Dolby Digital decode & audio options

I love the fact that Dolby Digital is now an option and it seems to work better since the April beta update (haven't had it start clipping as before yet), the problem is that with the tivo connected (UK) it decodes the programmes that do broadcast with DD
and it sounds great, but when there is only stereo being broadcast the xbox still outputs in DD (over hdmi) so the rear speakers don't have any sound.

If I change the system settings to output 'stereo uncompressed' then the a/v receiver (denon x2000) the xb1 is connected to will apply the proper decode to the stereo as 'dolby pII cinema' which creates a virtual surround from the stereo mix.

What I'm getting to is that it would be good for the xb1 to send out the signal (over both hdmi & optical) relative to what it is receiving from the hdmi input, failing that then it may be useful to have separate audio options for the TV function (similar
to the 50hz video option) so you can set the TV to output different to the rest of the xb1.

:)

 

Display & sound settings - Audio output - Pass Through

Hi,

I think it's about time an option was added to the
Bitsream format drop-down menu in the Audio output settings, to allow pass-through of audio instead of having to select between
DTS Digital Surround, Dolby Digital or Dolby Atmos for Home Theatre. This would be beneficial for people who use home theatre AV receivers, so the receiver can detect and decode the correct audio stream from the source being used.

 

VGA setup, with Astro Gaming A40's

@ PinkLunarCamel... ANY Dolby Matrix, Encodes Metadata & then Decodes it for playback.. Even more so, when you use Digital Equalisers or Digital Presets for output...

 

It does or at least the next update does.

Settings-->Display & sound:

- Digital Audio:

1. HDMI audio (stereo uncompressed, 5.1 uncompressed, 7.1 uncompressed, Bitstream out)

2. Optical audio (Off, Stereo uncompressed, Bitstream out)

-if u select Bitstream out (DTS Digital Surround, Dobly Digital)

 

Hello NewBlacksmurf,

Yeah all those options are there, but they effect the whole console and locks it to that choice, so if you select stereo and play a game or watch TV that has a Dolby digital signal, the console doesn't switch to DD its stays on stereo.

For some reason the xb1 doesn't seem to auto detect the audio signal, if that's the case then an option to select just the TV audio compression would be useful (similar to the 50hz for TV under the troubleshooting video option).

 

The Xbox does auto-detect the signal, it has too. The Xbox then has to decode everything into PCM so that it can mix the audio as necessary, it never just passes on the signal. After the audio has been mixed it simply sends out the audio as PCM if that's
what's selected or it will compress it into Dolby or DTS if that option is selected.

If your Xbox is directly connected to your receiver with HDMI, PCM is always the best option. If your audio has to go over an optical or coaxial cable at some point before it gets to your receiver, Dolby or DTS would be the best choice.

The real problem here is that the Xbox will always output a 5.1 signal if that is what is selected, even if the source audio is stereo. This leaves the center and rears blank with everything coming out of the fronts. Your audio receiver is then unable
to matrix the audio into 5.1, because it is already getting a 5.1 signal. If the Xbox switched to stereo when it was only getting a stereo input, that would enable your receiver to matrix stereo into 5.1.

The only issue with this is what happens if say, you're watching stereo content on Netflix and then snap TV with a surround signal. It's then going to have to either switch to 5.1 anyway or output the TV in stereo. I think this is probably why the Xbox
is currently locked into exactly what the user selects, instead of adjusting the number of channels output based on the source.

 

Thanks Koop,

Yeah, that's what is happening, if the option was there to output specifically stereo just for TV it would then allow for the uncompressed or Dolby/DTS for the other apps and gaming.

I think audio-wise when snapping other apps it would keep the main app's setting, i.e. when you have 50hz TV and snap Netflix it stays at 50hz rather than switching to 60hz, so potentially it could keep the stereo audio too.

Ideally it would be good for the xb1 to just switch on the fly and when snapping just keep the main apps audio format.

 

I'm jealous of you guys because my 5.1 is broken ever since the update. Everything was working fine. I've checked and redone every setting possible. I plug my fios box straight into my receiver and everything works just fine.

 

Having the same issue with TV...it'd be great if it switched to stereo (either automatically, or via a setting just for TV as mentioned above)! It sucks to have to pick one or the other right now.