Audio passthrough?

[Jecht_Sin]

So I finally ordered my new audio system. I'll get it on Tuesady!!  I discarded the soundbars and went for a Yamaha YHT 4940 which supports DTS-HD and Doby TrueHD in 5.1.

It has HDMI/ARC and 4 HDMI In ports with 4K/HDR 4:4:4 video passthrough so it won't be an issue to get the right audio from the HDMI devices. What about the audio from apps like Netflix, Plex, Kodi, Amazon Video, YouTube etc.? Does the audio get sent back as it is, with the apps automatically choosing the best audio format supported by the receiver? 

I know Plex has some specific options, but I'd like to know (in advance, before getting mad when setting it up) how it works in general, being quite noob on the topic. Plus I'd like to understand what does not work due to some bugs, as I keep reading around.

PS: Connecting the PS4 to the receiver and then to the TV would add any input lag? 

[Jecht_Sin]

@Kuschelmonschter Sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I have a discussion going on with the Plex developers and I am not sure anymore about one thing. I searched for PCM all over the posts and I don't seem to find it. So..

• What's the case with HDMI ARC passthrough for AAC 5.1/7.1?

Because all I get with Plex is PCM 2.0. The Sony's Video app converts AAC 5.1 to AC3. And SPMC with the options enabled as in the pictures in the previous post converts as well to AC3. Is AAC 5.1 passthrough broken in Android TV or it simply isn't supported due to bandwidth limitations of HDMI ARC?

[Kuschelmonschter]

PCM 2.0 is the maximum unless you transcode to AC3. You can neither output PCM 5.1 nor AAC 5.1. AAC would work from a bandwidth point of view. But it is no widely supported standard for multi-channel audio.

I can hardly believe that the Video app transcodes to AC3. The video probably also contains an AC3 stream?

[Jecht_Sin]

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Kuschelmonschter wrote:

PCM 2.0 is the maximum unless you transcode to AC3. You can neither output PCM 5.1 nor AAC 5.1. AAC would work from a bandwidth point of view. But it is no widely supported standard for multi-channel audio.

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Informative as always!! Thanks!

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I can hardly believe that the Video app transcodes to AC3. The video probably also contains an AC3 stream?

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Double checking it now. And yes, it only has AAC 5,1 and Video converts it to DD 5.1 (so it says in the AVR). Oh, it's coming from the Plex DLNA server, though. But Plex says it is direct playing.

I triple checked copying the video in a USB Key: it plays as Dolby Digital 5.1. And I checked the file info with Plex (which shows only one AAC 5.1 track) and VLC. 

[generalmidi]

Just in case anyone is still interested in this topic: I had the same problem with AAC 5.1 in Plex on my Bravia X90J. Sony media player played AAC in DD. So I fiddled around in Plex settings and got 5.1 working. I simply changed audio passthrough from HDMI to Optical (although my receiver is connected via HDMI). It's strange, but it works