5.1 audio for projector/amp setup - Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have the 2nd gen 4K Fire TV. It is rooted and all works more or less as I expect. HOWEVER, because the 2nd gen version doesn't have a digital audio link to connect directly to my amp (which is connected to a 5.1 speaker setup), I have been forced to use a USB to SPDIF adapter (Fanmusic FM-6011, but there are many alternatives available). It is a very solid adapter and works without issue whenever my projector is off. When I fire up the projector, however, the audio signal is sent directly to the projector's built-in speakers via HDMI and I lose the SPDIF connection to my amp.
I have tried all the available audio configurations in the Fire TV settings, but none of them make any difference. Given that the audio works when the projector is off, this surely indicates that the problem is not with the USB connection or the SPDIF adapter. Is there any setting or program or workaround that will allow me to send the HDMI signal to my projector and the corresponding audio via the USB adapter to my amp?
If not, is there a cheap gizmo that I may be able to source on eBay which will allow me to split the HDMI audio signal from the HDMI video signal? Such a shame that they decided to drop the audio port on the 2nd gen.
I'd be very grateful for any pointers from anyone who has any experience with a similar setup.

pfhastie said:
I have the 2nd gen 4K Fire TV. It is rooted and all works more or less as I expect. HOWEVER, because the 2nd gen version doesn't have a digital audio link to connect directly to my amp (which is connected to a 5.1 speaker setup), I have been forced to use a USB to SPDIF adapter (Fanmusic FM-6011, but there are many alternatives available). It is a very solid adapter and works without issue whenever my projector is off. When I fire up the projector, however, the audio signal is sent directly to the projector's built-in speakers via HDMI and I lose the SPDIF connection to my amp.
I have tried all the available audio configurations in the Fire TV settings, but none of them make any difference. Given that the audio works when the projector is off, this surely indicates that the problem is not with the USB connection or the SPDIF adapter. Is there any setting or program or workaround that will allow me to send the HDMI signal to my projector and the corresponding audio via the USB adapter to my amp?
If not, is there a cheap gizmo that I may be able to source on eBay which will allow me to split the HDMI audio signal from the HDMI video signal? Such a shame that they decided to drop the audio port on the 2nd gen.
I'd be very grateful for any pointers from anyone who has any experience with a similar setup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had similar issues myself with my aftv2, wanting to have digital audio sent to my pioneer av system.
My pioneer av system is hdmi but unfortunately the hdmi part no longer works.
I stumbled upon a thread which advised of a certain gizmo what was exactly what I needed,
Here is the exact device I bought :
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250970565434
The only drawback I had with this is its only 1080p, where as the aftv2 is 4k, so your limited to 1080p.
Not too bad as I cant tell much difference.

sconnyuk said:
I had similar issues myself with my aftv2, wanting to have digital audio sent to my pioneer av system.
My pioneer av system is hdmi but unfortunately the hdmi part no longer works.
I stumbled upon a thread which advised of a certain gizmo what was exactly what I needed,
Here is the exact device I bought :
Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250970565434
The only drawback I had with this is its only 1080p, where as the aftv2 is 4k, so your limited to 1080p.
Not too bad as I cant tell much difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, ye gads! Thank you so much. Yes, it was madness losing the digital audio on this version, but as long as there's a workaround, I can happily live with 1080p for now (it'll be a while before I can afford a decent 4K projector). A great help.

