Looking for any media player that can bitstream 5.1 Dolby Digital

[janflapjes]

The only app on my Fire TV Cube gen2 that can output a 5.1 bitstream is Amazon Video. With any other player, it will downmix a 5.1 audio track to 2.0 stereo. My soundbar will always indicate 2.0 Dolby Digital, except when I stream Amazon content, then I get 5.1 DD. So the hardware setup works.

Does anyone know of any player app that will put out 5.1 DD over HDMI when the content provides it? Tried VLC and MXPlayer, and they won't do it.

 

[TimmyP]

KODI.

Make sure in system audio (trust me):

Setting level expert

Number of channels 2 (yes two, allows passthrough to work)
Output config best match (I dont think this one matters)
Allow passthrough on
DD AC3 capable yes
Transcoding yes
Then DTS and EAC3 as it is.

These are proper Kodi settings for passthrough digital HDMI, Optical, Composite whatever

 

[janflapjes]

Thanks, that worked!

 

[TimmyP]

np happy to help

 

[gmjh]

np happy to help

Hi. I'm searching everywhere for an Android app that will passthrough 5.1 other than Kodi. Yes kodi works but I've been using it for about 15 years and in all that time there's always a small audio lag when it outputs 5.1. (and the audio offset isn't sensitive enough to compensate properly) Do you or anyone know of any other player that will output 5.1 on Android (as the op says, VLC and mx just don't do it) thanks very much

 

[Finnzz]

Hi. I'm searching everywhere for an Android app that will passthrough 5.1 other than Kodi. Yes kodi works but I've been using it for about 15 years and in all that time there's always a small audio lag when it outputs 5.1. (and the audio offset isn't sensitive enough to compensate properly) Do you or anyone know of any other player that will output 5.1 on Android (as the op says, VLC and mx just don't do it) thanks very much

I think you want a media player that utilizes multimedia tunneling to avoid audio delays. Exoplayer has this implemented so any player that uses that should be fine. For example Plex.

You can also try Nova Player or if you want a simpler player, Just (Video) Player. These will both do passthrough too.

If you want a media server client like Plex, but not Plex there is also Jellyfin which will let you choose an external player if you aren't happy with the internal player. And Emby too.

 

[gmjh]

I think you want a media player that utilizes multimedia tunneling to avoid audio delays. Exoplayer has this implemented so any player that uses that should be fine. For example Plex.

You can also try Nova Player or if you want a simpler player, Just (Video) Player. These will both do passthrough too.

If you want a media server client like Plex, but not Plex there is also Jellyfin which will let you choose an external player if you aren't happy with the internal player. And Emby too.

Thanks very much. I should have specified that it's Android TV that I have slight audio lag with Kodi (and fire tv has the issue much worse) and things like exo is not available for tv on the Play Store. But I should be able to side load all the apps you suggested and see if they work. Thanks again.

 

[Finnzz]

Thanks very much. I should have specified that it's Android TV that I have slight audio lag with Kodi (and fire tv has the issue much worse) and things like exo is not available for tv on the Play Store. But I should be able to side load all the apps you suggested and see if they work. Thanks again.

Exoplayer is Googles open source media player that is used under the hood for most big streaming apps. Plex uses it. It is Google's attempt to standardize media playback on Android.

Amazon also has a FireOS port of Exoplayer that is used by a lot of streaming FireOS apps.

So if you're getting an audio delay from apps like Kodi and VLC but not major streaming services, there's a good chance it's because they use Exoplayer. I don't know if Exoplayer is available as a standalone app, it's just used under the hood by many apps.

I'm not fully knowledgeable on this, I think multimedia tunneling is an Android specific feature so multiplatform apps like Kodi & VLC might not use it because they aren't written specifically for Android.

If you like Kodi except for the audio delay, you can use it with an external mediaplayer once you have found one that works

HOW-TO:Use external players on Android - Official Kodi Wiki

kodi.wiki

 

[gmjh]

Exoplayer is Googles open source media player that is used under the hood for most big streaming apps. Plex uses it. It is Google's attempt to standardize media playback on Android.

Amazon also has a FireOS port of Exoplayer that is used by a lot of streaming FireOS apps.

So if you're getting an audio delay from apps like Kodi and VLC but not major streaming services, there's a good chance it's because they use Exoplayer. I don't know if Exoplayer is available as a standalone app, it's just used under the hood by many apps.

I'm not fully knowledgeable on this, I think multimedia tunneling is an Android specific feature so multiplatform apps like Kodi & VLC might not use it because they aren't written specifically for Android.

If you like Kodi except for the audio delay, you can use it with an external mediaplayer once you have found one that works

HOW-TO:Use external players on Android - Official Kodi Wiki

kodi.wiki

I tried all day to get an external media player to work on streams from a Kodi add on. None of them will. They all worked for local files but nothing that's streaming. The trouble with the guide you posted is that it says nothing at all about external players for Kodi using a stream. It applies to local files only. I know that it's the streaming factor that makes it not work as VLC very briefly said it couldn't find the Web address that the file related to and then shut down. I also can't find any information about using external players with Kodi for streaming anywhere. That's why I posted my question here hoping that someone had used a Kodi add on with an external video player for streaming. I have no idea how to get Kodi to use an external player for streaming. Do you? Or anyone else?

 

[SK4G]

Here is a working example playercorefactory.xml provided by WebVideoCaster. You should be able to modify it to your player of choice.

<playercorefactory>
    <players>
        <player
            name="WebVideoCaster"
            audio="false"
            type="ExternalPlayer"
            video="true">
            <filename>com.instantbits.cast.webvideo</filename>
            <hidexbmc>true</hidexbmc>
            <playcountminimumtime>120</playcountminimumtime>
        </player>
    </players>
    <rules action="prepend">
        <rule
            player="WebVideoCaster"
            protocols="smb"/>
        <rule
            dvdimage="true"
            player="WebVideoCaster"/>
        <rule
            player="WebVideoCaster"
            protocols="rtmp"/>
        <rule
            player="WebVideoCaster"
            protocols="rtsp"/>
        <rule
            player="WebVideoCaster"
            protocols="sop"/>
        <rule
            internetstream="true"
            player="WebVideoCaster"/>
        <rule
            player="WebVideoCaster"
            video="true"/>
    </rules>
</playercorefactory>