So it's Boxing day, and I've just received a lovely big SONOS Play:1 speaker for Christmas. I set the speakers up and try to find them on my system. Nothing.
I do some research, trying to figure out why I can only play through SONOS app and verified programmes approved through the SONOS app.
Why something which clearly cost more than a few pretty pennies is essentially useless for anything other than playing music.
No live sound, no video sync, nothing but music through SONOS.
So the decrepit old speakers I have had since 2000 are essentially doing a better job than the basic model of SONOS. Not only this but my cheap shower bluetooth speaker I bought for my boyfriend (£5.99) can do what this supposedly amazing modern and high quality technology cannot. Which is play ANY sound off of my computer or phone that I want it to.
How is this a complicated concept and why, after literally years and years of community comments and wailings and clearly strong customer dissatisfaction haven't you developed a simple software fix for this? What, you can play my music at the highest sound level ever but can't handle a simple YouTube video? What kind of operation are you running? Please for the love of all things good and pure and sound related, just fix this issue. I don't think I've ever had more issue with such a supposedly 'amazing' product before. If Bluetooth is such a low quality sound how come they can do what you can't?
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NAILED IT!!
So I assume you're not aware that Sonos has an API that all service providers can use to stream to? Spotify is using it, Google uses an earlier version, Pandora has said they are considering it. Apple is too darn proprietary to use anything but their idiotic, outdated AirPlay, but who knows, maybe they will join the party some day.
Let me put it simply :
1. Sonos has 1 official application for streaming. All your services and local media utilize this application.
2. If they made their 1 and only application amazing and paid attention to it, I would have no complaints.
3. If they chose not to make their official application powerful and useful I would be fine with it too, IF and only IF they made it possible for 3rd Party applications to tie into their streaming protocol.
4. You do not have to be open source in order for this to happen.
5. You do not have to be part of a universal protocol for this to happen.
Don't want to build a good application? Fine. Let other 3rd Party applications stream to your Sonos speakers. Let my favorite Android, iPhone and Windows Phone applications handle the User Interface and Library management for you and let them stream to your speakers.
And if you can't even be bothered to do that, at the very least, put a 3.5mm line-in on it!
NAILED IT!!
Beetle777,
I presume you are 'no longer in the building' as the saying goes, but...
There are many people here, who were trying to sincerely offer you a helping hand.
The team at Sonos technical support were on standby, waiting to take your call and you have chosen to walk away? Oh well, good luck at your next forum and I truly hope you eventually find the answers that you have been looking for. Hopefully, your audio/video issues will get resolved soon, to your satisfaction.
There is nothing anyone can do, without your cooperation, so I guess it's goodbye.
My final comment to you, is to call Sonos Support as Ryan S. suggested !
Kind Regards...
Ken
I presume you are 'no longer in the building' as the saying goes, but...
There are many people here, who were trying to sincerely offer you a helping hand.
The team at Sonos technical support were on standby, waiting to take your call and you have chosen to walk away? Oh well, good luck at your next forum and I truly hope you eventually find the answers that you have been looking for. Hopefully, your audio/video issues will get resolved soon, to your satisfaction.
There is nothing anyone can do, without your cooperation, so I guess it's goodbye.
My final comment to you, is to call Sonos Support as Ryan S. suggested !
Kind Regards...
Ken
You came here, proceeded to insult people and expected to be welcomed with open arms? Honestly, people here, including a Sonos employee, have attempted to help you. All you've done in return is rant, rave, and insult. Are you here to fix your system, or stir things up? If it's the latter, I'd rather not participate in childish antics.
you are correct I don't work and Im not on Facebook for the exact reason of people like you its been fun I will know move to the correct forum. Good luck players.
Sorry, don't work for them. All Sonos employees are denoted as such. As for my # of replies (as if it matters), I have been on this forum in its various versions since 2008. That averages out to a little over 3 posts per day. You've had 32 posts in 5 days, an average of over 6 per day. So I guess you are recently unemployed and Facebook got boring? 😃
Beetle777,
I have absolutely no idea what you mean by your comment, but the suggestion from jgatie is to take the offer of help from Ryan S. This is Sonos technical support who are offering you a helping hand. If you ignore that, then I'm sorry no one here can do anything further. Go speak to the technical experts, who are awaiting your call.
