I wish the EE TV Box Pro would just pass through audio for surround (Denon AVR issues)

[naylor2006]

First thing I'd say is that I think overall the experience of the EE TV Pro Box is good, I've had it for a couple months now and its very easy to use, its good to have the ability to record programs properly again as Virgin took our TV box back long before we move to BT Internet, the YouView box is so much nicer than the clunky Virgin V6.

With that said, I have a unique problem I think and one thats led me down a wormhole but ultimately I wish that the box would just pass through the source audio in surround mode and not package it up in DD+ regardless of what the actual source was. Ive done a bit or research into why this is done and keeping a consistent audio format makes it easier for service providers to stream content to you, at least thats what I read, so that they can say in the documentation that this box for surround to work needs DD+ compatible devices and not worry about multiple formats.

The problem I have is that when the YouView box is set to surround and DD+ is indeed activated, the audio sync is late....and when its late there is nothing you can do to solve it....theres no - delay.

My Denon AVR with my Apple TV will switch between modes depending on the source, if its a DTS Source it will switch to that, Atmos it will switch to that, but most importantly if its just a simple Stereo source it will switch over to Stereo mode. When in this 'auto' mode it allows you to use Audyssey and the EQ you setup during the initial setup of the amp using the wizard, which is generally wonderful. I should mention at this point that DD+ or Enhanced AC-3 work totally fine in the same way on the Apple TV not that I often see that format. In this auto mode it also allows you to set different options depending on the audio source, typically youll want to apply a different config to Stereo then if its Atmos and you can do that because the amp will store those parameters against each source audio type.

The problem that comes in with the YouView box is that when in surround mode the AVR will be set to DD+ the entire time and this is bringing in some sort of processing time leading to a delay, which is not there when I set the YouView box to Stereo, the audio is then bang on. The only way I can use Surround on the YouView box is to set my Denon AVR to use 'Direct' which bypasses the AVR's audio circuit, which switches everything off, EQ, Speaker measurements, etc etc....everything sounds super flat but the audio is in perfect sync. If I set the YouView box to stereo but then ask the AVR to upscale the audio to surround even then the audio is bang on and thats clearly using processing to do that job so whats the problem with DD+ natively from the box, I dont get it.

And this is why I wish the box just passed through the source audio or allowed you an option to do so, so most of the time its just Stereo and then when Sky Sports HD is on or TNT Sports Ultimate etc the format changes.

I understand why the audio is delivered via one format for surround, many different providers do it, the Virgin V6 box used Dolby Digital, I think he Sky Q box does also but with an Atmos option, I just wish the YouView box allowed you to have PCM or something and let the amp figure it out from there in surround mode.

Ive not given up yet, its not a TV issue because I use no processing on the TV and the AVR connects to the TV via one HDMI while every other device, PS5, YouView, ATV etc go into the amp and there are no sync issues anywhere else. Ive pretty much exhausted every setting but there is no way to get the audio right (so far) unless I switch off all processing on the Denon box, the same processing which has no issue for any other device.

I admit this might be just me but I felt compelled to post anyway, I may go back and see if I can figure it out but for now if I want to use Surround Audio I have to use the AVR in Direct Mode because the Denon is not liking the DD+ feed and is causing delays at it decodes it.