NUC10i5 wont bitstream audio to brand new AVR especially DTS X or Atmos

[demoncamber]

My brand new NUC10i5FNH wont bitstream audio to brand new AVR especially DTS X or Atmos. My previous Celeron Gigabyte brix worked perfectly fine with intel hardware which this directly replaced. I know it's not my setup.

*update* This is now Intel case number 04708595

Symptom: Video will stutter on playback almost no motion, and no sound at all on bitstream audio.

Troubleshooting I've tried:

1. I installed the entire driver package for my NUC and verified they are all the latest drivers as well.
2. I've tried various players, kodi, window 10 movie player (oem one installed with w10) as well as MPCBE
3. Swapped HDMI Cables
4. Gigabyte Brix HTPC has no issue on same hardware and same w10 OS image.
5. All drivers, os updates and bios updated and verified correct versions via device manager.

Regular audio works fine on same files, only when enabling bitstreaming Atmos or DTS:X content does not

The really odd thing is that the dolby access app from the w10 store will play atmos content. Not sure if this is technically bitstreamed or not.

Going on 2 nights now of trying to get this to work.

Hardware connected: Monoprice 48gbps 8k HDMI cable > Denon x4700h 8k AVR > Samsung 4k HDR 6 series tv.

See my attached system report.

[sbmi]

Which input are you connecting to on the Denon?

Is it any different if you connect the NUC to HDMI Input 7?
http://manuals.denon.com/AVRX4700H/NA/EN/DRDZSYudulleco.php

[demoncamber]

I have it plugged into #4 Media Player input, just tried the #7 8k input and it's the same issue.

[Chris_V_Intel]

Thank you for letting us know.

We've heard of issues from several people about audio issues when connected to an AVR.

We will be testing this tomorrow and will let you know what we find.

[demoncamber]

Good to hear! Looking forward to hopefully a quick fix.

[n_scott_pearson]

Have you tried it with the TV connected directly to the NUC (i.e. no AVR involved)?

...S

[demoncamber]

I haven't, however PS4 will bitstream blurays to AVR perfectly fine as will my other gigabyte brix. Tv is only used for video

[n_scott_pearson]

My point is to make sure that it can do this at all before introducing the AVR as a secondary complication. Baby steps!

...S

[demoncamber]

Just wanted to provide a little update:
I had originally thought some of the older codecs were passing through properly however that is not the case.

Passthrough audio is not working for any codec, system wide, in all players tried, Kodi (after enabling audio passthrough via wasapi in settings > audio menu), windows 10 movies & tv player (Auto bitstreams by default) as well as MPCBE (after manual bitstreaming enabled). All of which were working on this same OS install on my previous gigabyte brix htpc.
 
The HDMI cables were just purchased so they are brand new, no adapters, connected directly to my AVR. I checked with the previous HDMI cable I was using on my brix system as well for good measure on the new NUC.
 
As for the TV it's a Samsung un58mu6070e

[n_scott_pearson]

RE: "The HDMI cables were just purchased so they are brand new" -- This means nothing; new doesn't mean good or working.

Again, before the AVR can be considered to be part of the problem statement, you need to show that the problem doesn't exist when the unit is connected directly to the TV.

...S

[demoncamber]

Correct. There is no change with going directly to tv, same exact issue continues. Not the AVR.

[n_scott_pearson]

Ok, Intel Customer Support will need to take it from here and work with the Graphics team on a fix.

...S

[demoncamber]

Thanks for the help truly. I've been trying everything I can think of. Seems there's no fixing it on my end unfortunately. Kind of a mission critical thing for me too, as I need bitstream audio in my home theater.

[Chris_V_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

I was able to test this today and played the following file types without issue:

• Dolby Digital
• DTS
• Dolby TrueHD
• DTS-HD MA
• Dolby Atmos
• DTS:X

What we used to test with:

Yamaha RX-A1050 AVR

Intel NUC10i5FNK

Sony 4K TV - XBR 43X800D

Some random cable brand, but HDMI 2.0 certified

Movies & TV app built-in to Windows / Confirmed with MPC

Attached is playing a Dolby Atmos file.

