Amazon fire surround sound problems

[davek_964]

I have an odd problem with Amazon Fire TV :

If I play a Netflix video, I get surround sound
If I play something through Kodi (from my NAS, or streaming from the web) I get surround sound
If I play an Amazon video, I do not get sound from the rear speakers

I've tried all of the Amazon sound settings (Dolby+ auto, Dolby+, Dolby off, Dolby). When set to Dolby+ I get no sound (not surprising, since my STR-DA5200ES amp doesn't support it). Dolby just gives sound from the front speakers.
I've tried using a Neet splitter which is capable of downgrading Dolby+ to Dolby - which means I still get audio when the Fire tv is set to Dolby+, but it's still just stereo.

The amp shows Dolby Digital 2.0 when using Fire TV.

I've found old threads saying Amazon had a problem with fire sticks a year or so back and Dolby - but it seems this should now be solved (my Fire tv had a s/w update on Tuesday but it made no difference) - and anyway, it seems the problem then was that Amazon video was the only thing where 5.1 did work. For me, it's the only thing that doesn't.

I do get 5.1 if I play amazon video through my PS4.

Anybody else had a similar problem? It's a complete pain - Amazon fire seems a neat way of playing videos (I've ditched my popcorn hour) - but the one thing I can't use it for is Amazon's own videos!

[Max5476]

not any use with your problem, but playing around with my streaming stuff, chromecast + netflix i get surround sound. youview + netflix doesn't though. Cant find any workarounds for the youview box, it just appears to be how they have written the app for it.

[davek_964]

I think I've solved it in the last hour.

Something in the output from Amazon video is stopping my amp from auto decoding. If I force it to use Dolby PLII, and use the Neet splitter to route the audio in via optical then surround works. And seems to continue working for kodi, Netflix and ps4.

[JimbobVFR]

That's what DPLII does, makes a surround sound mix from a stereo source so I'm not convinced you've solved it TBH.

[VEX]

Are you sure what is being streamed is available in surround sound / Dolby?

We get common complaints like that with some Sky channels. But they are only transmitted in two channels.

[davek_964]

Yes, I'm sure that the source was 5.1.

And setting it to PL II did give true surround, it was not just stereo through 5 speakers.

However, it's since been solved even more because I decided my amp was clearly out of date. So on Monday I bought a new Denon AVR-X6200 - they seem a bargain at the moment.