Dolby TrueHD Puns

Hi guys, I need a little bit of help with audio formats. I have LG C1 and that TV doesn't support DTS audio. I've got some 4k movies with DTS audio only, I tried playing them, but due to transcoding the video buffers every few minutes. Would it help if I bought Plex Pass and used hardware acceleration?

Secondly, question for those of you who have C1 paired with soundbar, is it possible to pass-through Dolby TrueHD 7.1 via eARC when using built-in Plex app? I'm thinking of buying a soundbar, but I would like to avoid using the external players like Nvidia Shield.

Hello,

I've read online that Toslink cable don't have enough bandwidth to support TrueHD or Atmos codec, but also I've read in this subreddit that toslink supports stereo lossless audio. So I suppose that Toslink doesn't support TrueHD for more than two channel audio?

Anyway, I've seen that in some DAC (like Cambridge audio DACs) that I can use an usb audio as input, they have enough bandwidth to support TrueHD or DTS-HD 2.0?

HDMI 2.1 would be nice too.

Does such a box exist. What I want is something like an upgraded Shield pro box.

I consider to buy the Ugoos X4 4 GB version. It seems pefect but it is without android tv os and chromecast.

I have the 2016 Pro and consider upgrading to 2019 Pro to get Dolby Vision support. I was holding out as I can play some DoVi profiles on my LG E8, but then giving up TrueHD since my TV has no eARC support.

There hasn't been a new shield this year and I think I will now buy the 2019 one. I do however wish to confirm that it works with both DoVi and TrueHD passthrough when playing from plex. I would also love someone to confirm that it supports all major DoVi profiles, both MEL and FEL.

Thanks in advance for any clarification on shield DoVi support.

Lots of new smart TVs have eARC, which is capable of sending uncompressed audio from the TV to an eARC capable receiver.

Can Kodi output Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD-MA on eARC on smart TVs ?

Is anyone doing this ? If so, on which TVs ?

Thanks

Edit

I think I found the issue.

Several of us have experienced the case where Passthrough audio from Kodi is coming out as PCM on our eARC receivers.

AESinkAUDIOTRACK.cpp of the most current Kodi branch has the following code in it:

   if (m_info.m_wantsIECPassthrough)
    {
      m_format.m_dataFormat     = AE_FMT_S16LE;
      if (m_format.m_streamInfo.m_type == CAEStreamInfo::STREAM_TYPE_DTSHD ||
          m_format.m_streamInfo.m_type == CAEStreamInfo::STREAM_TYPE_DTSHD_MA ||
          m_format.m_streamInfo.m_type == CAEStreamInfo::STREAM_TYPE_TRUEHD)
        m_sink_sampleRate = 192000;

      // new Android N format
      if (CJNIAudioFormat::ENCODING_IEC61937 != -1)
      {
        m_encoding = CJNIAudioFormat::ENCODING_IEC61937;
        // this will be sent tunneled, therefore the IEC path needs e.g.
        // 4 * m_format.m_streamInfo.m_sampleRate
        if (m_format.m_streamInfo.m_type == CAEStreamInfo::STREAM_TYPE_EAC3)
          m_sink_sampleRate = m_format.m_sampleRate;
      }

      // we are running on an old android version
      // that does neither know AC3, DTS or whatever
      // we will fallback to 16BIT passthrough
      if (m_encoding == -1)
      {
        m_format.m_channelLayout = AE_CH_LAYOUT_2_0;
        m_format.m_sampleRate     = m_sink_sampleRate;
        m_encoding = CJNIAudioFormat::ENCODING_PCM_16BIT;
        CLog::Log(LOGDEBUG, "Fallback to PCM passthrough mode - this might not work!");
      }
    }

I'm GUESSING that this code is accidentally getting run on our TVs.

// we are running on an old android version
      // that does neither know AC3, DTS or whatever
      // we will fallback to 16BIT passthrough
      if (m_encoding == -1)
      {
        m_format.m_channelLayout = AE_CH_LAYOUT_2_0;
        m_format.m_sampleRate     = m_sink_sampleRate;
        m_encoding = CJNIAudioFormat::ENCODING_PCM_16BIT;
        CLog::Log(LOGDEBUG, "Fallback to PCM passthrough mode - this might not work!");
      }

Note that passthrough of DTSHD, DTSHD_MA and TRUEHD is supported further up the code.

Devs: any comment ?

I guess it is t

Hey Everyone! Looking to upgrade receivers potentially and had a question. Is there a Noticeable Difference between Dolby Digital / DTS vs Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio?

My current receiver does Dolby Digital and DTS since it’s older and it sounds good but I might have a good deal on a recover that does Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

I know on paper the specs are more but has anyone who went from what I have to these newer formats heard a difference in quality themselves?

