Server Version#: 1.18.5.2260
Player Version#: 7.26.0.14578 (eaeeea5c)
I have a Nvidia Shield connected to my Denon AVR. When I play a movie that has DTS-HD, TrueHD, Atmos, etc. it is showing on my AVR as just a multichannel input. This was not always the case, it used to show everything correctly.
When I use Kodi on the same Nvidia Shield, it outputs the correct audio type (DTS-HD, Atmos, TrueHD). No settings were changed. Passthrough is turned on.
Please help me? Any ideas are appreciated.
âLatestâ what? Latest beta? Latest public release? Please provide version numbers, theyâre requested for a reason 
Not a problem, I have updated my post.
check both the plex settings (click your top left initial > settings
make sure passthrough is hdmi
you might also check your shield device settings (outside of plex) to make sure audio/passthrough is configured correctly.
Pass through has been selected, HDMI.
Shield settings are correct. Tested out using Kodi on the Shield. Everything goes to the AVR the way its supposed to using the Kodi on Shield, just not Plex.
I wouldnât think it has a problem on pass through, but you can try toggle the ânewâ player on or off.
in any case, there is something that appears to be causing plex to tell the shield to decode to multi-channel PCM instead of passthrough.
can you check the server dashboard to see if it is transcoding the audio (ie to flac/etc) at the server, or if it is direct play (then the shield itself is decoding to pcm).
Plex Web > settings > dashboard
Tried toggling back and fourth between New and Old player, nothing changed.
Put on a movie, went to the dashboard on my server, it said the following:
Audio
-English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
-Direct Play
AVR still showing Multi Ch (PCM)
Iâm really appreciating the ideas! Please keep them coming.
really strange.
as a last resort, you could power off both the AVR and the shield (physically remove power).
I have had my yamaha receiver glitch before, where the audio would not work at all, but the video would work. I suspected something about the hdmi handshake, but hard power off/on fixed it.
Or try swapping out the HDMI cable, also make sure itâs a high speed cable
I removed physical power for 5 mins. Plugged back in. Nothing.
I have the latest HDMI cable (rated 48Gbps). I have had no problems with the cables, and I will get the correct output using Kodi on the exact same hardware. It seems like the Plex Player on the shield (not the server) is outputting to PCM, or telling the shield to do the conversion.
Iâm getting really desperate, my wife will kill me if we have to go back to Kodi (I used Kodi for years, then started having problems with the scraper, moved to Plex a year or so ago).
If I could uninstall plex on the shield and reinstall I would, but because it comes baked in, I donât see a way to do it.
I believe that kodi can access the hardware directly (ie kodi settings override any built in settings), so while it is good to know to confirm that the receiver is getting passthrough on one app, just need to narrow down what/why the shield isnât passing through with plex.
if you want to get that far into, you could sign out of your account in the shield plex app, go into the shield > app settings, force stop, clear cache, clear data, that should give you essentially a clean plex install on the current version.
you may have to go back in, re-sign in, re-set any library pins/hubs, and set the plex settings to hdmi/etc, I donât know what the defaults are. If you have a lot of customization, it might be painful.
when I get home, Iâll get screenshots of both my shield settings and plex settings. (that will be good for my own records too)
then a matter of stare and compare.
Make sure the Shield audio is set to Auto, as shown in @TeknoJunkyâs pictures.
When I use Manual on my Shield, the audio always transcodes, even for those formats that are enabled.
I tried the force stop, uninstall updates, clear cache etc, then reinstalling updates and logging back in. That did not help.
All my settings on Plex are good. I will try going back into Auto mode for sound again. I had it that way before, but was one of the first things I changed to try and correct the problem.
Any other ideas why Plex on the shield is outputting to PCM?
I appreciate everyone taking the time out of their lives to help with this.
What model Denon?
FWIW, Iâve a Denon 4300 and Shield Pro (2015). Settings same as @TeknoJunky. No problem with dts-HD, TrueHD, etc.
Denon AVR-X4500H.
The killer is, a couple of months ago, it worked great! No problem Plex play. Sometime between then and now this problem developed.
The same hardware, with different sound output depending on the app is what really gets me. Its not like there are that many settings which can affect this.
what happens if you turn off âresolution switchingâ ? same thing
post your android tv log after you played something that did not correctly passthrough, the reason may in the log
Yes, time to pull logs.
The only way I can make the audio appear as multi-channel PCM is to either a) set passthrough = off (instead of HDMI) in Plex client, or b) Audio = Manual (instead of Auto) in Shield audio settings.
In both cases TrueHD 7.1 + Atmos is transcoded by PMS to AAC 5.1, then passed to AVR as PCM 5.1, which displays as âMulti Ch Inâ on Denon front display.
SUCCESS!!!
So after toggling HDMI Passthrough off/on, toggling Auto Sound on the Shield off/on, in various combinations and testing⊠IT JUST WORKED!!!
Why did it decide to stop sending PCM? Who knows? Is it working now? YES!!! So I wonât even breath on it, Iâll just keep complimenting on how a good little shield it is.
Thanks everyone for your help and guidance. It was appreciated!
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