Dolby Atmos on XG9505

Plex Players Smart TVs
1

Server Version#: 1.20.1.3252
Player Version#: 8.6.0.20351

Currently I have a Plex Server and a Sony Bravia XG9505 with the latest firmware version.

I have Plex Player on Sony TV but I can’t for the life of me get TrueHD Audio to my ATMOS soundbar which is setup with earc and a 48Gbps hdmi cable.

If I grab one of my truehd A/V files and place it on a USB and then plug it into the Tv for playback I get ATMOS no problem so it’s a problem with the Plex app. Turning on Network logging shows the following line:

09-12 14:52:42.884 i: [MediaDecisionEngine] Unable to direct play; TrueHD audio is not supported by the device

This happens if I have Audio Passthrough enabled/disabled on both Plex and the Sony TV but in either case it should work because both the Sony TV and the Soundbar have support for ATMOS.

Anyone any idea what I can do to get this working?

2

please see @ [INFO] Plex, 4k, transcoding, and you - aka the rules of 4k

there are no known smart tvs that will direct play truehd via app.

e-arc does not pass through software, it only passes through from external hdmi (ie bluray player).

3

Thanks for that detail about 4K playback it’s actually something I’m looking at because of the transcoding that’s going on.

But with regards to the issue with ATMOS audio, the INFO you sent across states that the receiver (TV) needs to support TrueHD Audio which it does as shown by my tests.

4

The TV is the limitation. TV manufacturers do not allow SmartTV apps such as Plex to pass lossless audio, such as TrueHD, via HDMI-eARC.

Why? Unknown. I’ve never seen an explanation.

As @TeknoJunky mentions, you can connect an external device to the TV. They can pass lossless audio via HDMI-eARC.

Example:
Nvidia Shield Pro <-- HDMI --> TV <-- HDMI-eARC --> Soundbar/Receiver

5

Re: e-arc

We may never get an official explanation, however it seems apparent to me that e-arc is a function of the hdmi protocol, hdmi includes encryption and copy protection in the hardware.

Apps simply do not, and likely never will have access to the hardware level necessary to pass over e-arc.

Besides the fact there are no legitimate sources of hd audio other than directly from Blu-ray, which already works over hdmi.

6

Will a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with Plex Linux work instead of the Nvidia Shield?

7

I’ve bit the bullet and purchased a Nvidia Shield. So far I’m liking it and I must say the AI upscaling is pretty good. UI is WAY smoother too.

Oh and TrueHD audio is coming through. What a dream!

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