XBox One S as a Media Centre

mole

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Hi

I am looking into getting a Xbox One S to serve as a media centre - it seems to have all the streaming apps I'll need, Bluray drive, light gaming and am looking convert my current htpc into a FreeNas server to locally stream my movies/tv shows via Plex or Kodi on the Xbox and to my other streaming boxes (android)

I am finding lots of differing info about it being able to output correct audio 5.1/7.1 from video files and then there is 4K which seems (to me) more confusing.

I will be getting a 4K TV this year and a AVR later which supports 4K also (mine is a Yamaha rxv673 which although says will pass through 4K I don't think it will) - although not for a while yet.

If anyone has got an Xbox One S as a media centre I'd be happy to know of your experience,

thanks.
 
It can work if you can live with the limitations.

Xbox audio output is limited by the app system so you get
* Dolby 5.1
* Dolby Plus 5.1 with Atmos (Netflix/Amazon streaming apps only)
* DTS 5.1
* PCM 7.1 (if app supports it like Kodi Xbox store version)

On top of that the H.265/HEVC 4K video playback is limited to Dolby 5.1 (AC3) audio only anything other than that will result in no audio.

No HD audio formats are supported, but they can be decoded as PCM 7.1 if the app supports that output and the console is set to uncompressed PCM 7.1 output.

The last time I used Kodi on Xbox its 4K video decoding was unstable but I sold off my Xbox console a year and half ago so not sure if its improved.

As for the status of Plex I'd say the Plex forums are a better place to ask but if the Plex app is using the internal Xbox video player then it may still be bound by the 4K AC3 limitation.
 

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