Ken Griffiths
If you have 9743 replies and you don't work for sonos I feel like you need to look for a job, good luck this is not Facebook.
I can Google "Cat plays piano" and get millions of hits, but that doesn't mean there is a widespread problem of cats actually playing Chopin. It only means there are a few cats playing pianos.
By the way, a Sonos rep has offered help above. Give his suggestions a chance so they can help you narrow down the problem.
Ken google sonos playerbar drop outs, oh Im sorry I'm on the wrong forum.
Ken google sonos player drop outs!
Userlevel 7
+26
I think we've gotten quite off topic in this thread, but I took a look at your past ticket with our support team and noticed that you stopped responding there and it was closed just a week or so ago. I saw you're having audio cutouts with your Dish sending Dolby Digital to your TV, but I didn't notice if you have trouble with Dolby Digital from any other source through the TV. Do you have any other device capable of outputting Dolby Digital to the PLAYBAR? If so, give that a test and see how it goes.
We'd be happy to work with you more to get you just as happy with your PLAYBAR as so many other owners are. I'd encourage you to reply back to that incident, which will reopen it, and check in with the technician. If you haven't yet spoken with your Dish provider, that'd be a really good step too.
I understand it's frustrating when things don't work right or any issues develop, but we're here to help with that and are happy to keep working with you.
Beetle777...
The Sonos Playbar, via the toslink input, will accept DD 5.1 or 2ch stereo PCM. That is quite simply a fact and many here have successfully implemented their PlayBar with both protocols to prove that is the case.
I'm sure you understand the differences in the audio separation to the centre, front, rear speakers and sub, provided by each of the protocols.
It is also true though, that some older TV's cannot pass 5.1 audio out, it is model dependent. Most often, the 5.1 information is downmixed to 2.0 (two point zero). That is particularly the case where an older TV takes the audio from connected HDMI sources and passes it out to connected audio systems via ARC or its toslink output port.
Modern TV's however now handle and output of DD 5.1 much better and the issues you raise, are becoming a thing of the past.
Sonos were ahead of the game initially, in many respects, though it was a pity there were not more 5.1 input ports, but these things come at a cost, I guess.
If you personally are getting audio/video delay and/or experiencing PCM audio-out only from your TV, then I suspect you may have a TV either dated pre 2007 (when certain audio restrictions were in place) or the TV ARC implementation and toslink output connections are at fault and below the standard you require, or you may have not set things up correctly (which I doubt).
The evidence here then, seems to point towards output issues from your TV. That's from the things I have read here across the forum posts.
In any event, there are links on the forum (and elsewhere) to lists of TV's that do/don't work with the PlayBar and/or successfully output the DD 5.1 protocol and it may well have paid you, to do a lot more research prior to purchase of your TV, or Sonos products.
You could have easily returned the latter-purchased products in the usual specified period, if it/they proved to be not suitable for the purpose intended and you could have claimed a full refund of your money.
Manufacturers' Customer Satisfaction Policies and The Consumer Protection Laws are in place for that very purpose.
Ken Griffiths
The Sonos Playbar, via the toslink input, will accept DD 5.1 or 2ch stereo PCM. That is quite simply a fact and many here have successfully implemented their PlayBar with both protocols to prove that is the case.
I'm sure you understand the differences in the audio separation to the centre, front, rear speakers and sub, provided by each of the protocols.
It is also true though, that some older TV's cannot pass 5.1 audio out, it is model dependent. Most often, the 5.1 information is downmixed to 2.0 (two point zero). That is particularly the case where an older TV takes the audio from connected HDMI sources and passes it out to connected audio systems via ARC or its toslink output port.
Modern TV's however now handle and output of DD 5.1 much better and the issues you raise, are becoming a thing of the past.
Sonos were ahead of the game initially, in many respects, though it was a pity there were not more 5.1 input ports, but these things come at a cost, I guess.
If you personally are getting audio/video delay and/or experiencing PCM audio-out only from your TV, then I suspect you may have a TV either dated pre 2007 (when certain audio restrictions were in place) or the TV ARC implementation and toslink output connections are at fault and below the standard you require, or you may have not set things up correctly (which I doubt).
