[Listener]

Hi to All,

My video library has hundreds of files, KODI are saying those are AAC 5.1
I am using KODI in a new Sony Android TV (Sony Bravia KD-55XH9077S), latest KODI is always installed. No other devices involved.

My prev 2.1 soundbar just went wrong, so I am in the middle to decide what to buy instead. Using TV built in speakers are not an option for me.
So far I do not concerned AAC, so KODI was configured to 2.0 channel, then used the poor man's compression to make the sound effects not so loud. (Volume down and Volume Amplification up).

Being an amateur, I am really confused, because there are KODI's own settings about channel count and AAC passthrough and also the Sony Android TV has its native settings.
The sound bar spec is saying about optical input: "Dolby Digital,Dolby Dual mono,LPCM 2ch". Now I do not know what to do with this with AAC :-(
I would also prefer using the HDMI (ARC) input (for some reason I see on the soundbar photo it is labelled as output?!...) because this way I got CEC and also Bravia sync, but somewhere this forum I've read AAC usually do not pass through on HDMI... (it is not clear that for me, it means a) do not pass to the sound system from the TV, or b) If a multimedia PC connected to a TV through HDMI, and KODI runs on the multimedia PC, then AAC will not pass through..)

Anyway I completely confused, I will really appreciate if someone could point me to what to read, what to check, or just wrote some clarifying sentence what am I missing.

The Sony 5.1 system (soundbar) is a cheapo one, expect nothing fancy:
https://www.sony.com/en-ao/electronics/s...s#features

[gibxxi]

Hi to All,

My video library has hundreds of files, KODI are saying those are AAC 5.1
I am using KODI in a new Sony Android TV (Sony Bravia KD-55XH9077S), latest KODI is always installed. No other devices involved.

My prev 2.1 soundbar just went wrong, so I am in the middle to decide what to buy instead. Using TV built in speakers are not an option for me.
So far I do not concerned AAC, so KODI was configured to 2.0 channel, then used the poor man's compression to make the sound effects not so loud. (Volume down and Volume Amplification up).

Being an amateur, I am really confused, because there are KODI's own settings about channel count and AAC passthrough and also the Sony Android TV has its native settings.
The sound bar spec is saying about optical input: "Dolby Digital,Dolby Dual mono,LPCM 2ch". Now I do not know what to do with this with AAC :-(
I would also prefer using the HDMI (ARC) input (for some reason I see on the soundbar photo it is labelled as output?!...) because this way I got CEC and also Bravia sync, but somewhere this forum I've read AAC usually do not pass through on HDMI... (it is not clear that for me, it means a) do not pass to the sound system from the TV, or b) If a multimedia PC connected to a TV through HDMI, and KODI runs on the multimedia PC, then AAC will not pass through..)

Anyway I completely confused, I will really appreciate if someone could point me to what to read, what to check, or just wrote some clarifying sentence what am I missing.

The Sony 5.1 system (soundbar) is a cheapo one, expect nothing fancy:
https://www.sony.com/en-ao/electronics/s...s#features

The following is based on what I've read / researched and not personal experience, as I use a dedicated amplifier with separate speakers, connected to a HTPC, so your mileage may vary...

The ARC HDMI connector on the soundbar will connect to the corresponding ARC HDMI connector on the TV. The "Output" label on the picture will likely be a bit of a misnomer. It is outputting "data", but that will be CEC-related control data. It will at the same time receive audio and CEC data from the TV in true 5.1 format, or whatever format the TV's output supports, but the TV will likely be responsible for the decoding, and thus it needs to tell the soundbar which speaker to output each sound channel to. The Toslink (Optical) input is a alternative input source that provides an alternative to HDMI, since SCART is now dead technology. Older TVs and audio / visual kit people own may not have HDMI, but will likely have Optical Digital connectors if made within the last 20 years.

The downside to Optical Digital (Toslink) cables is that they are limited to 2.1 channel audio, or 5.1 encapsulated / encoded in a 2.1 channel stream, i.e: LDPCM (or log differential pulse code modulation - to give it it's full name). Bandwidth limitations of the optical digital standard prevents anything higher, and the receiving equipment still has to know how to deal with such a kludge (in the case of 5.1 audio codec packaged inside a 2.1 carrier stream). A lot of TVs only output 2.1 audio via optical, while still offering 5.1 via HDMI. Essentially, optical digital is obsolete, just not so obsolete as composite / phono plugs / SCART connectors, so is still offered as a "backup / alternative" on modern kit. Use the HDMI cable between the dedicated ARC HDMI sockets on both TV and sound bar and forget about the digital cable unless you have no other choice.

On your TV, make sure the sound output is set to "HDMI" and not "Speakers" or "Optical / Digital Out", and it should work as expected. The supported codec formats listed in Kodi (TrueHD, DTS, Dolby Digital, etc.) are only relevant to those people who have hardware like an external amplifier capable of decoding these types of stream (Hence the seperate "pass-through" settings). Unless this soundbar supports decoding those formats, and it will have the relevant logos actually on the unit itself if it does, passthrough is not a setting you'll be able to make use of, or have to worry about. The TV will decode / downsample the audio prior to it sending it to the soundbar, but given the ARC HDMI connection to the soundbar, it will be aware of the soundbar's capabilities and act accordingly. But be SURE that you have the HDMI cable from the soundbar plugged into the ARC HDMI connector on the TV (There will be only one, most likely HDMI-1). Also, in Kodi, since you won't be using an external amplifier, and now have a true 5.1 capable soundbar, change Kodi's output from 2.0 / 2.1 to 5.1 and you shouldn't get the wild discrepency in volumes you experienced with your prior setup.

Dan / Gib.

EDIT: The other advange of HDMI over optical digital, is that once the setup is sorted, you ought to be able to control volume levels on the soundbar system with your TV remote, rather than having to use both TV remote and soundbar remote (just for volume changes).