Question Amazon Audio Issue?

[RedFox 1]

Thank you for all the feedback but what I stated in post 89 is still the case. So please be patient, I am not sure if it can be fixed or when so posting again won't help, I check it every day.

 

[Jackie2023]

Thank you for all the feedback but what I stated in post 89 is still the case. So please be patient, I am not sure if it can be fixed or when so posting again won't help, I check it every day.

Thanks to the developers for their hard work every day, I hope the EAC3 audio track issue in Australia, NZ and Japan can be fixed soon, because I spent a lot of money on the rentals staff on prime video and they all have an expiration date.

 

[Jimc115]

I sure hope so! The Boys in the Boat, which I downloaded on March 29th, is now only at 192kbps AAC stereo. Grrr.

Seriously, first ads on Prime and now this? If they're not careful, I won't be downloading from them any more!

The Boys on the Boat is available on the UK site with 640K audio. Free with Prime.
Roadhouse 2024 is also 640K

If you have a VPN...give it a try.

 

[artsunlimited27]

Thank you for all the feedback but what I stated in post 89 is still the case. So please be patient, I am not sure if it can be fixed or when so posting again won't help, I check it every day.

Much appreciated. I swear, it's like you never sleep.

 

[RedFox 1]

Much appreciated. I swear, it's like you never sleep.

 

[Lowpro]

I guess I'm a little late to the party. So what's the status of this issue again? I'm in the United States.

This morning I went to download the last episode of "NCIS: Season 21" via the AP Paramount+ channel, "S21 E10 - Reef Madness". The highest audio option is 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo. All prior episodes through last week offered up to 640 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio. Now those episodes are limited to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo as well. All the episodes are in 5.1 when streamed. I then checked my purchases with the same results, a dozen different movies and TV series which should include 640 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio. Each only go up to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo now. I then checked a few movies free to AP members, "The Descent 2" for example. It streams in 5.1, but in AnyStream I'm again limited to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo.

 

[RedFox 1]

I guess I'm a little late to the party. So what's the status of this issue again? I'm in the United States.

This morning I went to download the last episode of "NCIS: Season 21" via the AP Paramount+ channel, "S21 E10 - Reef Madness". The highest audio option is 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo. All prior episodes through last week offered up to 640 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio. Now those episodes are limited to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo as well. All the episodes are in 5.1 when streamed. I then checked my purchases with the same results, a dozen different movies and TV series which should include 640 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio. Each only go up to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo now. I then checked a few movies free to AP members, "The Descent 2" for example. It streams in 5.1, but in AnyStream I'm again limited to 192 kbps AAC-LC stereo.

It's still like that. Amazon is blocking the audio you want all over the USA and Europe. It's not an AnyStream issue. I am not even sure it can be fixed. We are still looking into it.

 

[Lowpro]

It's still like that. Amazon is blocking the audio you want all over the USA and Europe. It's not an AnyStream issue. I am not even sure it can be fixed. We are still looking into it.

Thanks for the reply. Guess for NCIS I'll grab the 194 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio directly from Paramount+ then. Hopefully in the future 5.1 audio will once again be available for AP.

 

[RedFox 1]

Thanks for the reply. Guess I'll grab the 194 kbps DD+ 5.1 audio from Paramount+ for NCIS then. Hopefully in the future 5.1 audio will once again be available for AP.

It has been restored for small amounts of time, but that's not a solution.

 

[Lowpro]

It has been restored for small amounts of time, but that's not a solution.

My use of AnyStream is 99% AP and 1% everything else so. I have a number of purchases I'd like to make on AP, but not if I'll be limited to 2 channel audio via AnyStream. Hopefully the situation changes in the future. Until then Amazon won't see a single video purchase from me.

 

[artsunlimited27]

My use of AnyStream is 99% AP and 1% everything else so. I have a number of purchases I'd like to make on AP, but not if I'll be limited to 2 channel audio via AnyStream. Hopefully the situation changes in the future. Until then Amazon won't see a single video purchase from me.