Thanks!

Wondering if anyone has run into this and has a solution. I’ve got the Plex client installed on my Nvidia Shield Pro and for the most part it works fine. The plex server is a Synology NAS DS220+. Whenever I play movies that have audio encoded in Dolby TrueHD, the audio cuts out every few seconds. This only happens via the plex app. When I play the exact same movies via KODI in lieu of Plex, it works just fine. No audio cutouts. I’d like to use Plex as my main client instead of KODI, but I can’t until this is solved. The TV has eARC, and in both instances (Plex and KODI), the TV is set to Passthrough. I am also using as Sonos Arc (in case that matters). Has anyone ran into this or can help me determine what’s going on. The issue seems to be with the plex app since KODI seems to play it just fine.

Thanks!

hi everyone, i'm jumping into the whole 4k and dolby truehd thing and i have some questions. All hypothetical bc i just have the tv.

So afaik from my cbl box that my isp provided i can go into an av receiver through HDMI to decode the sound and split it into a 5.1 system and connect the av to the tv with hdmi to get the video.

the problem i see is that i have an ethernet connected to the tv and im using the samsung OS that came with the tv, so lets put a movie on disney plus. i dont see how i can decode that sound because optical cant deal with the lastest codecs and the tv only has hdmi inputs (one its ARCe)

i could use the OS that vodafone gives you in its cbl box but i'd rather not.

is there any solution?

I would expect Dolby Atmos for Headphones to be able to play Dolby Atmos content, but it appears that isn't the case. There's no audio when I watch an Atmos TrueHD encoded video. Is this inherent limitation of Dolby Atmos for Headphones (can't decode 3D audio unless specifically encoded as Windows spatial audio?)

So I'm trying to get Dolby TrueHD working for playback from my PC. I'm running Windows 10 with HDMI (at least 1.4 I think) from my Nvidia RTX 2070 Super into my Yamaha RX-V481 receiver which does support Dolby TrueHD, but under the "Supported Formats" tab in my sound playback settings for the receiver (which thinks it's another PC monitor), the only items listed are "DTS Audio", "Dolby Digital Plus" and "Dolby Digital". Dolby TrueHD is not listed. I've updated the receiver to latest firmware, windows is up to date and so is my Nvidia display driver. Am I doing something wrong? I've read in some places that Bluray players can output Dolby TrueHD and PC's can do so when playing back a Bluray disc or ripped media with the right software, but shouldn't I see Dolby TrueHD as a playback option in my sound settings? Everything else about the setup is fine but I can only ever get Dolby Digital Plus when playing games/media/streaming. Thank you for your sagely advice!

https://preview.redd.it/8uhy8zzkn5r71.png?width=402&format=png&auto=webp&s=fda210f8d7ac11e11d963e4d55ee871156a76069

My setup is Sony X950H to Sonos Arc via eARC. I’m trying to get Dolby TrueHD to play from the Sony Plex app. I also have an Apple TV 4k attached to the TV and can get lossy Atmos from that. But from the Sony Plex app I’m only getting DDP 2.0. The HDMI cable to the Arc is an 8k 48Gbps cable.

I enabled passthrough on the TV when prompted. Is there another setting I need to tweak somewhere?

Hi everyone - I’m sure this question has been asked in the past but I’ve not been able to find a post about it, so I thought I would ask again.

I currently bought a Sonos Arc, which is linked to my TV via an ARC input. I have, as the title says, an Apple TV 4K (1st gen) and with the new tvOS update I can get Dolby Atmos. My knowledge is quite limited but my understanding is that ARC will only be able to transmit a compressed version of Dolby Atmos, whilst an eARC port is able to transmit an uncompressed version (Dolby Atmos TrueHD).

When I play a movie on Netflix with the Dolby Atmos logo and check the Sonos app, I can see that the same logo is shown there which makes me believe that I’m getting Dolby Atmos, but it would be the compressed version of it.

Would adding the HD Fury Arcana help me get the uncompressed version of it, or are streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon prime video and Disney+ limited as to what version of Dolby Atmos they are providing?

I know that there is no Roku device that will play Dolby TrueHD, but I was under the impression that if I play something encoded with TrueHD the Roku would run it as DD+ instead. Is that correct, or can you just forget content with Dolby TrueHD tracks?

I've been encoding my movies with the TrueHD track for future proofing, but when I play them, the AVR shows a DD+ signal, but it's only in stereo. Just wondering if a need to just forget it and encode via EAC3 instead or if I'm doing something wrong.

