Audio Passthrough in SPMC Working

[czechr08]

While I could not get Kodi to correctly reproduce AC3 audio via pass-through (cuts out for a fraction of a second every 5-10 seconds or so), I have been able to achieve correct AC3 audio reproduction with SPMC.  Playback of recorded mpeg-ts files has been great with no video sync issues or audio issues.  However, I am not getting great playback of live TV (via HDHomerun via tvheadend on an Odroid C1+).  I will need to explore that more, but more than likely it is related to my network/NAS setup.  The best playback experience of NAS mpeg-ts files has been through using Plex / MX player mashup.

My current settings / setup for SPMC is listed out below:

• Android: 5.1.1 HDMI image release 20160505 64gb version non-rooted
  
• SPMC build: SPMC 16.3-0 Git:2016-04-30-22df3d0-dirty
  
• CAT 6 cables between as many devices as possible: Pine64 and Fast Ethernet (100/10) Switch which is then connected to my router (not sure if this made a difference as I did not methodically test it, but before CAT 6 I had lesser cables between some of these devices and I know at that time SPMC was not working correctly either)
  
• HDMI from Pine64 to Marantz Receiver
  

SPMC Options:
Videos:
     Playback:
         Adjust display refresh rate: On start / stop
         Sync playback to display: Off
     Acceleration:
         Allow hardware acceleration -MediaCodec

System:
     Audio output:
         Audio output device: Android, RAW Passthrough
         Number of channels: 7.1
         Output Configuration: Fixed
         Limit sampling rate (kHz): 48.0
         Stereo upmix: On
         Maintain original volume on downmix: On
         Resample quality: High
         Enable audio DSP processing: Off

Hopefully someone can build off of this and continue to improve the Pine64 media experience.

[clarkss12]

Actually, Android and Remix plays my live TV streams using tvheadend backend and HDHomeRun tuners.

Starts around the 3 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPaSRIurhj8

[czechr08]

Actually, Android and Remix plays my live TV streams using tvheadend backend and HDHomeRun tuners.

Starts around the 3 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPaSRIurhj8

I hadn't tried direct streams but that isn't my goal for my system.  While I am familiar with the apps used in that video and have those on my personal phone, I intend to use Pine64 with SPMC/Kodi so that I may make use of the timeshift abilities of tvheadend.  But perhaps I'll make use of TVHClient as a stop-gap measure until live TV in SPMC improves.  Thanks.

[FoZo]

Hi
thank you for sharing your setup.
Are you getting 7.1 audio with those settings?

[czechr08]

Hi
thank you for sharing your setup.
Are you getting 7.1 audio with those settings?

That is a great question and I do not have an answer for you at this time.  While I have 7.1 selected in my settings, I don't have a single file that contains 7.1 audio. The most I have seen in my movie/HDTV recordings has been 5.1 audio.  I will need to try ripping a movie with 7.1 audio....or find a 7.1 audio test file online somewhere.

[FoZo]

Hi
thank you for sharing your setup.
Are you getting 7.1 audio with those settings?

That is a great question and I do not have an answer for you at this time.  While I have 7.1 selected in my settings, I don't have a single file that contains 7.1 audio. The most I have seen in my movie/HDTV recordings has been 5.1 audio.  I will need to try ripping a movie with 7.1 audio....or find a 7.1 audio test file online somewhere.

But at least 5.1 audio works fine?

[czechr08]

Hi
thank you for sharing your setup.
Are you getting 7.1 audio with those settings?

That is a great question and I do not have an answer for you at this time.  While I have 7.1 selected in my settings, I don't have a single file that contains 7.1 audio. The most I have seen in my movie/HDTV recordings has been 5.1 audio.  I will need to try ripping a movie with 7.1 audio....or find a 7.1 audio test file online somewhere.

But at least 5.1 audio works fine?

While 5.1 works there still remains issues with overall sync between the video and audio. The video tends to stutter without affecting the audio.

[lbm34]

While I could not get Kodi to correctly reproduce AC3 audio via pass-through (cuts out for a fraction of a second every 5-10 seconds or so), I have been able to achieve correct AC3 audio reproduction with SPMC.  Playback of recorded mpeg-ts files has been great with no video sync issues or audio issues.  However, I am not getting great playback of live TV (via HDHomerun via tvheadend on an Odroid C1+).  I will need to explore that more, but more than likely it is related to my network/NAS setup.  The best playback experience of NAS mpeg-ts files has been through using Plex / MX player mashup.

