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!

  • 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)