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I am not very technical but my ears realise and can separate 5.1 sound from stereo sound.

HENCE the below question:



I have purchased 2 x Playbars , 4 x Play 1s from a store near me in Sydney (stock will be available Thursday, 7th June, so I have 2 days to change my mind), obviously coz i want to have cinema like effect.



But reading through the communities (AFTER purchase, as you always and should do...grrr) I realised some of you are saying that Blu Rays or Netflix wont play in 5.1. WHHHHAATTTTT ??



I have collection of 800+ Blu-Rays (1% 4K discs ) and rely on Netflix & Youtube heavily (800GB monthly family data consumption)



I have bought 2 of these sets obviously for 2 rooms.



1st Room has LG65UH770T + Xbox One S

this is what audio decode says for the TV:

Audio Decoder:

WMA/MPEG-1/MPEG-2/MP3/Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital Plus/LPCM/ADPCM/DTS/DTS-HD/AAC



2nd room has Sony 75X85D + PS4

Sound (Processing)

Dolby audio format support - Dolby™️ Digital, Dolby™️ Digital Plus, Dolby™️ Pulse

DTS audio format support - DTS Digital Surround





So what is the issue I will face when trying to hook up the system to these to listen in 5.1 mode instead of stereo ? And what are the solution(s) / alternative to make it work ?



I am not in favour of spending on more hardware (like oppo player etc) just to support 5.1. The idea behind purchasing SONOS was less items and less wires, less clutter. Spending to procure more hardware just to support 5.1 defeats the purpose for me.



I haven't picked up these items yet, hence have the option to cancel and purchase Samsung HW K-950 (as thats the only other that has wireless rear kinda setup), but once purchased wont be able to return for a change of mind.



Thanks guys.
I know this is quite an old reply, but I hope you managed to cancel your purchase. This is a long-standing issue that has been discussed in many forums. I have a lot of Sonos equipment covering two homes, including two Playbars and one Beam, and remain bitterly disappointed in the lack of support for DTS, and the total lack of interest on the part of Sonos company. I have looked at this issue every way I can and have found no good solution.
I have a solution for HTPCs for which I'll publish a video in a week or so, i know the PS4 can force Dolby Digital out, from the audio settings, I'm not sure about Xbox, because i don't have one, but I know the 360 could. Some Blu-ray players and set top boxes can force DD. i think there's a list on this forum somewhere.



But i agree no DTS is a major PITA, if it's licensing, I'll happy pay the £20 to enable it.
xbox one can transcode to DD.
To clarify things for you (I hope!)



5.1 comes in several formats. One is Dolby Digital, another is Dolby Digital Plus, and DTS is another.



At present - and from anything revealed by Sonos that I am aware of to date - only Dolby Digital is supported by Sonos. Since converting one of the other standards down to DD involves more processing, there can by sync problems as well as cost if watching non-DD sources. DD is also a lower-res signal, with a more compressed signal.



So, Sonos do support 5.1 and many are content with the limitations. Others say that without DTS or DD+ they will not consider Sonos.



Good luck in your decision! Let us know what you decide.
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