[Sunflux]

While I wait for a "real" 4K media player, I decided to try installing Kodi directly on my Sony X850G, which I believe has the MediaTek MT5893.

* It's surprisingly smooth. Animations are fast and fluid. Feels snappy. Even full-bitrate 4K videos (temporarily over WiFi) start up very fast and play without dropouts. Note that the TV's built in network UPNP Media Player is unable to play the same files without serious, entirely unworkable stuttering issues.

* There is NO indication anywhere in Kodi that the resolution is anything but 1080p/60hz. Nothing beyond that shows on the whitelist. But, I downloaded the "purple text" 4K resolution test file, and videos (or at least that one) ARE definitely playing at full 4K resolution. The full GUI can also be drawn / brought up on top of 4K videos with no resolution reduction, and remains surprisingly fluid (lurchier than standard, but no more so than other players I've used). I suppose it's a 1080p GUI drawn over a 4k playing video?

* HDR10 videos play correctly and are auto-detected (after a second or two). Haven't tried HLG.

* I'm still installing a Bias light on it, so I'm not hooked up to a receiver. It does support eARC. But audio passthrough options are AC3, EAC3, DTS and DTS-HD (not sure whether that actually means HR or MA). There is NO indication of TrueHD support, the lack of which is kind of a nail in the coffin for my use.

Since there's such a lack of info on how these TVs work with Kodi, I'll try to add any further things I learn to this post.

[fritsch]

You could post a Debug Log Turn it on, restart kodi - all the information needed to say what works (audio / video wise) is in there.

[BCYHInfo]

Greatly appreciate for any update of ur experience n solution for playing 4K HDR media files with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA.

[fritsch]

Ask Sony ... they need to support it.

[CiNcH]

* There is NO indication anywhere in Kodi that the resolution is anything but 1080p/60hz. Nothing beyond that shows on the whitelist. But, I downloaded the "purple text" 4K resolution test file, and videos (or at least that one) ARE definitely playing at full 4K resolution. The full GUI can also be drawn / brought up on top of 4K videos with no resolution reduction, and remains surprisingly fluid (lurchier than standard, but no more so than other players I've used). I suppose it's a 1080p GUI drawn over a 4k playing video?

Right. Only GUI is 1080p which gets upscaled to 4K. Rendering a 4K GUI is a heavy task. Video takes a different route and is completely rendered within a dedicated HW.
 

* I'm still installing a Bias light on it, so I'm not hooked up to a receiver. It does support eARC. But audio passthrough options are AC3, EAC3, DTS and DTS-HD (not sure whether that actually means HR or MA). There is NO indication of TrueHD support, the lack of which is kind of a nail in the coffin for my use.

Lossless/uncompressed multi-channel audio only works for devices connected via HDMI. Apps play stuff via the MediaTek processor which does not support that. Maximum bitrate is 6mbps, supporting DD+ and DD+ Atmos. The BRAVIA also supports Android's DTS-HD API. It should theoretically support DTS-HD HRA via passthrough (which is also 6mbps max.). Can't test that though due to a lack of compatible AVR. DTS-HD MA works as such that the DTS Core is extracted for transmission. This functionality is broken though with audio cutting out after several seconds of playback.

[Sunflux]

* There is NO indication anywhere in Kodi that the resolution is anything but 1080p/60hz. Nothing beyond that shows on the whitelist. But, I downloaded the "purple text" 4K resolution test file, and videos (or at least that one) ARE definitely playing at full 4K resolution. The full GUI can also be drawn / brought up on top of 4K videos with no resolution reduction, and remains surprisingly fluid (lurchier than standard, but no more so than other players I've used). I suppose it's a 1080p GUI drawn over a 4k playing video?

Right. Only GUI is 1080p which gets upscaled to 4K. Rendering a 4K GUI is a heavy task. Video takes a different route and is completely rendered within a dedicated HW.
 

* I'm still installing a Bias light on it, so I'm not hooked up to a receiver. It does support eARC. But audio passthrough options are AC3, EAC3, DTS and DTS-HD (not sure whether that actually means HR or MA). There is NO indication of TrueHD support, the lack of which is kind of a nail in the coffin for my use.

Lossless/uncompressed multi-channel audio only works for devices connected via HDMI. Apps play stuff via the MediaTek processor which does not support that. Maximum bitrate is 6mbps, supporting DD+ and DD+ Atmos. The BRAVIA also supports Android's DTS-HD API. It should theoretically support DTS-HD HRA via passthrough (which is also 6mbps max.). Can't test that though due to a lack of compatible AVR. DTS-HD MA works as such that the DTS Core is extracted for transmission. This functionality is broken though with audio cutting out after several seconds of playback.  

