Beam only receiving stereo from virgin V6

Yes, albeit I don’t have the Beam attached to it in my case, but I have a Sony HT system and TV over HDMI-ARC and that gets 5.1 audio from the VM v6 box from Netflix channel 204 (red button). When a film is playing on Netflix, if you press info button on top right of the remote, it shows the audio output on TV in top left hand corner.

When using the Beam you can goto Sonos App ‘Settings/About my Sonos System' find your Beam in the device list and look for 'Audio In' it should show Dolby Digital 5.1.

Unfortunately I don’t have Netflix on the V6 box so I’m relying on the (poor) description of the audio on the standard tv ui on the box.

Would be nice if there was a test channel which played a guaranteed 5.1 audio track to confirm for sure what the V6 was outputting.

I assume when the sonos app says ‘stereo’ it means 2 channel pcm and not dd2.0?

I read that the hd channels output dd audio (even if it is 2.0). Can someone confirm that they do get dd signal in say bbc1 hd (channel 108)?

On your HD Channels, if you press info on remote and scroll down three times, you should see English 1-Dolby Audio™️. However it will depend on the programme/film being broadcast as to whether that’s Dolby Stereo, or Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. On other basic channels you will just see English-Stereo.

I feared as much. The Dobly Audio channels show up as stereo.

Is it likely that, as you can’t force the V6 to export only Dd it is seeing the tv’s audio capability as oppose to the beams?

There is no way to force V6 to only use dd if available?

I think my v6 came with DD set as its default. I think you’ve perhaps done this, but just in case, on the remote goto HOME—>(on screen goto)—>Help & Settings/Settings/Audio/Dolby Digital and set to 'Dolby Digital'

Then select ok and exit the menu.

:(

V6 set to Dolby (not to pcm)
Watching bbc2hd (info says Dolby audio)
Beam says it only get stereo (not dd2.0)

Any op around to read a diagnostic report to see if there is anything in there is see if the box is trying to send audio the break can’t handle and hence fall back to pcm? Diagnosis number is 1123810088

No ops around on the weekend. You may want to try their 24/7 support on Twitter.

:(

V6 set to Dolby (not to pcm)
Watching bbc2hd (info says Dolby audio)
Beam says it only get stereo (not dd2.0)

Any op around to read a diagnostic report to see if there is anything in there is see if the box is trying to send audio the break can’t handle and hence fall back to pcm? Diagnosis number is 1123810088Whilst waiting for your diagnostic, if your still about and watching TV right now...

On BBC 2 HD at this very moment, is a film called 'LEAVE TO REMAIN' (2013). My TV and Beam are showing that’s currently being broadcast in Dolby Digital 5.1.

My v6 Box is linked to my other Sony HT setup (as stated previously) and that is showing Dolby Digital output too from the V6 Box. I just get a DD icon on my Sony receiver display when it’s receiving a Dolby Digital signal.

See my Beam screenshot. So presumably it will be the same for your V6 box and Beam...so try it now and see if you are getting 5.1 surround sound.

Perhaps try your Freeview HD channel 102 aswell, just to compare the 'audio in' being received by your Beam.

Spoke to second line tech support at Virgin Media, he confirmed there is a firmware bug where it doesn’t always correctly detect the capability of the attached device connected via hdmi.

Only workaround until they fix it is to connect via optical (which defeats the whole point of arc).

No eta on the firmware fix either

Spoke to second line tech support at Virgin Media, he confirmed there is a firmware bug where it doesn’t always correctly detect the capability of the attached device connected via hdmi.

Only workaround until they fix it is to connect via optical (which defeats the whole point of arc).

No eta on the firmware fix eitherJust to say that my V6 Box is connected to my Sony TV via an HDMI cable to a normal HDMI port and the Home Theatre Receiver... which is a Sony DD/DTS 5.1 Surround System, is connected to my TV over HDMI-ARC and it’s definitely working okay here for 5.1 surround sound. It sounds to me like you’ve been fobbed off by VM support desk. Have you checked the VM Forums about this issue?

I could perhaps understand if it was the Panasonic TV that was not passing/processing DD audio through to the HDMI-ARC port from its HDMI connected devices, but it makes little sense that it’s a fault of the VM V6 box in this case unless it’s perhaps an old version of the Box perhaps?? I can assure you that mine is working okay here though with my TV and Home Theatre. Are you sure that this is not a problem with your TV?

I would research the TV's pass-thru capability. You may even find the answer here at this website by using the filter search facility. Just look for your make and model....

https://www.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/5-1-surround-audio-passthrough

If it helps you, my VM Box System info and version are:

Platform DCX960
Hardware Version 2048.0
Software Version 20.8.1.RC11-VMB-11-C68

Perhaps check what your V6 Box system info is and see if there is any difference.

Anyhow I hope that helps.?

I feared as much. The Dobly Audio channels show up as stereo.

Is it likely that, as you can’t force the V6 to export only Dd it is seeing the tv’s audio capability as oppose to the beams?

There is no way to force V6 to only use dd if available?

With my VM Tivo, I had to use an EDID emulator to get it to pass DD5.1 through to our Playbar.

Basically HDMI devices do a "handshake" when connected, if your TV reports itself as a stereo device that's all the Set Top Box will provide.

The EDID emulator told my Tivo STB that the TV was Dolby Digital 5.1 cabable and then this passed through to Playbar.

It's a minefield choosing the right TV, can make or break your whole setup. Some manufactures are great with the audio/ hdmi protocols and some aren't!.

It's a minefield choosing the right TV, can make or break your whole setup. Some manufactures are great with the audio/ hdmi protocols and some aren't!.I completely agree with this comment and it’s not always just the cheaper TV's that don’t work well either,

Additionally, the lack of information provided by many TV manufacturers makes it quite difficult to know which brand and model to choose.

It's a minefield choosing the right TV, can make or break your whole setup. Some manufactures are great with the audio/ hdmi protocols and some aren't!.I completely agree with this comment and it’s not always just the cheaper TV's that don’t work well either,

Additionally, the lack of information provided by many TV manufacturers makes it quite difficult to know which brand and model to choose.

Yep, it's deffinitely put me off buying a new TV unfortunately. Will be one that's been proven to work correctly on this forum and be easy to take back if it doesn't work!.

Thanks all for the comments. I think your all right that it’s a edid issue.

I got a kwmobile edid manager box and set it to 4k 5.1 and low and behold vm now outputs dd2.0

I’m assuming when a film is on that will turn to 5.1

I’m assuming that amazon fire doesn’t care / better processing of edid than vm as it outputted dd without the edid manager box’s help.

I agree with all, not a very common knowledge plus iffy support by manufacturers doesn’t produce a great customer experience

Thanks for the help all