4.1 surround via optical cable

    Hi. I have a 4.1 Samsung surround system. I have a s912 that is connected to my TV via HDMi, and then my surround system is connected to the TV through optical digital cable. At first I didn't get surround through Kodi. I noticed there was a setting for this. It is most correct to select 4.1 or 5.1 output in Kodi? I have A Sony XD80 TV

    Optical can only transfer 2 channel PCM or surround sound encoded in AC3 (Dolby Digital) or DTS. You should enable AC3 transcoding in Kodi to get surround from all source formats over optical.

    Thanks for your answer. So I have enabled allow passthrough, Dolby Digital AC3 reciver, and DTS capable receiver. Should audio output device be AML M8 Audio Analog PCM or HDMI? And should I put 4.1 in number of channels, or 5.1 and let the tv or audio system make it work on my 4.1 system?

    Thanks again!

    Quote from delz

    Thanks for your answer. So I have enabled allow passthrough, Dolby Digital AC3 reciver, and DTS capable receiver. Should audio output device be AML M8 Audio Analog PCM or HDMI? And should I put 4.1 in number of channels, or 5.1 and let the tv or audio system make it work on my 4.1 system?

    Thanks again!

    I think the simple answer is select 2.0 as your number of channels, then enable DD passthrough - and when you select 2.0 channels an additional 'transcode to AC3' (or maybe DD) option will appear which you can also select. This will transcode multichannel non-Dolby audio to Dolby 5.1. I think the transcode option only appears when you select 2.0 channel output.

    (Yes - I know the 2.0 channels is confusing - but that is all you want output in PCM over HDMI - you don't want PCM 5.1 or 7.1.)

    I'd try the HDMI audio device first, and then the Analog PCM second.

    Whether your TV supports HDMI->DTS optical passthrough I don't know. Some do, some don't. If it doesn't then you can disable DTS Passthrough and your DTS 5.1 stuff will be transcoded to DD 5.1 (I think at 640kbps - so good bitrate)