I spent 3 years dealing with this problem with an Apple TV and Plex. A few months ago, they fixed multichannel audio and it has been heaven. Then, a couple of weeks ago, when I started having trouble with my Harmony Hub, I realized that Logitech was ending support for the Harmony product line in the near future. We use the hub to make everything easy to use. So, it was time to move on. Picked up a Fire Cube real cheap and… Multichannel audio does not work. It downmixes it to stereo, or maybe only uses two of the channels (I haven’t figured that out yet). I know the answer to this, as with the Apple TV is that Plex is creating a multi platform audio streaming engine for all of the streaming devices. My question now is, when will this happen for the Fire (and I suppose other Android devices). @DaveBinM , any insight here? Does anyone have it working. I tried Kodi and using the KodiConnectApp, but still only got stereo.
The Cube is talking to the receiver. I’ve had passthrough both on and off; on being set to HDMI (which is how the receiver is talking to the TV).
That’s an interesting first question though. I’m not sure exactly what you’re getting at. The Cube went out and found both the TV and receiver during setup. When I adjust volume it is using the receiver’s volume control. When I play a multichannel movie, I can see on the receiver that it is surround of some type. I don’t even think I can go through the TV first. Is that what you’re saying?
Connected like this, correct?
Cube ← HDMI → Receiver ← HDMI → TV
What are the FireTV Cube audio settings?
Settings → Display & Sounds → Surround Sound
If listed, select Best Available.
What are the Plex app audio settings?
Configure it for Settings → Advanced → Passthrough = HDMI
Play media (subtitles disabled) with various audio formats: AC3, EAC3, DTS, TrueHD
Monitor playback via Plex Dashboard → Now Playing + Expanded View
Also see if your receiver indicates the audio format it is receiving.
You should see the following:
AC3: Direct Play or Direct Stream
EAC3: Direct Play or Direct Stream if supported by your receiver. Transcoded if not supported.
DTS: Direct Play or Direct Stream. The Cube cannot passthrough DTS audio. The cube will convert DTS to a supported format. Your receiver will indicate it is receiving another audio format such as AC3, EAC3, or PCM.
TrueHD: Transcode. The Cube cannot passthrough TrueHD audio. Plex Media Server will transcode it to a supported format. Your receiver will indicate it is receiving another audio format such as AC3, EAC3, or PCM.
Music or part of a movie/TV show?
Plex does not support multi-channel FLAC music files. They play as Stereo. Caveat: I have not checked this in quite some time.
FLAC in a MKV movie/TV show should play as multi-channel.
What does the Plex Dashboard show during playback?
What does the Pioneer show during playback?
The Pioneer has front panel indicators that display the received audio format and channel layout.
The issue is just audio files. I don’t recall off hand what the dashboard says, but the receiver says “stereo”. Is there a multichannel audio format that is supported by Plex and the Fire devices? I’m guessing no. The MKV trick is not feasible because of the number of albums I have. As I mentioned in my opening post, Plex has been building its own multi platform audio engine to get past these issues. I was hoping they had gotten to the Android devices by now.
I haven’t noticed that display info before. Will check it out, at least out of curiosity.
No multi-channel FLAC for music files on Plex Android TV clients (Nvidia Shield, Amazon Fire devices, Sony TVs, etc). I found a post from May where I tested it. I’m not aware of any changes. A quick forum search did not turn up anything, and nothing is mentioned in the announcement thread.
Plex HTPC on Windows 10 seems to support multi-channel FLAC music files. See this post from August.
There is also the Plexamp audio player. I’ve never used it, so not sure how it handles multi-channel FLAC. The Android app is only for mobile devices (Google won’t download it to my Shield). Other platforms might be an option.
This is where I’ve landed, with the Fire. If it doesn’t work, I will continue to use my Apple TV and Plex for just music, but I hate having to bounce between streaming devices.
I too was looking for a thread somewhere. The only ones I could find had died without an answer a couple of years ago. I’d try another format, but I’m thinking it is a waste of time. I also tried to get Kodi to work, but that was so clunky and I couldn’t get MC from that either. I think VLC is available, but the interface sucks as does MrMC. I’m pretty sure Emby doesn’t work either. I can’t believe I’m going through this all over again.
Unfortunately, the audio APIs on Android are not quite as straightforward for multi-channel audio as they were on Apple (this is for exclusive audio playback, not audio as part of a video file), so will take more work to implement this.
Thanks for getting back to me Dave. I always appreciate the time and information. At least this time I can bounce easily between my ATV and the Fire. I may just keep pinging this thread for a while. Most of the other people with issues gave up already. As you know, I’m a bit more patient.
You didn’t mention there was a reciever in the original post so the issue might have been a complaint about how audio on multichannel tracks sounded verses stereo playing on the TV. The lack to presence on Center is a common complaint.
Also some people connect the device to their TV and then have ARC/eARC feeding the audio back to the reciever on another port, so your passthrough setting might effect how well this would work.
Ahh. Got it. Thanks. Yeah, my fault. Like I said, I’d spent 3 years dealing with this issue on the Apple TV, so I was a bit impatient when I wrote the post. And I have a friend who is using the ARC on her TV, which just seems backwards to me. In her case, it is the only way it would work.
I did appreciate your posting and if I left any other impression, I apologize. Thanks again.
Nah, it’s fine. I realized yesterday I’d forgotten about this topic after my original reply. But FordGuy61 deals with this stuff a lot and it’s good he came along.
That would be more of a end user hack (or something Kodi might do). If Plex is going to fix it, they are going to do it right. And yes, it would work. People have documented that they converted their music to video files and they play fine. It is an ugly workaround for someone with a large collection though.
That’s a great question about why it works for Tidal. In fact, Plex supports (or is it past tense) Tidal. I’m sure there is an interesting answer to this.
