No AC3 transcoding of AAC codecs via HDMI? No sound on TV

    Hi there,

    before I come to my problem, I first want to thank you for this great piece of software. I came in contact with Kodi - and especially LE - a few years ago. At that time it was a little to much work to setup everything what I had planned and my family and I stuck with the more traditional way (SAT receiver attached to a TV).

    Last year I set up an emby server which worked ok for the one UPNP capable TV in the living room, but the UI wasn't to intuitive for the rest of my family :) And not all our TV's are UPNP-ready devices. So during X-mas I used some spare time and digged again throught he opportunities of Kodi and LE. And man, did it envolve :) There were some hick-ups here and there, but nothing that really couldn't be solved with searching and reading.

    Anyway, now to my problem (as more and more functionalities should be incorporated). I want to utilize the Zotac CI327 as the Client-device for LE (link: CI327 nano | ZOTAC for the product specification). It has a few nice feature, isn't really expensive and fast/easy available (which is a big plus if I want to expand the clients).

    Everything works out of the box with LE 8.95.002 connected via HDMI on a newer Samsung TV. But if I connect the box on the Changhong TV in the kiddies rooms I'm only able to get audio if Passthrough is set and the source is AC3. If the source for example is AAC the TV is silent (even if Passthrough is set to AC3). If Passthrough is disabled it is silent as well.

    For my own controlled media it wouldn't be the biggest problem as I may could re-encode (if needed) the sources to AC3.

    But we also want to utilize it with the Amazon Prime, Netflix addons where some of the sources are AAC only. And - as far as I have understood - live TV isn't using even Passthrough.. I tested it and it is silent.

    I know the TV is may an exot, but I don't know where I should start to look for solutions. I have also one older beebox which has the exact same setup, addons, and LE version installed and that box works without audioproblems.

    As I want to utilize the Zotac boxes (for easier maintenance), the question is where I have to look for ideas... is it the hardware, is it related to the kernel, something related to Kodi.. Therefore, I thought I ask here, as it may makes most sense (especially if it would be the kernel).

    As always - please find also a link to the Kodi.log: LogFile Audioproblem Zotac Nano CI 327 - LE 8.95.2 - Pastebin.com. I started a movie with Passthrough & AC3 codec, switched then to the AAC codec in the same movie and then changed to no PT with the AAC codec and the AC3 codec..

    Hopy you can provide any advice/ideas..

    Thanks

    Joe

    Hi there,

    did some additional testing to find the possible root cause of the problem (or wrong setting).

    Installed a fresh LE and updated 8.95.003. Copied a BluRay mkv (in this case 'Findet Dorie') on the harddisk to reduce the noise or impact from other addons.

    Sound Setting -> Passthrough active, AC3 enabled, AC3 transcoding enabled. Output to HDMI via DP (bridge?) During the test I tried to deactivate and activate Passthrough... only with active Passthrough I got sound on some codecs.

    Outcome with Passthrough active:

    Played the movie - initial codec AAC (Profil LC, 2 channels, Bitrate -> No Sound

    Switched to AC3 codec (6 channels -5.1, Bitrate 512 kpbs) -> Sound (relatively loud)

    Switched to EAC3 codec (8 channels - 7.1) - Sound (a bit more muted compared to the AC3, but still you could hear everything).

    Link to the log file: http://ix.io/1yll.

    Any help - even a 'will not work on your hardware' - would be fine. Solutions would be appreciated, or something where I should look into. I - at least for my feeling - tried different combinations without success and tried to search through the various channels. But maybe I'm searching wrongly or it is a limitation I'm not aware of.

    Or would it make more sense to even post it on the Kodi-forum as it is not specific to LE?

    Thanks in advance

    Joe