Skip to main content
With 4K bluray players starting to emerge now, seems we really need to start keeping straight which ones will allow those of us with Sonos Playbars enjoy some semblance of Dolby sound when certain 4K blurays only offer DTS. (Note, I haven't yet purchased a 4K bluray, so am unaware of the typical sound offerings.)



But we went through this once already, for regular bluray players, with many threads devoted to outlining the multiple Samsung models of bluray that decode DTS to Dolby 5.1 (I ended up buying a Sony that also does so). Now let's do the same for 4K players.



So far we have the Samsung UBD K8500 (which seems to clearly decode DTS to dolby.) Now what about the Philips? The Panasonic? The Xbox One S?



Anyone have any idea?
I was hoping the Xbox One S would work...sigh. The Sony 4K player looks amazing but also very spendy as it will only be available to custom installers at first...sign. I didn't know about this DTS issue before I bought the Playbar. In retrospect, I would've purchased something else if I knew this...sigh, again.
The Sony X1000ES 4K bluray player announced for Spring release (finally). This could be the key for Sonos playbar owners.
Talked to some folks at Best Buy - and their take is that the Panasonic 4K player probably will not transcode DTS to Dolby.

So as of right now, looks like Samsung is the only game in town.
If that's the case, incredibly strange decision! Sony needs to release a standalone 4K bluray player already! Amazing that they're lagging behind here. I can't help but think that will be compatible with the SONOS player and transcode DTS to Dolby (guessing because my current non-4K Sony bluray player does.)



I am hesitant to pull the trigger on the Samsung because the reviews on the remote are brutal. And the Panasonic PQ seems like it's superior. But it's quite costly.



So c'mon Sony - let's get going here!
so PS4 Pro confirmed has optical out, but no UHD blu ray playback.....strange decision
Yeah I looked at the Panny but $700 is a bit much.
Good to know. The one other current option is the Panasonic though....plus a less pricy model also coming out in the next couple months....
I setup the Samsung Ultra Blu-ray player and can confirm that you can set it to convert DTS-HD to DD 5.1 which the LG TV is correctly passing to the Playbar.



So if you're going 4K Blu-ray and you're using a Playbar, go with the Samsung and avoid the Philips.



I picked up the Philips 4K UHD player today and hooked it up to my LG OLED UHD TV and while Mad Max worked just fine, The LEGO Movie had no sound. Had to change the audio for all streams to Linear PCM which downmixes to 2.0 on the Playbar and shows as unsupported within the Sonos app.



Disappointing but not unexpected given past experiences with the Playbar. Made even more frustrating since the OLED LG passes 5.1 to the Playbar flawlessly.



Going to return it and get the Samsung which appears to decode properly.



Super helpful, thanks for sharing. Wondering if Mad Max worked well because it already offered 5.1, whereas Lego movie was DTS and the issue was Sonos' attempt at decoding? Keep us posted, if possible, on how smoothly the Samsung works.



Mad Max is Dolby Atmos and The LEGO Movie is DTS-HD MA so I'm guessing the Philips player does not do the upstream conversion of DTS-HD to 5.1, has anyone confirmed that the Samsung or Panasonic does this correctly?
I picked up the Philips 4K UHD player today and hooked it up to my LG OLED UHD TV and while Mad Max worked just fine, The LEGO Movie had no sound. Had to change the audio for all streams to Linear PCM which downmixes to 2.0 on the Playbar and shows as unsupported within the Sonos app.



Disappointing but not unexpected given past experiences with the Playbar. Made even more frustrating since the OLED LG passes 5.1 to the Playbar flawlessly.



Going to return it and get the Samsung which appears to decode properly.



Super helpful, thanks for sharing. Wondering if Mad Max worked well because it already offered 5.1, whereas Lego movie was DTS and the issue was Sonos' attempt at decoding? Keep us posted, if possible, on how smoothly the Samsung works.
I picked up the Philips 4K UHD player today and hooked it up to my LG OLED UHD TV and while Mad Max worked just fine, The LEGO Movie had no sound. Had to change the audio for all streams to Linear PCM which downmixes to 2.0 on the Playbar and shows as unsupported within the Sonos app.



Disappointing but not unexpected given past experiences with the Playbar. Made even more frustrating since the OLED LG passes 5.1 to the Playbar flawlessly.



Going to return it and get the Samsung which appears to decode properly.
reports about the PS4 slim show it has no optical out, no word yet on the PS4 Neo...
Ok, so Samsung will do it. Thanks.

Sounds like no on Philips. No on Panasonic DMPUB900. And no on Xbox One S.



Last hope (for the time being) for an alternative to Samsung 4K bluray player is the upcoming Sony Neo - thoughts? Since the PS4 players now seem to transcode DTS to Dolby, I'm thinking there's a decent change this player will too.
The manual for the Samsung K8500 4k shows that it will re-encode Dolby Digital.



Page 53

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201512/20151224160603900/UBD-K8500-ZA_1203.pdf
thanks for the replay. I agree on the pricing. The only thing is, for those that have taken the plunge on a 4K tv, it's natural to want to pair that with the highest resolution bluray playback possible, thus getting a 4k bluray player. The resolution of an actual 4k bluray will be miles ahead of any streaming 4k content. So it's the matter of who has the patience to wait. However, with the Sonos DTS issue, the matter gets more complicated, as you have to overlay one more piece of criteria - the player needs to transcode blurays with native DTS to Dolby (ideally). So I was just wondering which ones will do that. (That feature is very difficult to find when looking at online specs, and even calling the company often gets you a "I don't know" from the company.)
With the cheapest 4K Blu-Ray players still costing $300 US right now, it doesn't surprise me that not many people are watching them yet.



Especially when there are plenty of alternate sources for streaming/download (http://www.rtings.com/tv/learn/where-to-find-4k-movies-and-content)



Personally, I'd wait for the 4K Blu-Ray players to come down in price in the next 2 years. Start collecting the movies now though, if you plan to upgrade... the 4K versions sometimes include the HD Blu-Ray so you can watch now, and might even have a digital copy too.
No experiences here? Folks aren't yet watching 4K blurays?
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings