Let’s start with a confession - I’m a dinosaur and a cheapskate! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix (or replace…) it is my mantra. So, for years, I’ve been happy playing DVDs and Blu-rays on my 2012 Samsung UE40ES6540 TV with Dolby Digital/DTS processed via an even older (1999!) Yamaha RX-V595a receiver. I have a great 5.1 speaker setup in a small room.
With streaming meaning less and less films get a release on physical media, I’ve had to move with the times and embrace movies via fibre broadband from Sky Cinema (via Now TV) and Disney+. So I bought a Roku Express and expected to be able to get surround sound having added Boost to Now TV. What a pain… Yes, a new AV amp would help but I’m trying to avoid that if I at all can.
After lots of research, and the discovery of this post on the forum: https://community.roku.com/t5/Solving-playback-issues/No-Dolby-or-DTS-Surround-Sound-Output-Via-Opti... - I realised I’d need to change my approach if I was going to succeed.
I bought an EZ Coo EX11PRO that can spoof EDID settings and have that configured to 5.1 audio. The same device provides audio extraction from the HDMI input and has a toslink output to connect to my old amp. On the advice of @UserOfStreamers, I went in search of a 4800 or 4802 on eBay. I found a 4801 (box says 4801RW but label on device say 4801X) and further research suggested that only differed by virtue of a missing USB port and a different remote. Surely if the 4800 and 4802 supported transcoding of DD+ to DD, then the 4801 would too…?
So, having it got all wired up, I was really disappointed to see my AV amp not finding a Dolby Digital signal from one of its optical inputs. I’ve tried all the various combinations of the audio settings to no avail. I know the EDID spoofing is working as the Roku is reporting ‘Dolby Audio-DD’ and ‘DTS Digital Surround’ as available formats on the HDMI.
If anyone can help, I’d be extremely grateful.
