I have recently purchased a Vero V. I have the below setup:
Vero V
Panasonic TV-65Z90AEB (My TV) on Fire OS 8.1.3.8 (RS8138/2921)
Panasonic SC-HTB600EBK (My soundbar)
The Vero V is connected using the out of the box HDMI cable to my TV on HDMI1, this is a HDMI 2.1 port. My soundbar is connected to the eARC output, HDMI2, on my TV, via it’s eARC HDMI port.
My Kodi configuration:
Settings → System → Audio: (All default Kodi settings barring the below)
Audio output device: AML-AUGESOUND, HDMI
Number of channels: 7.1 (I tried changing to 2.0, no change in behaviour)
Allow passthrough: Enabled
Passthrough output device: AML-AUGESOUND, HDMI
Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver: Enabled
Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) capable receiver: Enabled
DTS capable receiver: Enabled
TrueHD capable receiver: Enabled
DTS-HD capable receiver: Enabled
On my TV, I have the below configured:
Settings → Display & Audio → Audio Output → Digital Audio Format: Pass-through
Settings → Display & Audio → Audio Output → eARC: ON
Settings → Display & Audio → Speaker Selection: External Speaker
I have validated that Dolby TrueHD + Dolby Vision 2160p Blu-ray rips seem to play fine, I can see the Dolby Vision logo on the TV when playback starts, and I can see “Dolby Atmos” pop up on the soundbar when playback starts, which to my naïve mind would imply this is working fine. It would also seem to imply to me that HDMI bandwidth can maybe be ruled out as a potential issue here.
I have tested:
A DTS 5.1 audio source, by trying to playback a Doctor Who S02 1080p Blu-ray rip. No audio, no indication of DTS on soundbar at all.
A DTS-MA 5.1 audio source, by trying to playback a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 2160p Blu-ray rip. No audio, no indication of DTS on soundbar at all.
A DTS-MA 5.1 audio source, by trying to playback a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 2160p Blu-ray rip. No audio, no indication of DTS on soundbar at all.
A DTS-MA 7.1 audio source, by trying to playback an Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark 2160p Blu-ray rip. No audio, no indication of DTS on soundbar at all.
My only guess at the moment (and this would suck I guess) is that the TV does not support DTS passthrough of any sort. In which case I guess I would need to buy a HDMI splitter of some form (that might not be the right terminology, please correct me if I am wrong) where I can split out the audio and video channels independently, and then bypass eARC fully.
I can provide logs later today from my Vero V. Making this post mostly as a sanity check though.
Sorry, but I think this is the case.
I don’t own a Z90, but if RTINGS testing can be trusted the Z85 and Z95 they reviewed didn’t do DTS-HD passthrough so it’s probably pretty safe to assume the Z90 doesn’t either.
Again, sorry.
Try plugging your Vero into your sound bar, that’s what I do.
Then the sound bar passes the video to the TV.
Yeah this does seem to be the case, plugging into the soundbar seems like it will be broken, as it will not support HDR10+, I would have to do something like the below, and use a HDMI output splitter it seems.
If you have any suggestions for a device to deal with this, whilst ensuring Dolby Vision and HDR10+ continue to work, and preserving up to 4K60Hz with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD, please let me know!
Mhhh, the SC-HTB600EBK is a soundbar and not a real surround speakers environment.
Does it make a real difference, if you deactivate all DTS passthrough settings at settings -> system -> audio and by that let the VeroV convert the DTS/DTS-HD audio streams to multi channel PCM?
I can disable DTS/DTS-HD passthrough and rely on Kodi to decode the audio and that will work fine, but I will lose the object metadata of DTS tracks which have that (if that’s the right terminology?).
DTS:X encoded DTS-HD MA can be fully leveraged by this soundbar, and if I were to play those as PCM, I’d lose out on that extra data which would improve the sound experience noticeably. This is obviously not an issue for just “plain” DTS tracks which don’t really have such a scenario where there is going to be a realistic difference. I don’t own this Blu-Ray currently, but off the top of my head, Independence Day on 4K Blu Ray would be an example of a DTS:X movie where this would matter.
For now I’ve bought a HDMI splitter to try workaround this. I’ll give an update how that works out since it might be of interest to people in future.
Your sound bar will take DTS:X input but from there it has to process it and do some level of psychoaucustics I guess to trick your ears.
I mean, it’s only a 2.1 sound bar so you can’t expect too much from it.
So, HDMI splitter came today. Tested out DTS-HD MA, all working perfectly. Wired as per the diagram I posted previously. This is a bit of a hack though. When I want to watch DTS content, I now need to use the soundbar remote to switch from TV (eARC) to HDMI. HDMI-CEC based volume control of course does not work though in such a scenario but no big deal.
The next step up would probably be to get a splitter that splits the audio+video into their own respective HDMI outputs, rather than duplicate both to 2 outputs which is what I have now. That might fully deal with me needing to switch between inputs on the soundbar, some of what HDFury sells seem like it MAYBE might work, their boxes which can handle eARC output + video output seem like they might be ideal for my use case, but a tad bit more pricey than my 20GBP splitter :). That or an AVR that can do this.
It seems very strange that your soundbar does not support HDR10+. In order to do this, 2 things are needed:
the soundbar needs to pass through the HDR10+ capability of your TV to Vero in the EDID and
the soundbar needs to pass through the HDR10+ metadata in a video stream to the TV
Of these, the first can be overcome by telling Vero HDR10+ is indeed supported: Settings->System->Display->Manually set a display’s HDR support->HDR10, HLG and HDR10+. The second might ‘just work’. It does on my old Yamaha. Give it a try.
So, I can see the sky changing quite clearly when forcing HDR10+ in EDID overrides in Kodi settings, and when disabling it (and then rebooting - there seems to be some kind of bug where if you force “HDR10 and HLG” coming from “HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG” that the setting does not take and it needs a reboot - intended?) and then on HDR10, I see no changes at all. LGTM!
I have no words atm with regard to this actually working lol. It begs the question as to why on earth it’s documented as not working so explicitly in the documentation for the soundbar.
