[ge2301]

Dear developers,
I wondered why my android-based Magenta TV Stick is not receiving any multi channel audio from Kodi, neither with 5.1 output not with 2.0 and passthrough activated (please no hints here, I used the correct settings and tried also transcoding activated etc.).
I got in contact the the stick developers as I'm internal tester of pre-builds and got after long discussions a clear feedback. The problem is on Kodi-side and all android based hardware will not support passthrough, if not the new Dolby MS12 Api is implemented.

Are there any attempts on Kodi side to implement MS12 Api? Otherwise Kodi is not usable on a productive system any more. Nobody wants to watch movies in stereo sound I believe.

By the way, the developer said, that also the audio output of regular multichannel audio without passthrough is probably non-conform and accordingly only stereo is transferred from stick to receiver.

Here the original statement translated from German:

Hello everybody,

here are a few words about the "passthrough" story ...
The short form: It no longer works and will no longer work on all new AndoidTV streaming devices (why comes below)! It doesn't work on the Google Chromecast with GoogleTV either ... If that's the answer, stop reading from here. Cheerful, the rest just keep reading.

The long form, or why is that so? It is due to the Dolby MS12 framework which is integrated in the firmware. Why is it integrated? Certainly not for the fun of being happy, but to pass certification from external partners such as Netflix or Amazon. Here we got a "waiver" for the certifications with 9.4.100 (since no MS12 was available for this SDK) and had to implement it with the next possible firmware version. So it will only be a matter of time before other devices also integrate this "feature" (and by that I don't mean € 19.99 China Sticks - on which a freely available mobile phone version and which runs for Android TV) ...

But that's how we come to Dolby MS12. What is it doing? Very roughly and simplified: it allows manipulation of the Dolby Bitstream! E.g. parallel to the running Dolby sound, menu sounds can be mixed in, or the different sources (sometimes louder, sometimes quieter) can be output normalized. For the so-called "easing and mixing of menu sounds" there are even legal / regulatory requirements in various countries in the context of equality for physically disabled people. And the "normalization" of various sources is said to be in great demand with TV / AVR / soundbar manufacturers.

Then why is it with Netflix, Amazon, Disney and Co but not with KODI, VLC, PLEX and whatever they are called? This is relatively easy, you have (almost always) a license agreement of some kind with Dolby and thus the necessary information on how to use the DolbyMS12 framework. AFAIK, all of the Open Source Player projects have not yet needed that, because with simple DD + a passthrough directly to the decoder was possible. An MS12 API now hangs in between to talk to. The manufacturers of the apps would have to find the way to Dolby.

I know myself that it may not be that great, but as sorry as we are, there is nothing we can do about it.