thanks. Went to listen to Yello Point and realized I got the Fire OS update, and was only getting DD+ rather than 5.1 PCM. Switched to Stereo in the Firestick 4K audio settings and all is well. Hopefully this update didn't break bit perfect stereo CD rips which I will test after Yello... The Atmos track on this blu-ray sounds amazing even "only" in 2D multichannel.

edit...My DD passthrough is broken, all I get is silence. Converting to PCM is fine, but I did like to have the option of letting my processor do the decoding.

The Stereo, bit perfect, CD rip playback is fine. You still have to turn on upmix, in Kodi settings and change speaker output to 5.0.

I had to change to "Stereo" from "best available" in the firestick settings, but I was able to switch back to "best available" and PCM 5.1 works fine but no passthrough.