Plex on Sony Android TV not outputting DTS 5.1

Plex Players Smart TVs
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Server Version#: 4.49.2
Player Version#: 8.11.0.22186

I have a Sony XE85 Android TV with Plex app installed, and I just noticed that any video with 5.1 DTS sound is actually playing 2 channel PCM stereo audio to my AV receiver via ARC. 5.1 AC3 works fine.

It hasn’t always been like this, I don’t know when it started though.

If I open the same video file in the Sony media player it outputs 5.1 DTS, if I play it on Plex on my phone and Chromecast it to the TV, it also plays 5.1 DTS. Just not from the app on the TV.

Can anyone help?

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Looking at the specs for the TV, it does not support Dolby Digital or HD audio and hence why it is being transcoded. It also does not support x.265 so if you play any movie that uses this format the video will also be transcoded. This may become an issue if you are trying to watch a 4K x.265 move that will need to be transcoded if your Plex server is lacking horsepower and besides you don’t want to transcode 4K video in the first place.

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As I said, the built-in app and the built-in Chromecast work fine in direct play, no video I’ve played through Plex including 4k video has had to transcode. So I think that shows the TV can handle DTS.

It’s a kd65xe8596 and I can play 4k x.265 without any issues so I think it’s not the same model you’re referring to

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Yeah it was the wrong model since your original post did not have the complete model number. You might check the Plex logs and see why it is transcoding.

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It’s not transcoding, it’s direct playing video and audio.

When it plays through the Plex app the Yamaha receiver identifies it as 2 channel PCM, when it’s Chromecast or media player it correctly identifies DTS 5.1.

I just assumed XE85 was the product series, sorry about that.

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I have a Sony XF9005, which used to play 5.1 DTS/AC3 via the built-in Android, Plex app. I had this working with optical out from the TV to my Pioneer AVR.

I only recently watched a 5.1 source (probably after a couple of months) and only seem to get 2 ch PCM stereo. I’ve not changed any settings, so it may be Sony’s Android OS update or a Plex player update.

PMS is not showing any transcoding and the file is direct play.

Netflix and Prime on the same Android TV pass 5.1 without issue.

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Sounds like the same issue, or at least similar enough to be the same cause anyway. Well I suppose at least it’s not just me?

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Yes. I can’t make use of ARC, as my AVR is remotely away from the TV and I am using a RJ 45 to HDMI adapter, which doesn’t support ARC.

But my setup (using optical out) was working fine before. Have also tried the different Audio options on the Plex app, but still same thing.

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As you probably know by now sony killed hdmi arc dts with the last firmware update. You can change plex passthrough setting to optical (with hdmi arc connection) to gain dts back and you lose eac3 (only for plex, not netflix etc).
There are 2 possible solutions. To rollback firmware to oreo 8 (if its possible, I’m still looking for that), or our good guys here in plex update the app so we can gain full functionality by adding eac3 to their optical choice. By the way I hope someone from Sony explain us why and how they changed their system without a warning. We paid to have these features in the first place.

10

Hello,
I would like some precisions about what you said.

Do I need to connect an optical-cable between my TV and my sound-bar ?
Currently I only have an HDMI-Cable.
(my TV is an Sony 55AF8).

I just check some of my medias, and E-AC3 is DolbyDigital Plus (that’s for my knowledge :slight_smile: ).
AC3 seems to be DolbyDigital only.
So If eAC3 doesn’t work anymore, do the AC3 too ?
If so, that’s not an option for me… I prefer letting my NAS transcoding the audio DTS and consort to have AC3/eAC3…

I hope there will be an update to support DTS, either by Sony or by Plex with eAC3 passtrough optical.

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11

Here there is some bugs listed for our Sony TV since the last update break DTS passthrough…

This can be useful for developers :

Some apps (like Kodi for example) do not evaluate the AudioDeviceInfo but instead probe AudioTrack for DTS. Passthrough works for those apps.

