Alright so, I had the hardest time getting ATV3 to output true surround sound from my digital mkv's. I for one am still on a college budget so my Home Theater System is...lacking to say the least. But it plays 5.1/7.1 AC3/DTS sources to perfection now =)
My obstacles:
1) an unjailbreakable atv3 on 7.2 firmware
amazon ~$40-50
2) an old-school circa 2004-05 Panasonic HT-390 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS Reciever (try finding that user manual..) with Toslink(Digital Optical Input) but no HDMI input.
ebay~$30-40
3) a budget 40" Toshiba 40XV645 with a barely functional outputs. (It has a usb port that literally can't do anything)
craigslist~$200
4) .mp4, .mkv files with 5.1 AC3, 5.1 & 7.1 DTS / MA audio sources.
$?
5) A pc running Windows 10 x64. (basically any pc will do)
rasberrypi~$35
*) also a crap insignia bd-live01 blu-ray player that proved useless as well. (also has a usb that serves no function.
$=(
$300 for True 5.1 Surround Sound on a 40" 1080p. ballin.
I was almost at the point of buying a roku/ps3 superslim just for the 5.1 optical output on usb media. BUT NO!
1. get** Plex Media Server.**
2. get** PlexConnect**
3. get** OpenSSL**
then, follow this youtube guide. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz_iPjpht7M
(Finding a full .exe was the hardest part. since the 3rd party is no longer hosting. I just googled something like [Win32OpenSSL_Light-1_0_2d.exe] and a one-click open-ssl installable. make sure you follow all the directions especially the target directories! (If you have trouble, just go the perl route or send me a pm and ill send u the file.)
My atvsettings.cfg looks a bit different because I'd rather not change the dns on the atv everytime someone wants to watch hulu or something. (Also added my host ip/plexconnectinstaller/pms ip(ex. 192.168.1.2) as the 2nd dns on my router.)
But if you follow that youtube guide you should end with something that works/complies ssl key without any errors.
Basically, you end up with atv3 as your DLNA client, wirelessly streaming 5.1 and 7.1 dts/ac3s to 5.1 output.
5.1/7.1 mkv's --> win10 PlexMediaServer --> PlexConnect'd "trailers" app -->atv3(dolby on)
and in my case(a/v reciever without hdmi):
5.1 Receiver <-------toslink------- ATV3 -----hdmi -------> TV.
(On the TV settings, I also had to change HDMI audio to "DIGITAL" [digital, analog, auto] and Digital Output to "PCM" [pcm, auto])
*IMPORTANT STEP (or your 7.1 will be missing all main commentary, and only play ~2.1 channels of background noise. See attached pngs)
(Im pretty sure there actually a 2.1 downmix being encoded and never used, but for some reason its necessary for the actual 5.1/7.1 audio track to be preserved/untouched until it reaches the receiver.
Basically
5.1 AC3 audio passed as digital, then encoded at the Receiver.
5.1 DTS audio passed as digital, then encoded at the Receiver.
7.1 DTSMA audio passed as digital, and automatically backwards compatible with 5.1 DTS, which is then encoded by Receiver.
Attached is an image of my atvsetting.cfg where:
_ 192.168.1.1_ would be the Default Gateway/DNS/Router
_ 192.168.1.2_ would be the Windows PC/PlexMediaServer/PlexConnect(openssl) installer
_ 192.168.1.6_ as the target ATV3.
pms_pc is server settings
pms_pc is web settings
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