No multichannel audio after recent update - Android TV

[xtreamer]

After the recent update of the Android TV client (Nvidia Shield) jellyfin randomly outputs only stereo sound. My AVR then works in upmixing mode. In the Denon AVR I can see, that the input signal is DD+, but somehow only in stereo (2 channels). Pls see attachments. It is interesting that it sometimes works and sometimes not with the same files. But most of the time it does not work.

With some video files I can get the DD+ sound working when I switch between the audio tracks back and forth.

I know that DTS-HD and Atmos does not work. But this problem now appears with simple DD+ 5.1.

When I play the same files with Kodi, every single audio format works flawlessly and is recognised by the AVR.
Does anybody face the same problem?

[TheDreadPirate]

Did you enable Dolby passthrough in the app? Click the gear in the top right of the home screen, Playback, scroll down and ensure that audio output is "direct", then scroll down to Advanced Playback settings, scroll down and check the box for dolby bit-streaming.

[xtreamer]

Yes, this setting is set to direct and bit streaming was activated, too.

[TheDreadPirate]

Didn't Nvidia just push out a big OS update for Shields? The first one in like a year? Can you double check that the audio settings in Android TV weren't reset?

[xtreamer]

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate your help. I will check that and will come back with an update. Honestly, the shield recently crashed pretty often.
Concerning the Shield's audio settings I assume they were not reset, because with kodi (with jellyfin plugin) on the same device the same files play fine with all sound formats. They are all recognised by the AVR.

[xtreamer]

Meanwhile I could take a look, I did not receive an update of the shield's OS.

But the good news is I found the source that caused the problem: it was jellyfin's refresh rate switching setting. When set to 'scale on device' or 'scale on tv', the above mentioned problem remains. When deactivating this setting, audio format recognition works fine again except the known issue with Atmos amd DTS-HD.

The most fun part about this is that ChatGPT gave me the hint:

"2. Nvidia Shield Audio Settings

Match Frame Rate / Resolution: Sometimes mismatches between video frame rates and resolutions can cause issues with audio syncing. Enable "Match content frame rate" in the Shield's display settings."

[e5zggerdhz]

Meanwhile I could take a look, I did not receive an update of the shield's OS.

But the good news is I found the source that caused the problem: it was jellyfin's refresh rate switching setting. When set to 'scale on device' or 'scale on tv', the above mentioned problem remains. When deactivating this setting, audio format recognition works fine again except the known issue with Atmos amd DTS-HD.

The most fun part about this is that ChatGPT gave me the hint:

"2. Nvidia Shield Audio Settings

Match Frame Rate / Resolution: Sometimes mismatches between video frame rates and resolutions can cause issues with audio syncing. Enable "Match content frame rate" in the Shield's display settings."

Oh my god this was actually my problem as well, I was wondering for months!
My Denon Receiver often times just showed "Multi In" instead of the correct audio format. I was beginning to suspect my tv (my chain was: Shield -> TV -> Denon Receiver), but turns out, that it just doesn't support DTS codecs.
One clue was that when playing audio files, my receiver would always show the correct audio format (in this case dolby digital plus with atmos).
Turning "Match Frame Rate" off directly fixes all these problems.
I created this account just to thank you for this fix!

I think this is the relevant issue on Github: https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin-and...ssues/4067