7.1 surround sound with Xbox One

Plex Players Gaming Consoles
1

I was reading over in the Planned updates thread and saw this post about 7.1 surround sound.

 

There are several options each with it's own set of issues (for a 7.1 system). The first thing to understand is that true passthrough isn't an option, since the Xbox wants to be able to mix in it's own audio. You can set it to output bitstream, but this just means the system will re-endode everything into a DD/DTS stream (losing quality in the process) that is sent to the receiver.

 

You can use PCM output and set it to 2.0/5.1/7.1 and it will be lossless (highest quality), but there are drawbacks as well there:

- The Xbox will output the number of channels you select regardless of media source. That means a stereo or 5.1 track will send emptiness in the extra channels which prevents your 7.1 system from doing any upmixing using ProLogic or similar algorithms.

- If you are outputting 7.1 for playback of a 5.1 source, the Xbox will send the Surround L/R channels to the rear speakers instead of the sides like it should. This is another known bug in the Xbox audio system.

 

I have stuck with using PHT still instead of the One because of these issues (and the bandwidth limit forcing transcoding).

 

Instead of muddling up the Planned updates thread, I wanted to check more about this.  I have a 7.1 surround system with a Marantz 5008 receiver.  I just finished ripping all of my blu-ray library into MP4 with AC3.  Most of movies have 5.1 surround sound.  I had noticed that the two rear speakers were over-powering the L and R surrounds, and Sferran's post explains why.

 

Has anyone found a workaround for this issue?  I actually tested swapping the connections on my receiver for the L/R surrounds with the rears and it definitely sounds much better, but it kills my audiophile sensibilities to do something like that.  I really only use the Xbox One for entertainment viewing so this might be ok.  Any thoughts?

2

Really your stuck until MS gives a true passthrough option. It's a bummer, but Plex is hamstrung by the way the Xbox handles it's audio.

3

yes we are all stuck :(

4

Really your stuck until MS gives a true passthrough option. It's a bummer, but Plex is hamstrung by the way the Xbox handles it's audio.

We don't even need true passthrough. If the One would give us the option to dynamically change uncompressed output to match source audio it would be a huge improvement. The only people not getting full quality in the right channels at that point would be those with receivers that can't processes uncompressed audio.

5

This is just something we will have to live with in this platform.  The issue with surround being on the wrong channels is a documentation error on Microsoft's side.  We should make sure the devs know about it.  All of the apps are doing it wrong except, i believe, netflix.  The devs just have to reverse their setup from what the (perhaps old) documentation says.