Xi6-T 4k - Incorrect audio

[slizzap]

This past weekend I upgraded my DVR service at home now that I'm adding a 4K TV set to the house. I previously had 1 DVR and 1 non-DVR (forget the model offhand). I went to my location Xfinity store and received 1 new DVR (X1Gv4-A) and 2 non-DVRs (Xi6-T).

I first hooked one up one of the new Xi6-T on my newest 4K TV. Everything detected properly, shows as 4kp60 and audio detects as Dolby Digital Plus (auto-detect, but also does the same under "Expert"). This is connected to a Denon AVR-X4500H. Upon finishing setup, I found that *every* channel was only playing audio in Stereo despite the Xi6-T and my receiver showing Dolby Digital Plus.

The picture above shows the Xi6-T configuration along with the receiver information screen. You can see that it's detecting the correct stream and full 5.1 surround (input and output). Despite what you see on screen, it's only outputting in stereo.

After hours of troubleshooting, I finally decided maybe I need the new DVR hooked up. Got that hooked up, everything went without a hitch. The DVR is connected to a Marantz receiver and both the cable box and receiver show "Dolby Digital 5.1". Sound is correct on this setup and playing full 5.1 surround.

I then went to the 3rd room and hooked up my 2nd Xi6-T...same issues on this one. This unit is connected to a Samsung 3.1 channel soundbar, so it does have a proper center channel. When hooked up, the Xi6-T shows "Dolby Digital 5.1" but also only actually outputs in stereo.

Final troubleshooting step...I took this same Xi6-T and plugged it into the same HDMI cable feeding the DVR. Now it detects on the Xi6-T as "Dolby Digital 5.1" and my receiver shows the same...however, now it's only playing in stereo. I plug the HDMI cable back into the DVR, same channel, full and correct 5.1 surround.

There is clearly an issue with the Xi6-T. Anyone have any recommendations? Would like to know if anyone else is encountering this issue. Very frustating to say the least. I would rather have correct audio than 4K at this point...I'm regretting replacing these boxes.

Release Version: 104.1.1

Release Timestamp: 10/16/19 3:47 PM

XRE Protocol Version: 2.8.0

Receiver: Native version: 3.10.0

STB Timestamp: Fri 23 Aug 2019 06:15:37 AM UTC

STB Version: TX061AEI_3.10p2s1_PROD_sey

[slizzap]

Deleting unnecessary post. Picture above is now showing.

[slizzap]

After further troubleshooting I now believe this to be an issue with the service rather than the hardware. On a whim I loaded up On Demand and selected Aquaman. This played in correct 5.1 surround. I tried a 2nd On Demand movie Glass...also correct 5.1 surround there. I went back into the guide and selected Starz Encore HD. Only stereo. I then switched to FXHD showing a movie in HD, and only stereo on that channel as well...despite the input/output on my receiver showing as Dolby Digital Plus. I checked the same channels on the DVR in the other room and it's playing correct 5.1 surround audio.

At a loss here. Support is sending me 2 new boxes, which I wasn't expecting to fix my problem to begin with.

[carlislegeorge]

Sounds like you diagnosed the issue...lots of cruddy 2 channel audio from xfinity

[slizzap]

But it's still unique to the Xi6-T.

[slizzap]

Just plugged in my previous cable box (XiD-P) to confirm my tests so far, since I hadn't returned the old ones yet. No changes in settings, everything stayed the same. Turned to channel 267 with Guardians of the Galaxy playing. Full surround sound as expected. Plug the Xi6-T in...stereo only, despite it showing Dolby Digital 5.1.

[Rustyben]

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@slizzap wrote:

Just plugged in my previous cable box (XiD-P) to confirm my tests so far, since I hadn't returned the old ones yet. No changes in settings, everything stayed the same. Turned to channel 267 with Guardians of the Galaxy playing. Full surround sound as expected. Plug the Xi6-T in...stereo only, despite it showing Dolby Digital 5.1.

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try an experiment. select a 5.1 channel and press record on the xi6. after it is recording, select the recording in progress on the xi6 and start playing it. after menu fades away press the OK button. on bottom left does it say 'DVR' or has a cloud icon in front of 'DVR'? if cloud, go to the dvr itself and play the same recording. is it showing cloud DVR or just DVR?

