# Only PCM Audio ?!



## CybrFyre

I have an older receiver (Marantz SR4001) that is capabale of DD5.1 and DTS. The Stream automagically figured out my receiver's capabilities, judging from what is has turned on automatically in the sound settings. Yet, I only get PCM (stereo, of course). In the stream homescreen, in Netflix, in Amazon, in Youtube. I can plug the main Tivo (Elite) into the same HDMI port and I instantly get DD5.1 surround (and of course, DD5.1 surround works with the main tivo for Netflix and Prime).

So, thoughts on what's going on? I've tried different combinations of auto/manual, turning Dolby sound effects off/etc., and I still just get PCM stereo and not DD5.1 surround.

Thanks for any help!


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## mattyro7878

I am having a similar problem. My receiver does all except atmos. You tube is pcm only. Unlike you my Netflix and prime are dd+. I am looking for answers like you.


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## cybergrimes

Try going to settings->device preferences->more->audio output

set "Dolby sounds" to off


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## CybrFyre

cybergrimes said:


> Try going to settings->device preferences->more->audio output
> 
> set "Dolby sounds" to off


No difference


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## CybrFyre

mattyro7878 said:


> I am having a similar problem. My receiver does all except atmos. You tube is pcm only. Unlike you my Netflix and prime are dd+. I am looking for answers like you.


Should just be regular DD, not DD+ . And again, works for the main Tivo and the Stream sees in the audio settings that it is DD and not DD+ .


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## ptcfast2

I don't understand why we don't have the option to switch between PCM and Bitstream...talk about a barely beta product.


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## cybergrimes

CybrFyre said:


> No difference


Dang, I have a Jetstream 4K box and swore that worked for me. LINE vs RF setting in that menu is something like Pro Logic vs 2ch.


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## cybergrimes

Moved the Stream back to my main TV where a Sonos Playbase is located, I can't get anything but 2 ch PCM either. Amazing.


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## CybrFyre

cybergrimes said:


> Moved the Stream back to my main TV where a Sonos Playbase is located, I can't get anything but 2 ch PCM either. Amazing.


I opened a support case w Tivo. We'll see what they say. Seems what is supposed to happen is that if the audio is DD+, because DD+ is backwards compatible with DD, the device is supposed to send the DD to the receiever. Which clearly is not happening with the Stream.


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## cybergrimes

CybrFyre said:


> I opened a support case w Tivo. We'll see what they say. Seems what is supposed to happen is that if the audio is DD+, because DD+ is backwards compatible with DD, the device is supposed to send the DD to the receiever. Which clearly is not happening with the Stream.


I'm not always 100% on this but I don't think it's backwards compatible like that, the device has to have a special decoder from Dolby to re-encode from DD+ to DD for hardware that can only decode regular DD. If the source device only passes DD+, not decoding it, then it can't do anything for the "legacy" hardware that does DD only. It's kind of muddy, I have to re-read the bit about it on the DD+ wiki page... "Dolby Digital Plus bitstreams are not directly backward compatible with legacy Dolby Digital decoders. However, Dolby Digital Plus is a functional superset of Dolby Digital, and decoders include a mandatory component that directly converts (without decoding and re-encoding) the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream to a Dolby Digital bitstream (operating at 640 kbit/s) for carriage via legacy S/PDIF connections (including S/PDIF over HDMI) to external decoders (e.g. AVRs, etc.). All Dolby Digital Plus decoders can decode Dolby Digital bitstreams."

So if this device doesn't have a decoder (and no supported hardware) then the DD+ comes out as PCM?

