How to output Dolby Atmos on Kodi with Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K?

[reality]

I owned an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and an an Atmos receiver, in order to achieve the Atmos effect, I tried to output different video content via the Fire TV. But after days of trying, I found out that Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K will only output Atmos with Prime content. In other words, other streaming platforms such as Netflix are not available on the Atmos output.

Is there anyway to output Atmos on Kodi with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K?
Finally, I found the answer from web. Here I am going to share the method and hope it could help those friends who are facing the same trouble.

Solutions from a netizen:

1. prepare your Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, TV and soundbar or other sound device, get them well connected.
2. Set audio to auto, and set your TV to Dolby Digital+
3. open Kodi, Kodi allow passthrough and Dolby Digital+ transcoding checked
4. Then Download the two test files here:

dolby-atmos-trailer_leaf_1080.mp4
dolby-atmos-trailer_amaze_1080.mp4

hint: output Dolby Atmos on Kodi with Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is available only if the track is coded as E-AC3, otherwise known as Dolby Digital+ . It’s not lossless though

Anything else that can output it on the FireTV 4K other than Kodi?

Yes.

it’s a PITA. I have a Sonos Arc soundbar so there’s another level of complexity. FYI your TV needs to be able to do Atmos passthru as well. I think 2018+ Samsung’s are good. Not sure about the other manufacturer. If you have eARC then even better.

I think Disney+, Prime and HBO all support Atmos with certain content, but I primarily use Prime. I honestly only tried Atmos once with those two test videos to confirm the setup works.

 

[An IMDB tomato]

I had the FTV 4K plugged directly into an input on my receiver. Plex, Kodi, and Prime would output Atmos. Never tried anything else before I replaced it with a shield.

 

[EmmaStone]

I had the FTV 4K plugged directly into an input on my receiver. Plex, Kodi, and Prime would output Atmos. Never tried anything else before I replaced it with a shield.

glad to know those all work.

more importantly - how much better is the shield? worth the extra cost?

 

[An IMDB tomato]

glad to know those all work.

more importantly - how much better is the shield? worth the extra cost?

It was for me. The ability to gigabit wire my device was worth it alone. Eventually I will get into emulation, and the extra horsepower will be put to use. I have 3 shield TV's, the 2019 was for DV.