Related

Audio problem with the MHL adapter

I can not believe what's happening with my new cable MHL! I have a TV with DVI input, but I've never had any problem because with a simple HDMI-DVI adapter I could always play HD video on my TV and, from the headphone, I have the audio connected to a "AUX input" of a stereo. It always worked with my laptop and my hard drive media!!
The problem is that the galaxy s2 headset turns off the sound when you plug the MHL cable. I can not hear anything on my TV!
I do not know what to do, I think has no solution. I even connected the mobile audio to my notebook's bluetooth, but when I connect the mhl cable no sound is heard again!!
Does anyone have any solution? Is there any menu to force the sound through headphones?
thanks
I think I have a solution. I Expose it to help someone having the same problem:
1 .- Buy a HDMI male to 5 RCA RGB audio video av component cable
2.- Buy a DVI-I 24+5 Male to 3 RCA RGB Female Converter Adapter
Now you have the video and audio separately using an HDMI cable
3.- Connect the RGB cable to the DVI and audio cables to your stereo
*I can not put pictures of the cables because I am a new user and the system will not let me, sorry.
frander said:
3.- Connect the RGB cable to the DVI and audio cables to your stereo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, HDMI doesn't carry analog audio signals. So you are out of luck with this RCA solution.
You need to a) change your TV model, or b) use a cheap AV receiver in between the GS2 and the TV set.
Think it's impossible to work? What bad news!! I don't understand why someone sells a cable that doesn't work!
What a fool I was to believe the technical characteristics of amazon:
Gold plated HDMI to 5 RCA component video audio AV cable.
Provides high resolution up to 1080p.
High definition sound and clear image transfers.
* if you write 'HDMI Male to 5 RCA RGB Audio Video AV Component Cable' in google, is one of the first result (amazon)
Does not matter, I've only lost 6 euros (ebay).
Thanks
Anyway I don't understand why we talk about converting the image and sound in analog. There are manuals about how to open an HDMI cable and also has the red, green and blue wires inside. Just for separate cables lost the concept of "digital? Not understand...
My TV has DVI input, which is also digital. As I said before, I have an HDMI female to DVI male that works perfectly on my TV when connect my laptop and my multimedia hard drive. If I could break the adapter, it would have too a derivation of wires a pin to another, right? And it works in high definition
All I wanted to do with this cable was to extract the sound from an HDMI cable because the Galaxy S2 lost the sound of the headphone and I can not connect to the AUX input of my amp.
The HDMI digital audio signal is transmitted as a single aggregated digital stream that contains a variable number of digital channels (from 2 to 7.1 and even more).
Also in the pre-HDMI days the DVD's SD multichannel digital audio stream was transferred using a single coaxial cable (electrical) or a single optical cable, hence no separated cables for every channel.
Therefore digital channels have to be previously decoded and separated, and then converted by DACs to discrete analog signals.
No hope then to directly get from HDMI a couple of stereo analog signals to feed your stereo amplifier, you should have read all the negative user reviews of that cable on Amazon UK.
My suggestion: buy a cheap (or used) AV receiver with HDMI inputs/outputs and then connect its analog stereo monitor output to the TV auxiliary audio input (red/white RCAs or 3.5mm connector), or just use a couple of speakers connected to the AV receiver.
I was really hoping to use this phone with any normal DVI monitor and use headphones connected to the phones headphone jack. I guess this destroys that idea.
Why is it that everytime something like MHL comes along they implement it with absolutely no foresight as to how it might be used?
I think that MHL is just similar to HDMI in that respect.
So you wouldn't get analog audio output from the GS2 even if it had an HDMI instead of an MHL.
Today the manufacturers of latest cell phones expect connections only with TV sets equipped with complete digital ports (generally HDMI), not considering their products to be used with computer monitors.
BTW, DVI video-only port today is considered not suitable for full-HD audio-video material, and probably couldn't even fully support 1080p/24fps video signals.
DVI monitors support 60hz 1080p okay. Whether or not they cans support 1080p/30 or 1080p/24 purely depends on the monitor's firmware. Most monitors woudn't support 24hz but some probably support 30hz, which I think the GSII uses.
Also I didn't know HDMI out on phones did the same thing. Thanks for telling me that.
I guess it's the matter of audio routing!
Maybe someday someone could mod the kernel to handle these types of situations ;-)
Fingers crossed!
I found this app "SoundAbout" witch let you change the output
it works perfectly for me, sound on the smartphone and video on the monitor (tested on galaxy s3)
Coincoin0017 said:
I found this app "SoundAbout" witch let you change the output
it works perfectly for me, sound on the smartphone and video on the monitor (tested on galaxy s3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Coincoin0017. But the problem resolved itself when I installed android 4.0.4. Now the headphone output works when I plug the MHL adapter
Serav said:
I was really hoping to use this phone with any normal DVI monitor and use headphones connected to the phones headphone jack. I guess this destroys that idea.
Why is it that everytime something like MHL comes along they implement it with absolutely no foresight as to how it might be used?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now days they only cater for the mainstream market.
the assumption was probably everyone will only use it on a hdtv that has its own speakers.
I agree its a sad state of affairs but thats how it is I guess, I am currently trying to get sound as I am using a hdmi monitor which has no speakers.
---------- Post added at 11:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:19 PM ----------
Coincoin0017 said:
I found this app "SoundAbout" witch let you change the output
it works perfectly for me, sound on the smartphone and video on the monitor (tested on galaxy s3)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sweet this works, thanks man.
doing the same, sound to phone, picture to hdmi monitor.
google seems brainless at times they really do, why this isnt in the OS I dont know.
Intersting
frander said:
Thank you Coincoin0017. But the problem resolved itself when I installed android 4.0.4. Now the headphone output works when I plug the MHL adapter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. ... (hopefully still works on 4.3) I have the same problem with my PWD8 which is a panel so doesn't have speakers.
Is it possible to take a cable from the phones (Note 2) 3.5mm jack and put it into an AV receiver so that it uses the speakers attached to it?
Or even bluetooth sound to a separate speaker from the phone?
Sound about app useful for allowing sound to get to av receiver via rca cable