It's my understanding the 2019 Nvidia Shield uses this decoder:
Dolby Multistream Decoder MS12


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## CybrFyre

cybergrimes said:


> I'm not always 100% on this but I don't think it's backwards compatible like that, the device has to have a special decoder from Dolby to re-encode from DD+ to DD for hardware that can only decode regular DD. If the source device only passes DD+, not decoding it, then it can't do anything for the "legacy" hardware that does DD only. It's kind of muddy, I have to re-read the bit about it on the DD+ wiki page... "Dolby Digital Plus bitstreams are not directly backward compatible with legacy Dolby Digital decoders. However, Dolby Digital Plus is a functional superset of Dolby Digital, and decoders include a mandatory component that directly converts (without decoding and re-encoding) the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream to a Dolby Digital bitstream (operating at 640 kbit/s) for carriage via legacy S/PDIF connections (including S/PDIF over HDMI) to external decoders (e.g. AVRs, etc.). All Dolby Digital Plus decoders can decode Dolby Digital bitstreams."
> 
> So if this device doesn't have a decoder (and no supported hardware) then the DD+ comes out as PCM?
> 
> It's my understanding the 2019 Nvidia Shield uses this decoder:
> Dolby Multistream Decoder MS12


What's interesting is that if you go to the product page and scroll down to specifications... Both Dolby digital and plus are listed under audio decoding and under certifications.

Audio Decoding
MEPG, AAC, HE-ACC, OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, Ape, M4A, RM, MPEG-1 layer1/2, MPEG-2 Layer II, Dolby Digital/Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos, DTS, WMA, WMA Pro (WMV optional)

Additional Certifications Included

FCC, UL/ETL, HDMI, HDCP2.2, MPEG LA (MPEG2, H.264, H.265), HEAAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Play Ready, Google, Netflix

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk


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## EvMan

I'm also having issues with only getting PCM audio from some apps, specifically I noticed this with Disney+. Not having 5.1 sucks by itself but also audio level seems a lot lower through my surround processor. Prime app everything else the same I am getting 5.1 audio. Is this Android apps needing compatiblity updates for the stream? Tivo doing something?


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## EvMan

The answer for Disney+ is there was an update available. Dolby audio now works. It seems even when the Playstore is set to automatic updates it’s best to check manually if something isn’t working as expected.


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## aaronwt

CybrFyre said:


> What's interesting is that if you go to the product page and scroll down to specifications... Both Dolby digital and plus are listed under audio decoding and under certifications.
> 
> Audio Decoding
> MEPG, AAC, HE-ACC, OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, Ape, M4A, RM, MPEG-1 layer1/2, MPEG-2 Layer II, Dolby Digital/Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos, DTS, WMA, WMA Pro (WMV optional)
> 
> Additional Certifications Included
> 
> FCC, UL/ETL, HDMI, HDCP2.2, MPEG LA (MPEG2, H.264, H.265), HEAAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Play Ready, Google, Netflix
> 
> Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk


And the Stream 4K does decode. And send out PCM audio.


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## aaronwt

cybergrimes said:


> I'm not always 100% on this but I don't think it's backwards compatible like that, the device has to have a special decoder from Dolby to re-encode from DD+ to DD for hardware that can only decode regular DD. If the source device only passes DD+, not decoding it, then it can't do anything for the "legacy" hardware that does DD only. It's kind of muddy, I have to re-read the bit about it on the DD+ wiki page... "Dolby Digital Plus bitstreams are not directly backward compatible with legacy Dolby Digital decoders. However, Dolby Digital Plus is a functional superset of Dolby Digital, and decoders include a mandatory component that directly converts (without decoding and re-encoding) the Dolby Digital Plus bitstream to a Dolby Digital bitstream (operating at 640 kbit/s) for carriage via legacy S/PDIF connections (including S/PDIF over HDMI) to external decoders (e.g. AVRs, etc.). All Dolby Digital Plus decoders can decode Dolby Digital bitstreams."
> 
> So if this device doesn't have a decoder (and no supported hardware) then the DD+ comes out as PCM?
> 
> It's my understanding the 2019 Nvidia Shield uses this decoder:
> Dolby Multistream Decoder MS12


Many devices have the capability to transcode from DD+ to DD. They just have not paid a license fee to Dolby to implement it. And without that license fee, they can't legally transcode from DD+ to DD.