My current settings / setup for SPMC is listed out below:

• Android: 5.1.1 HDMI image release 20160505 64gb version non-rooted
  
• SPMC build: SPMC 16.3-0 Git:2016-04-30-22df3d0-dirty
  
• CAT 6 cables between as many devices as possible: Pine64 and Fast Ethernet (100/10) Switch which is then connected to my router (not sure if this made a difference as I did not methodically test it, but before CAT 6 I had lesser cables between some of these devices and I know at that time SPMC was not working correctly either)
  
• HDMI from Pine64 to Marantz Receiver
  

SPMC Options:
Videos:
     Playback:
         Adjust display refresh rate: On start / stop
         Sync playback to display: Off
     Acceleration:
         Allow hardware acceleration -MediaCodec

System:
     Audio output:
         Audio output device: Android, RAW Passthrough
         Number of channels: 7.1
         Output Configuration: Fixed
         Limit sampling rate (kHz): 48.0
         Stereo upmix: On
         Maintain original volume on downmix: On
         Resample quality: High
         Enable audio DSP processing: Off

Hopefully someone can build off of this and continue to improve the Pine64 media experience.

Hi,
I tried this setup with the last build (5.1.1 2016-10-19) and spmc 16.4.2 from the playstore. I don't have 5.1 surround. How did you do ? When i set "Output Configuration: Fixed", the passthrough option below is hidden. I only can set passthrough "on" with "Output Configuration: Optimized or Best match". When i set the passthrough option ON, i only get crashed sound. Did you tried that setup with updated software like mine since your post ?

[czechr08]

While I could not get Kodi to correctly reproduce AC3 audio via pass-through (cuts out for a fraction of a second every 5-10 seconds or so), I have been able to achieve correct AC3 audio reproduction with SPMC.  Playback of recorded mpeg-ts files has been great with no video sync issues or audio issues.  However, I am not getting great playback of live TV (via HDHomerun via tvheadend on an Odroid C1+).  I will need to explore that more, but more than likely it is related to my network/NAS setup.  The best playback experience of NAS mpeg-ts files has been through using Plex / MX player mashup.

My current settings / setup for SPMC is listed out below:

• Android: 5.1.1 HDMI image release 20160505 64gb version non-rooted
  
• SPMC build: SPMC 16.3-0 Git:2016-04-30-22df3d0-dirty
  
• CAT 6 cables between as many devices as possible: Pine64 and Fast Ethernet (100/10) Switch which is then connected to my router (not sure if this made a difference as I did not methodically test it, but before CAT 6 I had lesser cables between some of these devices and I know at that time SPMC was not working correctly either)
  
• HDMI from Pine64 to Marantz Receiver
  

SPMC Options:
Videos:
     Playback:
         Adjust display refresh rate: On start / stop
         Sync playback to display: Off
     Acceleration:
         Allow hardware acceleration -MediaCodec

System:
     Audio output:
         Audio output device: Android, RAW Passthrough
         Number of channels: 7.1
         Output Configuration: Fixed
         Limit sampling rate (kHz): 48.0
         Stereo upmix: On
         Maintain original volume on downmix: On
         Resample quality: High
         Enable audio DSP processing: Off

Hopefully someone can build off of this and continue to improve the Pine64 media experience.

Hi,
I tried this setup with the last build (5.1.1 2016-10-19) and spmc 16.4.2 from the playstore. I don't have 5.1 surround. How did you do ? When i set "Output Configuration: Fixed", the passthrough option below is hidden. I only can set passthrough "on" with "Output Configuration: Optimized or Best match". When i set the passthrough option ON, i only get crashed sound. Did you tried that setup with updated software like mine since your post ?

I originally obtained SPMC via github, not the playstore.  When I have time later tonight I will try getting the latest build from github and see if I can make all the option changes that I could make in 16.3. I have not tried it with the latest android build for Pine64 (5.1.1 2016-10-19). I am still on android build 5.1.1 2016-07-11.