S3 as "HTPC"

I'm trying to hook my S3 to my TV setup and am not having much fun with it. With the MHL I am getting stuttering and lagging. I have:
Samsung MHL adapter (from Infuse)
Samsung 11-to-5 pin converter
Samsung 1080p HDTV
BT keyboard & mouse, charger, HDMI, etc.
Stock ROM
The image quality is good for web and photo use but it lags and stutters. For games it makes some games nearly unplayable. I can see the phone's screen and everything is smooth but looking at HDTV I can see a lag maybe 0.5 seconds and much slower update rate, very obvious when you move the mouse. The TV shows [email protected], so it's not 1080p. I've done a LOT of searching online so maybe there's not anything new to say but I guess some people have been able to get [email protected] I guess one thing I didn't find, does ANYONE have smooth/lag-free 1080p with S3 MHL with any adapter?
I wonder if 1080i video plays at true 1080 resolution because I noticed when I play back 1080i videos I've taken with the phone itself the image quality and speed are much better. Maybe that's why Samsung decided on 1080i output rather than 720p? I came across a kernel for HTC One S (which is also a Qualcomm S4) that supposedly forces 720p... is there one for the S3?
Another issue is that audio only comes out HDMI, I want it to come out of headset to plug into AV system. I've seen a lot of people with the problem posting but no solutions? Probably isn't possible...
My third problem I actually found an issue to. That is removing the onscreen keyboard when using bluetooth keyboard and mouse. For that I used the app Null Keyboard: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wparam.nullkeyboard&hl=en
gillius said:
...Another issue is that audio only comes out HDMI, I want it to come out of headset to plug into AV system. I've seen a lot of people with the problem posting but no solutions? Probably isn't possible...
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought I'd pipe in. I am also trying to figure out if this MHL adapter allows 1080p video as I want to use it for watching movies on a 60" 1080p plasma TV, as I don't want to purchase it if it doesn't and the forums are very confusing on whether it does or doesn't.
I wanted to say about your second problem. If you want to pipe the audio to a stereo/surround sound system, all you have to do is plug the TV audio output into the sound system's audio input. This is how I have my laptop to TV setup currently: laptop HDMI-> TV; TV audio out -> sound system.
Just be aware, some TV"s or sound systems might not have compatible audio connections. For example, in order to hook up my Vizio sound bar to my Panasonic Plasma, I had to use the fiber optic cable.... didn't have audio RCA audio out on my Panasonic.
Thought I would amend my previous statement. I was assuming that you wanted the sound that goes with the TV only... However, if you are just looking to have music on without turning on your TV, you can get a cheap miniplug-to-RCA adapter from Radioshack or the like. Should probably cost around $10 on any given day. I've been doing this with my sound system and portable phone/players for years.
buy a dual/quad core HDMI "thumbstick" for $100.
It'll be better then what you are trying to accomplish