Not sure if the Stream 4K would fall into that category. But I wouldn't be surprised if TiVo has paid for that feature, but never implemented it in their software. Since their release software seems to really be more of a beta version.


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## ptcfast2

The Stream does do pass-through of Dolby and DTS - but it's up to the app that you're sourcing the audio from as well. The Stream does not seem to convert anything if it's not in a format already it can send to the connected device. I use Plex as an example here - if you enable HDMI or Optical passthrough, the Stream (via Plex) will send the raw audio to a receiver if you have the appropriate options enabled on the Steam and the Plex app itself.

So yeah, it will output PCM unless it has something better to send to the connected device. But, it's still kinda buggy with anything that isn't Dolby Digital. I tried DTS with Plex and it's a bit funky. Only way I could get reliable 5.1 was making sure I only told the Stream and Plex to use Dolby Digital and that's all my stuff "supports". Works fine for the most part, but it's not a solution.


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## aaronwt

ptcfast2 said:


> The Stream does do pass-through of Dolby and DTS - but it's up to the app that you're sourcing the audio from as well. The Stream does not seem to convert anything if it's not in a format already it can send to the connected device. I use Plex as an example here - if you enable HDMI or Optical passthrough, the Stream (via Plex) will send the raw audio to a receiver if you have the appropriate options enabled on the Steam and the Plex app itself.
> 
> So yeah, it will output PCM unless it has something better to send to the connected device. But, it's still kinda buggy with anything that isn't Dolby Digital. I tried DTS with Plex and it's a bit funky. Only way I could get reliable 5.1 was making sure I only told the Stream and Plex to use Dolby Digital and that's all my stuff "supports". Works fine for the most part, but it's not a solution.


The Plex app inside Kodi works better than the native Plex app. It will play DTS content fine. Or at least the content I played with DTS and DTS-HD MA tracks output in multi-channel DTS from Plex in Kodi fine. While the Native Plex app had major issues or would not even play the content.


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## CybrFyre

aaronwt said:


> The Plex app inside Kodi works better than the native Plex app. It will play DTS content fine. Or at least the content I played with DTS and DTS-HD MA tracks output in multi-channel DTS from Plex in Kodi fine. While the Native Plex app had major issues or would not even play the content.


I'm a little surprised if it's not telling the app what the capabilities are. It does detect, and properly, the receiver's capabilities. And getting better audio out of my old Tivo Elite would seem to not be the story Tivo would want to tell.


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## ptcfast2

CybrFyre said:


> I'm a little surprised if it's not telling the app what the capabilities are. It does detect, and properly, the receiver's capabilities. And getting better audio out of my old Tivo Elite would seem to not be the story Tivo would want to tell.


If you don't enable audio passthrough in Plex it won't tell Plex. Or well, Plex won't tell it. The Plex app on the stream is still buggy, like audio can randomly cut out if you click the wrong menu item. It's both a Plex and Tivo thing I think, but there's definitely some massaging that the Plex devs can do here.


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## rczrider

ptcfast2 said:


> If you don't enable audio passthrough in Plex it won't tell Plex. Or well, Plex won't tell it. The Plex app on the stream is still buggy, like audio can randomly cut out if you click the wrong menu item. *It's both a Plex and Tivo thing I think*, but there's definitely some massaging that the Plex devs can do here.


I think you're right, because Plex works better on my Mi Box and surprisingly on my Fire Stick 4K than it does the TS4K. Plex on Roku sucks all the time (probably because of Roku), so it doesn't count.


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## CybrFyre

Via adb shell I did notice there is a Netflix audio capabilities setting which does not reflect the correctly detected settings for my receiver.

Settings list global had it.. nrdp or something. Don't see an equivalent for other apps.

Sent from my SM-T510 using Tapatalk


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## Owen35

New to this thread, but I was about to send my Stream back because I couldn't seem to get DTS or Atmos out of Kodi, which I use to manage all of my media files on a Synology server. Has anyone had any luck with that?


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