4K/UHD bluray players that decode DTS to Dolby?


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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?

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217 replies

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Definitely one for the Sonos user to consider as it's way better than the K8500 for picture quality.Based on what? I'm struggling with that to be honest. Way better?...
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The K8500 was notorious for adding noise reduction that softened the picture which has made the M9500 a noticeable upgrade to me Picture Quality wise. The M9500 colors are phenomenal. I don't know how to explain it as it's not vivid or oversaturated but some colors just seam to pop a bit more and that was immediately noticeable to me switching from the K8500. I also love the Bluetooth output option so that i can use my Bluetooth headphones and watch late night movies as loud as i want - it works a treat!
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Notorious? Really?
So the observations weren't side by side ones but from memory where the new picture really 'had" to be much better?..
I have an 8500 funnily enough and a soft picture is the last thing I think of when using it.
It's pin sharp and easily the best picture I've ever seen. Both upscaling 1080P or playing UHD BD's.
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Mine is just a personal opinion from my own observations.
The K8500 did produce a very good picture and is a great little player but the M9500 is definitely, in my view, a step up in Picture Quality when playing disc, USB MKV's and streaming from Netflix etc.
I've switched between both players using same movies and same streaming shows on same TV and it is, in my view again, a definite improvement in Picture Quality!
The upscaling also seems sharper and more defined - using same viewing criteria as above - in my view.
I don't wish to hijack this thread but wondered if anyone could help.
It's great that there seems to be solutions to get the Playbar to recognise Blu Ray DTS re-encoded to DD5:1 but I have had my Playbar for 2 weeks now and can not even get it to recognise DD5:1 from DVD players. It's fine with Sky Q and Apple TV but not with Blu Ray players. I have tried 3 different players now, and the Sonos app reports it is receiving a stereo signal.
My TV (Samsung F800) passes 5:1 but again not from Blu Ray player. It's driving me nuts, so if anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it. Both Sonos and Samsung haven't been any help.
I have been thinking of returning the Sonos gear and getting the Heos,


I've had the same issues. I have a playbar and sub. My tv passes the 5.1 and works with the Apple TV. Just picked up the Samsung M9500 blu ray player and the app is saying I'm getting stereo sound after switching the settings to decide the DD. Any ideas what the issue may be?
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Hi Tanningtatum, just wondering what TV are you using and what settings on the M9500?
It's a LG 55EF9500 OLED. The settings on the M9500 I changed the settings to Bitstream (reencode Dolby Digital).
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As i don't have any knowledge of your TV and can't find anything useful in the user manual maybe have a read on this thread:-

https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/new-lg-tv-s-and-5-1-pass-through-6558244
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I got myself the Oppo UDP-203 and it works like a charm. It transcodes anything you throw at it to Dolby 5.1, thus giving me that cinema sound experience. I recommend it!
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Glad to hear you're enjoying your Oppo! That was my initial first choice but it was just too big for my cabinet. I was prepared to make some adjustments to accommodate it but wife wouldn't let me, but I am more than happy with my Samsung M9500 now.
Just out of interest do you use an Optical switch and if so which one?
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I'm using the MARMITEK Connect TS41, an active switch. It has 4 ports and a nice small remote to switch between my PS4 pro, Oppo UDP-203 and television box.

Unfortunately the PS4 Pro didn't cut it as a media player. No Ultra hd bluray support and only DTS transcoding to stereo output. Added benefit is that the Oppo UDP-203 is a better transcoder for local movie streaming from my pc than native TV apps such as plex and x-play.

The 4k HDR playing of discs such as Earth II is magnificent. Especially now the sound I get from Sonos is 5.1, a definitive improvement over stereo.

I have to say that it is an expensive solution, but considering that I have Sonos all over my house (3 Connect amps), this was the way to go to get what I wanted.

Fully wireless interconnected sound system, from bathroom to roof terrace, integrated with my home cinema set up.
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Very nice! I've got other Sonos units around the house as well as my 'home cinema setup' similar to yourself. I know its not cheap but the way it all integrates is fantastic. Have had a couple of parties in the past where i've grouped all the speakers together and had the house rocking! What's your favourite episode from Planet Earth II?
Userlevel 4
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I finally bit the bullet last weekend and bought a proper home cinema. Denon AVRX3300W and Q Acoustics 7000I PLUS 5.1 surround speaker set.

