XD9305 surround passthrough not working

[bobbybroon]

I purchased a 65'' XD9305 and a BDV-7200 about the same time, thinking this would be perfect combination. I don't watch many blurays but I wanted the surround sound. I connected the two over ARC, and I have a PS4, PC, and sky Q box all connected to the TV via HDMI, all top rated and highest current standard of cable. So all working perfectly fine you'd think.

Unfortunately I don't get any surround sound from any of them. The PC thinks it is outputting 5.1 sound,  but only comes out over two channels, as does the PlayStation. However when I use apps on the TV and watch films off the TVs apps, I get true surround. So the first way around could be to plug all into the BDV-7200, then send the signal to the TV, but the BDV-7200 doesn't have 4k passthrough, although it can output in 4K, and it only has two HDMI inputs.

So it's sensible to put all in the TV and allow that to transmit the sound to the BDV-7200. I just cand get it to work properly! 

I can't imagine I spent over £2500 on top Sony products to find they cannot so something that is extremely basic by today's standards, so please someone help me with where I'm going wrong in my settings. 

[costin_iatan]

Dear @dutchice,

Many thanks for your detailed and full info reply. I knew you are the right person to address to.

You are not boring me at all with tech info. I like to fully understand what is going on.

I will do a test tonight when I get back from work and revert with the result.

In the mean time I do have a couple of more questions:

1. Although the spec from my tv says it support DTS on ARC. "ARC (Audio Return Channel) (HDMI IN 3 only)
   (Two channel linear PCM: 48 kHz, 16 bits, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS)" I keep reading on Kodi forums that DTS will not pass through on ARC. I will have to try with the settings you provided. I am asking this as I would preffer the option number 1 from your alternatives above ([PC] --HDMI-- [TV] --HDMI_ARC-- [AVR]) and use Kodi Android app on Sony as a player from SMB Windows PC.
2. If I use the above alternative ([PC] --HDMI-- [TV] --HDMI_ARC-- [AVR])  what would be the best settings for Kodi?
3. Is there a way to stay up to date with info on what new Sony firmware updates are bringing when it comes to audio decoding other than just update and discover your own? A link would be appreciated.

Many thanks again and happy decoding!

C

[Kuschelmonschter]

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I keep reading on Kodi forums that DTS will not pass through on ARC.

That's true. But you have to differentiate. This restriction only applies when you play something from within apps directly on the TV (like when you install Kodi on the TV). With respect to the official Android API, BRAVIA only supports ENCODING_AC3 and ENCODING_E_AC3. ENCODING_DTS is not supported though.

There are however 2 situations in which DTS is supposed to work:

- Passthrough from external HDMI devices (like the PC) (in such a case, the Android capabilities of the TV do not matter)

- using the stock Video app which has access to some private APIs

If I use the above alternative ([PC] --HDMI-- [TV] --HDMI_ARC-- [AVR])  what would be the best settings for Kodi?

DTS passthrough should work in this case. Setting up PC and player concerning passthrough can be tricky though.

Is there a way to stay up to date with info on what new Sony firmware updates are bringing when it comes to audio decoding other than just update and discover your own? A link would be appreciated.

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Not at all. All you can do is install updates and try. According to a log that I have seen, Oreo on latest ZF9 and AF9 models implements the DTS and DTS-HD (eARC) APIs. No Dolby TrueHD however. You won't get Oreo on the XD93 though...

[costin_iatan]

Dear @dutchice,

Thank you very much for the reply and helpful info. The info and settings you provided was very useful. The AVR is now detecting DTS sound playing from my computer. 

[costin_iatan]

Dear @Kuschelmonschter,

Your info above helped me understand a few new things and the settings @dutchice provided earlier worked like a charm to set up Kodi playing on the computer. I can now watch movies from my computer with clear DTS sound.

Thank you!

Costin

[costin_iatan]

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Not at all. All you can do is install updates and try. According to a log that I have seen, Oreo on latest ZF9 and AF9 models implements the DTS and DTS-HD (eARC) APIs. No Dolby TrueHD however. You won't get Oreo on the XD93 though...

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I do not have a XD9305. This was the previous post/user. I have a kd-55xe8396. Not sure if qualifies for the Oreo. How do I know if it is a ZF or AF model?

[Kuschelmonschter]

You neither have ZF nor AF models, but XE. Yours is a 2017 model which will receive Oreo as well as it is based on the ATV2 platform. It however most likely won't get the IMAX Enhanced certification which has only been announced for 2018 high-end models. We will see who will get DTS support via apps apart from latest ATV3 based BRAVIAs (ZF9, AF9).