DTS passthrough works with Optical but not HDMI setting

Plex for Android TV
8.25.1.28703

Plex Media Server
1.25.0.5220-de6e61df7

This thread describes phenomenon where DTS does not work when the Plex Passthrough option is set to HDMI, but does when it is set to Optical.

I have tested this on TCL R646 and the same issue exists. When the Passthrough setting is ‘HDMI’ then the audio is passed as PCM Stereo to the receiver. When the Passthrough setting is ‘Optical’ then the audio is correctly passed as DTS. I did not need an optical cable, I left the HDMI connected.

Is this an ExoPlayer issue? I noticed that there have been several newer versions ahead of Plex and one of the release notes mentions DTS support (v2.15). It would be amazing to get this fixed because prior to this workaround I had to plug in a Roku device to play DTS movies and have proper audio passthrough.

I’m following this thread, because I’m also experiencing the same problem with DTS on HDMI Passthrough.

My Setup:

  • WD NAS running PMS (most recent version as of today)
  • Philips OLED806 set on HDMI Audio output / Multichannel (bypass) running Plex App for Android TV (most recent version as of today)
  • Denon AVC-X4700H AVR connected to TV with HDMI cable.

I found out that DTS Surround is not working with HDMI Passthrough setting in Plex App. A workaround is when I switch in settings to optical (and check AC3 and DTS). DTS then works, although the TV and AVR are still connected via HDMI (and not optical/toslink).
Unfortunately (and this is where it gets annoying) is that with this setting (Optical Passthrough) Dolby Vision and Atmos are not working. So I have to switch back and forth to the settings and switch between HDMI (for Atmos) and Optical Passthrough (for DTS) to get the correct audio to play from the content I want to watch.
I saw some other users posts with this same issue, but there was no final solution, just the Optical Passthrough workaround.

It would be really nice to get HDMI Passthrough to work for all audio codecs in Plex App for Android TV.

I am experiencing the same issue on my R646…very odd but at least its a workaround for now.

PMS 1.25.2.5319 and most recent as of today PlexApp for Android
Denon AVR-S750H via eARC over HMDI

It appears that updating to recently-released Plex for Android 8.28.0 solves this issue (note that ExoPlayer was updated to latest). I can play DTS movies in Plex now and have the audio passthrough. Can anyone else confirm?

Still not fixed for me…I still have to keep passthrough set to optical.

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.