DTS passthrough and AC3 decoding

[Finless]

He folks... I just got my hands on a JB 4.1.2 ROM and it has DTS passthrough in the menus alonf with selecting PCM AC3, etc.

I do not know if this requires a kernel to work or not yet. But it is in the menus as a selection.

I have no way to test DTS passthrough myself. Any Guinea pigs out there?

Bob

[Localhorst86]

me, me me!

EDIT: my device is an mk808 (no BT) currently running finless 1.7

[Finless]

Well shit.... It does not work

While it is in the menus it actually does nothing....

Sorry for the false alarm. Rockchip need to fix this or it is a rockchip hardware limitation!

Sorry for bringing hope.

Bob

[Localhorst86]

aw, shucks...

[son]

aw, shucks...

+1

DTS passthrough would make the mk808 to a perfect device!

[Localhorst86]

+1

DTS passthrough would make the mk808 to a perfect device!

This is what confuses me. All over the internet, in forums, gadget websites and reviews, people say that the android sticks are perfect media centers. After i got my mk808 I wondered how people were saying that, given that it lacks one very important aspect of being a media center: delivering surround sound.

Now, I do not necessarilly need that, seeing as my raspberry pi does serve a great job of being a media center, but I still am baffled about what a great part of the internet considers "perfect media center".

The Android sticks are nice toys, being able to play games and all. But Media Centers? Long way to go.

[son]

Same for me. MultiChannel Audio is a "must have" for Media Centers. I do have a Mede8er as Media Player - it playes flawlessly 1080p, 3D, Isos... everything of course with DTS/AC3. So no big deal, the 808 is just something to play around for me... mostly using Internet media streaming - for this purpose it is fine but still waiting for Multichannel

[Finless]

I will say this is interesting. All my AMLogic media sticks/boxes (jynxbox and Prometheus) support AC3 and DTS passthrough!
They even give you this choice in the settings menu.

So I wonder if this is a hardware limitation of RK3066 or support chips used on these boards?

Bob

[jockyw2001]

So I wonder if this is a hardware limitation of RK3066 or support chips used on these boards?
Bob

No, it's a sw limitation. In the rk30xx technical reference manual you can read the chip can do ac3 and dts passthrough, both via hdmi and spdif.

[Finless]

Well it is odd that even Minix which has great ROM support has not enabled this?
I have yet to see a Rockchip device have this ability.....

This is one of the largest complaints for RK sticks I have seen to date! So you would think it would be enabled by someone for RK devices. Even my RK tablets dont have this.

I could look at the implementation in the AML ROMs I have but I doubt any of that smali code would work since it obviously has to make some hardware settings in the chip which wonty be the same between AML and RK.


Bob

[adrenalize]

On the Minix forum there is a lot of talk about it - I think Rockchip are releasing a SPDIF passthrough soon which hopefully will be in the next Minix release.

Wait and see I guess!

[kuzb]

No, it's a sw limitation. In the rk30xx technical reference manual you can read the chip can do ac3 and dts passthrough, both via hdmi and spdif.

Just a side note: S/PDIF only supports two channels. HDMI supports 8. If you ever have the choice over which to use, you should always be using HDMI. S/PDIF does not, and never will support surround sound/multi-channel audio.

[jockyw2001]

S/PDIF does not, and never will support surround sound/multi-channel audio.

What makes you think that?

Afaik the audio interface and SPDIF support I2S/PCM up to 8-channels. Of course it could be RK will only implement stereo output via SPDIF for the Neo X5. Though I hardly think that would calm down the Neo users

[kuzb]

What makes you think that?

Afaik the audio interface and SPDIF support I2S/PCM up to 8-channels. Of course it could be RK will only implement stereo output via SPDIF for the Neo X5. Though I hardly think that would calm down the Neo users

While technically correct that it's possible to carry multi-channel audio by encoding it to be carried on 2 channels, this is not a function of S/PDIF. This is a function of the audio stream encoding, and therefor is dependent on the receiving hardware. S/PDIF has only 2 channels, and limited bandwidth to transmit those channels. It boggles the mind that some audiophiles still swear by it when it's so limited. The S/PDIF standard is extremely dated, and inferior in every possible way.