[slizzap]

I tried your suggestions and added in a few of my own that you triggered:

1. Powered on the Xi6-T. Went to Starz Encore HD (263) and recorded "The Happening". Waited a minute and then replayed it from the beginning. It showed a cloud icon next to DVR. Confirmed it was only playing in stereo, both live stream and recorded.
2. Went to On Demand and played a movie, only played stereo. Checked the Audio configuration and it was set to "Auto Detect (Dolby Digital Plus)". I switched that to "Expert" and it was playing in proper 5.1 surround. I switched back to the live guide, and The Happening was only playing in stereo. I switched to the recording, still only playing in stereo.
3. Went to the DVR and played the recording of The Happening. It said "DVR" without a cloud icon. It plays in proper 5.1 surround on the DVR, both the live stream and the recording.

Side note: Every time I power on the Xi6-T I get a message saying "XRE-10007". I have to switch channels for that to go away and for it to start playing a live stream. Aside from that, and the stereo issue, it plays fine after that.

[Rustyben]

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@slizzap wrote:

I tried your suggestions and added in a few of my own that you triggered:

1. Powered on the Xi6-T. Went to Starz Encore HD (263) and recorded "The Happening". Waited a minute and then replayed it from the beginning. It showed a cloud icon next to DVR. Confirmed it was only playing in stereo, both live stream and recorded.
2. Went to On Demand and played a movie, only played stereo. Checked the Audio configuration and it was set to "Auto Detect (Dolby Digital Plus)". I switched that to "Expert" and it was playing in proper 5.1 surround. I switched back to the live guide, and The Happening was only playing in stereo. I switched to the recording, still only playing in stereo.
3. Went to the DVR and played the recording of The Happening. It said "DVR" without a cloud icon. It plays in proper 5.1 surround on the DVR, both the live stream and the recording.

Side note: Every time I power on the Xi6-T I get a message saying "XRE-10007". I have to switch channels for that to go away and for it to start playing a live stream. Aside from that, and the stereo issue, it plays fine after that.

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that confirms that the xi6 can't communicate with the DVR via the moca bridge in the router. is the router is bypass mode (not using its own wifi)? are there extra barrel connectos on any of the modem or DVR coax connectors (should not be but may have the POE -point of entry - filter on a device where it should not be. was the home coax network previously used with satellite without changing the splitters (amp) to 0 to at least 1002mhz frequency?

[slizzap]

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@Rustyben wrote:

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that confirms that the xi6 can't communicate with the DVR via the moca bridge in the router. is the router is bypass mode (not using its own wifi)? are there extra barrel connectos on any of the modem or DVR coax connectors (should not be but may have the POE -point of entry - filter on a device where it should not be. was the home coax network previously used with satellite without changing the splitters (amp) to 0 to at least 1002mhz frequency?

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I can understand that being an explanation as to why the Xi6 is pulling the recordings from the cloud and not the local DVR, which IMO isn't really a problem, but I can't see that explaining why I'm getting stereo instead of proper surround for all channels. Again, I'd like to point out that I "can" get surround sound when doing On Demand movies.

Let's set that aside for now. The Xi6-T is wired, not wireless. My Xfinity router is an ARRIS TG1682G, which is in bridge mode with MoCA and Wi-Fi both disabled. I have this connected to my own personal firewall/router with wireless controller. All my devices are wired and I have not needed MoCA, at least not up until now (potentially). I'm willing to reconfigure the ARRIS by taking it out of bridge mode and enabling MoCA and removing my firewall from the equation just for testing purposes. Before I go through that hassle, I'd like an explanation for how and why MoCA would be required for this new box and how that factors in with the details I have provided so far. Again, I think we're now troubleshooting a different problem, so I'm just looking for details.

The splitter in use is the one provided by the Comcast technician during install, so there should not be any issues there.

Thanks.

[lesmikesell]

Recordings from the cloud are always in stereo.  When you start playing a recording you should see DVR or a cloud symbol on the screen.   What do you get if you play back your recording from the dvr box itself?

[CCAndrew]

That Xi6 box communicates to the gateway, but the gateway also needs to communicate with the dvr via moca. With the moca off, the Xi6’s recordings are from the cloud not from the dvr. On Demand is a different source. Turn your moca on

[slizzap]

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@lesmikesell wrote:

Recordings from the cloud are always in stereo.  When you start playing a recording you should see DVR or a cloud symbol on the screen.   What do you get if you play back your recording from the dvr box itself?

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Based on my testing, the DVR always plays properly. The issue only happens on the Xi6.

