Why can't I get Dolby Digital sound from CS918 rk3188 Android TV box linked to Sony AVR?

[pfspeeddemon]

Hi All,

I have just bought my 1st Android TV box (it's a Chinese CS918 rk3188 model) and since it has SPDIF/optical out I hooked that to my Sony AVR's optical input and set the sound devices manager in the Android TV box to enable "passthrough". I played a video which has 5.1 Dolby Digital sound using MX Player, but alas, even though all of the notification Dolby Digital display lit up on my Sony AVR no sound came out of the speakers ! I cannot use HDMI connections as both my AVR and TV have no HDMI connections.

I got sound straight away when I switched to PCM sound but I am very disappointed as I prefer Dolby Digital. What can I do to get Dolby Digital sound or does my specific model of Android TV box not support Dolby Digital sound ? If you can, please give me step by step instructions as I am a complete newbie to Android TV and a lot the terminology in use on this site is quite difficult for me to understand so please be a bit patient with me.

Here is a screen shot of my sound devices manager settings:

[SilentlyScreaming]

There may be a newer version of the codec than the linked to here, but if you've not yet installed a Surround Sound codec in MX Player, I'd assume that would be the next step. The instructions are quite clear, but I don't have surround sound set ups to test it with.

http://www.equisoforum.com/Thread-HOWTO-MKV-DTS-Audio-Codec-for-MX-DICE-Player

[no_spam_for_me]

I think, maybe (I don't use it) you need the patches libmedia.so from stafstrom. You can download it from

http://www.minixforum.com/threads/how-to-get-ac3-and-dts-pass-through-in-xbmc-hdmi-and-spdif-stafstrom.77/

"!!! The attached libmedia.so won't make any difference without a modified xbmc build !!!"

http://www.minixforum.com/attachments/libmedianeox7fw007patched-zip.10/

Just extract the libmedia.so from zip file and copy it to /system/lib, then restart your box.

There also exist an "all in one":

http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?9633-%28NEWLY-RELEASED%29-JustXBMCv4_MXPlayer-DeFault-Video-Player-Out-Of-The-Box-%28LibMedia-so-HACK-READY%29-No-Script-Errors

[pfspeeddemon]

There may be a newer version of the codec than the linked to here, but if you've not yet installed a Surround Sound codec in MX Player, I'd assume that would be the next step. The instructions are quite clear, but I don't have surround sound set ups to test it with.
http://www.equisoforum.com/Thread-HO...MX-DICE-Player

Thanks for your reply. I've tried this but it doesn't work even using the latest codec for MX player from Google Play (in fact a lot of persons who downloaded this codec complained on Google play that it didn't work). Moreover, after this codec gets installed, MX player still tells you that you need to install this very same codec ! How weird !

If I don't get this sorted I would have bought this android TV box for nothing because I don't want to watch movies without Dolby Digital sound :-(

[pfspeeddemon]

I think, maybe (I don't use it) you need the patches libmedia.so from stafstrom. You can download it from

http://www.minixforum.com/threads/how-to-get-ac3-and-dts-pass-through-in-xbmc-hdmi-and-spdif-stafstrom.77/

"!!! The attached libmedia.so won't make any difference without a modified xbmc build !!!"

http://www.minixforum.com/attachments/libmedianeox7fw007patched-zip.10/

Just extract the libmedia.so from zip file and copy it to /system/lib, then restart your box.

There also exist an "all in one":
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-Script-Errors

Thanks for your reply. I had a look at the links you provided me but but when reading through their instructions I became completely lost...the instructions are way to complex for a complete beginner like me. I think I will take my android TV box to the seller and get him to get the device to output Dolby Digital from SPDIF for me because I am becoming increasingly frustrated at not being able to watch movies in Dolby Digital. Before this TV box all I used to do was download a movie from a torrent to my usb pen-drive which I then plugged into my DVD player (which is connected to my Sony AVR) and I would watch the movie in Dolby Digital. The idea of me getting the TV box was just to avoid downloading the movie to my pen-drive.

[bobo21]

Thanks for your reply. I've tried this but it doesn't work even using the latest codec for MX player from Google Play (in fact a lot of persons who downloaded this codec complained on Google play that it didn't work). Moreover, after this codec gets installed, MX player still tells you that you need to install this very same codec ! How weird !

If I don't get this sorted I would have bought this android TV box for nothing because I don't want to watch movies without Dolby Digital sound :-(

thanks you !