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No, you just put the optical setting in plex and with hdmi cable you get dts and dolby digital. You lose eac3 but it is converted to DD so you still have 5.1 output. If you want eac3 from your hdmi you have to reset to hdmi setting. Depends from your needs, if you have DTS movies stay on optical setting since AC3 and EAC3 play. Anyway you don’t need optical cable

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13

Oh ! Great :slight_smile: I’ll try this “workaround” for the DTS because I have more than severals medias with DTS, or DTS-HD…

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I’ve got this warning when I activate the Passthrough Optical :

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image800×270 34.2 KB

(I’ve got the same warning when I activate Passthrough on HDMI…)

On my sound-projector (Yamaha YSP-2500), from HD-Surround, I get now Surround only for all my eAC3 content.

A DTS 5.1 audio is reported as “Direct Play (DCA 5.1)” by tautulli, and “DTS 5.1” by Plex Dash.
And my sound-projector says : DTS., and show a “SUR.” icon as surround :smiley:

For a Dolby TrueHD7.1, my sound-projector says : Dolby Digital, and show a “SUR.” icon as surround :smiley:

For DTS-HDMA audio, Tautulli says that it’s direct play : “Direct Stream (DCA 7.1)” by tautulli, and “DTS-HD MA 7.1” by Plex Dash.
And my sound-projector says : DTS., but doesn’t show a “SUR.” icon :frowning:

For the same movie :
A DTS Stereo audio is reported as “Direct Stream (DCA Stereo)” by tautulli, and “DTS Stereo” by Plex Dash.
And my sound-projector says : DTS / Dolby PL II Movie., and doesn’t show a “SUR.” icon but it’s normal : stereo !

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 is reported as “Direct Stream (DCA 5.1)” by tautulli, and “DTS-HD MA 5.1” by Plex Dash.
And my sound-projector says : DTS, and show a “SUR.” icon

The DTS 5.1 is reported as “Direct Stream (DCA 5.1)” by tautulli, and “DTS 5.1” by Plex Dash.
And my sound-projector says : DTS, and show a “SUR.” icon

But for another media, and for some reasons I don’t understand, a DTS-HD MA Stereo audio is reported as “Direct Play (DCA-MA Stereo)” by tautulli, and “DTS-HD MA Stereo” by Plex Dash.
But my sound-projector says : DTS / Dolby PL II Movie, and doesn’t show a “SUR.” icon but it’s normal : stereo !
But why is this not only DTS ??

I’ll stay with Optical Passtrough for a time and see what happens :slight_smile:

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My french ( I think) friend stick with it or use kodi app with plex addon and all work fine. In kodi system audio expert settings enable passthrough and click all formats underneath it. If Plex updates you can retry

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@petorf Yes, I’m french :innocent: , I’ll stick with this workaround until a fix is published, if it’s published one day…
I used ti use Kodi before, but some media doesn’t play well with it. And I prefer the Plex interface. I totally abandonned Kodi for Plex :slight_smile: I don’t intend to go back :upside_down_face:

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You can try the plex beta with the new player Release Announcements - Android TV beta
I’m Greek by the way

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I too am super confused about this issue of the Plex app not playing surround sound on a lot of movies and shows. I’ve got a Sony Bravia with eARC and Dolby Digital Plus, with a Sony DH790 ATMOS receiver setup in 5.1.2 . Some titles play in Atmos, some in “DSUR” which is typically 5.1 and others in Master HD, etc. But way too many even newer movies only play in “PCM” stereo.

I tried disabling HDMI passthrough to see if it helps, but then everytime I go to play a movie or show, it pops up a warning dialog box telling me to turn on HDMI passthrough for better sound.

Arghhhh

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Did you try changing passthrough to optical instead of HDMI? It is misleading, as it doesn’t send audio to optical, it just tricks Plex into sending the passthrough correctly on the HDMI port. As mentioned in an earlier post, you will get most 5,1 formats as direct. At minimum, some formats will transcode to AC3 5.1. I ran into this on my Sony and this fixed the issue for me.

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Sony TVs do not report capabilities to the app correctly as far as we can tell. That is why the workaround mentioned above is necessary

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