It has DTS support - yay! It also has 7 HDMI inputs and supports Dolby HD, Dolby Atmos, DTS MA and DTS X. It also supports other surround encoding like that used by the Wii U.

I replaced my PLAYBAR, SUB, 2 x PLAY:3, optical switch, HDMI switch and all the optical interconnects. I actually removed more cables than I put in, ironic considering the Sonos is the "wireless" system.

New system just works. It sounds massively better, especially on the newer uncompressed audio codecs and the AUDYSSEY tuning is amazing - like Sonos Truplay on steroids.

I paid £1400 for the lot, which makes it cheaper than the Sonos option, and it basically supports anything you can throw at it.

If you're sick of being tied to specific blu-ray players, having to juggle hdmi and optical switches, transcoding content etc. I highly recommend the change. Even my wife is impressed, everything just works now.
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[quote=RO53BEN]I finally bit the bullet last weekend /quote]

Understandably so. If I purely needed just a 5.1 homecinema set I would have gone for a similar solution. However since I have built-in speakers in my kitchen, roof terrace and bathroom, that now connect through Connect-amps, for me Sonos is still the best solution. My livingroom and kitchen are integrated, and the sound and ease of use are just magnificent if you listen to music a lot.

When it gets to the home cinema experience, it is surely frustrating that the playbar is so sub-par. They should add a HDMI audio entrance and support for Atmos and DTS. Until then, I would not recommend Sonos as a home cinema solution.
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[quote=TellerNavynuts]I finally bit the bullet last weekend /quote]

Understandably so. If I purely needed just a 5.1 homecinema set I would have gone for a similar solution. However since I have built-in speakers in my kitchen, roof terrace and bathroom, that now connect through Connect-amps, for me Sonos is still the best solution. My livingroom and kitchen are integrated, and the sound and ease of use are just magnificent if you listen to music a lot.

When it gets to the home cinema experience, it is surely frustrating that the playbar is so sub-par. They should add a HDMI audio entrance and support for Atmos and DTS. Until then, I would not recommend Sonos as a home cinema solution.


My post related entirely to the home cinema, that's what this thread is about. I still run Sonos in every other room...and still in the Living Room - just not through PLAYBAR.
Hi guys, can anyone confirm if the Sony UBP X800 will transcode DTS on the fly for use with a Playbar based 5.1 system?

Cheers
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Afraid not, the only players that can currently, to my knowledge, are the Samsung M9000 & M9500 and the Oppo 203. The Samsungs will output via HDMI to TV but the Oppo will only do it via optical output. I have the M9500 and it's superb, especially as its now dropped by £150 in price if you shop around.
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M9500 is all good except does not support Dolby Vision.
Samsung M9500 Update 2

Great news - Samsung have just released a new firmware update for the M9500 and it solves all the Audio issues i've encountered.

It now plays re-encoded DD 5.1 for all formats (Disc & USB) and sounds as good as it looks without me having to change the output format. Just set it to 'Re-encode Dolby Digital 5.1' for all sources (Disc & USB) and it works brilliantly!

It looks absolutely fabulous on my Sony, even my wife has sat open mouthed at the picture quality. Planet Earth II looks bloody amazing!!!!

Definitely one for the Sonos user to consider as it's way better than the K8500 for picture quality. I believe it's also had a recent price drop in the US.


Hi opsman (and the rest of the Sonos community),

I can't get my M9500 to work as you've described. I can get DTS content from disc to re-encode on-the-fly to DD5.1, but can't get it to work with USB content (MKV's, HEVC, etc). I posted on AVSForum in the M9500 thread and someone responded saying that it's a known limitation (maybe that was you?). Anyways, I have the M9500 connected via HDMI to a LG OLEDC7P (which can pass through multi-channel to optical, since the disc content works). All software on all devices are up to the latest. How did you get your USB content to encode to DD5.1 (as per above)? Eagerly await your advice.

Cheers.
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I can't get my M9500 to work as you've described. I can get DTS content from disc to re-encode on-the-fly to DD5.1, but can't get it to work with USB content (MKV's, HEVC, etc). I posted on AVSForum in the M9500 thread and someone responded saying that it's a known limitation (maybe that was you?). Anyways, I have the M9500 connected via HDMI to a LG OLEDC7P (which can pass through multi-channel to optical, since the disc content works). All software on all devices are up to the latest. How did you get your USB content to encode to DD5.1 (as per above)? Eagerly await your advice.

