All audio is output as Multichannel 5.1

Platforms Apple TV
#1

First I want to state my settings.
Infuse Audio Output: Auto
Apple TV 4k Surround Sound: Best Quality Available
Reduce Loud Sounds: Off
I also purchased Infuse Pro.

I had a quick question. My receiver is an Onkyo HT-R380 it supports up to multichannel LPCM (up to 7.1 ch). http://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/ht-s3305_manual_e.pdf

When I play a movie with Dolby Digital 2.0 the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.
When I play a movie with DTS-HD MA 7.1 the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.
When I play a movie with DTS 5.1 the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.

I would expect that depending on the movies audio that the receiver input audio would change. Is this not the case?

#2

I just tested a movie with DTS-HD MA 7.1 and the input audio is 7.1 PCM. My settings are the same as yours, so beyond the difference in equipment I’m not sure what the issue could be.

What was the DTS-HD MA 7.1 movie you tried playing?

#3

Thanks for the reply timstephens24. So I used Finding Dory to test. I tried every single audio option and regardless it always showed up as Multichannel PCM 5.1

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#4

That’s weird. For sure stereo should be recognized as stereo at least!

From reading your receiver’s manual, this could be because you are using the “multichannel” listening mode, which is supposed to only work with 5.1 input (page 26 of the manual)
Have you tried using the “direct” mode?

If 5.1, 7.1 or stereo does not play correctly, you might want to try setting the Apple TV’s surround sound option to “Dolby Digital 5.1”. You will lose a little because of the DD compression, but it might solve your issue. So 7.1 has to be converted to 5.1 anyway, since your receiver can only output 5.1

Also, according to the footnote on page 25 + page 26, your receiver can receive 7.1 audio but only outputs 5.1. (you can connect two pairs of front speakers though).

#5

Thanks for the reply jrmec.49364.

I agree with the sentiment regarding stereo. That is why I think there is a bug. Is there any way that I can submit logs?

So the audio that is detect on the input is Multichannel PCM 5.1, but I tried multiple listening modes including direct and it did not affect the detected input audio.

#6

Maybe a silly question, but is your Apple TV connected directly to your receiver or are you going through another device first?

#7

Hi James,

Seems like a legitimate question. It is plugged in directly into my receiver. Also I wanted to add that the audio does change when using other apps. For example when I was using AirPlay to listen to music it was coming in as PCM (not Multichannel)

#8

Hmm, ok.

What if you change the Apple TV’s Surround Sound setting (found in Settings > Video and Audio) to Dolby Digital, or Stereo. Does that affect what your receiver is reporting when playing videos in Infuse?

#9

Yes it does affect it.

If I select DTS 5.1 as the audio track and set Apple TV to Dolby Digital then my receiver reports Dolby Digital 5.1
If I select DTS 5.1 as the audio track and set Apple TV to Stereo then my receiver reports PCM (not Multichannel)

#10

Hello James has there been any updates on this. I see that it is possible to submit diagnostics. Should I do that?

#11

Have you tried an executive reset?? Power off, switch or plugs off??

I used to get similar issues with my Shield.

#12

Hey awesomedawson651, you know I had not tried that and unfortunately that did not fix the issue. I even tried another HDMI cable and no luck.

#13

Does the Onkyo have Pure Direct??

#14

No I do not believe that it does.

#15

I have a feeling this may be related to the capabilities the Apple TV is able to detect about your receiver. In general, we’ve found the Apple TV to be pretty good about knowing what types of audio formats the downstream device is able handle, and sending the appropriate stream - but in this case, it seems the Apple TV always wants to send 5.1 unless you force it to send something else.

For a bit of background, the (oversimplified) audio flow in Infuse works like this.

With Auto enabled in Infuse & Best Quality Available enabled in Apple TV

  1. Infuse detects audio track format
  2. Infuse decodes (decompresses) audio, and pass all channels to Apple TV unchanged
  3. Apple TV receives all audio channels
  4. Apple TV detects the capabilities of the downstream device
  5. Apple TV sends audio in format and number of channels the downstream device can support
#16

Hey James thanks for the reply so I did some testing.

First the one most relevant to your post. Like I mentioned in my original post:
When I play a movie with Dolby Digital 2.0 the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.
When I play a movie with DTS 5.1 the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.
but when using Netflix
When I play a stereo video receiver input audio is PCM
When I play a 5.1 video the receiver input audio is Multichannel PCM 5.1.

Some maybe not so relevant information
In Infuse with PASSTHROUGH set
If I play Dolby Digital 2.0 the receiver reports receiving Dolby Digital 2.0
Playing DTS-HD 7.1 the receiver reports receiving DTS 5.1
Playing DTS 5.1 the receiver reports receiving DTS 5.1
Playing Dolby Digital 5.1 the receiver reports receiving Dolby Digital 5.1
Playing True HD 7.1 - N/A pass through option is not available so the receiver reports receiving Multichannel PCM 5.1.