I bet Amazon has actually seen more subscription usage and rentals from AS users than it normally would have without it, so going so hard at this is ultimately not going to benefit them. Yet strangely enough, they don't seem to have considered this eminently rational argument.

I've always found that Paramount+ content with AP consistently had much better audio than the same selections downloaded with an independent Paramount+ subscription, so I really hope this audio issue can be gotten around.

 

[robv14001]

A point and a question. The point is I, too, am used to mostly seeing 640kbps EAC3 (DD+) 5.1 on AP, and now seem to see a lot of the "Stereo AAC 128kbps." I want to point out that these sound fields sounded great during playback. (It's like Dolby Surround, so the surround channels also play suitable content.) For me, it's mostly the HD video which matters, but audio matters too, so I am not too depressed about this (so far). I do wonder what is going on (why AMAZON is doing it), but it could end up with AMAZON losing customers, especially after their switch to ads-supported (which of course I do not pay the $3). (Which raises an interesting question: if you go ads-free, does the higher-quality sound show up?)

I've always found that Paramount+ content with AP consistently had much better audio than the same selections downloaded with an independent Paramount+ subscription, so I really hope this audio issue can be gotten around.

I notice this type of thing too, with Max.

The question: I have a Paramount+ (P+) subscription (through an AMAZON competitor) and didn't know I could use AP to download P+ (for better audio). How do I get AP to download P+ without also purchasing P+ under AP? This is especially important to me for Max. When I had Max under AP (special deal), I got 640kbps. Downloading in AS in the AS Max provider, I get a lesser sound quality. If I can somehow get P+ to download under AP (using P+ credentials), maybe I can do the same for Max. (I have Max now for a year because I took that special 40%-off deal.)

 

[Sanji Kun]

There are paid apps (i.e. UniFab) out there that can convert 2.0 ch back to 5.1 ch as an option for those who want the best audio fidelity while we wait for RedFox to sort it out. The audio conversion seem to work well. I played it on my 5.1 speaker system and the surround sound came out the same. The same same app offers upconverting SD videos to HD and up to 4K using AI. The HD conversion seems ok though I find the upconverted videos to 4K still underwhelming. Cheer up folks. RedFox will get these issues eventually resolved -- it does take time so we can all be patient.

 

[KidJoe]

The question: I have a Paramount+ (P+) subscription (through an AMAZON competitor) and didn't know I could use AP to download P+ (for better audio). How do I get AP to download P+ without also purchasing P+ under AP? This is especially important to me for Max. When I had Max under AP (special deal), I got 640kbps. Downloading in AS in the AS Max provider, I get a lesser sound quality. If I can somehow get P+ to download under AP (using P+ credentials), maybe I can do the same for Max. (I have Max now for a year because I took that special 40%-off deal.)

You can download Paramount+ and Max through Amazon OR through their native sites if you purchased those services as channels in Amazon. BUT if you purchased your subscriptions directly via Paramount+, Max, or a 3rd party like your cable company, then you're stuck using their native sites(and download modules) to download.

I subscribed to Max, Paramount+ and others through Amazon because I usually get better audio and video quality when downloading 1080p via Amazon. Of course it the title is available on Max as 4K, well then I download using the Max downloader instead of Amazon.

 

[artsunlimited27]

I notice this type of thing too, with Max.

The question: I have a Paramount+ (P+) subscription (through an AMAZON competitor) and didn't know I could use AP to download P+ (for better audio). How do I get AP to download P+ without also purchasing P+ under AP? This is especially important to me for Max. When I had Max under AP (special deal), I got 640kbps. Downloading in AS in the AS Max provider, I get a lesser sound quality. If I can somehow get P+ to download under AP (using P+ credentials), maybe I can do the same for Max. (I have Max now for a year because I took that special 40%-off deal.)

What @KidJoe said. The answer is, you don't. You have to subscribe to Paramount+ on AP to get their content. Ditto for MAX. You can do it month to month and cancel if Amazon is being glitchy about its content, which it is right now.