The evidence here then, seems to point towards output issues from your TV. That's from the things I have read here across the forum posts.
In any event, there are links on the forum (and elsewhere) to lists of TV's that do/don't work with the PlayBar and/or successfully output the DD 5.1 protocol and it may well have paid you, to do a lot more research prior to purchase of your TV, or Sonos products.
You could have easily returned the latter-purchased products in the usual specified period, if it/they proved to be not suitable for the purpose intended and you could have claimed a full refund of your money.
Manufacturers' Customer Satisfaction Policies and The Consumer Protection Laws are in place for that very purpose.
Ken Griffiths
Have had a Playbar since it's release. Never had a dropout. Which is logical, because the decoder chips used for DD 5.1 are a throwaway commodity these days; as such they are as simple and reliable as a concrete doorstop and not very prone to failure. Plus, if there were a widespread problem, the hundred of thousands of Playbar owners would have brought this site to a standstill. Which leaves a few possibilities:
Your Playbar is defective. If you think this is so, you should be contacting Sonos directly and asking for a replacement.
Your source is defective.
Your setup and/or interconnects are to blame.
None of these point to an inherent or widespread defect in the Sonos Playbar. Nor do they require a thread pointing to a widespread defect in the Sonos Playbar, which would have organically spread like wildfire a long time ago, if there were widespread defects. Instead, you had to piggyback onto another unrelated rant to even be close to on-topic.
Ken have 5 sonos speakers do not ever use anything but soundbar and woofer for television because of the delay problem, I just want television audio without sound drop outs, to many components are not able to do this, sonos has been blameing everybody else. PCM is not an option for $1500 out the door for a woofer and soundbar. I hardly think the top 3 television companies whose televisions output 5.1 dolby and almost all the cable companies set top boxes and the 2 primary satellite companies are all wrong which are dish and direct tv. Sonos has no solution because the claim all their signals are not up to spec. Time for a solution its ben at least 2 years. Thanks for your concern.
Thanks, Ken...completely agree.
I know I shouldn't wade into this battle, but surely when are people going to realise the basic facts here:
AirPlay over wireless and compressed ’limited-distance audio' over Bluetooth, are each designed for single speaker use only... Yes there are workarounds for multi-room/speaker setup for AirPlay, but both technologies are now somewhat dated and not really practical for use all around the family home, or office.
And syncing video to go with this type of audio is another thing entirely.
You will NEVER, for example, find a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system made up of Bluetooth or AirPlay speakers... and that's a fact!
Sonos on the other hand, are utterly and completely different. They are a wireless multi-room, multi-speaker company. You can have upto 32 speakers controlled by a single central controller, that can all play the same audio, or different audio (at the same time), on every single (or group(s)) of speakers ... and they each can operate in perfect sync without any user intervention.
The Sonos speakers can be set up to work individually (like Bluetooth or AirPlay) or two of the speakers can be put together into a separated stereo pair ... That's something you cannot do with Bluetooth or AirPlay. I tend to think of the latter therefore as listening to things in the old 'mono' format.
Sonos devices can also be put together to create 5.1 channel separated sound .. Let's just take the .1 (point 1) side of that setup, which is the bass or LFE (low frequency effects) channel... Sonos produce a mighty fine sub to deal with that channel. So what is out there on the market from Airpmay or Bluetooth to compete with that ?.. The simple answer is nothing!
Sonos has its niche in the market place and AirPlay and Bluetooth each have theirs ... and never the twain shall meet.
Google and its Chromecast technology is attempting to 'fit in-between' these technologies by allowing some apps to 'cast' or stream sound DIRECT to one or more speakers from remote sources, but that too (at the moment) does not provide 2ch stereo or 5.1 DD channel separation.
Sound quality and separation is also developing and improving alongside all the hardware.
As it stands now, a lot of people show up here in the community forum and shout and bang their drum and complain that their Sonos product doesn't do what their cheaper rechargeable Bluetooth speaker can do ... And the answer to that is simple... Of course it can't, their products were never designed to do that!
If your personal 'needs' are what Bluetooth/AirPlay or Chromecast 'mono' speakers were designed to do.. Then go out and buy those.
