DTS Playback

Plex Players Streaming Devices
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Server Version#: 1.22.0.4163
Player Version#: various

For some time now I have not been able to get DTS playback through any my devices or apps.
I have:
Sony Android TV with Plex App, also XPlay
Amazon Fire TV with Plex, XPlay, Kodi, SPMC
onkyo TX-SR606 amp connected to Kef 5.1 speakers

I used to have to use SPMC to get DTS output but that now won’t play movies at all.
The Plex player on The Fire TV now crashes if I play a movie with DTS.
All apps I believe are up to date.

The only way i can get DTS at the moment to physically put a Blu-ray/dvd in the player.

Can you recommend the best device that I can use Plex on and get DTS output?

Thanks

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2019 Nvidia Shield Pro, AppleTV 4K, or Roku devices.

The Shield will passthru TrueHD, including Atmos, and dts/dts-HD/dts:X audio formats to your receiver (if it supports those formats).

The AppleTV 4K converts TrueHD and dts audio to PCM. The conversion is lossless, so there will not be a drop in audio quality. Your receiver will not display TrueHD or dts/dts-HD, as it is receiving PCM audio.

Others can fill in the details for Roku devices. From what I’ve read, they pass the dts 5.1 core, even if dts-HD is selected. Roku devices do not pass TrueHD audio. I do not know if it is converted to PCM or another format.

From what I saw online, your receiver does not support HDMI-ARC. Therefore, any streaming device should be connected directly to your receiver, not to the TV, for best results.

Streaming device ← HDMI → Receiver ← HDMI → TV

Amazon FireTV devices do not support passthrough of dts audio formats. The audio will be converted to a supported format.

When I play a movie with dts audio on my AFTV 4K stick, the audio is converted by the device (not transcoded by Plex Media Server) to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. TrueHD audio is transcoded by my Plex Media Server to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1.

There are many FireTV devices with varying capabilities. Some may require the dts audio to be transcoded by the Plex Media Server.

Due to the lack of HDMI-ARC support, you would need to connect your TV audio output to the receiver via optical or coax.

You should be able to set the Plex app for Passthrough = Optical and pass Dolby Digital and dts audio. You cannot pass TrueHD or dts-HD due to bandwidth limitations of the optical connection. You will most likely have to configure the TV (not just the Plex app) to enable optical audio output.

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Thanks FordGuy61 for responding. There is a ‘feature’ with the amp that prevents hdmi video switching from working properly so I can’t do video out from receiver. The TV has optical digital out and is set to passthrough and this has been working, using SPMC on the fire tv I was able to get DTS out, the little red light on and everything :-).
Plex now crashes on the Fire TV when I play a movie with any 5.1 or better audio. Not too fussed about TrueHD, nothing on my server with that to my knowledge. I’ve heard the NVidia box is the way to go but I don’t think it has optical or digital audio out?

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Long term, come up with a plan to replace your receiver and Plex client. That will give you the best experience.

I’ve a 2015 Shield Pro and a Denon receiver. The combination direct plays everything I throw at it.

If you do go with a Shield, avoid the non-pro “tube” model. Plex on that model has problems with high bit rate media (audio dropouts, etc).

I do not know what will happen if you buy a Shield and connect it to your TV. In theory, Dolby Digital and dts should both pass to your receiver via the optical cable. The Shield is certainly capable of passing dts audio to the TV. It is more of a question how the TV handles passthrough audio.

What is the TV model number?

What happens when you use the Plex app on the TV? Does dts audio play, does it transcode, etc? Does Dolby Digital 5.1 audio play OK?

Update the Plex client to the current version, then play a movie with dts audio.

What is shown in Plex Dashboard → Now Playing? If needed, toggle the button on the top right to show a detailed output.

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Hi sorry for delay coming back to you, been away for a few days. Further investigations:
The TV is a Sony Bravia 55X8509C
The Plex client is version 8.15.2.24006
TV is connected to receiver on an optical connection
I’ve tried using auto out or PCM, not found a difference.
If I play a movie in 5.1 DD it works fine
If I play a move with DTS I get an error message that just states “An error occurred while attempting to play this video. please check your connection and try again.”
But if I go into the plex settings and turn off the DTS encoding the movie will play, but only PCM is displayed on the receiver.
In the past the only way I get the receiver to recognise DTS was to use SPMC, but that now crashes too, That was running on the Fire TV though, not the android tv.
I’m wondering if there is something about my plex server setup that is making all the clients error when I play a DTS movie?
All devices are ethernet connected on the same network on a gigabit network so I try to go for the best quality I can.

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Thanks for the information. I’m not sure why the Plex app on the TV is not passing dts audio. According to the info I can find online (TV manual, Plex docs), it should do so.

What is the TV setting (not Plex setting) for digital audio out?

Settings → Sound → Digital Audio Out according to the online manual.

In the online manual for the TV, it says “if it doesn’t work, change it to PCM.” However, the manual never says what other choices exist besides PCM. You don’t want PCM. I’m curious as to the other choice(s).

In the Plex app on the TV, you have Passthrough = Optical, and Optical Encodings = AC3,DTS, correct?

settings

That should pass dts audio to your receiver.

The only thing I can think of is to look at the log files and see if they show anything.

Set your Plex server for debug, not verbose, level logging. See Reporting Issues with Plex Media Server for details.

Screenshot (596)
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On the Sony TV, in the Plex app, enable Network Logging. It is in the Advanced section, several items to the right of Passthrough. Note the URL in the lower right corner of the screen, http://ip_address_of_tv:32500/logging. You’ll need it to pull the Plex client log files.

With no other users streaming, play a video with dts 5.1 (not dts-HD) audio using the Plex app on the Sony TV. It is OK if the “An error occurred…” message pops up.

Do not close the Plex app on the TV (If you close the app you cannot pull the log files). It is OK to clear/acknowledge the error message.

Pull the log file from the Plex app. Save the web page as a text file or copy/paste the info into a text file.

Pull the log files from the Plex Server.

Attach the log file from the Plex app and the zip file from the server to this thread.

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