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brizzlemark
Contributor I
July 18, 2018

Beam - no 5.1 from BT TV or Xbox One

So, have set up Beam in Surround mode with 2 play ones.

5.1 is turning up from internal to the TV apps such as Amazon, but only stereo from the BT TV and Xbox One. Have checked all their settings and they are correct. Same from blu-ray player. So from what I can glean:

1. The TV is telling the sources it only has 2 speakers so whatever I set the sources to send they will only send Stereo.
2. The issue around TVs not sending digital audio out that plagued the Playbar (according to the topics on here) isn't sorted by using HDMI.

Tried 2 different TVs to the same effect. I would have thought Sonos would have checked this. I was expecting that given that I have lots of sources that can send 5.1 then I should be able to get it on the beam.
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14 replies

melvimbe
melvimbe
July 18, 2018
What brand and model of TV(s) are you using?
Danny
iwb100
Collaborator II
July 18, 2018
Are your TV's able to pass DD5.1 via ARC? Have you checked your TV sound settings? My LG was set to output PCM via HDMI so had to change that.
brizzlemarkAuthor
Contributor I
July 18, 2018
What brand and model of TV(s) are you using?

Sansung, H series. I understood from the faff people had with the bar that many TVs wouldnt output digital over SPDIF, but thought using HDMI and CEC would fix that - which is why Sonos did it!
brizzlemarkAuthor
Contributor I
July 18, 2018
Are your TV's able to pass DD5.1 via ARC? Have you checked your TV sound settings? My LG was set to output PCM via HDMI so had to change that.

Yep - that option is a available on the TV from an internal, source (Amazon prime app on Samsung TV), it is greyed out from all external sources. Seems like the gain I thought I would get from the HDMI CEC isnt going to be there.
iwb100
Collaborator II
July 18, 2018
Are your TV's able to pass DD5.1 via ARC? Have you checked your TV sound settings? My LG was set to output PCM via HDMI so had to change that.

Yep - that option is a ailable on the TV from an internal, ource (Amazon prime app on Samsung TV), it is greyed out from all external sources. Seems like the gain I thought I would get from the HDMI CEC isnt going to be there.

Just looked up H8000 manual and sadly your TV does not pass DD5.1 via ARC.
brizzlemarkAuthor
Contributor I
July 18, 2018
Are your TV's able to pass DD5.1 via ARC? Have you checked your TV sound settings? My LG was set to output PCM via HDMI so had to change that.

Yep - that option is a ailable on the TV from an internal, ource (Amazon prime app on Samsung TV), it is greyed out from all external sources. Seems like the gain I thought I would get from the HDMI CEC isnt going to be there.

Just looked up H8000 manual and sadly your TV does not pass DD5.1 via ARC.

Just looked up the manual for my exact TV and (clear as mud) it says:

“● To listen to 5.1-channel audio from an external device, connect the device to the TV via an HDMI cable and the device's digital audio output connector directly to the home theatre system.
● A home theatre system that has been connected to the TV using an HDMI cable and an optical cable supports 2-channel audio only. 5.1-channel audio is, however, available for digital broadcasts with 5.1-channel audio.”

I will try the BT tv, HDMI to TV and BT TV optical to Beam to tomorrow.
melvimbe
melvimbe
July 18, 2018
Not really ideal, but you may want to consider a switch in between your sources and tv/beam. Something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/iArkPower-Optical-Extractor-Splitter-Supports/dp/B07C1WQ7R2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1531927489&sr=8-3&keywords=optical+in+switch

I didn't research this much, but you'd have to verify it, or any other switch, meets all the needs.
Danny
brizzlemarkAuthor
Contributor I
July 18, 2018
So,

BT TV via Optical will provide 5.1. Annoyingly my testing used the BT TV Netflix app to find a decent 5.1 souce but evidently that app only outputs Stereo over optical. It will output 5.1 over HDMI evidently. Will try the xbox over optical later, as we can then use that as a blue ray player.

Samsung isnt passing at all, so CEC was pointless. Anyone know what % of TVs currently in service will pass it? Sonos will suffer a backlash if it is quite low - mainly as optical is fine for ONE source, but what is the solution if you have many?
iwb100
Collaborator II
July 19, 2018
So,

BT TV via Optical will provide 5.1. Annoyingly my testing used the BT TV Netflix app to find a decent 5.1 souce but evidently that app only outputs Stereo over optical. It will output 5.1 over HDMI evidently. Will try the xbox over optical later, as we can then use that as a blue ray player.

Samsung isnt passing at all, so CEC was pointless. Anyone know what % of TVs currently in service will pass it? Sonos will suffer a backlash if it is quite low - mainly as optical is fine for ONE source, but what is the solution if you have many?

Most TV's pass DD over ARC/Optical and have for a number of years. Seems Samsung are a bit of an anomaly as it took them longer to get to this standard.

I think the one issue with the beam is the single input. This stuff would be fixed with 2/3 HDMI inputs.
gutBee
Lyricist I
July 19, 2018
Been having the same issue which has been bugging me big time! (For the Xbox anyway) Think I may have found a solution though. Downloaded the Dolby Atmos app, went through the set up and I’ve now got surround sound. There’s a few tester videos on the app which all seem to work. Blu-rays sound a ton better too. Hope this helps...
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