Jellyfin Android TV no DTHD

[vojta272]

This issue respects the following points:

• I have discussed this issue in the Jellyfin forum and/or troubleshooting chat before opening this issue.
• This issue is not already reported on GitHub (I've searched it).
• I agree to follow Jellyfin's Code of Conduct.
• This report addresses only a single issue; If you encounter multiple issues, kindly create separate reports for each one.

Describe the bug

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to troubleshoot Dolby TrueHD / Atmos passthrough in the Jellyfin Android TV app.
My setup is:
TV: TCL C765
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V683
Connection: HDMI eARC from the TV to the receiver
Jellyfin server: 10.11.8
Jellyfin Android TV v0.19.9

The receiver and eARC chain are working correctly. I tested the exact same movie file with another Android TV video player app (Void), on the same TV, using the same HDMI/eARC connection, and the Yamaha receiver correctly detects and displays DTHD / Dolby TrueHD.
However, when I play the same file through the Jellyfin Android TV app, the receiver only receives PCM instead of DTHD.

In Jellyfin, the playback info shows “Direct streaming” with this message:
“The video stream is compatible with the device, but has an incompatible audio format (DTS, Dolby TrueHD, etc.) or number of audio channels. The video stream will be repackaged losslessly on the fly before being sent to the device. Only the audio stream will be transcoded.”
So it looks like Jellyfin is not doing full Direct Play. The video is being direct streamed, but the Dolby TrueHD audio is considered incompatible and is being transcoded, which explains why the receiver gets PCM instead of Dolby TrueHD.

I have already checked the TV audio settings:
ARC enabled
Digital Audio Out set to Pass Through
Sound preset set to Standard
Audio processing set to Auto / tested with minimal processing

In Jellyfin Android TV I also tested settings such as:
Audio output set to Direct
Audio Night Mode off
Prefer ffmpeg for audio playback off
Dolby Digital bitstream enabled where available

The main point is that the same file, same TV, same eARC connection, and same receiver can output DTHD correctly from another player app. This seems to be specific to the Jellyfin Android TV app or its playback profile/audio passthrough handling.
Is there any way to force Jellyfin Android TV to pass Dolby TrueHD through as bitstream instead of transcoding it? Or is TrueHD passthrough currently not supported/reliable in the Jellyfin Android TV client on some devices?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Media info of the file

Media capabilities report

No response

Client logs

No response

FFmpeg logs

Application version

0.19.9

Where did you install the app from?

None

Device information

TCL C765

Android version

Google TV

Jellyfin server version

10.11.8

Other sources

No response

[BlackstormFirst]

Hello,

Could you please provide us with the media information for the file?

And the server-side remuxing/transcoding logs after playing the video?

Have you tried manualy installing one of the latest debug builds from the master branch to see if the issue has already been resolved and fixed for the next version?

Does the problem occur with all TrueHD files or only in certain cases?

[Technologyman00]

I can say I have the same issue. No TrueHD or DTS-HD will play at those formats. It's all TrueHD files I have tried.

[Technologyman00]

I'll make the same comment here as its related, but the experimental build of Jellyfin fixes this. Except for HDR10+ and DolbyVision. #5593 (comment)

[Gobo-F]

Confirming this on completely different hardware, same app version, and on a newer server build (10.11.11).

Setup

• Client: NVIDIA Shield Android TV, jellyfin-androidtv 0.19.9 release
• TV: LG OLED65C25LB (webOS25 / 10.3.1-3006), HDMI eARC → Samsung HW-Q990D soundbar (firmware 1051.0)
• Server: Jellyfin 10.11.11 on macOS (Mac mini)

Same symptom: TrueHD Atmos reaches the soundbar as PCM, with no Atmos indicator on either the TV overlay or the soundbar display.

What I was able to isolate:

• DD+ Atmos (JOC) works correctly in the Jellyfin Android TV app — full Atmos, confirmed on both the TV overlay and the soundbar display.
• TrueHD Atmos does not — the audio gets transcoded while the video is repackaged, exactly as described above.
• The same TrueHD file, on the same Shield, TV, cable and soundbar, plays with full Atmos in Plex. So the eARC chain, the TV pass-through setting and the Shield's audio output are all confirmed working.

Already verified on my end: LG Digital Sound Output set to Pass Through, eARC on, sound mode Standard; Shield advanced sound settings with the Dolby formats enabled; Jellyfin app set to Direct Audio, night mode off, prefer ffmpeg for audio off, DD bitstream enabled.

The DD+ vs TrueHD split within the same app, on the same chain, seems like a useful narrowing — it points at the client playback profile treating TrueHD as an incompatible format rather than anything device- or chain-specific. Happy to supply client logs or a media info dump for both files if that would help.