Volume with Surround Sound using Bluetooth Remote (Nvidia Shield)

Channels Android TV
#1

My Channels app is set to surround sound because I have a home theater setup and I want the full experience.

Unfortunately, when trying to change volume with my Bluetooth remote on my Nvidia Shield, I get the following "Surround sound enabled. To adjust volume, use your TV’s remote control." When I turn surround sound off in the Channels app, the volume slider with the Bluetooth remote works just fine.

FWIW, with the HDHomeRun app, this is not an issue, I can adjust the volume using the Bluetooth remote regardless of surround sound.

Now, I did some poking around and this seems to be a common question with AndroidTV. Over on the Plex board someone was told to turn pass through off and that resolved the option for them.

Is there something that can be done in the Channels software to accommodate this? The experience is really not great when I have to switch remotes just to change volume and Bluetooth remotes offer the best overall experience.

My Samsung TVs don't have HDMI-CEC so that's probably why this isn't a big deal to everyone but is to me because that would solve this issue. My Samsung is only about 4 years old so it's not ancient or anything.

#2

Are you sure you're actually getting surround sound from the HDHR app?

AFAIK, there are only two modes to play audio on Android. If you want surround, you have to send the original dolby bitstream which means you can't alter it because it is sent directly to the sound system. If you want stereo, you can send PCM which the Android OS can then modify because its just simple PCM data.

Short answer is that this is an Android limitation and not something we can change. The volume controls are not handled by our app, and the message you're seeing on screen is shown by the SHIELD itself.

#3

Thanks for responding.

Yes, I'm definitely getting surround sound from the HDHR app. My receiver is displaying it as "multi-channel PCM" so it's not being sent as Dolby as my receiver would display if it were.

So HDHR people have figured some way around it.

#4

To confirm, Channels is showing Dolby Digital on my receiver while HDHomerun is showing Multi-Channel PCM.

#5

I have installed the Channels Kodi plug-in and been playing with that. It also is able to control the native volume on Shield and displays multi-channel pcm on my receiver.

Really hoping Channels can fix this in the android client since it allows for the use of one remote which is very nice.