[slizzap]

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@CCAndrew wrote:
That Xi6 box communicates to the gateway, but the gateway also needs to communicate with the dvr via moca. With the moca off, the Xi6’s recordings are from the cloud not from the dvr. On Demand is a different source. Turn your moca on

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This is confirmed, and extremely disappointing. I disconnected my firewall and reconfigured the Xfinity gateway, disabled WiFi and enabled MoCA. With the Xi6 plugged directly into the Xfinity gateway it played all live streams in proper surround.

I spent the entire evening trying varous combinations with my firewall to see if there was any possible way I could work around this, but there does not appear to be a way. I ended up reconfiguring my firewall so now it's basically doing double NAT behind the Xfinity gateway, which is no longer in bridge mode. My basement Xi6 is wired directly to the gatway, bypassing my firewall. The other location where I was looking to place an Xi6 is in the bedroom, which is 2 floors up and the opposite side of the house where it's not picking up the WiFi good, and I can't simply just patch in that jack to the gateway as I have a switch there with other internal devices wired. I'm just going to have to return that Xi6 box and keep the original non-4K box that uses COAX as there does not appear to be a way for me to get proper working 4K *and* surround sound with it in my situation.

It's very ironic to me that this configuration forces you to use MoCA, which was designed to work around the problem of houses not having ethernet cabling by using existing COAX, which in turn completely prevents actual ethernet cabling from working. Would be nice if this gets properly ironed out before 4K content really starts rolling out. Looks like I may be slightly jumping the gun here anyways given the current state of 4K availability.

Thanks for your assistance.

[slizzap]

If I wanted to get additional 4K in the future and this was still an issue, I'm curious if Xfinity would allow me to use multiple DVRs in the house since they use COAX and not the built-in Ethernet port...without the additional charge of a DVR, that is.

[RobertWy]

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@slizzap wrote:

If I wanted to get additional 4K in the future and this was still an issue, I'm curious if Xfinity would allow me to use multiple DVRs in the house since they use COAX and not the built-in Ethernet port...without the additional charge of a DVR, that is.

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I have three X1 DVR's; two are 4k DVR's.  I also have one XG2 companion.  All four are connected with coax run to each room.  I prefer coax to wifi to avoid wifi issues.

I also have one Chromecast Ultra and one Roku Ultra that have an ethernet connection to avoid any wifi issues.

[CCAndrew]

You can have as many dvrs as you want to pay for but it won’t be at a discount. Unfortunately, as you’ve stated it’s working the way it should when all settings are properly set, it doesn’t allow for you wanting your network setup a certain way

[lesmikesell]

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@slizzap wrote:

If I wanted to get additional 4K in the future and this was still an issue, I'm curious if Xfinity would allow me to use multiple DVRs in the house since they use COAX and not the built-in Ethernet port...without the additional charge of a DVR, that is.

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I thought someone had posted about having an ethernet connection working with the addition of a MoCA adapter connecting it to the xfinity equipment.    Which I don't really understand - my gateway seems to bridge them anyway - I can ping the addresses listed as MoCA from a laptop on wifi.   I don't have one to test, though.

The whole situation seems odd to me,  but at this point you probably wouldn't miss much by using one of the non-4k devices.  You probably have native 4k netflix/amazon/youtube apps on the TV anyway or if not you could add a cheap fire stick.

[Rustyben]

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@slizzap wrote:

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@CCAndrew wrote:
That Xi6 box communicates to the gateway, but the gateway also needs to communicate with the dvr via moca. With the moca off, the Xi6’s recordings are from the cloud not from the dvr. On Demand is a different source. Turn your moca on

---

This is confirmed, and extremely disappointing. I disconnected my firewall and reconfigured the Xfinity gateway, disabled WiFi and enabled MoCA. With the Xi6 plugged directly into the Xfinity gateway it played all live streams in proper surround.

I spent the entire evening trying varous combinations with my firewall to see if there was any possible way I could work around this, but there does not appear to be a way. I ended up reconfiguring my firewall so now it's basically doing double NAT behind the Xfinity gateway, which is no longer in bridge mode. My basement Xi6 is wired directly to the gatway, bypassing my firewall. The other location where I was looking to place an Xi6 is in the bedroom, which is 2 floors up and the opposite side of the house where it's not picking up the WiFi good, and I can't simply just patch in that jack to the gateway as I have a switch there with other internal devices wired. I'm just going to have to return that Xi6 box and keep the original non-4K box that uses COAX as there does not appear to be a way for me to get proper working 4K *and* surround sound with it in my situation.

