Forum Discussion

Noah0504's avatar
Noah0504
Channel Surfer
3 years ago

DD+ Not Available When Pass-through Is Selected, All DD Audio Converted If Using Custom

I have made some discoveries, so I have edited this post to be more concise.

When selecting Auto or Pass-through under the audio options of my Roku TV (55S405), Dolby Digital Plus is not shown as being detected as being supported over ARC to my Pioneer VSX-532 AVR.

If I select Auto, all none DTS audio is output as DD (AC3). If I select Pass-through, DD and DTS audio work perfectly. Some services seem to support outputting in 5.1 PCM, but it appears other services such as Vudu will output Stereo PCM. I do not know if it is the Roku or specific service that is responsible for this.

If I use the Custom setting and select Dolby Digital Plus and enable DTS, then all DD (AC3) content is displaying as DD+ (EAC3) on my AVR. Services like Vudu then will output 5.1 surround sound properly.

I am looking for details on how this conversion from DD to DD+ is being done? How much quality is being lost? Using the customs settings is probably the best configuration, but is there anyway to tell my Roku TV that DD+ is available over pass-through?

  • ricky6's avatar
    ricky6
    Newbie
    3 years ago

    Switching back to Roku from an Apple TV 4K in our living room. TV is a 55S405 Roku TV. Having issues with audio options.

    If I set to auto, only DD and DTS show as available and it appears that most sound (even Roku system sounds) are outputted in DD, unless it's DTS content. Netflix, Hulu and Vudu all then appear to output in DD.

    If I set to passthrough, the same audio options show as available (still no DD+, AVR supports it). Playing DD and DTS content in Plex will output correctly. However, most everything else appears to output in PCM 5.1? And Vudu will not output in 5.1.

    I am able to select custome and then enable DD+ and DTS, but then I seem to have the first problem. Everything that isn't DTS is output in DD+ -- even apps like Sling, which do not output in DD whatsoever.

    However, if I plug in a Roku Streaming Stick 4K+, everything seems to work as expected.

    Setting audio to audio shows DD, DD+ and DTS available. System sounds and apps like Sling appear to output in PCM as expected, but Netflix outputs DD+, and DD and DTS content in Plex play correctly.

    Any ideas? It sounds silly, but we're making the switch back to Roku because some of the apps we use are just easier to use -- especially Sling.

    • oldbuzzard's avatar
      oldbuzzard
      Streaming Star
      2 years ago

      If you set it to the DD+ setting, anything encoded in DD+ will play back properly. But anything that isn't DD+ will be downconverted to PCM. Its a problem with one of the latest updates and they refuse to discuss it with me.