[Q] Problems Using HDMI to AV Converter

Hey guys...
I've bought a Fire TV to setup a easy to use XBMC based streaming device for my father in law, he does not have a HD TV yet so I had to find a way to convert the HDMI to RCA.
I've bought this converter, but it's giving me multiple issues, since we have root now I was hoping there was a way to fix these issues.
http://www.dx.com/p/playvision-hdv-...FuIVP5QJEdbgJkLvoj-ZI0Osx3Xw_wcB#.U6DPePldVKc
The Fire TV won't pass by startup screen when it is booted with HDMI connected to Converter (problem with HDCP handshake?)
When I boot the FTV with HDMI connected directly to my own HD TV it loads fine, removing the HDMI from my TV plugging it into the converter will push video through the RCA cable but images is black and white and distorted.
Does anybody have any experience with this ? Would downscaling to 480 help if possible ? or does anybody know another solution to get this working on a older TV ?
Thanks in advance....
Edit:
Looks like http://forum.xda-developers.com/member.php?u=334644 made a fix for some Samsung devices with a similar Snapdragon 600 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2621550
Not sure if that would be something that could be adapted for use on the Fire TV though.
It's going to be a challenge, because the copyright police are all over HDMI and what can cannot be output from HDMI.
I see a very few HDMI to analog video output devices. I'd expect to pay about 50-60 bucks for a good one.
I'm picking that price because it's what Monoprice charges (more or less) for a box that takes HDMI in and outputs HDMI and audio over RCA jacks. You basically need a video DAC!
The other option would be to move to a Sony or similar smart tv, one that has both Netflix and Prime built in. Granted it's more expensive to do but your dad may well find it worth the simplicity. At our house we currently have remotes for the Fire, the TV, the bluray player and the preamp. I can manage most of it from the IR blaster on the tablet, the glaring exception being the Amazon box which uses Bluetooth, won't pair with the tablet and actually works better with not just a remote but keyboard to boot.
It's a giant PITA for the uninitiated.
Userr12, I think I have the same adapter, here is the one I bought.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008FO7PQA/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I actually have the Fire TV connected to an HDMI splitter, one port goes my main HD TV, the other to the HDMI2AV adapter linked above. An interesting side effect is when I turn off the HD TV the second output cuts out for 2-4 seconds, then comes back.
That said, when I initially setup my Fire TV, I tried an HDMI to DVI cable on a Dell monitor to see what would happen, but couldn't get through the setup. Direct HDMI was the only way I could get the intro video to show. Not sure why.
Sent from my TouchPad using XDA Premium HD app
I've played around with the unit a bit more and it's actually working
I was using a old LCD TV I have laying around but realized there is also a RCA input on my HD TV, when I use this input in combination with the converter it works, I will have to try this still on my father in laws TV, but the FTV to RCA/Composite works at least on some TV's
The image quality is doable, the color of the menu's in FTV and XBMC are a little flat and pixelated, video is more clear though, think the quality looks like what should be expected from a analog display.
Sound works fine, although I used a different USB power source to power the converter, I think there might be a power delay (or something else funky) happening with the USB port on the FTV, creating a nasty static, this static did interfere with the video image as well. (creating some distortion what seems to be running at the same Hz)
According to my experience, iDealshare VideoGo is the best one to Convert Amazon Fire TV unsupported WAV, FLAC, AIFF etc to Amazon Fire TV supported AAC or MP3.
I used a converter made by Bleiden, which I got on Amazon. The Amazon sku is B01MQGHNAR (just search in amazon or google for that and you'll find it).
I had to buy an HDMI cable to connect my Fire TV to the converter, but the converter itself worked without any problem. There were no restrictions on what I could or couldn't play. No video distortion, other than what you'd expect watching a 16:9 picture on a 4:3 TV.
Hdmi to av convertor for amazon fire stick fix
use a 5v usb adapter with twin ports plug in both amazon fire stick and the Hdmi to the same adapter,now your amazon fire stick will work fine

