re: F* a soundbar, building a DIY sound system - Update pg 4 - paywalls suck

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I believe to get more channels I will have to go to HDMI audio or optical. I don't think HDMI audio input to the Pi is possible yet, but I can get an optical input card.

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So I have learned that it is pretty much impossible to take multichannel audio INPUT to the Pi (or any device, really), for a few reasons.

The first reason is my TV (and many TVs, it seems) does NOT output multichannel that it receives from an HDMI source. Actually it seems the TV never even receives, say, 5.1 audio via HDMI because during the negotiation process it reports that it cannot handle it, so the HDMI device only sends stereo. Bummer. Even if it *did* output surround audio via optical, it cannot be captured by a computer because...

The next reason multichannel is hard is due to Dolby licensing. There are devices that take HDMI input, "extract" the multichannel audio, then pass through the video and output the now analog audio via RCA jacks, but I could not find one to handle Dolby (which is pretty much everything). The ones that *do* extract Dolby tracks only pass it through to an optical output to a receiver that can decode it. Had this worked, it would have been messy and more expensive, but at least I could have captured audio from any HDMI source and then broadcast it multichannel over the network.

So it looks like Dolby has multichannel audio locked up behind a paywall, which means a true DIY home theater system is a pipe dream. I believe Dolby only licenses end-user products, so I just won't be able to find a standalone device to decode Dolby audio. So...

*PIVOT*

While my setup will retain the ability to take input audio and broadcast to multiple other playback nodes (with the caveat that it will only be stereo), I've decided to install Kodi on this Pi and eliminate the Roku from the equation. I believe that I can get the Kodi add-ons working for all the Roku apps that we use (Netflix, Youtube(TV), Plex, Prime Video, Disney+), and I also believe *fingers crossed* that I will get multichannel audio from my Plex media at least. None of these Kodi add-ons are official apps, so I doubt the streaming services will send multichannel audio at this time, but on the chance that they do now or in the future I will be ready for it.



TL;DR:

As far as I can tell, there is no device or combination of devices that can grab DD audio from an HDMI stream and capture into a Pi's (or any computer's) memory in order to re-broadcast like I want. Once that genie leaves the original soure bottle, the only way to handle it is with a dolby-licensed receiver. My solution is to make the Pi itself the media source, so that the audio can be captured and broadcast over the network before it hits the HDMI output. This will probably only give me surround sound from my Plex media, though.