DD, DD+, DTS etc. with Marantz AVR

Help and Support Vero V
1

Greetings,

I have the Vero 5 connected into an LG 65" G3 OLED (connected via ARC into my Marantz SR5007), and when I turn on passthrough and enable DD, DD+, DTS, DTS-HD, TrueHD etc. the sound comes out very garbled (only on shows that have said output; menu sounds are fine).

I’ve had a look through Audio hardware and software configuration and from what I can see, the reason for that is due to my Marantz AVR only supporting ARC and not eARC. Does that sound right?

If I plug the Vero 5 into an input on my AVR, then the same file I play the audio works fine with passthrough enabled.

So, if I want to keep a single remote (TV) and have the proper audio passthrough, then I need a newer AVR, right?

In the meantime, the alternative is to just plug the Vero 5 into the Media Player (HDMI) input on the amp instead and just use the Kodi remote? Am I missing anything?

2

If you upload a log, we should be able to see the capabilities of the remote and TV, but ideally post logs with Vero V connected directly to TV, then one with Vero V connected directly to avr.

3

Will be able to do so soon, do you need me to also play a video for each of the scenarios re: the audio issue as well?

4

No need. Just reboot then upload logs after it boots and then take note of the returned url. Hook it up the other way then do the same and then post the urls of both log sets.

Your TV will probably passthrough only DD/+ via ARC or otherwise. I don’t think most LG TV’s support any DTS passthrough and the HD formats require eARC. For maximum audio support your best bet is to plug your Vero directly into your AVR. If your only motivation for connecting it to the TV is support for controlling the Vero with the TV remote I’d think you should still be able to use CEC through your AVR. If it isn’t you might dig through your AVR’s settings to make sure CEC is enabled and if it is you might try doing a complete power reset from the wall (TV and AVR) to reset the CEC bus in case it just got a bit wonky.

5

OK, logs when Vero V is connected to the TV and to the AVR via HDMI (ARC).
https://paste.osmc.tv/dunateteqe

Logs when plugged into the AVR directly via HDMI.
https://paste.osmc.tv/enexedixeh

When plugged into the AVR, CEC is still working using my TV remote to control the Vero V which is nice.

6

G3s have eARC.

Audio Passthrough 
eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus  Yes
eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1  Yes
eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT  Yes
eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1  Yes
eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA  Yes
eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1  Yes
eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)  7.1
ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1  Yes
ARC: DTS 5.1  Yes
Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1  Yes
Optical: DTS 5.1  Yes

^ according RTINGS

NOTE: Most AVRs are better at passing through video than TVs are at passing through audio. I don’t know about your exact AVR but I’d imagine most people would want to plug directly into the AVR.

7

Yes, well aware the G3 has eARC. If you read the OP though, you’ll see the questions that I’ve actually asked. My AVR is also mentioned in the OP (and as mentioned it only supports ARC not eARC).

So it looks like my solution is to plug the Vero V direct into the AVR, but then it means that from a video perspective it can only pass through 4K @ 30Hz. That’s probably OK for now, but once I have more HDR content etc. I’ll need to upgrade the AVR.

8

4K above 30fps is pretty rare outside of demos and what not.
Gemini Man, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, etc.
So you’re probably safe for a good while.

9

Well, I looked into the manual of the AVR and yes, missing eARC capability of the Marantz seems the root cause.
But there are cheap eARC audio splitters/extractors on the market. While playback you need to switch the AVR channel to the AVR port, the audio output port of the splitter is connected to. No idea what happens to CEC with such solutions. Example: https://feintech.eu/en/collections/hdmi-arc-splitter/products/vax01202-hdmi-earc-audio-extractor-splitter

10

Life got in the way and I’ve finally gotten around to recabling this (needed help due to the weight of the TV, to get it off the stand). Audio is working as expected by plugging into the AVR directly.

However, with this setup, I don’t seem to be able to get 4k content to play in 4k resolution. CEC is working fine, I should note.

If I plug the Vero V back into the TV, I lose passthrough audio (per the OP), but 4K HLG works as expected.

