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.

[rooobb]

No  other brand support 3rd party players. Sony video player does support passthrough. So what are you looking for?

[johayne98]

No  other brand support 3rd party players. Sony video player does support passthrough. So what are you looking for?

@rooobbNot sure what you are answering to , as I have asked several questions : 

Does this affect all Bravia android ?

Do all Bravia Android have Mediatek chipsets? 

[rooobb]

@johayne98 any android tv on the market including Philips ones use mediatek chip if this is the answer you are looking for.

If instead you complain because kodi cannot manage passthrough and are looking for a replacement simply it does not exists. Because you cannot install kodi on any other tv platform.  

[sergio_sch]

I have a workaround for DD/DTS audio passthrough with SPMC (Kodi fork) that has worked fine for months, confirmed by some other user. It probably does work also with official Kodi.

The trick is to launch SPMC from a DD source. Example: in spanish DTV we have some DD standard AC3 audio channels. Before launching SPMC , I make it sure TV is switched to one of those AC3 DTV channels. I can check it because on my home theatre system the DD led is ON. Then I hit HOME->SPMC. I can play any DD or DTS coded file and it will play fine.

If I forget to do this process, audio is broken and only noise is played. I fix it by just following the trick, go to DTV AC3 channel, again HOME, SPMC, play the same file, audio will be fine.

I'm doing this in an 55XD93. No need to enable AC3 transcoding for DTS or any other workaround in SPMC, just enable AC3 and DTS passthrough like it this horrible bug didn't exist, and follow the process I say above.

EDIT: I screwed up with the post . I'm in MM with no intention to update to NOUGAT, so I can't confirm if it still works in Nougat.

[sticklebricks]

It works on nougat for me

[Jecht_Sin]

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@johayne98wrote:

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?

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I thought to reply straight to your original question, so you'll get a better idea:

• AFAIK All Android TVs use Mediatek SoCs. Then the latest A8F Oled should have the same SoC of my 2016 XD80. Phillips TVs should have the same SoC of 2015 Bravia (unless a new model use something better)
• If you want True Cinema forget about HDMI ARC with HDMI 2.0. Even if DTS passthrough was fully supported (it's broken. While DD/DD+ 5.1 instead works fine, also with Kodi) HDMI ARC is quite limited. No HiRes audio (Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA), no 7.1 channels, no PCM 5.1+ passthrough (or at least not always. Plex sends out PCM 2.0).
• With Kodi v18 alpha it is possible to convert (on the fly) DTS audio as DD+ 5.1. Also PCM 5.1 should work (I can't remember, now). And it was stable when I was using it (also faster than v17 but still slow to a crawl).

Personally I ended up buying an Apple TV 4K. With Infuse Pro (a bit pricey but worth the money) it plays audio up to Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA, 7.1 channels. If you want to stick with Android the Nvidia shield even supports Dolby Atmos (and DTS X I suppose). Otherwise you may want to consider an Intel NUC. I am not sure if they work well as a TV box (with remotes etc.) or they are mostly like computers. But a guy I met was extremely happy with one of them. And sure, they should support all Windows 10 codecs..

[iamnague]

As anyone already tested firmware v6.2858 ? Nothing regarding audio passtrough in the release note, but we never know.

[mmhorda]

No Passthrough with latst firmware yet.

But it also possible (unlikelly) that 3rd party players devs. have not yet implemented it in their players.