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Henk_1
Trending Lyricist I
October 7, 2018

Grouping will not work with TV input (Beam +2 P1s) but works with music input

  • October 7, 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 926 views
Hello,

Bit of a strange problem. Every once in a while grouping two rooms fails but only when I want to play TV.

Setup:

Sonos Beam + 2x Sonos Play 1s (surround mode) is room 1
2x Sonos Play 5 (1st Gen) is room 2
Sonos Boost for the separate network (to prevent interference)

Since the possibility of delaying TV audio, the lip sync problem is gone and when it works, it works great. However, sometimes the audio disappears from room 2. No matter what I do, it will not come back without resetting the entire (!) setup. If I select music as the input, all is fine and the rooms group without problems. Going back to TV input and the grouping is gone.

Diagnostic report: 1531067030 (TV input - no sound on room2)
Diagnostic report: 1171627492 (Audio input, grouping working just fine)

Would be great to get a quick fix for this, as resetting the system is a royal PITA.

Thanks!
Henk
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6 replies

Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
October 8, 2018
Henk have a read of the first post in this thread (see below link) and see if some of the the suggestions there help to eliminate the interference issues that you appear to have in your network ....

Simple Fixes for Network Connection Issues
    Henk_1Author
    Trending Lyricist I
    October 9, 2018
    Hi Ken.

    Thanks. Been there. 🙂

    I appreciate the 'goto reply' from Sonos is always related to interference, 2.4 Ghz latency and jitter etc but that is not the case here. The bug is in the Easylink interface with the Beam.

    SOLUTION (SOLVED BY WORKAROUND)



    If I disable Easylink on the TV, the Sonos Play5s (room 2) are immediately found and group instantly, without delay, without loss of signal, without jitter, latency, etc. It works like a charm actually. Problem is that sometime I need to disable/enable Easylink to get the setup working again.

    In other words, the solution is to disable the Easylink interface on your TV, group the rooms and re-enable Easylink. Wash, rinse and repeat every time the problem raises its head.

    The fact that this solution works negates (in my mind) the standard reply that the problem is with the WiFi environment etc. I really wish Sonos would stop using this as the goto excuse.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    October 9, 2018
    Henk_1,

    I don’t have a Philips TV so it is difficult for me to truly compare and test these things, but my Beam is setup with two Play:1’s in a 5.0 bonded configuration called 'Dining Room'. I too use a Sonos Boost that initiates a SonosNet Network on Channel 1. My local 2.4ghz WiFi is well out the way on channel 11 and my neighbours networks do not interfere on the 2.4ghz band or the 5ghz band.

    I have these other rooms on the ground floor of my Household:

    Hallway: standalone Sonos One
    Kitchen: Two x Play:1 (stereo paired)
    Utility: Two x Play:1 (stereo paired)
    Front Lounge: Two x Play:1 (stereo paired)
    Lounge: Two x Play:5 (gen1) (stereo paired)

    Beside the ground floor I have speakers in various rooms on other floors.

    If I group my Dining Room Beam 5.0 setup with all the speakers mentioned above on the ground floor, I’m not experiencing any audio dropouts from the TV audio... this is from an LG TV.

    I can output either a PCM stereo signal from the terrestrial TV channels or a 5.0 output from the built in Netflix App on the TV to all rooms.

    I can say I have recently watched the new-ish Jack Reacher film on Netflix with Tom Cruise (rubbish film by the way) using this Grouped method and didn’t notice a single dropout from any speaker.

    So I don’t think there is a Sonos issue here, unless there is some problem with Easylink or your Philips TV processing the signal through the HDMI port on a particular audio channel, but then I would expect to see the dropout in each of your Sonos Rooms (perhaps) .. hence I’m still thinking these issues are perhaps associated with local wireless interference.

    Perhaps check your 'sonos matrix' to see if that reveals any signal problems, or noise, around your speakers.

    I would maybe submit another diagnostic when it next happens and perhaps ask the Sonos Support Staff to take a look at your issue to see if there is a problem affecting your local network.

    Submit System Diagnostics

    Hope that helps ?
    Henk_1Author
    Trending Lyricist I
    October 9, 2018
    Hi Ken,

    Diagnostics are all submitted. The answer is always the same: interference. It is the 'easy answer'. The next one is the 2.4 Ghz bandwidth option. Impossible to argue against by most (if not all) people. It is also quite in contradiction with their own documentation and sales information.

    Since the problem is quite clearly not related to interference or bandwidth (as the solution is to disable/re-enable EasyLink), the Sonos reply sounds a bit like the Apple Genius Bar customer support strategy: blame the customer and bring up arguments impossible to refute by the average laymen. "You're using it wrong!", while in fact I am using it as advertised. From what I read here, most people either support Sonos in this nonsense or they believe it.

    In fact, 2.4GHz is perfectly fine for uncompressed TV audio. Lots and lots of wireless TV Audio solutions use 2.4GHz. Especially if they need to overcome longer distances. They do so without problems and without jitter, signal loss or latency. In fact, as you and I both demonstrate, the entire 'interference / bandwidth' reasoning is incorrect. It is a problem with something else entirely. My problem is 'fixed' without changing the network, bands or anything else. It is a problem with the TV interface.

    Which, according to Sonos, is of course the fault of the TV manufacturer. Unfortunately companies that make great products seem to all (want to?) copy the Apple customer support strategy by blaming the problem on the environment in which the products are used, incorrect use (despite it being advertised as such) and then say 'well, not our problem'. Too bad, because if they would feed this information back to the development team, they might actually be able to fix it, making many users happy they can use their Gen1 speakers together with the Beam, albeit not in a surround setting, like advertised by Sonos... The problem is they gave the wrong information, which would cause most customers to stop looking for a solution.

    Last but not least: if they have developed a wireless solution that can only be used in a freestanding house with no neighbours for 500m because of sensitivity to WiFi interference (as they seriously suggested to me!), they have made a very shoddy product indeed, as a large part of their customer base will be city dwellers.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    October 9, 2018
    Anyhow, I can say my system appears to be working fine here and I was really only trying to genuinely help. At least you now have a solution to your problem, so that’s one good thing, at least.?
    Henk_1Author
    Trending Lyricist I
    October 10, 2018
    I think you misunderstand me Ken: I agree with the fact that the system can work fine. It DOES work fine. I am simply explaining that the problem wasn't due to interference or WiFi problems. You don't have any either apparently, so that makes two of us.

    My problem is that the goto reply of Sonos is ALWAYS interference, even when it is clearly NOT the case.
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