However if you want a multi-room, multi-speaker wireless system (including 2ch stereo or 5.1 sound surround) then Sonos is possibly the product for you.
Finally ... The thing that is evident on this forum, is that today's audio/video customer-needs are evolving and evolving fast. We all want the hardware to do all things for all men (er... and women), but the truth is that no single company, or manufacturer can provide that to us at this moment in time.
I'm sure that Sonos research labs and those at Bose, Apple, Google, Sony, Samsung etc.. are all very hard at work, as we speak, to address our future needs and demands.
I reckon the race is on and we should be patient and see what happens next. Meanwhile I see no harm in mixing and matching the Sonos products with AirPlay Bluetooth and Chromecast products.
All I can say is thank goodness for product interim 'workarounds' until the next generation of things arrives in the marketplace.
I'm sure if people understood these things a bit better and where we are in terms of development, they might consider the things that they say about the Sonos product.
"Methinks thou dost protest too much" ... William Shakespeare.
Ken Griffiths
AirPlay over wireless and compressed ’limited-distance audio' over Bluetooth, are each designed for single speaker use only... Yes there are workarounds for multi-room/speaker setup for AirPlay, but both technologies are now somewhat dated and not really practical for use all around the family home, or office.
And syncing video to go with this type of audio is another thing entirely.
You will NEVER, for example, find a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system made up of Bluetooth or AirPlay speakers... and that's a fact!
Sonos on the other hand, are utterly and completely different. They are a wireless multi-room, multi-speaker company. You can have upto 32 speakers controlled by a single central controller, that can all play the same audio, or different audio (at the same time), on every single (or group(s)) of speakers ... and they each can operate in perfect sync without any user intervention.
The Sonos speakers can be set up to work individually (like Bluetooth or AirPlay) or two of the speakers can be put together into a separated stereo pair ... That's something you cannot do with Bluetooth or AirPlay. I tend to think of the latter therefore as listening to things in the old 'mono' format.
Sonos devices can also be put together to create 5.1 channel separated sound .. Let's just take the .1 (point 1) side of that setup, which is the bass or LFE (low frequency effects) channel... Sonos produce a mighty fine sub to deal with that channel. So what is out there on the market from Airpmay or Bluetooth to compete with that ?.. The simple answer is nothing!
Sonos has its niche in the market place and AirPlay and Bluetooth each have theirs ... and never the twain shall meet.
Google and its Chromecast technology is attempting to 'fit in-between' these technologies by allowing some apps to 'cast' or stream sound DIRECT to one or more speakers from remote sources, but that too (at the moment) does not provide 2ch stereo or 5.1 DD channel separation.
Sound quality and separation is also developing and improving alongside all the hardware.
As it stands now, a lot of people show up here in the community forum and shout and bang their drum and complain that their Sonos product doesn't do what their cheaper rechargeable Bluetooth speaker can do ... And the answer to that is simple... Of course it can't, their products were never designed to do that!
If your personal 'needs' are what Bluetooth/AirPlay or Chromecast 'mono' speakers were designed to do.. Then go out and buy those.
However if you want a multi-room, multi-speaker wireless system (including 2ch stereo or 5.1 sound surround) then Sonos is possibly the product for you.
Finally ... The thing that is evident on this forum, is that today's audio/video customer-needs are evolving and evolving fast. We all want the hardware to do all things for all men (er... and women), but the truth is that no single company, or manufacturer can provide that to us at this moment in time.
I'm sure that Sonos research labs and those at Bose, Apple, Google, Sony, Samsung etc.. are all very hard at work, as we speak, to address our future needs and demands.
I reckon the race is on and we should be patient and see what happens next. Meanwhile I see no harm in mixing and matching the Sonos products with AirPlay Bluetooth and Chromecast products.
All I can say is thank goodness for product interim 'workarounds' until the next generation of things arrives in the marketplace.
I'm sure if people understood these things a bit better and where we are in terms of development, they might consider the things that they say about the Sonos product.
"Methinks thou dost protest too much" ... William Shakespeare.