It's very ironic to me that this configuration forces you to use MoCA, which was designed to work around the problem of houses not having ethernet cabling by using existing COAX, which in turn completely prevents actual ethernet cabling from working. Would be nice if this gets properly ironed out before 4K content really starts rolling out. Looks like I may be slightly jumping the gun here anyways given the current state of 4K availability.

Thanks for your assistance.

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glad to hear you are making progress. the switch (ethernet) will work fine for your extra needed connection as the moca over ethernet is already present from the gateway connection to the switch. ethernet to that other box would fix your problem, right?

[slizzap]

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@CCAndrew wrote:
You can have as many dvrs as you want to pay for but it won’t be at a discount. Unfortunately, as you’ve stated it’s working the way it should when all settings are properly set, it doesn’t allow for you wanting your network setup a certain way

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I do have to disagree with this. It's not so much a matter of me wanting some special network setup. I'd simply like to know why Xfinity only does stereo streams to the Xi6 when it's not communicating via MoCA. It's clearly talking to Xfinity servers and pulling broadcast streams. And it also does proper surround for On Demand movies...but only stereo for broadast streams? That seems like some arbitrary limitation. Furthermore, I'd like to know why the ethernet port is disabled on the 4K DVR. If the port was enabled, it would be on the same network as the Xi6 and they would be able to communicate with each other without MoCA. Another way this problem could be solved.

There simply should be no requirement for MoCA. It's there for people that need it, but for people like me that don't, I should be able to disable that and use my wired network and use the gateway in bridge mode. Another option would be to let bridge mode be enabled along with MoCA. I've configured Comcast business modems in the past that used some type of pseudo-bridge mode where you could assign a public IP to a connected firewall, while at the same time anything connected directly to the gateway would get the typical 10.0.0.x address...rather than the true bridge mode on my current gateway. That would enable bridge and MoCA simultaneously.

Just so many factors raise the question of "why?"

And to avoid the likely follow up question of why I need my own firewall and why the gateway alone isn't sufficient...I have a Sophos security gateway that has integrated wireless controller supporting multiple access points throughout the house, and it also has a full featured web filter including user, device, and time-based controls (great for managing access for family).

[CCAndrew]

The Ethernet port is there because that same equipment is licensed out, all the X1 dvrs have one and they’re not meant for internet use or as connections for other equipment. I think I pretty much explained above why you’re getting stereo vs surround.

Basically, you want to use Comcast’s equipment one way and it’s meant to use a different way. Sorry but it’s not going to change. If you did a forum search you’d find you’re singled out for what you’re trying to do with your network. This system is set for the masses, not the one-offs.

[slizzap]

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@Rustyben wrote:

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glad to hear you are making progress. the switch (ethernet) will work fine for your extra needed connection as the moca over ethernet is already present from the gateway connection to the switch. ethernet to that other box would fix your problem, right?

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Yes, ethernet to the other box would fix the problem, but it's not that easy. Each room in my house has a single ethernet jack. Each location where a TV would go has a network switch for multiple devices being connected to the network (TV, PC, cable, game consoles, etc. etc.). Therefore, I can't simply patch one jack into the Xfinity gateway, because then all devices connected to that network switch would be off my internal network.

Now if all Xfinity devices continued to use COAX, this wouldn't even be an issue. Why have a DVR that is COAX only and remote devices that are ethernet only? Stick with one or the other! More and more things that just make me ask "why?"

[lesmikesell]

The 'why' is that the DVR  holding your recording with the 5.1 audio is connected via MoCA while the clould recording you can reach without it only has stereo.  And the ethernet port is probably disabled because Comcast techs don't want to deal with more complicated wiring.  But, there is a post in this thread that says someone made it work: https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/X1/Will-the-Xi6-box-work-over-ethernet/td-p/3192434

[slizzap]

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@CCAndrew wrote:
The Ethernet port is there because that same equipment is licensed out, all the X1 dvrs have one and they’re not meant for internet use or as connections for other equipment. I think I pretty much explained above why you’re getting stereo vs surround.

Basically, you want to use Comcast’s equipment one way and it’s meant to use a different way. Sorry but it’s not going to change.

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That's exactly why other options exist for TV and Internet 🙂 If Comcast doesn't listen to their customers, and this creates more problems for me in the future, then I cancel my service. That would be the easiest solution.

[lesmikesell]

Have you actually watched any 4k content on this box you are fighting with that you couldn't have gotten on the TV's native apps (or a cheap fire stick if you managed to buy a 4k TV with no apps)?   Your self-imposed problem is easily solved with any of the X1 boxes that have coax connections - including a 4k one if you care enough about 4k to pay a little extra.