On the Marantz AVR if I navigate through the menus to Setup > General > Information > Video

  • Signal > 1080p:60Hz → 4K30Hz (when I play the 4k video, this changes to 1080p:50Hz → 4K:25Hz; if I go into Kodi Settings > System > Display and set the Resolution to 4k (as a test, as I know it’s better to leave the interface in 1080p), the AVR then shows 4K:24Hz → 4K:24Hz, but then playing the same file it still doesn’t fire up HDR mode on the TV)
    Color Space YCbCr 4:4:4 → YCbCr 4:4:4
    Pixel Depth 10bits → 8bits
  • Monitor
    Interface HDMI
    Resolutions 480p, 576i/p, 1080i:50/60Hz, 720p:50/60Hz, 1080p:24/25/30/50/60Hz, 4K:24/25/30Hz

Regarding EDID info:
osmc@osmc:/sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0$ cat config
cur_VIC: 31
cur_video_param->VIC=31
cur_video_param->colordepth: 10bit
para->colorspace: 444
AVIF VIC: 31
VIC: 31 1920x1080p50hz
Colour depth: 10-bit
Colourspace: YUV444
Colour range: limited
EOTF: SDR
YCC colour range: limited
Colorimetry: BT709
PLL clock: 0xdb14049a, Vid clock div 0x000b0000
Aspect ratio: 16:9/full frame
DV type Not DV
audio config: on
audio on/off: on
audio source: I2S
audio type: L-PCM
audio channel num: 2 channels
audio sample rate: 48kHz
audio sample size: MAX
3D config: off

osmc@osmc:/sys/class/amhdmitx/amhdmitx0$ cat edid
Rx Manufacturer Name: MJI
Rx Product Code: 0025
Rx Serial Number: 01010101
Rx Product Name: marantz-AVR
Manufacture Week: 0
Manufacture Year: 2012
Physical size(mm): 1600 x 900
EDID Version: 1.3
EDID block number: 0x1
blk0 chksum: 0x87
Source Physical Address[a.b.c.d]: 2.3.0.0
YCC support 0x03, VIC (native 95):
ColorDeepSupport 0xb8 10/12/16/Y444 1/1/0/1
95 16 31 4 19 5 20 3 2 18 32 33 34 21 93 94 98 99 100 63 64 14 15 30 38 95 94 93 98
Audio {format, channel, freq, cce}
{1, 7, 0x7f, 0x07}
{7, 5, 0x1e, 0xc0}
{2, 5, 0x07, 0x50}
{11, 7, 0x7e, 0x01}
{10, 7, 0x06, 0x00}
{12, 7, 0x7e, 0x00}
Speaker Allocation: 0x5f
Vendor: 0x000c03 (HDMI device)
MaxTMDSClock1 300 MHz
vLatency: Invalid/Unknown
aLatency: Invalid/Unknown
i_vLatency: Invalid/Unknown
i_aLatency: Invalid/Unknown
Colorimetry: 0xc0
SCDC: 0
RR_Cap: 0
LTE_340M_Scramble: 0
DeepColor
checkvalue: 0x87620000

Logs available here: https://paste.osmc.tv/icaqaxoguj

This captures:

  1. Playing a video 1080p
  2. Playing a video 4k HLG
  3. Setting the Kodi resolution to 4k and then playing a 1080p video
  4. Setting the Kodi resolution to 4k and then playing a 4k HLG video

As a side note, when the Vero V is connected to the AVR and I turn the AVR off and it’s just doing passthrough to the TV, the text in Kodi is sharper. Not sure if that’s a) expected b) related to this issue at all.

11

I have done some further testing, if I play just a bog standard 4K file (or a 4K file that also has a Dolby Vision tag, although Dolby Vision didn’t come up on the TV when it played, unlike when it was plugged direct into the TV), on the AVR I go to General > Information > Video > Signal and it has Resolution 4K:24Hz → 4K:24Hz.

If I play the HLG file it has Resolution 1080p:24Hz → 4K:24Hz.