As for MAX audio: if you subscribed to MAX with AP before the DRM audio kerfuffle that affecting a lot of content, you used to get EAC3 audio, whereas HBOMax, and later MAX, only ever downloaded in AC-3. (I can't speak to 4K, but this was the standard for 720p/1080p downloads.)
I actually have 2 MAX subscriptions - I have it as part of my cable TV bundle so it gave me access to the MAX site, but when I did a trial of MAX on AP I realized everything was downloading in 640kbps 6-channel EAC-3 sound, so I immediately subscribed and re-downloaded and replaced all my HBO/Max series & films using Prime. I don't think I've downloaded anything from MAX itself since then. So I'm really hoping AP quits with these AAC shenanigans.

Paramount+ was just the same - it was memorably half the kbps rate on everything I tried to download compared to Prime. I honestly didn't even check to see if it was EAC-3, AC3 or whatever, I just listened to a few files and binned them in favor of what I was getting from P+ on Prime - the difference was that notable. Again, with Amazon playing games with the audio, this may no longer be an accurate assessment.

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[HDDVDBoy]

A point and a question. The point is I, too, am used to mostly seeing 640kbps EAC3 (DD+) 5.1 on AP, and now seem to see a lot of the "Stereo AAC 128kbps." I want to point out that these sound fields sounded great during playback. (It's like Dolby Surround, so the surround channels also play suitable content.) For me, it's mostly the HD video which matters, but audio matters too, so I am not too depressed about this (so far). I do wonder what is going on (why AMAZON is doing it), but it could end up with AMAZON losing customers, especially after their switch to ads-supported (which of course I do not pay the $3). (Which raises an interesting question: if you go ads-free, does the higher-quality sound show up?)



I notice this type of thing too, with Max.

The question: I have a Paramount+ (P+) subscription (through an AMAZON competitor) and didn't know I could use AP to download P+ (for better audio). How do I get AP to download P+ without also purchasing P+ under AP? This is especially important to me for Max. When I had Max under AP (special deal), I got 640kbps. Downloading in AS in the AS Max provider, I get a lesser sound quality. If I can somehow get P+ to download under AP (using P+ credentials), maybe I can do the same for Max. (I have Max now for a year because I took that special 40%-off deal.)

I too have wondered this same thing, if you pay for the ad free does the 5.1 audio return, if anyone does pay for this and can say yes or no it would be nice to know. I too am only getting the 128 audio on everything now too, I can't find anything in 5.1 now.

 

[HDDVDBoy]

There are paid apps (i.e. UniFab) out there that can convert 2.0 ch back to 5.1 ch as an option for those who want the best audio fidelity while we wait for RedFox to sort it out. The audio conversion seem to work well. I played it on my 5.1 speaker system and the surround sound came out the same. The same same app offers upconverting SD videos to HD and up to 4K using AI. The HD conversion seems ok though I find the upconverted videos to 4K still underwhelming. Cheer up folks. RedFox will get these issues eventually resolved -- it does take time so we can all be patient.

How can any program make 2ch audio 5.1, how can it add channels that are not there? I mean I know you can make "fake" 5.1 but it is not real 5.1 audio, the channels are still missing. If that is wrong please correct me, but I don't see how it can add channels that don't exist.

 

[Lone Raven]

I too have wondered this same thing, if you pay for the ad free does the 5.1 audio return, if anyone does pay for this and can say yes or no it would be nice to know. I too am only getting the 128 audio on everything now too, I can't find anything in 5.1 now.

I am in Canada, I have ad free and everything has gone to 128 AAC-LC stereo. I also have a few purchases in my library and they have reverted back to 192 AAC-LC stereo.

 

[DrXenos]

I too have wondered this same thing, if you pay for the ad free does the 5.1 audio return, if anyone does pay for this and can say yes or no it would be nice to know. I too am only getting the 128 audio on everything now too, I can't find anything in 5.1 now.

I have ad-free Prime in the US, like Master Raven, I am only seeing 128 kbps stereo.

 

[HDDVDBoy]

I have ad-free Prime in the US, like Master Raven, I am only seeing 128 kbps stereo.

Thanks for confirming that is not the issue.