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Hi,

I can not achieve 5.1 audio when viewing HD broadcast TV. Can any one advise how I can achieve this please?

My set up is as follows:

Sonos Beam paired with two Sonos One SL speakers.

The Beam is connected to a Samsung TV with The ARC HDMI input. The TV Model is:

Samsung UE50ES6710

I use a Humax Freeview Player to receive the HD content:

Humax FVP5000T

The Humax is connected both via a HDMI cable and SPDIF to the Samsung TV.

The setting on the HUmax are set to Doby Digital for both HDMI and Optical outputs.

I have used The Simspons broadcast on Channel 4 HD which shows in the guide that it is broadcast in 5.1 to test the surround system. Looking at the About System page of the Sonos app I see that the audio input is Stereo.

In the sound settings for the Samsung menu I have selected External speakers. The menu options in Additional Settings for Sound shows SPDIF Out set to PCM. The Dolby Digital option is greyed out and not selectable.

When I switch source on the Samsung to USB and play a media file (eg Movie)  from a hard drive the surround sound works. I confirmed this on the Sonos App which shows the audio input for the Beam as 5.1.

It appears that my TV can out 5.1 to the Beam from the USB Media but not from the Humax HDMI input. I added the SPDIF connection between Humax and Samsung as a final attempt to get the 5.1 for broadcast TV when available.

Any suggestion how best to proceed would be very greatfully recieved.

 

Colm

Note that SPDIF is your optical connector, and not HDMI-ARC. 

There are some TVs that are unable to pass a Dolby Digital through when it is received on an HDMI input. But it’s successful on other sources, such as antenna or internal “smart” apps on the TV.  It might be worth checking to see if there are any firmware/software updates to your TV, and then contact Samsung.

Your tests have proven the issue is not the Sonos. I’d start pressing Samsung. 

Bruce,

 

Many thanks for your reply. I had reached the same conclusion. I have already done the software update as suggested but it made no difference. Just thought I’d post to see if anyone with a similar TV found a workaround.

 

Colm

Connect an EDID Manager between the Humax and the TV, and set it to force DD 5.1.

Thank you ControlAV for this suggestion. I’d never heard of an EDID manager till your post. Having had a quick look online about them I would like to give this a go. Is there an Edid manager you would recommend?

 

Colm

This is the one I used with my older Sammy TV: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M3SH3CL though my supplier no longer sells it, you can see many others sell the same hardware now.

Thanks for the link. I have one ordered. It is worth a shot and much cheaper than a new TV! Thank you also for the heads up on EDID. Every day is a school day for me. 

Best,

Colm

Hi,

I connected the KWMOBILE EDID Manager between Humax box and the Samsung tv. On all the 5.1 settings (E,H,K,N) no sound is coming from the Sonos beam. In fact, there is no sound at all. If I select a two-channel setting (eg D) I can get sound. The Samsung sound menu allows the normally greyed out option of Dolby to be selected for the SPDIF out when the EDID Manager is connected. After trying different HDMI ports on the TV and connecting/disconnecting the SPDIF cable in parallel without result I waved the white flag.

Have I missed something here? All suggestions gratefully received.

 

Colm

 

What output settings are on the Humax?.

I used the same EDID emulators with my Samsung TV and Tivo box and it worked fine (Playbar).

If Humax is sending DTS the Beam cannot decode that.

All the EDID device does is tell the Humax that your TV is DD5.1 capable, you now need to make sure the Humax is sending Dolby Digital over HDMI..

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