Which Media Center? ZDMC 16.02 vs SPMC 16.1-2

[GZD]

go back 14.2 , maybe it is a good solution

[Stzo]

Yeah, I read about Kodi team making it more generic and so in the process, breaking lot of things for rockchip devices. Did not know that included passthrough as well. I usually use all of the good addons (via tvaddons) but 5.1 channel audio sources seem to be almost non-existing.

5.1 audio in movies from TVaddons contain MCH PCM audio streams. These can be directly forwarded to the amplifier via HDMI only. Having SPDIF or Coax connection only, it needs to transcode into DolbyDigital format. My Tronsmart R68 META with TronZid 8.3 by lonix firmware with ZDMC (KODI 16.02) from Zidoo 1.0.34 firmware works perfectly in this regard. I use HDMI passthrough, and a HDMI switch that separates the audio from the HDMI signal, and forwards it to the amplifier. I get real 5.1 audio from MCH PCM movies, and get DTS or DD audio passthrough any time, from both local and online videos. Stereo remains stereo.

[ghanashyaml]

5.1 audio in movies from TVaddons contain MCH PCM audio streams. These can be directly forwarded to the amplifier via HDMI only. Having SPDIF or Coax connection only, it needs to transcode into DolbyDigital format. My Tronsmart R68 META with TronZid 8.3 by lonix firmware with ZDMC (KODI 16.02) from Zidoo 1.0.34 firmware works perfectly in this regard. I use HDMI passthrough, and a HDMI switch that separates the audio from the HDMI signal, and forwards it to the amplifier. I get real 5.1 audio from MCH PCM movies, and get DTS or DD audio passthrough any time, from both local and online videos. Stereo remains stereo.

Thanks for the tips!

I too have Tronsmart R68 Meta. However, I am still on stock firmware and considering flashing lonix firmware for a while. Yeah, that firmware has some Rockchip specific changes which makes it possible for ZDMC to work. ZDMC (16.02) on stock firmware, does not give out 5.1 audio passthrough even in HMDI. So I switched to using NTMC (mo123's version) which does 5.1 audio passthrough correctly. There is extended discussion in this forum about this and it seems Kodi is more Android API compliant which makes it not work with Rockchip devices and needs special code for Rockchip. Another option is to use VidMe or SPMC and both (based on Kodi <= 14.2) of those as well work for me. SPDIF does not work properly in my testing.

[Stzo]

Thanks for the tips!

I too have Tronsmart R68 Meta. However, I am still on stock firmware and considering flashing lonix firmware for a while. Yeah, that firmware has some Rockchip specific changes which makes it possible for ZDMC to work. ZDMC (16.02) on stock firmware, does not give out 5.1 audio passthrough even in HMDI. So I switched to using NTMC (mo123's version) which does 5.1 audio passthrough correctly. There is extended discussion in this forum about this and it seems Kodi is more Android API compliant which makes it not work with Rockchip devices and needs special code for Rockchip. Another option is to use VidMe or SPMC and both (based on Kodi <= 14.2) of those as well work for me. SPDIF does not work properly in my testing.

Hi,

I tested also spdif with ZDMC, and it was working well too. I'm not sure if the stock firmware can produce the same result, but my solution does. The only thing that could make you hesitate about changing to another rom, is the settings that you may lost. Copying the Android folder on an SD card, however, they can be recovered any time.
Good luck, STZO