Page 1 of 1

Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 12:20 am
by dj2014
Hi all,

I've spent so long browsing posts and trying to learn about transcoding from scratch I think its time to ask the question....

1. Can serviio transcode (on the fly) an MKV with DTS audio AND preserve 5.1 which will play on the Xbox360?
2. Can serviio transcode (on the fly) an MP4 with AAC audio AND preserve 5.1 which will play on the Xbox360?

I made some amendments to the profile.xml which got the MP4 (AAC) to play but not sending Dolby Digital 5.1 to reciever. All my other video, which are mostly MKV AC3 play fine, apart from slight audio sync issues but nothing major.

I thought it might have been possible to transcode the DTS to AC3 only, not touching the video. Same with AAC. Am I overlooking something obvious here? DTS audio is faily common and I'm HOPING, after giving up on trying to use a Toshiba L6 smart tv with serviio (for various reasons) there is a way to stream ALL popular video files to Xbox360 preserving their 5.1 audio stream with serviio, which so far has been the most capable dlna server for me.

I'm happy to provide more detail if needed.

Can I ask one more question, why do I get dolby digital 5.1 (the real deal) from mkvs which according to the Xbox360 profile are transcoded to wmav2? Ive been reading that wma pro is required for 5.1 audio? Not complaing! Just curious!?

Thanks in advance

Re: Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:17 pm
by zip
No, Serviio can only transcode to stereo WMA. It's already set up in the profile.

Re: Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 12:20 am
by dj2014
Ok, im very confused now about this stereo wma thing, more than yesterday. I am getting authentic dolby digital 5.1 surround (direct setting on reciever) when streaming mkv's which use AC3! Fantastic right? But how is this possible when the xbox profile transcodes to wmav2 and on top of that, the xbox can apparently only play 5.1 if wmapro or local avi. THIS IS 100% NOT TRUE. I am watching an mkv brrip called 'The Call' right now and it is playing 5.1 from xbox with serviio. Please investigate as all I have beem reading all over the Internet is that the xbox 360 cannot play 5.1. Rubbish. I have played around 5 mkv now which use ac3 so far and all send true dolby digital signal to pioneer reciever.

Why is wmav2 sending 5.1? How can this be possible? And I am NOT using any surround effects on reciever just on direct.

Re: Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 4:47 am
by DenyAll
The Xbox 360 can I believe pass through AC3 5.1 to another device, which if I understand your setup, is what is what you are describing here - "send true dolby digital signal to pioneer receiver". The Pioneer then does the decoding.

As to why its not being transcoded - check the obvious first - are you are using the 360 profile (and not for example the Xbox One profile). Once checked, post a detailed log (click on link) showing you playing a file.

Re: Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:56 pm
by dj2014
Hi thanks for your input. I hope what your saying is true, but it doesn't explain why some video (containing aac and dts) dont play in 5.1 or even register as dolby digital, as the reciever can decode both. Also what gets me lost is that the audio for all files are set to transcode to wma2 by the Xbox360 profile which I am definitely using. I will get some logs later this evening.

Thanks again

Has anybody got suggestions for editing the xbox360 profile to get dolby 5.1 on all video, but mainly mkv using dts, ac3 seems to work fine.



Thanks again

Re: Xbox 360 transcoding, am I wasting my time?

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:06 pm
by grolschie
Hello. Can you please tell me what changes you made to the Xbox profile that was in improvement over the defaul Xbox profile? Thanks.