Options for Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD passthrough missing

PANiCnz · February 6, 2021 at 10:19 PM

I've recently dusted off my Gemini Lake HTPC (ASRock J4105-ITX) after using an Odroid C4 with CE for a few months. With a clean install of LE 9.2.6 I can't get Kodi to show the options to enable TrueHD & DTS-HD passthrough, and only have the options for Dolby Digital and DTS.

I have a slightly convoluted setup that is obviously part of the problem. My soundbar (Sony HT-CT660) supports passthrough for TrueHD & DTS-HD but is limited to HDMI 1.4, so I'm using an HDMI splitter (EZCOO HDMI Splitter) like this:

HTPC

|
HDMI Splitter
| |
TV AVR

I'm assuming LE is setting the passthrough options based on the TV rather than the soundbar, is there anyway to get LE to enable TrueHD & DTS-HD passthrough? If its any help the splitter is programmable and allows for manually selecting EDID modes.

When using the Odroid C4 in place of my HTPC passthrough was working fine.

**Da Flex** · February 6, 2021 at 10:31 PM Official Post

Can you confirm that HD audio is working, if you go HTPC -> AVR -> TV (no splitter)?

PANiCnz · February 6, 2021 at 10:32 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Can you confirm that HD audio is working, if you go HTPC -> AVR -> TV (no splitter)?

Yup working, all the option reappear in the Kodi GUI.

**Da Flex** · February 6, 2021 at 10:41 PM Official Post

Then LE gets supported audio formats from TV, not from AVR. Is there no chance to go HTPC --HDMI--> TV --S/PDIF--> AVR?

PANiCnz · February 6, 2021 at 10:44 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Then LE gets supported audio formats from TV, not from AVR. Is there no chance to go HTPC --HDMI--> TV --S/PDIF--> AVR?

There are a few alternatives, ARC works and I can go S/PDIF from the HTPC to the AVR, but I don't think any of these will achieve TrueHD & DTS-HD passthrough?

**Da Flex** · February 6, 2021 at 10:50 PM Official Post

Does your TV have HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC?

PANiCnz · February 6, 2021 at 10:53 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Does your TV have HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC?

ARC only unfortunately.

**Da Flex** · February 6, 2021 at 10:59 PM Official Post

Because your HDMI splitter is programmable, you should be able to add HD audio formats to EDID.

PANiCnz · February 6, 2021 at 11:09 PM

Quote from Da Flex

Because your HDMI splitter is programmable, you should be able to add HD audio formats to EDID.

Thanks for your help! I'll start investigating down that route. Looks like since I bought the splitter they've release a new firmware, I'll start with that and see if it makes a difference.

PANiCnz · February 7, 2021 at 1:59 AM

Some positive news. Reset the splitter and set it to 4k, and turned the HTPC on with the TV turned off, and now the passthrough options have returned and are working. Not sure if it'll survive a reset of the HTPC but its working for now!

Tried some samples with Atmos, DD+, TrueHD & DTS-HD and they all worked as expected.

PANiCnz · February 7, 2021 at 11:33 PM

Quote from PANiCnz

Some positive news. Reset the splitter and set it to 4k, and turned the HTPC on with the TV turned off, and now the passthrough options have returned and are working. Not sure if it'll survive a reset of the HTPC but its working for now!
Tried some samples with Atmos, DD+, TrueHD & DTS-HD and they all worked as expected.

Closing this out for anyone who finds this and has similar problems. The above solution didn't persist after a reboot. Upgraded the firmware on the splitter to v1.73 and that appears to have fixed the problem, has survived a reboot. EDID set to 4K rather than 2K or COPY1.