Roku Developer Program

[scyber]

"Alighieri" wrote:

"scyber" wrote:
... but can anyone confirm whether the released version of 3.0 supports ac3 in HLS? I can get it working on my Roku2 unit, but HLS streams with ac3 don't work at all on my Roku1 (HD-XR) unit running the latest 3.0 firmware. Just want to know if I should stop try and just put a version check in place.

Have you run your tests under firmware 3.1? Some of us are beginning to speculate that the unsuccessful attempt to support AC3 in HLS in 3.x firmware may be the reason why HLS is not working properly.

No I have not tested ac3 in 3.1 yet. And HLS works fine in 3.x for my usage as long as I use aac stereo audio.

Certainly as noted here
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45900&start=15#p311799

A) Not to sound harsh, but that link is to a locked thread. I'd prefer not to dig up locked threads.
B) At least one of the links (to the plex forums) in that post is dealing with the Roku2 and the 4.x firmware. The bug there had to do with nested m3u8 files and IIRC it was resolved in one of the R2 updates. In short, it has nothing to do with 3.x and the issue I'm asking about here.
C) the other 2 links deal with symptoms that are nothing like the symptoms I experience with ac3 audio.

the failures of HLS in the beta are pretty much replicated in the released 3.0 firmware that broke my usage and others. 3.1 has some similar failures with HLS, but the audio problems are more notable. This post describes one of the audio problems some are seeing in more detail
http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45930#p311821

Those symptoms are nothing like I see with ac3 in HLS. When I try and play an ac3 HLS stream on 3.0, the roku displays the loading screen and nothing else. No video nor audio is ever played. The same HLS stream with aac audio plays with no issues on 3.x. As far as I can tell, the issues being described have not occurred for any other Plex users on 3.x either.

I followed your thread in the other forum and I'm sorry you are having issues, but I think it is separate from this particular issue/question.

[scyber]

"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?

[czetie]

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.

[streamingguy]

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.

[RokuKevin]

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

[streamingguy]

Hello Kevin,

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

[czetie]

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.