I have a Shield TV Pro 2017 connected to a Vizio SB3651-E6 sound system over ARC (TV is a TCL 55P605). I can get Dolby Digital to direct play, but DTS 5.1 keeps transcoding, “DTS Audio is not supported by this device”. The Shield is setup under ‘Display & Sound’ -> ‘Advanced Settings’ -> ‘Surround Sound’ -> ‘Always’
I’ve read that people have set new Android.xml profiles, but wouldn’t this effect all my other android devices? Can I setup specific profiles for each device via an identifier to avoid that? Also, the information of where to place this file is scattered… 'The sticky should be updated to include the appropriate locations instead of referring to ‘user directory’ and ‘install location’
/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Profiles/Android.xml
This link says I should replace that file with the suggested edits:
They say to name the file Shield.xml, but later in the thread that is said to no longer work. In browsing the Profiles directory, there are many device profiles, but no Shield. Is there really no Shield profile, just generic Android (which encompasses a lot of devices with varying capabilities)?
If this should be in the Shield forum, please move it… wherever I am most likely to receive support. Best Regards.
According to the TCL specifications, the TV does not support dts, just Dolby Digital & Dolby Digital Plus. Therefore, anything not DD or DD+ will be transcoded.
According to the documentation, I am supposed to use ARC as the preferred connection, with CEC (which I did). The sound bar is getting audio, even playing Dolby Digital 5.1 rather nicely, but DTS is getting transcoded by Plex.
The Plex app checks for audio capabilities with what it is connected to. Since the shield is connected to the TV, it’s the TV’s capabilities that affect what the shield does. @SiscoPlex’s suggestion to connect to the sound bar would be better.
So update, I tried playing some DTS mkv samples from a USB flash drive using the TCL built-in Roku. My Sound bar signals DTS with an amber light and I get DTS 5.1. I then plugged the same flash drive into my Shield TV and played the file in Kodi… I get the amber signal and DTS 5.1 audio.
I went ahead and configured PlexKodiConnect and tried playing videos with DTS 5.1 audio that transcode in Plex through Kodi with audio pass-through. I get DTS amber light and 5.1 surround sound…
The TV is set to report Dolby Digital and DTS. See the photo in the post above (Nov 7). When I plug the shield directly into the sound bar, the video was distorted. Instead of troubleshooting that, I followed the instructions in the manual and used ARC as it recommended.
I can try switching the inputs around, it’s just that I have to move the TV, which is a little involved at the moment. It should work as it is though.
I plugged the Shield TV into the sound bar input and connected the sound bar to the TV. The port on the sound bar input is HDMI 1.4 so it cannot pass 4K VIDEO, just 1080P (and has only 1 input). This is why I would like a way to have Plex pass DTS to the sound bar over ARC. I found this tidbit searching:
I got the SB3651-E6 last weekend ($228 at Walmart). It says it has wireless, but you have to plug the rear speakers into the subwoofer. The SB itself is wireless to the subwoofer.
It has HDMI video passthrough (HDMI out) but for HDMI 1.4 only. If you want to use with 4K TV, the video source has to go to the TV first then audio returned to the SB. If you do that and you want the SB to decode DD/DTS, then the TV’s audio out has to support passthrough (bitstream).
Oh, sorry. Did not see your pings. You should be able to use DTS if the app detects support for it. Can you try again and grab logs from both the Plex for Roku app on your TV and the Plex for Android app on your Shield. This will better clarify what the app is detecting. Please note that Plex only uses a device’s hardware capabilities. The other apps you mentioned, may be forcing the audio passthrough at a more hardware level that Plex can’t.
It will be a while before I can change my setup or pull logs. Plex is the app that is not passing DTS, other apps work (both on the shield and even the roku built into the TV). To make plex work with DTS, like I said above, I plug the shield into the sound bar “hdmi in” and the sound bar “hdmi out” into one of the TV inputs. This is not optimal, as the sound bar is hdmi 1.4, so no 4K and such. Does plex not have a setup where you can test ARC? You just need set-top box -> TV input -> TV ARC -> receiver/sound bar.
