Only bitstream audio if Atmos metadata present

Feature Requests
1

Hi all,

I hope everyone is good here.

I do really apologise if this has been discussed already. I have tried searching, but it appears there are too many topics with similar keywords and a slightly different subject, as audio can get complicated.

I bought a Vero 4k+ a good while ago now, but finally got my speakers setup recently and have now been playing around in audio land.

I initially borrowed an AVR before buying my own. I found that with the borrowed AVR, I liked the DTS Neural:X upmixer much better than the Dolby surround upmixer, however that upmixer is not able to be used when the audio is a Dolby codec.

So I bought my own AVR, Denon AVR-X3600h. On the website of the store I bought it from, it clearly states that the DTS upmixer can be used with Dolby codecs. However, when I got it home, this was not true. This feature was only on models released the previous year, where also, the model with 9 channels is more expensive.

But Kodi & OSMC save the day here, as I can just tell it not to bitstream Dolby codecs! This is awesome and sounds much better!

But I do have an issue now, with Dolby D+ Atmos content and TrueHD Atmos content…

Right now, I have it setup to bitstream TrueHD, but not D+. Which is a compromised setup. But I figured the vast majority of Atmos content I have is TrueHD coded, and the vast majority of D+ content does not carry Atmos, right now…
But you can see the dilemma, I can’t use the DTS upmixer with non-Atmos TrueHD content in this setup, which I would really like to, and any D+ content I never get the Atmos.

Is there any way to tweak a config file, so that the bitstream choice logic can depend on is Atmos metadata is present? Or have the option to passthrough the Atmos metadata, but decode the audio to PCM?

If the latter is possible, it also makes me wonder if it could be tweaked to use the DTS:X or IMAX:X renderer on the AVR for Atmos content… That that’s wholly another feature request I know.

Any help at all would be appreciated.

All the best!

2

No. This would need a code change.

No.

3

Cool. Thanks for clarifying.

Would this be a feature request to Kodi rather than OSMC then?

4

Yes – but I think it’s very niche, and it’s unlikely that Kodi will implement this.

5

Kodi actually doesn’t know anything about the additional Atmos or DTS:X metadata. So, it’s not at all likely this would be implemented (any time soon, if at all)… First, Kodi would have to use a ffmpeg version actually providing this information and it would have to then do what you ask with said metadata.

6

Yes - but Kodi should eventually ship an ffmpeg version that can discern this.

Sam