How to Match Audio Passthrough Settings to a TV and AV Receiver

Audio passthrough works only when every link in the chain accepts the same format: player, application, TV input, ARC or eARC return channel, cable, and AV receiver. Enabling every codec checkbox can produce silence because one intermediate device cannot forward what the receiver itself supports.

Build the setting from the weakest link. Decide whether the player connects to the receiver or to the TV, inventory the formats each hop supports, and then test with known clips while watching both the media-server dashboard and the receiver display. Record the result per codec so a later firmware change can be isolated.

Draw the Actual Audio Signal Path

For a player connected to the TV, the path is player to TV to ARC or eARC to receiver. For a player connected to an AVR input, the receiver decodes audio first and forwards video to the TV. Those topologies can support different formats even with the same equipment.

Confirm which HDMI ports provide ARC or eARC and whether the TV input is configured for enhanced bandwidth. An ordinary HDMI input label or cable position does not prove that the return-audio path is active.

Use the TV and receiver manuals for format tables, then compare them with a practical explanation of TV audio passthrough testing. Product support for a codec and successful forwarding of that codec are separate questions.

Choose PCM or Bitstream by Format and Channel Count

PCM means the playback device decodes audio before sending it onward. Bitstream or passthrough sends the encoded format for the receiver to decode. Neither is universally higher quality; the important difference is which device performs decoding and what the link can transport.

Start with PCM when compatibility matters or when the TV cannot forward a format. Use passthrough for codecs that every hop explicitly supports and when you want the receiver to identify and decode the original stream.

Remember that legacy ARC has tighter bandwidth and format limits than eARC. If lossless multichannel audio fails through the TV but works when the player connects directly to the AVR, the return channel is the likely boundary rather than the media server.

Configure One Codec Family at a Time

Enable passthrough globally, then enable only a common codec such as AC-3 and test it. Add E-AC-3, DTS, TrueHD, or DTS-HD only after the previous format produces stable sound and the receiver reports the expected input.

Set the TV digital-audio output to passthrough or auto only when its manual says that mode forwards the chosen codec. Avoid changing lip-sync, surround virtualization, and passthrough settings simultaneously because you will not know which change fixed or broke playback.

If the media server is also transcoding video, confirm the reason separately. The Jellyfin configuration verification guide is useful when a container restart appears to discard server-side changes.

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Verify With Known Clips and a Fallback Rule

Use short test files whose audio formats and channel layouts are known. For each one, record whether playback is direct, whether the TV reports an external audio system, and what codec or PCM mode appears on the receiver front panel.

A pass means stable audio, correct channel placement, no repeated HDMI handshake, and a receiver display consistent with the chosen mode. If a single codec fails, disable passthrough for that codec and allow decoding or transcoding instead of abandoning the working formats.

Stop troubleshooting application settings when the same file fails from multiple players through the TV but works through a direct AVR connection. That trigger-state result identifies the TV or return-channel path as the constraint.