In channels app enable surround sound
In shield device preferences>display and sound >advanced sound settings> Dolby audio processing. Turn Dolby processing off (circle to the left grey) should get you dd. If you enable this you should get Dolby digital plus. Does the Sonos support Dolby digital plus? If not you can force the shield to send dd by enabling processing then under available formats >manual select to use choose ac3 (dd)
Don’t have a Dolby Processing option. Sonos doesn’t officially support Dolby Digital Plus but you normally get sound if it is used. I’ve tried setting the format option to manual and using plus on and off and neither changes anything. Using off, auto or manual doesn’t give me surround sound from the Channels app.
Weird. Here it is on my 2019 shield pro. May be they don’t have that option on the tube. Do you have the tube?
One tube and one non tube. I’ll check the tube and see if that has the option.
Ok, tube Shield has Dolby Processing option, but off or on, I still don’t get 5.1 from Channels app.
Tried it off and on, also tried auto formats and manual formats with Dolby Digital Plus on and off, neither gives me 5.1.
I wanted to raise this again because I have been trying to figure out how to get consistent ac3 5.1 recordings with no luck. When I am recording from a ac3 capable device and monitoring the file and check its properties I can see ac3 5.1 audio indicated as it records. Once it is finished and channelsdvr converts it to mpg that attribute disappears and all I can get most of the time is 2.0.
The other intersting thing is that I have files recorded where dd 5.1 is detected by my receiver if I am using kodi to play it. I see from the display that it detects the file and I can hear the differnece in the quality of the sound. Channelsdvr cannot detect it however, especially after it converts it to mpg.
Another scenario: If I feed channels dvr a nextpvr channel I know is outputting ac3 5.1 audio (like HBO for example) it records a mpg file that does not have the audio attribute. Nexpvr, which keeps the original ts format that comes from my hauppauge colossus 2 card will detect and play the file with the ac3 audio. So will kodi.
Channels DVR does not convert to mpg. That's the raw capture format (MPEG-TS).
In View Details it is based on the first few seconds, so if the recording starts with a commercial it may show 2ch but it will switch to 6ch when the program starts.
In the shield app if you have Surround Sound enabled under Settings > Playback > Advanced then the raw ac3 should be sent to your receiver
Am I missing something here?
I'm just clarifying that there is no "conversion". The mpg file contains the raw capture and nothing is changed about the file when the recording is finished.
The .mpg file extension may be misleading you.
Channels DVR captures and records the raw MPEG Transport Stream.
Normally a transport stream file would have the .ts file extension.
Channels just chose to stay with the .mpg file extension for the recorded file.
If you use something like mediainfo on a recorded file, you'll see that. They also have an online version MediaInfoOnline - MediaInfo in your browser if you don't want to download the software.
Example from the Online version
MediaInfo report of "Viewfinder 2023-07-05 Off The Beaten Path Salto 2023-07-05-1900.mpg" :
General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : Viewfinder 2023-07-05 Off The Beaten Path Salto 2023-07-05-1900.mpg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 884 MiB
Duration : 29 min 59 s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 122 kb/s
Frame rate : 59.940 FPS
FileExtension_Invalid : ts m2t m2s m4t m4s tmf ts tp trp ty
@tmm1 I sent you a video clip. Didint want to post it to the thread and violate and copyright rules.
Understood.
I was thrown off my the mpg extension because I know the card (hdpvr2 / colossus 2) recorded ts. This led me to think some conversion of sort took place.
I am trying to figure out why recordings done with the capture card have 5.1 audio with kodi but not with channels dvr. In a lot of cases I get o audio at all in channelsdvr but I get ac3 5.1 perfectly with kodi and with nextpvr android client (audio receiver indicates that it detects it and all).
If you look at Options > View Details for the Channels DVR recording, what does it show?
You can also view a recorded file with mediainfo to see if it shows a surround audio track.
General
ID : 0 (0x0)
Complete name : \\DS1019PLUS\ChDVRhdhr\TV\Building Giants\Building Giants S03E01 2019-11-09 Super Skyscraper Chicago 2023-06-11-0300.mpg
Format : MPEG-TS
File size : 1.59 GiB
Duration : 1 h 0 min
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 3 764 kb/s
Law rating : TV-PG
FileExtension_Invalid : ts m2t m2s m4t m4s tmf ts tp trp ty
Video
ID : 145 (0x91)
Menu ID : 7 (0x7)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : 27
Duration : 1 h 0 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 3 175 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 3 375 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 59.940 (60000/1001) FPS
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.057
Stream size : 1.35 GiB (85%)
Color range : Limited
EBP_AcquisitionTime : UTC 2023-06-11 09:59:26.547988892
EBP_Distance : 2.000
EBP_Mode : Explicit
Audio
ID : 147 (0x93)
Menu ID : 7 (0x7)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Codec ID : 129
Duration : 1 h 0 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 411 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -2 s 92 ms
Stream size : 166 MiB (10%)
Language : English
Service kind : Complete Main
Text #1
ID : 145 (0x91)-CC1
Menu ID : 7 (0x7)
Format : EIA-608
Muxing mode : SCTE 128 / DTVCC Transport
Muxing mode, more info : Muxed in Video #1
Duration : 1 h 0 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)
CaptionServiceName : CC1
Text #2
ID : 145 (0x91)-1
Menu ID : 7 (0x7)
Format : EIA-708
Muxing mode : SCTE 128 / DTVCC Transport
Muxing mode, more info : Muxed in Video #1
Duration : 1 h 0 min
Bit rate mode : Constant
Stream size : 0.00 Byte (0%)
Menu
ID : 144 (0x90)
Menu ID : 7 (0x7)
Duration : 1 h 0 min
List : 145 (0x91) (AVC) / 147 (0x93) (AC-3, English)
Language : / English
Law rating : TV-PG
So check this out. The sample from Step up was recorded with ChannelsDVR and To Catch A Smuggler was recorded by Nextpvr.
Must be the source you recorded from then.
HDMI encoder, or ?
Both were recorded by a hauppague hdpvr 2. I suspect the encoder chip on the device is doing something funny.
How did you get Channels DVR to record from it
You should also use mediainfo on the files and see what it says.
1 Like
There are two ways.:
Or you can feed nextpvr into channels dvr
Either way produces the same result with the recordings from what I have seen.
All I can tell you are the cable recordings I make with Channels DVR (HDHR Prime as source) have surround sound if it's broadcast for the Movie or Show episode. Of course, TVE and M3U sources are stereo.
Yup. I know that. But these are not TVE sources coming into the cards. They are recording raw youtubetv feeds that have 5.1 audio.
Just trying to work through what might be going on with the codecs or whatever to make for more consistent recording and viewing.