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?
Why can't I just use you like any other speakers?
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Spotify, Deezer ?
Both losing money hand over fist. Doubt they'll exist in 5 years, or less. Apple, Google, Microsoft will just wait them out, and buy what they want at fire sale prices.
At which point I'll be content with whatever I already have in my music collection. One plus from these streaming services is that I haven't wasted money on buying stuff anymore which I'd never ever ever listen to again! So much choice, so much dross!
You need to install LMS on a PC (Windows, Linux or Mac), or on certain NAS models. This gives you a basic system. It will run on win7 to win10, various linux, MacOS. You can use a Raspi as a cheap server, or upwards.
You extend this by use of plugins (eg. Tunein, Deezer, etc.). Now for the Sonos integration - this is via special UPnP plugin - once it's set up (easy as there's a off-the-shelf config for Sonos), the Sonos device is seen as a squeezebox player by LMS.
Control is via a browser based GUI, or smartphone remotes such as iPeng, Squeeze Control, etc. Logitech Controller is free but only works on android 4 and below.
You can pair Sonos devices as one player - you can't synchronise.
The steepest learning curve is setting up LMS as you want it - you use the browser-based GUI both as the setup screen (on a PC) and as the initial controller.
You can switch back to Sonos control and services simply by changing the controller (Sonos vs. LMS).
A quick trial route is to install LMS on a Windows PC - explore .... The 'Sonos' plugin is called UPNPBridge - it's one of the standard LMS plugins.
Contact me by PM if you want further advice.
While this looks like experienced and sound advice, here's the thing: I chose Sonos because it does all that my legacy hifi kit could do, but extends that to multiple rooms, allows access to internet music, and lets me move all my CDs to a box while allowing more access than before to all of them. At the same time, I do not want to get into what for ME is gobbledygook of the quoted kind that I don't want to mess around with because I know I will mess it up and with that, my music play will suffer. I suspect squeezebox would have done that to me.
I am perfectly happy with what Sonos gives me because I fit the target customer profile. Those that don't, won't be.
Why is that so difficult to understand?
To be honest, my one gripe about Sonos is that it needs me to understand more of networking than I prefer to, but I accept that as a price to pay for the features and live with that. My view, expressed in the past here as well, is that Sonos needs to innovate to address this gripe because I don't think I am unique or even a small minority. Home WiFi/internet tech needs to become as straightforward as turning on mains power to legacy hifi kit is today, and I recognise that Sonos isn't the only one that is going to move the state of the tech to that place.
PS: Ironically, I suspect that OP has more in common with me than with those that can sort out and accomplish the quoted stuff - that's my guess at any rate, I could be wrong.
why is that so difficult to understand
@kumar - it isn't difficult to understand. I am the target customer profile also, but am less happy than you. I like my Sonos boxes. But Like you I wish they would innovate in some areas to make it easier for me and my family to use.
Of course; no arguments with that.
But someone that comes here and throws around rhetorical questions like - "So what is Sonos good at?" - implying that it isn't good at anything anymore, is going to be challenged for making a silly and childish attention seeking statement that add little value to anyone.
What is being said there is that since Sonos doesn't serve MY needs, all should agree with me when I say it sucks.
But someone that comes here and throws around rhetorical questions like - "So what is Sonos good at?" - implying that it isn't good at anything anymore, is going to be challenged for making a silly and childish attention seeking statement that add little value to anyone.
What is being said there is that since Sonos doesn't serve MY needs, all should agree with me when I say it sucks.
The demonstration above of using Sonos as LMS renderers kind of obviates the complaints about Sonos being a "closed system", doesn't it? It's not, of coure, any DLNA app can control Sonos, except to extensions like stereo-paired speakers. Don't like the Sonos spp? Use something else, like C5!
Here's 1 of the problems: People will read the Sonos tagline that includes the phrase "all the music on earth" and get angry over limitations or specifics about how the system operates.
I read a complaint yesterday on a different board that ranted on and on about how the new Sonos Play:1s the poster received as a gift were garbage because they did this, and didn't do that, and required this, and on and on and on. And I laughed to myself because of the multiple complaints he had, all but 1 were user error or lack of knowledge. His speaker didn't simply plug into his computer, so he was confused, and rather than learn he went to a board and complained.
Hi jdag. Wouldn't disagree with you. I wish Sonos would drop the tagline "all the music on earth", but I think there is a lot of fake indignation over that (not from you I hasten to add), when people know it's hyperbole but pretend to take it literally. And arguably the tagline refers to the general availability of music in the streaming age, because the webpage says "Now that you have all the music on earth, all that matters is how you listen to it".
Agree, people should not take it literally. It is marketing "fluff".
@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
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?
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. 😉
and breathe...
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.
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
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.
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
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? 😃
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.
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
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.
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