Please let me know if you want me to play something else and where to get that file if so. I apologize, I don't remember where I got my file

[demoncamber]

Very Interesting! I actually have those files on hand, let me check and report back in a sec.

[demoncamber]

Ok, here's 3 files that I'm having problems with which are easily downloadable for you, as I was having trouble with full length high file size movies, so these will be better. These were downloaded from https://thedigitaltheater.com

This one will not play in  Movies & TV app built-in to Windows nor in Kodi https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UMVanHjATwcUd851vUat_razyfSBy-L3/view?usp=sharing

This one will not play in Movies & TV app built-in to Windows nor in Kodi

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-AY-BWrlsnM-0ywdMOZ0CCJm1YkVwVC/view?usp=sharing

This one will play in Atmos in Movies & TV app built-in to Windows but not in kodi using WASAPI bitstream (only option to get atmos or dts:x) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X3Xn82PpQnMp2Bm_hf3O0DJmCOhdE_B_/view?usp=sharing

Is it possible that the Movies & TV app built-in to Windows doesn't use WASAPI for bitstream like Kodi does and WASAPI is broken in the driver somehow? But still doesn't explain why some will play in the w10 player and some will not.

I see you are having no issue with the "Amaze" file and I am, and this is the exact file you have as well. I'm a little bit lost on what to think at this point. HDMI cable is the only thing I can think of unless there is an actual defect in my NUC itself? However I swapped to the previous HDMI I was using on my last system of a week ago and everything was working. The only thing that has changed in my setup is my x4700 avr and the Nuc. However I'm still having issue even going straight to tv.

[demoncamber]

As a side note, is it possible I can get the latest LS-PCON hdmi firmware to try flashing?

Digging deeper into the audio codec, wondering why the Santeria file will play and the Amaze one will not. The one that is much higher bitrate and lossless is the one that won't play...

Santeria:

Audio #1
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AC-3 MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3 + Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Muxing mode : Stream extension
Codec ID : 131
Duration : 1 min 24 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 640 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 8 256 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 6.45 MiB (2%)
Service kind : Complete Main
Number of dynamic objects : 15
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

Amaze:

Audio
ID : 2
Format : MLP FBA 16-ch
Format/Info : Meridian Lossless Packing FBA with 16-channel presentation
Commercial name : Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Atmos
Codec ID : A_TRUEHD
Duration : 1 min 3 s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 6 694 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 9 096 kb/s
Channel(s) : 8 channels
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs Lb Rb
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate : 1 200.000 FPS (40 SPF)
Compression mode : Lossless
Stream size : 50.7 MiB (36%)
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Number of dynamic objects : 15
Bed channel count : 1 channel
Bed channel configuration : LFE

[Chris_V_Intel]

Thanks for the quick replies and the added information.

Nice! I'm pretty sure I also got those files from https://thedigitaltheater.com.

Give me a day or two to try those files you suggested. Btw, stupid question, but you have the HEVC codec from MFST installed, correct? Just have to double-check!

About the HDMI FW, you have the latest version! This NUC just came out and I haven't seen nor heard of any HDMI FW being released imminently. 

This is very interesting. We did find one small issue that shouldn't effect what you're doing, if you try to play a file at 176KHz 24 bit, you won't get audio, but every other frequency/bit rate worked. Again, this shouldn't be a part of this issue, just want to be transparent. 

I'll get back to you in a couple days about what my testing finds.

Thanks for the giving me good info! I'm not giving up yet!

[demoncamber]

Correct, I have the HEVC codec installed. I just connected my main gaming rig with a Nvidia 1080ti to my avr and tried playing back the problem files, they play back fine for me and I'm on the same version of windows 10.

Just wanted to confirm that your test rig is on 10.0.19041 correct?

So the issue seems to be directly originating from the NUC or a driver somewhere. 

I appreciate the help, hope we can resolve this! Hate when I can't figure something out!

[Chris_V_Intel]

Cool. Just double-checking. 

I don't have the unit in front of me right now, but I loaded a clean install of Win10 Version 2004 with all Windows updates run.

Possibly, but the fact that I can seemingly play everything could be something else, though not entirely sure at this point.

No problem! I know how it is when my stuff isn't working as intended!