Dolby Digital 5.1 / DTS 5.1 from S/PDIF

[oregano76]

Hi, I've recently purchased the Q10 Pro and have set up everything fine picture wise, library wise  (thanks forums). The one thing that isn't working as expected is DD / DTS 5.1 through S/PDIF.

I use Sony MDRD S6500 cinema headphones (due to not wanting to wake the wife/kids up!) which I love (I'm aware of the relative merits of whether they are true surround etc). My WDTV Live (again dearly loved) has been replaced with the Q10 Pro -  before the WDTV possibly conks out.

When streaming DD/DTS movies from my NAS to the WDTV, the DD / DTS indicator on the headphones would light up meaning it is being received and decoded.

With the Q10 Pro I am getting sound through S/PDIF but the indicator isn't lighting up, so it seems like I'm getting normal stereo. I have tried all the settings possible on both the box (RAW etc) and Kodi (expert mode, use 2 channels, pass through etc). I cannot for the life of me get the indicator light to come on. It's confusing as I'm getting sound though. Can anyone advise? I cannot use HDMI as the headphones only have S/PDIF as the digital input.

If it isn't compatible with my headphones I'm going to have to replace the Q10 with something else, reluctantly.

PS I'm aware of the limitations with Kodi without wrapper etc for HD audio. I don't need HD audio - just normal old school DD5.1 / DTS

[futeko.com]

You mean SPDIF with streaming add-ons in Kodi?

You need to install the 'shitty' build (stupid name - all it does is restore audio passthrough from Kodi 16.1). See here: http://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/android/arm/ and here: http://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/android/arm/kodi-20170411-a4896c0-shitty-armeabi-v7a.apk

Full/proper HD-audio passthrough (5.1 and 7.1) in native player will be implemented in future firmware by HiSilicon/HiMedia.

[oregano76]

You mean SPDIF with streaming add-ons in Kodi?

You need to install the 'shitty' build (stupid name - all it does is restore audio passthrough from Kodi 16.1). See here: http://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/android/arm/ and here: http://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/android/arm/kodi-20170411-a4896c0-shitty-armeabi-v7a.apk

Full/proper HD-audio passthrough (5.1 and 7.1) in native player will be implemented in future firmware by HiSilicon/HiMedia.

Hi - no I mean just 'normal' downloaded films stored on the NAS and played from there.....for non-HD audio files. No add-ons etc.

Shouldn't this work regardless of the Kodi build? Is anyone able to play it to e.g. their receiver which recognises and decodes 5.1 through S/PDIF? In the usual, old school way.

[futeko.com]

5.1 audio SPDIF passthrough for local files with wrapper and any version of Kodi will work. This is controlled by Android settings, so setting - playback - SPDIF - RAW.

Because Kodi changed how passthrough works, 5.1 SPDIF passthrough for local files with Kodi 17 internal player will not work. You need to install the 'shitty' builds as above until there is a fix.

[oregano76]

5.1 audio SPDIF passthrough for local files with wrapper and any version of Kodi will work. This is controlled by Android settings, so setting - playback - SPDIF - RAW.

Because Kodi changed how passthrough works, 5.1 SPDIF passthrough for local files with Kodi 17 internal player will not work. You need to install the 'shitty' builds as above until there is a fix.

Thanks a million! Installing the 'shitty build' did indeed work. Getting DD/DTD pass through (and confirmed with my old AVR). This is using the wrapper.

(Just to note I was previously using the wrapper as you've advised- and it still wasn't working on the non shitty build.)

Very happy!