For some movies I am not getting any sound from my Z1000 pro. Even if the audio appear to be exactly the same codec etc. Anyone has any idea what is going on? Zideoo is connection to a harman kardon citation soundbar and which is connected to my tv. Example:No sound: Code: Audio ID : 2 Format : E-AC-3 Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus Codec ID : A_EAC3 Duration : 2 h 31 min Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 384 kb/s Channel(s) : 6 channels Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF) Bit depth : 32 bits Compression mode : Lossy Delay relative to video : -5 ms Stream size : 694 MiB (20%) Title : xxx Writing library : Lavc59.37.100 eac3 Language : English Service kind : Complete Main Default : Yes Forced : No Dialog Normalization : -31 dB dialnorm_Average : -31 dB dialnorm_Minimum : -31 dB dialnorm_Maximum : -31 dB Example2, no sound: Code: Audio ID : 2 Format : E-AC-3 Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus Codec ID : A_EAC3 Duration : 1 h 55 min Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 448 kb/s Channel(s) : 6 channels Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF) Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 371 MiB (9%) Language : English (US) Service kind : Complete Main Default : No Forced : No Dialog Normalization : -31 dB dialnorm_Average : -31 dB dialnorm_Minimum : -31 dB dialnorm_Maximum : -31 dB exammple 3: sound is fine: Code: ID : 2 Format : E-AC-3 Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus Codec ID : A_EAC3 Duration : 2 h 0 min Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 640 kb/s Channel(s) : 6 channels Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF) Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 551 MiB (4%) Language : English Service kind : Complete Main Default : Yes Forced : No Dialog Normalization : -31 dB compr : -0.28 dB dialnorm_Average : -31 dB dialnorm_Minimum : -31 dB dialnorm_Maximum : -31 dB Example4: sound is fine: Code: Audio #1 ID : 2 Format : E-AC-3 Format/Info : Enhanced AC-3 Commercial name : Dolby Digital Plus Codec ID : A_EAC3 Duration : 55 min 39 s Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 640 kb/s Channel(s) : 6 channels Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF) Compression mode : Lossy Stream size : 255 MiB (10%) Title : Italian Language : Italian Service kind : Complete Main Default : Yes Forced : No Dialog Normalization : -29 dB compr : -0.28 dB dialnorm_Average : -29 dB dialnorm_Minimum : -29 dB dialnorm_Maximum : -29 dB
The two that don't play have a lower than usual bitrate, but I don't think that should matter. Can you post a small clip of one that doesn't play?
The issue may be related to either soundbar settings (or capabilities) or Zidoo audio setting. My Z1000 Pro has had no audio bitstream issues with Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3), no matter what the bit rate. Mine goes to a Yamaha AVR, however. Is your audio output set to AUTO, rather than RAW (if not, I suggest changing, so then you know it is probably not the Zidoo)?
Yeah, it is set to auto. Setting it to raw no sound comes out from sources, where auto would give sound. Something else has started happening in the last week or so which is super weird: Somethime when I stop a movie or a tv show episode, my tv "reboots"... now what the hell could be causing that? It can either be the Zidoo 1000 Pro, the soundbar or the TV (or the cables, I guess) I updated the Zidoo to latest firmware months ago, but it did not happen back then. My TV's latest firmware is from July. The soundbar firmware is from june 24. So no updated to any firmware in recent weeks. HDMI CEC on the Zidoo is turnedf off, but actually, it seems like the TV can sometime turn on the Zidoo anyway... I have noticed that when I shut down the Zidoo, and don't turn off the tv, the Zidoo wakes up. But if I turn off the tv or change from HDMI input to tv channels, that doesn't happen. I haven't changed any settings in months.
If no sound at all comes out in RAW that seems to indicate that the soundbar doesn't support audio any codecs other than LPCM. In that case, try setting sound to LPCM 2 Channel and see if that works. Posting your EDID here could also be useful.
It supports Dolby and DTS multichannel audio, but not Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. I have a subwoofer and two back speakers, so wouldn't LPCM 2 Channel only give me stereo? Any idea about the random TV reboots?
Yes, only 2 channel LPCM but if you're not getting sound on RAW then somethings wrong and it points to the soundbar not supporting the audio codecs being fed to it. RAW sends a bitstream regardless of EDID.
but in the four media files I tried and posted info for, the audio codec is the same, right? And what am I getting with "auto" when I get 5 channels then?
Yes, but soundbars are notorious pain in the arse - they support one thing but not another - if you get sound from Auto but not RAW for the same file, that means that PCM stereo is being output. As I said earlier, an example file and a copy of the EDID would help understand.
Ok, so that EDID supports LPCM, AC3 and DTS. That doesn't explain why you get no sound from RAW but do get sound from Auto - for AC3 or DTS, RAW outputs EXACTLY the same signal as Auto. Obviously, if you play an unsupported codec with RAW you'll get silence. As for the files detailed above, they are all E-AC3 and that is not supported. However, E-AC3 is backwards compatible with AC3 so you should get audio - quite possibly something wrong with the way compatibility has been handled in those files. Without a sample, I can't tell you any more.