[slizzap]

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@lesmikesell wrote:

The 'why' is that the DVR  holding your recording with the 5.1 audio is connected via MoCA while the clould recording you can reach without it only has stereo.  And the ethernet port is probably disabled because Comcast techs don't want to deal with more complicated wiring.  But, there is a post in this thread that says someone made it work: https://forums.xfinity.com/t5/X1/Will-the-Xi6-box-work-over-ethernet/td-p/3192434

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I'm not talking about recordings, though...just broadcast streams. The simple point I'm trying to make here is there is absolutely no technical reason to limit a cloud stream to stereo. If there was, Netflix and Amazon (and any other streaming service) would have a lot less users. So yes, I'm officially in rant mode at this point...sorry about that 😛

Not exactly sure I feel like spending $100 to try to fix this in that manner, but it's an interesting thought nonetheless. Something to keep in mind for down the road perhaps. Thanks for the link.

[slizzap]

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@lesmikesell wrote:

Have you actually watched any 4k content on this box you are fighting with that you couldn't have gotten on the TV's native apps (or a cheap fire stick if you managed to buy a 4k TV with no apps)?   Your self-imposed problem is easily solved with any of the X1 boxes that have coax connections - including a 4k one if you care enough about 4k to pay a little extra.

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Not aside from on-demand, no. The reason I went down this path is because I saw they were starting to stream sports in 4K.

Yes, you're right...I could simply pay more money to Xfinity to buy an extra DVR that I technically don't need. I suppose I have an issue with paying money to a provider to work around a problem that said provider created, seemingly arbitrarily.

[lesmikesell]

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Yes, you're right...I could simply pay more money to Xfinity to buy an extra DVR that I technically don't need. I suppose I have an issue with paying money to a provider to work around a problem that said provider created, seemingly arbitrarily.

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Your network issue is self-imposed.   But there's no contract committment on the hardware - you could use a 1080 box until enough 4k content shows up that you have to watch on this TV that makes it worth an extra DVR and swap then.  Or maybe xfinity will have some other hardware by then.

[slizzap]

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@lesmikesell wrote:

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Yes, you're right...I could simply pay more money to Xfinity to buy an extra DVR that I technically don't need. I suppose I have an issue with paying money to a provider to work around a problem that said provider created, seemingly arbitrarily.

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Your network issue is self-imposed.   But there's no contract committment on the hardware - you could use a 1080 box until enough 4k content shows up that you have to watch on this TV that makes it worth an extra DVR and swap then.  Or maybe xfinity will have some other hardware by then.

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"Self-imposed" infers that it's a problem that I created and is unique to my situation. That's not the case. So we can just agree to disagree there, and it really has no bearing on the problem or solution anyways. When I started spending more time researching this problem online I found there are a lot of similar posts online with people trying to use Xi6s with gateways in bridge mode, but the stereo problem I hadn't come across. So some of this is old news.

Agreed on the content...going to keep the DVR and one Xi6, and just keep the rest of my TVs on old boxes for now. I really only have a strong desire for 4K on one of my TVs, so I'll make do.

Thanks.

[lesmikesell]

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@slizzap wrote: "Self-imposed" infers that it's a problem that I created and is unique to my situation. That's not the case.

How do you figure that?  It works as shipped, in the stock configuration.  I agree that there should be more options for multiple 4k sets, but what they have works until you break it.  I'd like to see full support for ethernet connections in my house too, but I do understand the support nightmare of dealing with other people's firewalls, double NAT, bad cables, and whatever else would likely show up blocking the signal.   The omission of a coax connection from the Xi5 and Xi6 boxes is more puzzling, but maybe that reflects a real commitment to moving everything off QAM channels to IP along with making the box cheap enough to give away in the Flex program.  And I agree that cloud recordings should be exactly the same as the DVR, including the audio.

[alsobummed]

Did you ever find a way to resolve this issue?  I recently installed an XI6 box with Denon amp, and it is only streaming stereo, despite it recognizing DD+.  

[Rustyben]

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@alsobummed wrote:

Did you ever find a way to resolve this issue?  I recently installed an XI6 box with Denon amp, and it is only streaming stereo, despite it recognizing DD+.  

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in your STB audio menu, is 'expert' set to on?

[alsobummed]

Yes, I've tried that setting and the auto-select (DD+).  Still nothing coming from the center channel with either one, for channels that should be more than stereo.  I opened the Netflix app on the xi6, and 5.1 works fine.  Any other thoughts?