SPDIF Audio Passthrough and Transcoding

[rantei]

Hi all,

i have a Sonos Playbar and i want to buy Himedia Q10 Pro; this soundbar supports only Dolby Digital 5.1 (not DTS and HD audio).
Now if I connect the Sonos playbar directly to the Himedia Q10 Pro through SPDIF and I use this setting:

Himedia Q10 Pro:                            Kodi (with external player for better PQ)

HDMI Output: Close                       Enable Passthrough
SPDIF Output: RAW                        Dolby Digital 5.1 Capable Receiver (checked)
HBR Output: AUTO                         Enable Dolby Digital Transcoding

I just want to know if I can reproduce Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track correctly and transcode DTS track to DD 5.1 for films that has only DTS track using Kodi with Himedia Wrapper.

Thank for your help.

Michele

[futeko.com]

Transcoding DTS to Dolby Digital is not supported in HiMediaplayer.

It can be done in Kodi though with Kodi internal player. By using Kodi internal player you'll not lose much in terms of picture quality. Most formats play the same as with Himediaplayer because Q5/Q10 Pro supports OMX (giving native hardware playback). What you'll lose is 7.1 audio (irrelevant to you anyway), picture adjustment settings, and marginal performance at very high bitrates.

To transcode everything in Kodi to Dolby Digital AC3:

Change Kodi settings to Expert.

In Kodi, go SYSTEM - Settings - System - Audio Output and set:

* Speakers to 2.0
* Enable AC3 passthrough
* Enable AC3 Transcode
* Disable DTS

[rantei]

Hi Futeko,

thanks for your reply.
I was sure that PQ with KODI internal player (DVDPlayer) was poor in relation to PQ of the HimediaPlayer.

Michele

[salalee]

himedia player is suffering some edge enhancement issues as compared to kodi's default player.... i played many video files and paused the playback at certain scenes and i can easily tell the difference in quality. so for me (at least for now) , himedia player is inferior to kodi's default player.

[futeko.com]

I would disagree but PQ is, to some degree, personal preference. Both HiMediaplayer and Kodi player are available in Q5/Q10 Pro.