MediaTek again screwed up with Nougat concerning audio passthrough

[Kuschelmonschter]

According to the Kodi community, audio passthrough is broken completely in Sony Nougat firmware. Nougat introduces the new IEC API for audio passthrough which Kodi uses. Neither Dolby AC3 nor DTS works on Sony. So MediaTek again failed to properly implement the new API.

Some apps use the older raw API for passthrough. DTS raw API, which has been introduced by Google in Marshmallow, is also still broken with the MediaTek driver that ships with new Nougat firmware.

Only the Video player can do proper passthrough for all formats as it has access to some private APIs.

This is a total shame!!! When you think it can't get any worse... Keep in mind that Dolby and DTS have been a standard for 2 decades and Sony/MediaTek still can't properly handle those formats.

[chfauc]

btw,

not sure it makes any difference in the conversation, but using NFS instead of SMB to connect to the shares.

Had better througput experience with it on Raspberry...

Still hoping for a solution from Sony... maybe we can ask NFS + SMB access from the Sony player as well i meantime (+SRT)

tx!

[Jecht_Sin]

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mpiet1 wrote:

Yes i know that. There is also a way using an emby media server and the emby plugin for Kodi.

But some weeks ago google released a samba client tool to mount smb files in the internal file system.

Link

I hope kodi will support the access to that mounted files in future...

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? Kodi does support SMB internally: link.

[Kuschelmonschter]

@mpiet1wants to use Kodi for media management and navigation and wants it to forward playback to the Video app. But you can't forward SMB URLs. You have to mount SMB shares into the file system...

I don't really think that this is the way to go though...

[mpiet1]

@Jecht_Sin, you didnt get the main issue.... I wrote, that kodi can not see the mouted shares in the android files system.

The android samba tool mount a samba share into the android file system. But it is not possible to see them using kodi file browser.

You send an instruction to mount shares in kodi.

[mpiet1]

@Kuschelmonschter, of course it would only be a workaroud. All of us hope that sony will fix firmware. Or maybe in some years it will be possible to flash own roms like on rooted android phones.

[Jecht_Sin]

@mpiet1 Oh, sorry, I obviously misunderstood.

It suprises me, though, that any app can mount at OS level any file system. One needs root permission to do any mount at Android level, no matter if local, NFS, SMB, or else. Unfortunately I tried to test the app you linked, but I couldn't manage to make it working (I have a Mac and Samba on it is a mess).

Still, if it works as you'd like, the (local) mount point should be seen by any file manager and being populated with the remote content. If it isn't populated there is no way Kodi or any other app can access the content on it. If instead the content shows maybe the app runs as a deamon able to service the mounts itself. But it's quite tricky.

[Kuschelmonschter]

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Jecht_Sin schrieb:
If it isn't populated there is no way Kodi or any other app can access the content on it

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Kodi can access NFS and SMB shares without mounting them into the file system...

[Jecht_Sin]

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Kuschelmonschter wrote:

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Jecht_Sin schrieb:
If it isn't populated there is no way Kodi or any other app can access the content on it

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Kodi can access NFS and SMB shares without mounting them into the file system...

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Sure I know that, that's what I wrote in my first post.

I was talking about the "remote points" mounted with the "Android Samba Client" app mentioned by @mpiet1. Which I eventually managed to make it working now.

So what it does is to access (internally) a remote SMB share and make it a sort of resource available only by the so called "hidden file manager". Which technically isn't a mount. That is what caused my confusion since he wrote "But some weeks ago google released a samba client tool to mount smb files in the internal file system". Actually the guy isn't Google either, I am suprised Google allowed to name the developer account "Marketing @ Google". I've got Xperia Themes banned for much less. Anyway..

So there is no mounting at OS level. Then to open a document from the "hidden file manager" the file manager has to send the SMB url. If the receving app doesn't support it, it fails. At least I tried with a ASCII text file. Opening with "X-plore text viewer" it works (and it shows the SMB url in the tile), with Chrome it doesn't load. Same for videos, they showed up only opening them with X-plore.

Also I am afraid that Samba Client app wouldn't work on Android TV at all  (sideloaded or less), because Android TV misses the "hidden file manager". The point, as I wrote, is that to allow any mount in the internal file system one needs root. Kodi does support those file systems, even for storing the Kodi data, because once mounted by the OS the apps see them as a normal folder like "/<dir1>/<dir2>".

So no, without root there really isn't much it can be done. The only difference with this app is that instead of having its own internal file manager (like Kodi and other apps with a SMB client do) it makes use of the default one in Android (6.0+).

[sticklebricks]

Finally I've found what explains the problems I'm having!

After a hard few months I treated myself to a 55 inch sony anroid tv and sonos playbase and paired speakers for surround sound. And it would be awesome, but I can never get the surround to work on my bluray backups on Plex.

I can get surround using my ps4 but get an audio sync problem. I can adjust the sync on kodi but then can't get the surround sound.

Sony needs to fix this so the native apps can prove surround asap and introduce an audio video sync feature - I heard the bravia tv's before Android had this so it seems they're going backwards!

[johayne98]

Thought this thread may be worth digging up , as there is still  no definate fix for this, as far as I can see  .  And instead we may want to consider a different TV  model or Brand which Can handle passthough properly - possibly a phillips or other better SOny model  ?  Do all sony Models use Mediatek , does the passthough issue only effect the Mediatek Chipset 

The alternative is that SOny offer a definate fix in the near future but , has anyone seen  an official fix to be released? 

I am thinking of returning My TV for a replacement . The sound system is so important for a  true cinema experience , why should we settle for less?