I have an LG OLED (A few years old so ARC only - not eARC), LG SN11RG Soundbar (eARC capable) and the 2019 shield pro. The shield is connected to the soundbar's HDMI1 via highspeed HDMI cable. The Soundbar is then fed through to the TV via HDMI highspeed cable using the ARC capable HDMI port on the TV.

I am using VLC on the shield to play the videos.

The videos are remuxes stored on hard drive played via the shield's USB ports.

I believe the problem is due to the passthrough capabilities. This is because the shield can actually internally process Atmos via Dolby TRUE HD but cannot process DTS MAHD. All the promotional stuff says that the shield can process Dolby Atmos but can only pass through DTS:X (it cannot actually internally process it). So it looks like the only reason I'm getting Atmos is the shield is actually processing it and outputting Atmos to my soundbar already decoded and processed. Because the shield cannot process DTS:X, I have to rely on the passthrough feature and this just doesn't work. I've never had a DTS:X track work yet but Atmos always works.

The check I perform is to go through this process:

1. Open video with both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA audio files
2. Start with Dolby audio file selected
3. Soundbar displays that is is outputting Dolby Atmos. Everything is great
4. I go to VLC settings and select the 'Digital Audio Output(passthrough)' setting. VLC now says 'Audio digital output disabled' and the soundbar now shows 'PCM' where it once showed 'Dolby Atmos'.
5. I go back to change the VLC passthrough setting back to 'Audio digital output enabled' and the soundbar again shows 'Dolby Atmos' rather than 'PCM'.
6. I now go to the Audio track selection and select the DTS HD MA track.
7. The Audio digital output (passthrough) is still enabled.
8. The soundbar now says 'DTS Audio' but crucially does not say 'DTS:X' AND the soundbar is not outputting any sound other than a few crackles. It appears to be trying to decode the audio but is having almost no success other than the few crackles. It is largely silent.
9. I now disable the passthrough Audio Digital Output on VLC.
10. The soundbar now displays 'PCM' again.

Youtube via the shield also shows up as PCM audio only whereas Youtube has dolby functionality via the LG TV's youtube app.

I have also tried to alter the inputs so that the shield goes straight to the TV and the ARC HDMI goes to the soundbar afterwards. This did not help either.

I was wondering if there is an inheren

Plex Dash shows True HD 7.1 being transcoded to EAC3 on my 4K HDR file, whereas I thought it could direct play?

Sonos app shows a 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus signal (EAC3).

Client is LG CX with native Plex app. I read on a forum post that CX WebOS will never support lossless HD formats (TrueHD, TrueHD+Atmos)

>"LG engineers, have stated that Dolby TrueHD can ONLY be passed through from a connected device - not an app such as Plex. They assert there can be no fix for this as an app is not considered "passthrough" and requires the decoder."

so I guess my only option is to get either a shield pro or Apple TV 4K? Really torn between which streamer to get. Are there are downsides to either one? Which one does Plex work best with (Shield Pro or Apple TV 4K 2nd Gen with Infuse)?

I just got a projector and JBL 2.1 Deep Bass Soundbar to go with it. I had never seen “Beside You in Time” before, though I did see the band on this same tour back in the day.

First of all…wow. What a visceral and even moving experience. As good as the band is in the studio, live is just epic. Trent and the boys are so intense on stage and totally locked in.

I’m sure your choice of audio track for this concert largely depends on your setup. My soundbar is only 2.1 and capable only of either Dolby Digital or PCM. So, you’d think playing the TrueHD track wouldn’t give me any added benefit or difference in experience. But that wasn’t the case. The TrueHD multi-channel track predictably didn’t sound as “up front” as the 2.0 stereo track but I also heard notes and sounds on the TrueHD track that I didn’t hear at all on the 2.0 track. The drumming also sounded more crisp and separated on the TrueHD track. So what the TrueHD track lacked in raw power on my 2.1 soundbar, it gained in nuance. I went back and forth between the tracks and couldn’t decide. I thought the bass would be deeper on both tracks but it only seemed to come out on certain songs, like “Something I Can Never Have” (an incredible version, btw).

I’m just very surprised the TrueHD track gave me these added nuances on my 2.1 DD-only soundbar. I was even a bit concerned the track might damage my soundbar (the PS4 audio settings menu mentions that playing unsupported formats on a device may damage it). I have the PS4 set to Bitstream for Dolby Digital. I’ve tried PCM in the past but doesn’t sound as powerful and vibrant to me as DD.

Which track do you prefer for “Beside You in Time” and what is your setup?

Given that TrueHD is based around a stereo core, does Kodi just use this or does it fold down all 7.1 channels?

If I set the speaker output to 2.1 rather 2.0 I guess it has to do a fold down rather than use the core stereo track + LFE?

DTS:X does not have a stereo core, so is this just a fold down?

