Media Players 102: Kodi for Multichannel Music Playback (features and hardware)

QuadraphonicQuad

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I'm late to the party. I've only recently purchased an Intel NUC 10th Gen i5, and I am running Windows 10 64bit on it, with Kodi/Foobar, plus other audio/video software. I'm experiencing the same issue, with the follwing sample rates: 88.2 and 176.4. I've tested both stereo and surround files, with various formats, and am pretty sure the problem lies in the sample rate.

I forgot mentioning I am sending audio to my Denon AVR X6400H via HDMI and WASAPI. Kodi and Foobar can play any format correctly and they map the channels beautifully for 2.0, 4.0, 4.1 (Aqualung), 5.0, 5.1 and 7.1. I can also play DTS-MA and Dolby True HD with no problems. As you reported, ssully, Kodi looks like it's about to play the song, but it freezes with 88.2 and 176.4 files. So, Kodi and Foobar have the same exact behaviour, while VLC allows me to play those sample rates. Funny.

@ssully have you been able to find a fix that doesn't involve using another machine? Cheers

I don't have this limitation on either my Firestick 4K or my DesktopMini PC, both running Kodi.
 
No issues with Kodi here (LibreElec Linux) and my two Denon AVRs. It’s a Windows issue. Maybe its WASAPI and HDMI?
 
No issues with Kodi here (LibreElec Linux) and my two Denon AVRs. It’s a Windows issue. Maybe its WASAPI and HDMI?

Both my PC and my Firestick 4K go HDMI WASAPI into Oppo HDMI input and works great @88.
 
No issues with Kodi here (LibreElec Linux) and my two Denon AVRs. It’s a Windows issue. Maybe its WASAPI and HDMI?
It must be WASAPI. It affects both Foobar and Kodi, even though Foobar can display the song playing if using WASAPI event, but there's no sound from the speakers. Curiously, my driver supports those sample rates, and I see them in the drop down menu (Advanced > Formats). I can survive without playing those albums via Intel NUC, but it's annoying.
 
I don't have this limitation on either my Firestick 4K or my DesktopMini PC, both running Kodi.
I run windows and don't have that issue.
Since you are running windows, what's the version of your Intel Graphics driver (assuming that's what you have)?
Mine is: 26.20.100.8141, and it doesn't work.

Browsing on the Intel forums, I've read someone solved the issue (more than 2 years ago) with this graphic driver (GFX_Win10_64_24.20.100.6194_BN). I'm not going to try for now, since it's two years old, but I might in the future...
 
Since you are running windows, what's the version of your Intel Graphics driver (assuming that's what you have)?
Mine is: 26.20.100.8141, and it doesn't work.

Browsing on the Intel forums, I've read someone solved the issue (more than 2 years ago) with this graphic driver (GFX_Win10_64_24.20.100.6194_BN). I'm not going to try for now, since it's two years old, but I might in the future...
The driver on my surround rig is 20.19.15.5063 dated 10/18, The adapter is simply called "Intel graphics family" ,\.

My laptop also doesn't exhibit the problem, but its got AMD graphics hardware.
 
My NUC (7i5BNH) passes all sample rates flawlessly to my Onkyo amp.

In addition to drivers, it might be worth checking the Intel site for firmware upgrades as well - I had to apply a video card firmware upgrade to my model to enable Atmos pass-through.
 
My NUC (7i5BNH) passes all sample rates flawlessly to my Onkyo amp.

Hey Dave, I presume that doesn't include DSD files though? Sorry bit off topic but I was thinking of starting a thread on this. I know it's a bit of a lost cause as Intel haven't made their drivers compatible with DSD. But I did see a test on FFmpeg being tested for DSD recently? It's all a bit over my head though... It would be so so cool if we could get a fix for this. Basically DSD passthrough over HDMI for Intel NUCs etc...

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=106329&page=22https://patchwork.ffmpeg.org/project/ffmpeg/list/?submitter=702
 
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I think @HomerJAU may be better poised to comment on this, but it was my understanding that the Kodi devs have no plans to implement DSD passthrough because it's not worth the effort in relation to the small percentage of the userbase that uses the software for hirez/multichannel music playback. Given that it's free software, I can kinda understand where they're coming from.

There's also the issue (for me anyway) that with pure DSD playback you can't use any DSP (including bass management), which I find necessary for getting a nice-sounding playback experience. Given that, and the "budget" nature of my current surround setup, I'm happy with the on the fly PCM transcoding that Kodi provides. Obviously I'd like to see Kodi add DSD (or DSD over PCM) passthrough as extra features will only increase its appeal, but at the moment I'm not gonna sweat it over a feature that I wouldn't use anyway.
 
My biggest problem is with live on the internet or FM broadcasts that I have made into "Albums". created artwork for them and the databases will not accept them. Is there a place that allows these type of made at home CD's that collects all demo tracks, different mixes. but may be spread over 4-5 CD's into a custom made, yet historically accurate CD?
 
My biggest problem is with live on the internet or FM broadcasts that I have made into "Albums". created artwork for them and the databases will not accept them. Is there a place that allows these type of made at home CD's that collects all demo tracks, different mixes.

Are you talking about online databases like Musicbrainz and Discogs? Or media player databases like Kodi and JRiver. If it’s the later all you need to do is tag your music. Artist, Album, Year, AlbumArtist, Title (song title) and Track. Disc (for multi disc releases). In your case AlbumArtist = ‘Various Artists’ and Album would be something like ‘FM Radio Tracks‘
 
Hi everyone,

Is the recommended hardware on the first post still current? Have there been new developments?

I have already tried using a RaspberryPi 3b+ but it does not feature an HDMI 2.1, that it can passthrough all formats. The RPi 4 does, but I read that Atmos passthrough is not working yet.

I also own a FireTV Stick 4K (I bought it to test Tidal Atmos) and installed Kodi on it, but it won't passthrough Dolby Atmos (TrueHD Stream).

Do you guys have any better suggestions? Ideally I would like to have just one device for all (Kodi, Tidal, Bitstream)...

Thanks beforehand,
Pablo
 
Kodi 19.0 ”Matrix” is out, anything we need to think of regarding the Silvo skin and qq images prior to updating? It appear this version is Phython 3 compatible but also some machines like xbox have trouble losing addons following installation.
 
I’ve been running Kodi 19 pre release for a couple of weeks or so and all seems ok with Aeon Nox Silvo. Now 19 is released I’ll update my QQ Logo files, should be only the two modified skin files.

There’s a report 44.1kHz PCM surround won’t play on Windows with Kodi 19. (e.g. DTS CDs converted to FLAC or CD upmixes). I plan to check that out today.
 
Did they fix the Abbey Road Atmos promblemo...?

No unfortunately. They are now saying it will be for Kodi 20.

I‘ve been listening to my Abbey Road 7.1 FLAC mix. Since adding my new amps I’ve removed my BD player from my rack so no Atmos Abbey Road can be played here now.
 
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