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Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

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scotta316

Serviio newbie

Posts: 4

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:53 pm

Post Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:07 am

Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

I'm hoping someone (like atc98092) can help with this. I have a Roku Streaming Stick+ attached directly to an older Samsung TV. It's a 50" 720p plasma set mounted to my bedroom wall. When I play downloaded videos to it, there is no sound. Judging from other messages I have read, I think the problem must be the old TV.

I'm using the newest version of Serviio with the updated Roku profiles, but none have worked. I also edited the Profile I'm using (Roku 4K Media Player w/MPEG2) to add the forceStereo="true" line mentioned in the comments, but that hasn't solved the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Following is the data from a typical file that won't play:

    Format : Matroska
    Format version : Version 4
    File size : 433 MiB
    Duration : 18 min 31 s
    Overall bit rate : 3 267 kb/s
    Encoded date : UTC 2019-02-01 01:37:01
    Writing application : FastLE v3.0.0 - AVS
    Writing library : libx264 + libebml + libmatroska + libfastrar

    Video
    ID : 1
    Format : AVC
    Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
    Format profile : High@L4.1
    Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames
    Format settings, CABAC : Yes
    Format settings, RefFrames : 5 frames
    Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
    Duration : 18 min 31 s
    Bit rate : 2 818 kb/s
    Width : 1 280 pixels
    Height : 720 pixels
    Display aspect ratio : 16:9
    Frame rate mode : Constant
    Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
    Color space : YUV
    Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
    Bit depth : 8 bits
    Scan type : Progressive
    Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.128
    Stream size : 373 MiB (86%)
    Writing library : x264 core 157 r2935 545de2f
    Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=22 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
    Default : Yes
    Forced : No
    Color range : Limited
    Matrix coefficients : BT.709

    Audio
    ID : 2
    Format : AC-3
    Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
    Commercial name : Dolby Digital
    Codec ID : A_AC3
    Duration : 18 min 31 s
    Bit rate mode : Constant
    Bit rate : 384 kb/s
    Channel(s) : 6 channels
    Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
    Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
    Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
    Bit depth : 16 bits
    Compression mode : Lossy
    Stream size : 50.9 MiB (12%)
    Service kind : Complete Main
    Default : Yes
    Forced : No
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scotta316

Serviio newbie

Posts: 4

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:53 pm

Post Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:16 am

Re: Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

As luck would have it, right after I posted that, I found one video whose sound worked fine. I suppose I should be able to use this info to modify the profile as needed, but to be honest, I'm no programmer, so I could use a little help.

Here's the info from the file that DOES PLAY CORRECTLY:

    Format/String : Matroska
    Format_Version : Version 4
    FileSize/String : 1.02 GiB
    Duration/String : 24 min 18 s
    OverallBitRate/String : 6 017 kb/s
    Encoded_Application/String : mkvmerge v20.0.0 ('I Am The Sun') 64-bit
    Encoded_Library/String : libebml v1.3.5 + libmatroska v1.4.8

    Video
    ID/String : 1
    Format/String : AVC
    Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
    Format_Profile : High@L4.1
    Format_Settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
    Format_Settings_CABAC/String : Yes
    Format_Settings_RefFrames/String : 4 frames
    CodecID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
    Duration/String : 24 min 18 s
    BitRate_Mode/String : Constant
    BitRate_Nominal/String : 6 400 kb/s / 6 400 kb/s
    Width/String : 1 920 pixels
    Height/String : 1 080 pixels
    DisplayAspectRatio/String : 16:9
    FrameRate_Mode/String : Constant
    FrameRate/String : 25.000 FPS
    ColorSpace : YUV
    ChromaSubsampling/String : 4:2:0
    BitDepth/String : 8 bits
    ScanType/String : Progressive
    Bits-(Pixel*Frame) : 0.123
    Encoded_Library/String : x264 core 148
    Encoded_Library_Settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=34 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=50 / keyint_min=26 / scenecut=0 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=cbr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=6400 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=6400 / vbv_bufsize=19200 / nal_hrd=cbr / filler=1 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
    Language/String : English
    Default/String : Yes
    Forced/String : No

    Audio
    ID/String : 2
    Format/String : AAC LC
    Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity
    CodecID : A_AAC-2
    Duration/String : 24 min 18 s
    Channel(s)/String : 2 channels
    ChannelLayout : L R
    SamplingRate/String : 48.0 kHz
    FrameRate/String : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)
    Compression_Mode/String : Lossy
    Language/String : English
    Default/String : Yes
    Forced/String : No
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scotta316

Serviio newbie

Posts: 4

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:53 pm

Post Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:15 pm

Re: Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

After spending more hours than I really had, I figured out that my setup will not play ac3 audio, but plays aac audio just fine, regardless of whether it is stereo or multichannel. So on a whim, I changed all the targetACodecs in that profile to aac. There is also one Match that includes aac. I changed that to ac3 and removed aMultichannel="true".