If I play a 1080p file it has it has Resolution 1080p:24Hz → 4K:24Hz.

I’m thinking that this is running into the 4k:30Hz limit that this AVR has, which HDR+, HLG etc. isn’t supported at?

I noticed this in the logs I posted above:
Extended HDMI video details:
HDMI VICs:
HDMI VIC 1: 3840x2160 30.000 Hz 16:9 67.500 kHz 297.000 MHz
HDMI VIC 2: 3840x2160 25.000 Hz 16:9 56.250 kHz 297.000 MHz
HDMI VIC 3: 3840x2160 24.000 Hz 16:9 54.000 kHz 297.000 MHz
HDMI VIC 4: 4096x2160 24.000 Hz 256:135 54.000 kHz 297.000 MHz

12 
2025-10-26 21:53:49.863 T:2916     info <general>: VideoPlayer::OpenFile: nfs://192.168.0.22/volume1/TV/4K-HLG.mp4
...

2025-10-26 21:53:51.831 T:3062     info <general>: ffmpeg[0xb319a4e8]:   Stream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: hevc (Main) (hvc1 / 0x31637668), yuv420p(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/arib-std-b67), 3840x2160 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 12637 kb/s, 50 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn (default)
...
(so, this is a 4k, 50 fps H265 encoded file ...)

2025-10-26 21:53:51.833 T:3062     info <general>: [WHITELIST] Searching the whitelist for: width: 3840, height: 2160, fps: 50.000, 3D: false, 3d mode flags: 0x0
2025-10-26 21:53:51.833 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Using the default whitelist because the user whitelist is empty
2025-10-26 21:53:51.834 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Searching for an exact resolution with an exact refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.834 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] No match for an exact resolution with an exact refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.834 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Searching for an exact resolution with double the refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.834 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] No match for an exact resolution with double the refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Searching for an exact resolution with a 3:2 pulldown refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] No match for a resolution with a 3:2 pulldown refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] No match for a higher resolution with an exact refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Searching for a desktop resolution with an exact refresh rate
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062    debug <general>: [WHITELIST] Matched a desktop resolution with an exact refresh rate 1920x1080 @ 50.00 - Full Screen (27)
2025-10-26 21:53:51.835 T:3062     info <general>: Display resolution ADJUST : 1920x1080 @ 50.00 - Full Screen (27) (weight: 0.000)
...
(so, the logic decided to use 1920x1080p with 50 fps ... since your AVR does not provide a matching resolution of 2160p with 50 fps)
...

====================== Display Cap CTA =================== g0gjk991
480p60hz
576p50hz
720p50hz
720p60hz
1080p24hz
1080p25hz
1080p30hz
1080p50hz
1080p60hz
1080p120hz
2160p24hz
2160p25hz
2160p30hz*
smpte24hz
smpte25hz
smpte30hz

In summary: Your hw stack does not support the playback of this file (4k with 50fps) but you expect this resolution+framerate to be supported.

If I understand this correct, you’re telling your Marantz AVR to upscale Full HD 1080p to 4k … and now you’re wondering why you’re losing information like HDR colour depth since the source material has to be downscaled and later upscaled again?

13

Thanks for validating my working theory, that it was indeed a limitation of the amp. No, I don’t “expect” it to be supported. This was a 2nd hand amp I bought for £100 when I first bought the speakers so I could get up and running. So, I’m just trying to understand what the limitations were (if any). Kontrarian noted that could handle 4K and not to worry, as it’s rare for content to be more than 4K:30Hz. Of course, that turned out to be incorrect as with it not supporting (what I understand to be HDCP 2.2) that means things like HLG, Dolby Vision etc. won’t work when passed through a source connected to the AVR, to the TV.

For now, I don’t have enough content that it’s an issue but it now means at least I know where to focus my next purchase which is on a new amp (I’m happy with our 2.0 setup (or 2.1) for sound - the phantom centre works well), which will likely also result in better sound production for my turntable etc. as a byproduct of that.

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