[Q] Jerky playback when connected to AV receiver

Hi all.
I recently bought a Fire TV stick. When plugged into an HDMI socket on the TV it works fine, but if I plug it into a spare HDMI socket on my AV receiver the playback is rather jerky, as if the processor on it is struggling to maintain the frame rate. This happens both on HD content from Prime and on 480p video played with Plex.
This makes no sense to me. Surely the Fire TV doesn't care what it's plugged into - it just outputs video. Can anyone shed any light on what's going on here? It isn't the end of the world but obviously it's a lot easier to switch inputs on the reciever than on the TV.
Thanks
John
Is the receiver doing any kind of processing on the video? Someone mentioned a while back that their TV had some video mode that would cause the same kind of issue.
Well, not that I'm aware of. It doesn't do upconverting or anything like that. Presumably it is extracting the audio to process locally, but the TV does the same since I still get 5.1 sound through the amp. The system has Control for HDMI, whatever that means.
a number of fire TV users have reported that the device is picky about which HDMI cables they use - it's entirely possible that an av receiver could be sending back information to the fire TV that it has to think about, slowing it down, or that the internal connections within the receiver are noisy - writing inside receivers is often amusingly lightweight, makes you scratch your head over the thousands of dollars some folks sink into cabling for an amp that's using a printer ribbon to route multichannel audio internally (including some very good amps, expensive enough gear that if the manufacturers wanted to add 100 bucks to the price for a few feet of heavier wire, they wouldn't likely lose many sales.)
Interesting. I did actually buy a cheap HDMI extension cable so that the stick wouldn't be behind the amp. Perhaps I should try using plugging it into the TV using that cable to see if it's at fault?
It would be interesting to know. And it can't take more than a few minute to find out...
Ok, tried out the HDMI cable at the weekend and it's not that.