So far this has worked for all my downloaded videos, which mostly consist of TV episodes, but I'm not sure if I've preserved the minimal amount of transcoding that the original code was intended to have. Below is the section I changed:

  Code:
   <Profile id="Roku4kMPM2" name="Roku 4K Media Player w/MPEG2" extendsProfileId="RokuMPApp">
.
.
.
      <Transcoding>
         <!-- transcode HD video unsupported by device, transcode audio regardless of codec -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac" aBitrate="512">
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="vc1" />
         </Video>
         <!-- Remux  video stream, transcode audio only -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="aac" aBitrate="512">
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" aCodec="truehd" />
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="h265" aCodec="truehd" />
            <!-- if you have audio issues with DTS HD audio, uncomment the following line to transcode DTS-HD to DD -->
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" aCodec="dts-hd" />
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="h265" aCodec="dts-hd" />
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="h264" aCodec="ac3" />
            <Matches container="wtv"/>

         </Video>
         <!-- Transcode non-H.264 video or FLAC audio -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="h264" targetACodec="aac" >
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="wmv2"/>
            <Matches container="*" aCodec="flac"/>
            <Matches container="*" vCodec="mpeg1video"/>
            <!--<Matches container="*" vCodec="mpeg2video" /> -->
            <!-- transcode non-supported containers regardless of codec -->
            <Matches container="avi" />
            <Matches container="mpegvideo"/>
            <Matches container="mpeg"/>
         </Video>
         <!-- Remux audio and video streams - for DivX/Xvid in AVI/Matroska -->
         <Video targetContainer="mpegts">
            <Matches container="avi" vCodec="mpeg4" />
            <Matches container="avi" vCodec="msmpeg4" />
         </Video>
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Mon Feb 04, 2019 1:11 am

Re: Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

Sorry I didn't respond sooner. As luck would have it, I was working the same issue this weekend with a new Premiere I bought for my sister-in-law. I've spent more than a day trying to figure it out. I discovered (as you did) her TV won't accept AC3. I really did not expect that. Of course, that TV is over 10 years old. So yeah, old TVs can be an issue. :D

I had to basically do the same thing that you did. I created a new user profile and created a user-profiles.xml file so it won't get overwritten with the next Serviio update. Her media is all ripped DVDs, with one or two BD rips. Since the Premiere (and likely your stick as well) can play MPEG-2 video, I first only transcoded the audio to AAC. According to RokuDale, the Roku will then convert the AAC to PCM, which the TV will play.

However, transcoding the audio means no trick play (FF/Rewind/Resume). So what I did for her profile is to use HLS (applehttp) as the target container and transcode the video to H.264 (HLS doesn't support MPEG-2 video apparently). Puts more load on the computer to transcode both audio and video, but now trick play is available. Since no one is using her computer when watching something, it doesn't really matter if the computer is slowed down. When she gets around to replacing the TV, I can just switch her back to one of the other Roku profiles that should work just fine. I doubt a newer TV would have the same issue.

If I was going to spend more time on the profile I would make an initial capture section to catch any media that's already H.264 so it only transcodes the audio. But for her use it's fine to just transcode everything. There's already enough Roku profiles within Serviio, and adding any more could just get confusing. But I'm happy to assist if users need to customize something specific to their configuration.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents
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scotta316

Serviio newbie

Posts: 4

Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:53 pm

Post Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:16 pm

Re: Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

Okay, so I used your suggestions and made a user-profiles.xml file and restored the original Roku profiles to profiles.xml. (It took me a few tries to realize I needed to copy the Profiles section at the top of profiles.xml to the new file.) I also changed targetContainer="mpegts" to "applehttp" in the video sections that transcoded audio. Since I used your "Roku 4K Media Player w/MPEG2" profile as a starting point, it seemed to already deal with h264 files properly
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atc98092

User avatar

DLNA master

Posts: 5205

Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:22 pm

Location: Washington (the state)

Post Mon Feb 04, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Roku Streaming Stick+ no sound

Sounds like you did well. Glad it's working out for you. Discovering that some TVs wouldn't accept DD audio over HDMI was completely unexpected for me.
Dan

LG NANO85 4K TV, Samsung JU7100 4K TV, Sony BDP-S3500, Sharp 4K Roku TV, Insignia Roku TV, Roku Ultra, Premiere and Stick, Nvidia Shield, Yamaha RX-V583 AVR.
Primary server: Intel i5-6400, 16 gig ram, Windows 10 Pro, 22 TB hard drive space | Test server Windows 10 Pro, AMD Phenom II X4 965, 8 gig ram

HOWTO: Enable debug logging HOWTO: Identify media file contents

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