Cheers.


indeed, in my experience this won't work. The USB playback function of this device is quite basic and doesn't even support modern uncompressed audio codecs. The transcoding function doesn't link here so DTS -> DD won't happen.
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I've got the M9500 coming tomorrow to pair up via LGOLED55B6V.

Should i connect the blu-ray player to the TV via HDMI and then optical out from the TV to Sonos Playbar?

Has anyone been able to to stream from a nas device etc with the M9500 with sound output recoded to DD?

Dilemma for me is to find a solution for movies in a second family room. So the 5.1 sonos setup has been working a treat except i need to find a solution for movie playback with DD+, TrueHD and DTS sound tracks.

Hopefully the M9500 has the answer.
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I've got the M9500 coming tomorrow to pair up via LGOLED55B6V.

Should i connect the blu-ray player to the TV via HDMI and then optical out from the TV to Sonos Playbar?

Has anyone been able to to stream from a nas device etc with the M9500 with sound output recoded to DD?

Dilemma for me is to find a solution for movies in a second family room. So the 5.1 sonos setup has been working a treat except i need to find a solution for movie playback with DD+, TrueHD and DTS sound tracks.

Hopefully the M9500 has the answer.


The M9500 won't allow you to play DD+, TrueHD or DTS through Sonos. it will allow you to turn those into lower quality DD, which will work through Sonos.

This will only work for disc media, it won't work for any files you play from USB, over DLNA etc.

You can try connecting the player to the TV and then the TV to Sonos but you may find the TV will only output a 2.0 stereo signal - this was the case with my LG OLED. There was a hack in the engineer's menu to make it work, but lipsync can be a bit hit and miss.
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Hopefully the M9500 has the answer.[/quote]

The M9500 won't allow you to play DD+, TrueHD or DTS through Sonos. it will allow you to turn those into lower quality DD, which will work through Sonos.

This will only work for disc media, it won't work for any files you play from USB, over DLNA etc.

You can try connecting the player to the TV and then the TV to Sonos but you may find the TV will only output a 2.0 stereo signal - this was the case with my LG OLED. There was a hack in the engineer's menu to make it work, but lipsync can be a bit hit and miss.[/quote]

Thanks.

Thats a shame

So is the OPPO 203 the only player to be able to re-code streaming via DLNA?
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By the time I started looking at the price of OPPO devices, I decided it was just easier and more cost effective to go the whole hog and buy a proper AV receiver. If stereo/prologic was first gen movie audio, then Dolby Digital is 2nd gen. DTS is 3rd gen and then uncompressed audio like DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD is 4th gen. With Atmos and DTS:X we're now on 5th gen movie audio at home and Sonos is stuck in the 90s.

I loved my Panasonic 1080p plasma for years but, despite still being happy with the picture, decided it was time to move on to the latest OLED to move into modern times. I didn't regret it. Doing the same for audio just made sense, so now my PLAYBAR is in the home gym with the old plasma. Great for music videos whilst working out.
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By the time I started looking at the price of OPPO devices, I decided it was just easier and more cost effective to go the whole hog and buy a proper AV receiver. If stereo/prologic was first gen movie audio, then Dolby Digital is 2nd gen. DTS is 3rd gen and then uncompressed audio like DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD is 4th gen. With Atmos and DTS:X we're now on 5th gen movie audio at home and Sonos is stuck in the 90s.

I loved my Panasonic 1080p plasma for years but, despite still being happy with the picture, decided it was time to move on to the latest OLED to move into modern times. I didn't regret it. Doing the same for audio just made sense, so now my PLAYBAR is in the home gym with the old plasma. Great for music videos whilst working out.


Good ole panasonic plasma's had the VT20 & VT50 models... :-)

I have a full blown DD ATMOS System in our main Cinema Room, the sonos route was really just something to work in our family room, as i didn't want anything complicated, but didn't realise the DD issue via 5.1..... oversight on my part.

So rather than selling and buying something else (which i'm reluctant to do so, as i really like the sound) i thought i'd try to work with it and see what goes. I'll see how i get on with the M9500 tomorrow and hopefully it helps as a temp solution for at least watching 4k blurays for now.