Finally had some time to play around, and I was going to post something similar: that EARC does not seem to be enabled for apps. My experiences:

• For the most part, I can only get 2.0 stereo out of Kodi (either PCM or Dolby Digital depending on the output setting in the TV's menu), and none of the channel / passthrough options in Kodi have any effect.
  • It doesn't even seem possible to recode to Dolby Digital 5.1?
    
• The lone exception is if I enable Auto passthrough on TV and DTS passthrough in Kodi and play a DTS / DTS-HD MA video -- I do get the DTS core track. Mine does seem to be working OK, though, ie. it was still playing properly after 10 minutes.
  • If I enable DTS-HD MA passthrough and try to play a DTS-HD MA video, it plays with many dropped frames. This does not happen with Dolby TrueHD videos with TrueHD passthrough enabled (but of course not working). This does not happen on the same file if passthough is disabled, or core DTS passthrough is enabled.
    
  • An issue with enabling Auto Passthrough on the TV is that it seems to break sound elsewhere, such as any non-DTS video in Kodi, as well as the built-in Netflix app: basically, I get no sound at all. With Auto Passthrough disabled, Netflix plays back up to Dolby Digital Plus with ATMOS.
    

So, basically, unless you only intend to use Kodi with the TV's built-in speakers or a basic stereo soundbar, I don't see this is a viable option.

I'm a huge sound guy and I demand perfection, so I'm already moving on to what I feel is a "proper" Kodi box, AKA the Odroid N2. Combined with the HDFury Vertex 2 so that the TV can get 4K HDR video and my old non-HDR-aware Marantz AV8802 preamp can receive uncompressed/ATMOS sound, it all seems to be working perfectly. Well, at least running the nightly builds which fix a HDR10+ issue that happen to plague the VERY FIRST video I tried to test it with, and spent forever trying to figure out why HDR wasn't working, LOL!

[BCYHInfo]

Would it be possible to share your Debug Log when playing DTS, DTS-HD MA and TrueHD?

And what is your current setup, and connection from media source to TV to AVR or media to AVR to TV?

Also your thoughts on choosing Odroid N2 over Shield TV (except the price difference)?

From @fritsch feedback in my post for X850G/X8500G with only soundbar, it seems the mother of all evil is that Sony TV "AudioTrack". So trying to learn more before purchasing another device on the TV stand (trying to keep it minimal n clean).

Lack of technical background, hence preferable to media player with plug-n-play, auto-update the latest firmware/functions/supports/apps with 10bit, auto refresh rate, HDR10, Dolby Vision, TrueHD Atmos, DTS-HD MA... etc spec.

[Sunflux]

If there a particular scenario you're looking for a logfile from? Like, something that works, or doesn't work?

Right now:

UHD/HDR Devices -> HD Fury Vertex 2 -> Sony X850G HDMI 3
---------------HD Audio from Vertex 2 -> Marantz AV8802
---------------EARC from TV -> Vertex 2 -> Marantz AV8802
HD Devices -> Marantz AV8802 -> HD Fury Vertex 2 -> Sony X850G HDMI 3

The Shield is very expensive compared to the N2, and I eventually need 5 of them to replace my current Chromebox deployment. I'm a bit put off by the reported Nvidia-side bugs. I'm also looking for JUST a well-working Kodi setup, as I have an ATV 4K for everything else. So, for me, it came down to the Vero 4K and the Odroid N2, and I decided to try the N2 since it was cheap and available quickly for the holiday season.

So far, I have no regrets coming from the very-well-working Chromeboxes. It's pretty snappy to use, resolution / color space / dynamic range / refresh rate switching all seems to be working, HDR metadata IS being transmitted (according to the Vertex 2), and all my HD uncompressed audio is coming through beautifully.

Note that there is no current or planned Kodi solution for Dolby Vision. HDR10 is fine, HDR10+ isn't working (beyond HDR10 with nightlies) but is eventually expected to on the N2, but IIRC my TV doesn't support that anyways.

[fritsch]

Wrong: Note that there is no current or planned Kodi solution for Dolby Vision.

Already works with inputstream.

[Sunflux]

Wrong: Note that there is no current or planned Kodi solution for Dolby Vision.

Already works with inputstream.

Are you talking single layer DV in a MP4 container support?

[BCYHInfo]

Really appreciate ur sharing the feedback!

I was trying to learn more of "AudioTrack" on this Sony TV with different types of devices connected to it. What does it show, channels, pass-through.

X850G doesn't support HDR10+ so okay for me. But now I need time to study what "inputstream" is   hahaha...