Newer Dolby audio (7.1, Atmos) not playing properly

[mooch91]

Hi all,

Having trouble with 7.1 audio (True HD + Dolby Atmos) on my rips, and I'm not sure what in the chain of my setup is failing...

My setup is: MakeMKV > True NAS > Jellyfin > Roku (Jellyfin app) > Yamaha receiver.

I've tried on both a Blu-Ray and an UHD disc. The True HD + Dolby Atmos stream is being decoded from a PCM 2.0 signal on my receiver and doesn't output to all channels, including my subwoofer. The 5.1 streams seem to be recognized and work just fine.

I always select all of the English audio tracks, and I unselect those in other languages when ripping. Jellyfin lets me select among all of the audio tracks.

I have confirmed it's not the receiver. It can play the audio and it works as expected in all channels when I play the disc to it directly on a Blu-Ray player.

It's either in the rip, Jellyfin, or the Roku.

I'm not super familiar with audio codecs, but this is what the web tells me the Roku Ultra should play:

• Digital stereo over HDMI®
  
• DTS Digital Surround™ pass through over HDMI
  
• Dolby Atmos® decode via HDMI*(*Requires Dolby Atmos compatible speakers.)
  

Two of the rips which don't play audio as expected are as follows:

• Dolby Atmos (on the disc); Dolby True HD + Dolby Atmos (in Jellyfin)
  

Rips which do play audio expected seem to be:

• DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
  

Can anyone help?  Transcoding issue? Can provide more info as needed.

Thanks!

[mooch91]

This is what I'm seeing on the Dashboard when playing these particular formats:
   

[mooch91]

A detailed update to my issues, in case anyone is still able to help.  I've since found the issue is not specific to 7.1 audio, it's related to newer, higher definition audio formats.  And also, though I do have a Roku Ultra, it's actually a 2018 unit, so it's likely different than the specs I posted above which are from the most recent model.

My receiver shows the audio input signal as well as what it's outputting, so I've been using that for troubleshooting. The input to the receiver has been particularly helpful, as it is my best indication of what's coming from upstream (i.e., Jellyfin/Roku).

I've clarified the issue that I've been having is that any Dolby TrueHD / Dolby Atmos audio content was coming in to my receiver as PCM 2.0 input, and therefore only achieving 2 channels of output. The same is actually true of some other higher resolution audio formats as well.

I've set the Jellyfin client on the Roku to prefer the DD (AC3) audio codec. Now all of my media is at least coming through to my receiver in Dolby Digital 5.1 channels and I'm getting proper outputs to the 5.1 speakers. This is an improvement.

The Jellyfin client in Roku also offers AAC, DD+ (EAC3), and DTS preferred audio codecs. When I sent to any of the other three, my receiver sees only PCM 2.0 input for the True HD / Atmos content.

So here are the current Jellyfin formats and how they are showing up to my receiver.  You can see there is even some inconsistency.

• Dolby TrueHD + Dolby Atmos > DD (Ant Man and Wasp 4K UHD)
  
• TrueHD > DD (Iron Man Blu Ray)
  
• DTS-HD MA > DTS (Apollo 13 Blu Ray)
  
• DTS-HD MA > DD (Inception Blu Ray)
  

My suspicion is that the Roku and the Jellyfin client are what are holding me back. I know the receiver can and has seen a wider variety of format inputs; even my old Blu Ray player delivers a wider variety of audio signals from various discs.

Any additional input appreciated. Thanks!

[TheDreadPirate]

A lot of limitations like this are device related. Something something Roku didn't pay Dolby/DTS enough money for the privilege of passing through all types of audio.

This is why the Nvidia Shield Pro is such a highly regarded device when it comes to audio. It CAN pass through just about all audio formats.