Ken Griffiths
Will play music, will play stereo from your 5.1 television, will not play from most other components without audio drop outs that includes but not limited to dvd players, many cable companies 5.1, direct tv sat top boxes, dish sat top boxes many assorted audio receivers and a lot of other video components. Google this subject.
Userlevel 7
+17
Another un-happy sonos soundbar customer. However you cut it, that is bad news for sonos, probably put him off, he sells, puts off anybody he knows, even shop sales staff don't understand limitations.
It does seem an unfair mess to me. Buyer beware!! is no way to sustain a good name.
Glad I went for a proper a/v surround amp and hifi speakers first.
It does seem an unfair mess to me. Buyer beware!! is no way to sustain a good name.
Glad I went for a proper a/v surround amp and hifi speakers first.
and breathe...
Last I checked, the only protocol the Playbar definitely works with is Dolby Digital 5.1. If one's run-on sentence rant is to be effective, one should probably not call out the one protocol that is 100% supported. 😉
Lots of people are critical of the sound bar but IMO I don't think you can say they lie about it in any objective way. Can you explain the additional 3-5 hundred dollars comment?
Sonos great for music have no problem, just no concern or knowledge/ they lack in video, countless problems with video and 5.1 solutions for soundbar blame all other components constantly rather than trying to solve customers problems and concerns, and yes I realize some televisions don't output 5.1 dolby but more and more do, they tell you to call sony,samsung, lg toshiba, or direct tv or dish network and make sure you have proper cables also or tell you you need countless adapters or other work arounds all the previously mentioned are claimed to have incorrect 5.1 support. Really everyone is wrong you are right, hardly. But thats fine with me if you didn't totally mislead the way you advertise this sonos soundbar for video and it don't work except for pcm stereo which is not acceptable for the cost. Quit lying to customers and tell them the truth this is for audio and streaming music and listening to radio stations. May be on the wrong forum but don't care. Most customer don't realize it will take an additional 3 to 5 hundred dollars to get this soundbar to work properly with 5.1 dolby digital. Shame on you Sonos.
@kumar - I don't think that is what is being said at all, in most cases they just want to vent to Sonos and aren't trying to say
Not everyone is as eloquent as Volker when it comes to suggesting/complaining loudly/ wanting their Honda s2000 to 4x4 or whatever.
Frome: http://vowe.net/archives/015357.html
Frome: http://vowe.net/archives/015357.html
His thoughts are from a recent trip to Sonos head offices
http://vowe.net/archives/015354.html
should agree with me when I say it sucks..
Not everyone is as eloquent as Volker when it comes to suggesting/complaining loudly/ wanting their Honda s2000 to 4x4 or whatever.
Frome: http://vowe.net/archives/015357.html
PLAY:Cast: I want to be able to transmit anything to a Sonos player near me. Anything that comes out of an inferior speaker right now. That's a big architecture play, probably best at the operating system level. Think big, start small, then build out.
PLAY:Mobile: I want to take a player out of the house. I am still on my WLAN, but I don't want to run a power cable. Bonus points for making it splash proof.
Single room/single user: Sonos is a multiroom, multiuser experience. There are many use cases where a single user has different needs. PLAY:Cast could work without passing the beer test (get out of the house to fetch beer without the music stopping).
Multiroom/single user: Taking the music with me from room to room is difficult. Easier than many people think it is, but not easy enough.
Playbar:next: S/PDIF is not good enough if the TV wants to route Apple TV audio. HDCP on HDMI is needed. Maybe have multiple HDMI ports to switch and route the video content to a projector.
Windows 10: Using a Win32 controller on modern Windows is not a good experience. Sonos needs a WUA (Windows Universal App) for Continuum so it becomes usable on Surface et. al. A Windows Mobile app would go right with it.
Platform play: You don't need to do it all yourself. Make Sonos a platform and let others contribute. That means giving up some control. 3rd party may make add-ons that don't meet your standards. Certify if needed.
Black & white: make all products available in black and white. PLAYBAR and SUB are only available in black. Look at your PLAY:5 (2nd gen) numbers. What is the mix?
Frome: http://vowe.net/archives/015357.html
His thoughts are from a recent trip to Sonos head offices
http://vowe.net/archives/015354.html
Agree, people should not take it literally. It is marketing "fluff".
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