Audio codec support and surround sound

"RokuKevin" wrote:
firmware v3.0 only will support the HLS CODEC tag for ac3.

--Kevin

Bumping the thread again. Can someone from Roku confirm whether ac3 passthrough works in HLS for Roku1 players running firmware 3.0+? I can get a stream to work on the Roku2 players, but not on the Roku1 players. If it is supposed to work, I'd like to try and troubleshoot why these test streams aren't working. If it isn't supposed to work, is their an ETA on Roku1 support?

Also, can somebody from Roku officially comment on this statement in the Encoding Guide (December 2011 update, section 3.0, page 7):

HLS requires AAC-LC audio.

1) Is that true, or is HLS intended to now support AC3 passthrough?

2) If AC3 passthrough is intended to work, does that apply to both "classic" and current devices?

3) If intended to work on "classic" boxes, does it actually do so? If not, any insights into when it might?

4) Is AAC-LC intended to support 2 channel stereo audio only? (In theory AAC supports up to 48 channels, but I'd settle for 5.1...)

I'm designing a channel at present, but reluctant to get into coding without knowing what is supposed to be going on with HLS audio.

Any update on surround sound support on previous ROKU boxes?

HLS with Surround Sound is working fine on ROKU2, but not previous ones.

MP4 with Surround Sound works fine on ROKU2 and previous boxes.

1) Is that true, or is HLS intended to now support AC3 passthrough?

HLS is intended to now support AC3 passthrough.

2) If AC3 passthrough is intended to work, does that apply to both "classic" and current devices?

It does not have much testing on Roku 1 devices. (Nor much testing on Roku 2 devices, but at least developers are reporting success there).

3) If intended to work on "classic" boxes, does it actually do so? If not, any insights into when it might?

No insights at this point. I would welcome a stream to debug on the Roku 1 devices. Please send me a PM with your hls stream url that includes 5.1 audio and has trouble with playback on Roku 1 units.

4) Is AAC-LC intended to support 2 channel stereo audio only? (In theory AAC supports up to 48 channels, but I'd settle for 5.1...)

Yes. AAC-LC support is for 2 channel stereo audio only.

--Kevin

Hello Kevin,

Thank you so much for your quick reply. Please check your PM!

Thanks for the info. I wish I could post a stream, but all I have is local media (via Plex). However, if there are other experiments I can run that would help, let me know.