I’ve finally received the Android Oreo update on my Xiaomi Mi Box. My AV receiver is old, so I use the SPDIF output from the Mi Box to the SPDIF in on the receiver.
Before the Oreo upgrade DTS and Dolby Digital were not possible even with the Pass-through Auto option enabled in Plex and Mi Box set to output RAW on SPDIF. However, DTS and Dolby Digital worked in Kodi 17.6.
Now if I set the Mi Box to Sound -> Surround “Always” and Plex Pass-through to Auto to force the device to pass-through digital audio it works for both Dolby Digital and DTS without transcoding. However, I get no audio on regular programming with AAC sound.
If I switch Mi Box to Auto then AAC audio works, but no audio on Dolby Digital and DTS. Same if I turn off the Plex Pass-through Audio option to No. Neither Mi Box or Plex have detail settings what to pass-through and what not, like Kodi has.
Any idea if this is something that can be addressed by Plex update to add additional options instead of just “Auto” pass-through? Or this is something that should be fixed by a future Mi Box update?
Simple solutions:
Use Kodi and tick the transcode to AC3 audio option. Kodi also has a Plex for Kodi Addon.
Use the MrMC App that also had the transcode to AC3 option. That App had built in Plex (& Skin) support. Excellent FFWD and RWD capabilities as well.