Hi guys,

Possibly a noob question but I was wondering what the difference is between a TrueHD 7.1 source vs TrueHD Dolby Atmos. Am I right in thinking that my Sonos 5.1.2 (Arc + Surrounds + Sub) would not get any height effects when viewing TrueHD 7.1 (a film like Super 8 for example) vs a Dolby Atmos TrueHD movie?

Thanks in advance

Tylor

Hello,

My current setup for audio is as follows:

• Plex server running on a desktop PC

• Nvidia shield running the plex client

• Shield connected via HDMI to TV.

• Soundbar connected to TV via HDMI Arc.

The issue is that when I try to playback Dolby TrueHD audio, I get an error message and Plex tells me that it's unable to play the file. I have passthrough disabled via Plex, I'm unsure if there's a Shield setting I need for that too.

AC3 audio plays fine, as does AAC. I'm not sure why Plex isn't decoding the audio and why I'm getting errors when I'm trying to play back the Dolby TrueHD audio.

DTS-HD audio works absolutely fine.

Any help fixing this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Other than the native dolby demo app (I am guessing is actually playing truehd codec, but I am not sure if this is even true), is there any source that outputs dolby atmos in its loseless format from apple tv? All the itunes store movies, netflix/disney+...etc streaming source play atmos via digital plus.

And it turns out that streaming movies via plex with the apple tv only plays in PCM 5.1 or 7.1, which is nice since it is loseless but it loses the height channels even though the source file has them. (I just realize that only nvidia's shield can stream trueHD codec with plex).

Does anyone know if there is some way to play trueHD codec source from ATV4k?

Thanks,

I unfortunately don’t have Atmos nor a room to support it so for now I’m stuck with regular 5.1. Anyone have some recommendations for your favorite scenes for these formats?

What format do you people prefer? No Atmos or X talk. Just these formats and why? Just curious what other people think. I personally think DTS is a better format not just because of the higher bit rate it just sounds better I guess.

I'm looking into playing Dolby TrueHD/4K content from an external usb-storage. Currently my Plex server running on my PC buffers when I play 4K/TrueHD content with the internal Plex app from LG store. I have read that Shield TV Pro could solve this issue. If so, what kind of external storage option would be the best with Shield TV Pro? Looking for 8-16TB, preferably USB, but I'm open for other options/suggestions. I'm kind of new with all this, so let me know if there is better options available.

Hi,

I've found lots of similar information in this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Soundbars/comments/ghbozs/sound_quality_dolby_truehd_vs_dolby_digital_plus/, but not really an exact answer.

What I'm trying to determine is: for films with a lossless audio track and 6 channels (5.1), when you encode Dolby Digital Plus at a high bitrate (I've been experimenting with 768 KBps), does it get CLOSE to sounding lossless for most people?

The space savings of using DDP @ 768kbps vs TrueHD / DTS-HD.MA is 2-3 GB per movie so it's certainly worth exploring this.

Also, does the bitrate for Dolby Digital Plus apply to the whole audio file? (encompassing all 6 unique tracks), or does that bitrate get applied to EACH track (per channel)?

Hopefully this makes sense.... Thanks!

Bob

So I understand that each format is lossless (ie., sounding identical to how it sounds in the studio, not necessarily meaning interchangeable between the two formats). What I don't understand is, if I used to prefer DTS over Dolby in the DVD days, will that still make a difference in today's age?

For example, Lord of the Rings was released in 2012 with a DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track. It was released again this year but this time with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track (same with Star Wars).

Was this mixed entirely differently this time around using Dolby preferences from scratch? Or is it more likely that they used the same DTS master but split the center back channel in two to create the new 7.1?

I have Kodi 18.9 installed on my 4K amazon firestick. The issue Im having is instead of my Denon receiver decoding Dolby True HD and DTS MA as PCM/multichannel, it is being decoded as DD+ and DTS respectively, on my receiver. Im curious if it matters, that my speakers are still receiving the correct encoding or is it becoming lossy audio.

Just to note this never happened with my old 2nd gen Firetv box, it would give me PCM all the time for those audio formats.

What causes this? Does it do some kind of normalisation by default? Can this be prevented? Is there any way to find out all the default settings an encoder uses?

Hi,

I have a Samsung Q950TS TV, a Sonos Arc + Sub + 2 Sonos One. The Arc is connected via eARC.

I also have a large Plex library of Blu-ray rips and some of them includes Dolby Atmos Truehd. I have not been able to play them using the TV Plex app.

My question is: what device or devices I need to be able to play that content and enjoy Dolby Truehd tracks.

I have considered Nvidia Shield, Apple TV 4K, even the new Xbox Series X but I would prefer that somebody more experienced could recommend the best setup.

Thank you!