[pfspeeddemon]

Hi All,

I'm still hoping someone can tell me how I can set MX Player to output Dolby Digital sound. Here is a screen shot with details of my device:

[IMG][/IMG]

[Deivs]

There is no way to get 5.1. I installed dts codec from http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps...pport-t2156254 and have not any error from mxplayer, but no 5.1 sound from toslink. i think it is FW problem. i use wasser FW and I dont want to experiment with others, wasser works in full hd and works very well. Maybe that is an answer http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...8&postcount=16

[pfspeeddemon]

There is no way to get 5.1. I installed dts codec from http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps...pport-t2156254 and have not any error from mxplayer, but no 5.1 sound from toslink. i think it is FW problem. i use wasser FW and I dont want to experiment with others, wasser works in full hd and works very well. Maybe that is an answer http://forum.xda-developers.com/show...8&postcount=16

At last, I'm getting a definitive answer ! Tx v much Devis. Just fyi, I have the codec you gave me the link for already installed but still I got no 5.1. I also checked out the other link you gave me and if I'm understanding properly what's being said on that thread , it seems that they're saying that 5.1 sound is not possible on my device (but they are old posts from 2013 and things might have changed by now ???).

Final 2 questions to conclude which I'd appreciate you answering please: So with your wasser firmware you still don't get 5.1 sound ??? There is no way presently to get 5.1 sound from toslink/optical/SPDIF ?

[Deivs]

At last, I'm getting a definitive answer ! Tx v much Devis. Just fyi, I have the codec you gave me the link for already installed but still I got no 5.1. I also checked out the other link you gave me and if I'm understanding properly what's being said on that thread , it seems that they're saying that 5.1 sound is not possible on my device (but they are old posts from 2013 and things might have changed by now ???).

Final 2 questions to conclude which I'd appreciate you answering please: So with your wasser firmware you still don't get 5.1 sound ??? There is no way presently to get 5.1 sound from toslink/optical/SPDIF ?

Yes, 5.1 sound from toslink optical with Wasser 1.0.4 FW currently not working. I dont know how it works with other FW and HDMI, my tv dont support 5.1 sound I think. My pcb version CS918 Board CYX_CS918 V2_3

[pfspeeddemon]

Yes, 5.1 sound from toslink optical with Wasser 1.0.4 FW currently not working. I dont know how it works with other FW and HDMI, my tv dont support 5.1 sound I think. My pcb version CS918 Board CYX_CS918 V2_3

Thanks, your replies are much appreciated...well, the funny thing is when I use MX player, my Sony AVR detects 5.1 coming from my android TV box via toslink/optical/SPDIF (i.e. all Dolby digtal indicator lights turn on) but no sound comes out from speakers...I feel like I am so close to solving this problem but yet so far, especially if it as you are saying that 5.1 sound from toslink optical is currently not working.

[pfspeeddemon]

Any chance of some CS918 rk31800 Android TV box owners giving us a reply ? Is it possible to get Dolby Digital through this box or not ?

[digger]

Hi pfspeeddemon,
Don't have any doubt about DD5.1 and DTS support for RK3188.
I have my box flashed with wasser 1.0.3 KK ROM and I use MX Player Pro for watching movies.
My device is little different from your(see my sign below), but both DD5.1 and DTS work perfectly via SPDIF on my old JVC AV receiver.
My previous 3188 based box did the same with DD5.1 and DTS through optical cable.
I'm not sure but I think AV(analog) mode in settings for TV out can make this issue.
Unfortunetely I can't check it because all of my TVs don't have AV input, HDMI only.

[pfspeeddemon]

Hi pfspeeddemon,
Don't have any doubt about DD5.1 and DTS support for RK3188.
I have my box flashed with wasser 1.0.3 KK ROM and I use MX Player Pro for watching movies.
My device is little different from your(see my sign below), but both DD5.1 and DTS work perfectly via SPDIF on my old JVC AV receiver.
My previous 3188 based box did the same with DD5.1 and DTS through optical cable.
I'm not sure but I think AV(analog) mode in settings for TV out can make this issue.
Unfortunetely I can't check it because all of my TVs don't have AV input, HDMI only.

Hi digger, first of all thanks for your reply. At last someone has confirmed that my box should output DD5.1 and DTS through optical cable. With MX player when I enabled "H/W decoding" my AVR lit up showing DD but all I got was a sharp and short crackling burst of sound for a second or two. With XBMC's player here is a screen shot of the XBMC settings I used and how it went:




With the above settings my Sony AV receiver lights up showing that it's getting Dolby Digital (see picture) but no sound comes out of the speakers





If I change the "no.of channels" setting or I disable the "enable Dolby Digital transcoding" setting I get sound sound straight away but it is 2.0 channel PCM sound.


FYI my XBMC version is 13.1.

You said that your device is flashed with Wasser firmware...but all this terminology ("flashing", "ROM", "kernel","build no." etc., etc.) is confusing me (I am a complete noobie to Android TV) and I wish I could be given a step-by-step guide on what needs to be done to get this firmware installed correctly if it will give me Dolby Digital sound because I have read several threads about users ending without a functional box because they do a wrong firmware upgrade. I don't even know what my box's firmware version is or where/how to look for it.


Any further advice would be most welcome.

[pfspeeddemon]

Re my previous post above, any chance of getting a reply or a link to some step-by-step guide to installing the latest Wasser firmware ?