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Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - Printable Version

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Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - ghoeky - 2012-08-30

Hi all, I have this problem with getting Dolby digital 5.1 sound through my Sony receiver. I have a PC with my ripped movies a wired home network with an Apple TV2 connected over Ethernet, the Apple tv is connected to my Sony receiver with Optical digital cable. The ATV2 is jail broken and XBMC 11 installed everything works fine except the DD 5.1 audio. I have read other posts about similar problems but this seems to be an XBMC issue not a hard ware one I think. When i rip a movie with Handbrake to a MP4 format with DTS or Dolby Digital Pass through XBMC only plays two channels through the speakers, if I select the 5.1 Dolby audio option when playing back the movie in XBMC I get no sound at all. But if I play the movie back using itunes and the apple tv I do get the 5.1 digital sound I know for sure because the Sony amp has a blue light light up when it is decoding the audio. I tried ripping a movie to MKV but still no 5.1 using XBMC, the funny thing is I downloaded one torrent movie from the internet in a MKV format and XBMC did play it back with 5.1 DD so I am not sure whats going on ,any answer would be much appreciated.


RE: Doldy 5.1 Audio problem - Ardalista - 2012-08-30

have you told xbmc you have a dolby / dts receiver in audio settings?



RE: Doldy 5.1 Audio problem - Memphiz - 2012-08-31

set audio from auto to 16 bit in the appletv2 settings (outside of xbmc) and try again with the 5.1 option and dts/ac3 capable receiver options ticked in xbmc.


RE: Doldy 5.1 Audio problem - ghoeky - 2012-08-31

Yes guys I have done all these things, XBMC audio settings set to 5.1 and and dts/ ac3 and optical/coax out, and I have tried the setting on the ATV2 to 16 bit and auto but no differance


RE: Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - Memphiz - 2012-09-03

Incompatible Receiver then most likely


RE: Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - DDDamian - 2012-09-03

If one of your movies played back with DD 5.1 I'd look closely at your ripping...


RE: Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - ghoeky - 2012-09-03

I agree Damian,it could well be something like that but why do i have no problems playing back with itunes and the apple TV2 an MP4 movie will play full surround sound through itunes but the same movie wont through XBMC surely its not the receiver if this is the case?


RE: Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - DDDamian - 2012-09-03

(2012-09-03, 22:34)ghoeky Wrote: I agree Damian,it could well be something like that but why do i have no problems playing back with itunes and the apple TV2 an MP4 movie will play full surround sound through itunes but the same movie wont through XBMC surely its not the receiver if this is the case?

Agree. We use ffmpeg for the AC3 demuxing/decoding which is a very mature package, but it not the same as what itunes would use.

Best I can say is post two logs - one with the file that worked and one with a file that doesn't. Might also be worth using MediaInfo to look for obvious differences in the way the working and non-working files are coded/interleaved.

A final thought is to try remuxing a non-working file in a different container like .avi or .mkv and try it.


RE: Dolby 5.1 Audio problem - ghoeky - 2012-10-18

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner DDDamian,
I don't know what you mean by posting a log or how to do it, but the Media info on some movies is as follows;

movie- SENNA : MKV/720 / H.264 /AC3 dts 5.1/ 16:9 / Blu ray disc.

movie- Hunger Games: MKV/720 / H.264 /AC3 Dolby Digital 5.1/ 2.35/ DVD

movie- The Bourne Identity: MKV/SD / H.264 /AC3 Dolby Digital 5.1/ 2.35/ DVD


The only movie that played back full surround sound was SENNA which was downloaded from the net.
The Hunger Games was also downloaded from the net.
And the movie The Bourne Identity was ripped by me using Handbrake

Like I said before playing an MP4 movie through iTunes streams full surround sound no prob so it has to be XBMC somehow.