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Is there a fundamental limitation preventing Sonos to make an Android TV app?

  • October 19, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 1099 views
Z

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased an ERA 300 and the hardware is absolutely brillant; I didn´t think that Dolby Atmos could sound so good with a single speaker. So much that I’m probably going to ditch Youtube Music for Apple Music once my trial period is over. Seriously it’s that good.


However, the lack of dedicated Android TV app is a really bizarre omission to me. I know that most people will tell me to buy a soundbar but:

  1. Not all of us have the disposable income for that.
  2. Not all of us have the means to plug a soundbar. I use, for instance, a projector which single HDMI input is already occupied by a mibox S. And even if I did have the money, and an available HDMI, I would need a 6 meters HDMI cable to connect the soundbar; not really practical. 

I currently connect the era 300 to my mibox by bluetooth and I experience no delay in the sound, thanks to a built-in compensation I presume. This works reasonably well and the speaker does a surprisingly good job when watching series or movies; much better than the internal speakers of my projector, or any TV speaker honestly. 

But given the choice, I would really prefer to find a way to connect my era 300, or any other Sonos speaker, to an android TV through Wifi. Not only would it be much more elegant, but it would also permit the era 300 to be used with dolby atmos movies.

All in all, and while I understand that neither the era 300 nor other non-soundbar speakers were designed with movie-watching in mind, more options is always great and I am sure that I am far from the only one who would make use of such option. Unless there’s a fundamental technical limitation preventing an Android TV app, I feel that it would solve what is in my opinion the main limitation of Sonos speakers. I wouldn’t dare to say (well, I would) that it is a deliberate choice by Sonos in order to sell more soundbars...

Thank you for reading my message, and I hope to have a nice surprise in the months, or years, to come.

J
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3 replies

melvimbe
  • melvimbe
  • October 19, 2023

I am not 100% clear what you’re asking for here as there seems to be two different directions your leaning.  

If you are referring to an android TV app that works essentially like a a Sonos app on an android/iOS device, then it probably is possible.  The Sonos app is just a controller, audio does not originate from the Sonos app, it just instructs the speakers what to do.  So assuming the android TV device your using has the same access to your WiFi network, there is no technical reason why an android TV app can’t exist.  I suspect the main reason it does not currently is that the number of users who would use it, and drive speaker sales, is not larger enough, or it’s just not released yet.

However, it sounds like you’re really asking for audio to be wirelessly transmitted from your android TV to your Sonos speaker, not really a Sonos app per se.  This is definitely a technical challenge.  There is a lot of data involved with atmos audio.  You can send the data wirelessly if you can buffer the audio, which is what happens with streaming services. You can get 2-3 seconds ahead on the data with streaming audio.  You can’t do that very well when the audio has to match the video, and has to be essentially real time.  Not a problem with  wired connections, and can be done with surround audio channels only, but all the data is too much.  

A potential solution would be to buffer the audio and video and so that the timing is better. But that requires a bit more technical effort to get done correctly  That obviously also requires control of both audio and video playback, which Sonos would not have on an android TV device.  There are other things you can do, but the point is the same, it’s a technical challenge.

Danny
Z
Z
  • zakatana
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • October 19, 2023

I am not 100% clear what you’re asking for here as there seems to be two different directions your leaning.  

If you are referring to an android TV app that works essentially like a a Sonos app on an android/iOS device, then it probably is possible.  The Sonos app is just a controller, audio does not originate from the Sonos app, it just instructs the speakers what to do.  So assuming the android TV device your using has the same access to your WiFi network, there is no technical reason why an android TV app can’t exist.  I suspect the main reason it does not currently is that the number of users who would use it, and drive speaker sales, is not larger enough, or it’s just not released yet.

However, it sounds like you’re really asking for audio to be wirelessly transmitted from your android TV to your Sonos speaker, not really a Sonos app per se.  This is definitely a technical challenge.  There is a lot of data involved with atmos audio.  You can send the data wirelessly if you can buffer the audio, which is what happens with streaming services. You can get 2-3 seconds ahead on the data with streaming audio.  You can’t do that very well when the audio has to match the video, and has to be essentially real time.  Not a problem with  wired connections, and can be done with surround audio channels only, but all the data is too much.  

A potential solution would be to buffer the audio and video and so that the timing is better. But that requires a bit more technical effort to get done correctly  That obviously also requires control of both audio and video playback, which Sonos would not have on an android TV device.  There are other things you can do, but the point is the same, it’s a technical challenge.

 

Thank you for the detailed answer. Indeed, my question may have been somewhat unclear, mostly due to my lack of technical knowledge. In a nutshell, I'd love to be able to connect to a TV via WiFi not for the music, but for the video content. It's already feasible via Bluetooth and works really well all things considered. But as the Atmos Music being playable via WiFi on the phone, I figured that having a wireless solution to watch videos with Atmos content would add incredible value to those speakers. I now see that it's not straightforward. 

 

 

melvimbe
  • melvimbe
  • October 19, 2023

I am not 100% clear what you’re asking for here as there seems to be two different directions your leaning.  

If you are referring to an android TV app that works essentially like a a Sonos app on an android/iOS device, then it probably is possible.  The Sonos app is just a controller, audio does not originate from the Sonos app, it just instructs the speakers what to do.  So assuming the android TV device your using has the same access to your WiFi network, there is no technical reason why an android TV app can’t exist.  I suspect the main reason it does not currently is that the number of users who would use it, and drive speaker sales, is not larger enough, or it’s just not released yet.

However, it sounds like you’re really asking for audio to be wirelessly transmitted from your android TV to your Sonos speaker, not really a Sonos app per se.  This is definitely a technical challenge.  There is a lot of data involved with atmos audio.  You can send the data wirelessly if you can buffer the audio, which is what happens with streaming services. You can get 2-3 seconds ahead on the data with streaming audio.  You can’t do that very well when the audio has to match the video, and has to be essentially real time.  Not a problem with  wired connections, and can be done with surround audio channels only, but all the data is too much.  

A potential solution would be to buffer the audio and video and so that the timing is better. But that requires a bit more technical effort to get done correctly  That obviously also requires control of both audio and video playback, which Sonos would not have on an android TV device.  There are other things you can do, but the point is the same, it’s a technical challenge.

 

Thank you for the detailed answer. Indeed, my question may have been somewhat unclear, mostly due to my lack of technical knowledge. In a nutshell, I'd love to be able to connect to a TV via WiFi not for the music, but for the video content. It's already feasible via Bluetooth and works really well all things considered. But as the Atmos Music being playable via WiFi on the phone, I figured that having a wireless solution to watch videos with Atmos content would add incredible value to those speakers. I now see that it's not straightforward. 

 

 

The bolded part is not actually what’s happening.  The Sonos app is just a controller, telling the speaker what to do.  Atmos music is not actually being sent from your phone to the Era 300.  The Era 300 is going and getting the music from the service directly.  You cna easily test this out by using the app to play atmos music, then turning off wifi on your phone.  The music will keep playing.  Or you can just turn off your wifi on the phone and issue a voice command to play music.

Danny
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