Lossless Bluetooth receivers

Long story short I had a Note 4 (that took a dump and died) where I played music on VLC via the HDMI out into one of those eBay Chinese HDMI to Optical converters, from there into my car processor (Alpine PXA-H800). Worked like a charm, very clean sound.
To replace the dead Note 4 I got an S8, but this thing does not want to play nice (or I am being stupid). Will not work with an MHL cable (same as the cable I was using with the Note 4 but USB Type-C instead). From what I understand these phone do not play well with MHL cables (please correct me if I am wrong as this is the route I would like to go). I hear the SlimPort may work, but then I saw this Bluetooth Receiver that claims lossless data transfer (lossless is the ultimate goal). Also, since my processor has an optical input that will also be a requirement (optical output).
Has anyone has any experience with these devices and the connectivity that I am trying to achieve? Has anyone has been successful doing what I am trying to do? I have been without music in my car since my Note 4 died and it is getting old.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Hi, we are basically in the same situation. Sadly I think you are going to find it is rare for someone to have answers to any of this, as very few people are familiar with the systems/protocols we are trying to use and there is a lot of confusion or bad information out there.
I am currently using an Alpine PXA-H701 DSP/5.1 decoder and have experimented with various things trying to accomplish the same thing as you.
First, the Bluetooth receiver you mentioned is a LIE - that is false advertising. It doesn't even support APT-X, which my Sony Z Ultra phone and the Bose Bluetooth Receiver I recently installed do. Bluetooth simply cannot even support full-resolution stereo data, so it certainly cannot support 5.1 or lossless. Right now, the only wireless way to do that is (supposedly) Chromecast Audio or DLNA.
APT-X is the best sounding Bluetooth protocol currently offered, however it is not lossless - there is a penalty on frequency response, and I believe the upper frequencies are band-limited to around 16KHz if I read correctly somewhere. It sounds nice but still isn't CD quality. I can tell the difference vs. lossless when I tested my Chromecast.
Very much like you, I have used a Monoprice HDMI audio extractor and MHL cable successfully to pass through lossless bit-perfect audio including 5.1 (which is not lossless, but demonstrates passthrough ability, not downscaling or transcoding) via Kodi for Android. I would have liked to use MX Player but at the time they had removed AAC/5.1 audio decoding so there was no sound, but I now have the codex for it and will re-test.
Kodi can play music, videos, etc but the interface is not simple like VLC or MX Player.
Also, lossless FLAC files can be used wirelessly with the Chromecast Audio but you'll need a player that supports casting or BubbleUPnP, which now can transmit lossless FLAC to the Chromecast. However, it's a work-around for sending audio and when trying to play videos or YouTube; the lag is tremendous so it's not good for playing video on the device while casting audio. I currently do not have a media player that can cast so I used the BubbleUPnP module within Xposed Framework (had to root my phone) for music.
USB-DAC (w/ optical output) adapters would be ideal, too, but USB OTG in Android does not currently support charging while using an external USB-DAC/Optical adapter, so it will drain your battery down. So that's unfortunately not an option in current Android OS to the best of my knowledge.
To make matters worse, very few phones as you know support MHL/HDMI output, and even fewer APT-X. But to get real lossless via optical you can use any phone you want that has a hotspot feature if you use the Chromecast Audio and FLAC audio files, or WAV if they're lossless too. Otherwise we're stuck with phones/tablets that support MHL only since USB audio can't support charging.
Then another potential problem is that of discharging your phone's battery when using an MHL cable/adapter. I read here that when an MHL standard device is attached, the phone will charge. I haven't verified this.
So, from what I've found it comes down to this:
For WIRED lossless digital audio, will have to be MHL/HDMI, limited to very few phones/tablets with the feature. This assumes the device will be able to charge - so that's still an important question to answer. In this case video could also be support & synced pretty well to audio
For WIRELESS lossless digital audio, any Android device w/ hotspot ability can connect to a Chromecast Audio and BubbleUPnP will allow casting FLAC files from a media player like VLC or MX Player. You can also use Spotify and other supporting apps to cast digital audio to the Chromecast. Video will not be synced to audio, so that's out, unless you use Bluetooth for audio when playing videos on the device.
USB-out on Android is not currently the end-all solution until charging in host mode is supported
No lossless audio possible on Bluetooth (it's compressed by nature); any claims otherwise are false advertising
So, I'll have to try MHL w/ my HDMI extractor and some way to try to see if my Sony can charge while doing so. Otherwise, I'll have to use both Bluetooth (at the cost of reduced quality) for video files [due to sync issues] and cast to Chromecast Audio for lossless audio. I tested a tablet like the Nvidia Shield w/ separate HDMI out, and that's all I needed - the HDMI audio extractor only.
Your Samsung may need a better/different MHL cable, because I'm not familar with the S8 but I have seen that not all MHL cable work well as the OEM and also they're often not interchangeable.
Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot for the elaborate reply. I used to have the PXA-H701 and I loved it. When I had my Note 4 I was able to charge while playing, the charge was slow but it kept the phone from discharging while playing music but it would still discharge while using the GPS. I am going to give the MHL cable I listed above a try and see if it works, it does list the S8 after all. Worst case I'll return the cable and get me a used Note 4 as a music player and be done with this. Thanks again.
That's cool, as long as you have a way to do it that's great. I'll try my Z Ultra again tonight, but I have a simple cable and not a real MHL adapter. I think mine will drain therefore.
I'm trying to have an all-in-one media player with bit-perfect optical output using a phone and not installing a dedicated tablet, if possible.
It is ridiculous to have so many catch-22s and hassles in this day and age to just do this one basic function!
Glad I could contribute.
Fyi, my note 4 worked with the cable , not the adapter.
Update: well, you are lucky if your Samsung can charge with the cable and not a MHL device connected - the Sony Xperias apparently cannot, and similar for other brands of phone & tablets, it turns out.
After some research, it turns out that most devices with an MHL port will drain the battery because when not connected to an MHL-compliant device like a TV with the option (Example: Sony Bravia TV, MHL charge option) the charge/supply is limited and not sufficient - it's not full charge mode.
My work around I've found is what someone else described - using my MHL cable while also using my magnetic charge port & magnetic charge cable attached. Tested while playing a video in Kodi 16.1 - phone is now charging, no battery draining pop-up.
(I'm posting this in case someone else finds this thread and has similar problems)
I'll also try an MHL adapter "box" and see if that is compliant and can charge the phone.
Sound quality is great via HDMI/Toslink!

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