Audio dropouts when using the soundbar via HDMI passthrough

[gchmurka123]

First of all, I would like to thank you for a great project! Without Sponsorblock, I can no longer watch YouTube on TV.

However, I am experiencing two-second sound drops when the movie starts, jumps to another part, or even in some videos. For example, if there is a jump through Sponsorblock, it disconnects the sound from the soundbar and then reconnects. After that, I lose about two seconds of audio. The soundbar's built-in display shows "reconnect" and set sound source to "PCM".

Sometimes, there are also videos that have been edited in a way that causes breaks, even during normal playback. This can also cause me to lose the sound connection and miss a few seconds of dialogue. This type of content is rare, but when it does happen, it makes the video impossible to watch due to the lack of sound.

Here is an example of a video with this problem (I observed 4-5 disconnects in the first two minutes): https://youtu.be/DGmRxagxImM?si=9VYiU9i6AWPOw0rw

I do not have this problem with the official YouTube app, Netflix, HBO, Prime, Disney, or Spotify. I also do not have this problem with SmartTube when using the built-in TV speakers. The problem only occurs when I use SmartTube with a soundbar via HDMI passthrough. SmartTube app allows me to change the sound options (codec, bitrate), but none of the options fix the sound dropouts.

Would it be possible to add an option to send white noise when the sound source is cut? This might solve the problem and keep the sound source via HDMI retained on the soundbar device.

[gchmurka123]

I think these are related issues (drop audio source and reconnect from hdmi source):

https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/2179 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/1848 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/1202 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/2768 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/933 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/1254 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/1910 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/623 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/1799 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/875 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/952 https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext/issues/877

[blakegearin]

@gchmurka123 Are you still encountering this issue?

[gchmurka123]

@gchmurka123 Are you still encountering this issue?

Yes