can we please get dts hd and dts x it is 2022 afterall


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hi just touching on this which im sure has already been asked plenty of times, but can we just get dts hd and dts x already it seems crazy to me to think a system that can cost up to and over 1500 hasnt the ability to play these modern formats, when you could pick up a standard av receiver for about 300 pound which would support all the mentioned formats

I have found myself more times than enough now sitting down to watch a film and simply getting mute audio just because it is in dts hd or dts x and quite alot of the time this is when i have friends and family over so it isnt a good look for the sonos brand that it cant produce sound for these types of movies or tv shows

it is somnething that could quite easily be achieved since yous went and enabled dts standard after not supporting it, i feel if yous want to be seen as the go to soundbars yous then have to make sure its the go to for audio formats also which currently it isnt dont get me wrong the sonos eco system and products are fantastic and i love my setup but to do dts but not go as far as offering dts hd or dts x is just lazy


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@MrZeDark just checked my Harry Potter steel book collection and it is hdr10 and dts-hd master 7.1 

The apple tv version I have is dolby vision and 5.1 dolby digital…

Just thought I'd offer that information 😊

Harry Potter is in DTS-HD-MA & DTS:X on 4k UHD Disc. I wasn’t referring to streaming. 

I have streamed it, it’s fine - but I’ll never be able to buy and own this, and enjoy spatial audio in Harry Potter on my Sonos. 

My disc doesn't have dts-x and no you won't be able to get that on sonos which is a shame 

Guessing the UK version I have is different to yours 

Hi @daryld1988 

Thanks for your post!

I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration.

Please, Please, Please Bring DTS X Most of my Movie collection are in DTS, X 

 

can we please get dts hd and dts x it is 2022 afterall

DTS HD & DTS X would be amazing. Like 60% of my physical media collections would have new life breathed into it! Imagine if sonos made this happen for Christmas 2022. Wouldn't that be incredible. 

DTS HD & DTS X would be amazing. Like 60% of my physical media collections would have new life breathed into it! Imagine if sonos made this happen for Christmas 2022. Wouldn't that be incredible. 

I’m curious. Would you pay for the mentioned codecs and if so, how much? What if it was a monthly subscription?

I’m thinking that if there was a suggestion that people might be happy to pay for these additional codecs, then perhaps Sonos might go onto introduce these things as there is probably a licence fee attached to them for their use.

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Given that most other soundbars that are much less expensive than sonos support DTS:X, sonos should have no issues covering the cost. 

Given that most other soundbars that are much less expensive than sonos support DTS:X, sonos should have no issues covering the cost. 

But those soundbars you have mentioned likely had the licence fees built into their overall price before purchase.

Sonos must have many thousands, if not millions, of Home Theatre products that they’ve already released without the licence fee included and they will need to pay for those too, I guess? - so how much should we pay? I wonder if a monthly subscription might be cheaper, perhaps and just those that want it, should pay the fee.

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I don't think a muti million dollar company like sonos should have any issues covering the cost. 

I don't think a muti million dollar company like sonos should have any issues covering the cost. 

I guess that could mean there is no real ‘incentive’ for Sonos to introduce these things then. I don’t need the DTS-X/HQ codecs personally speaking, particularly if it might mean that product costs will go up in the future to recoup the cost of the DTS licence fee, whereas if those who wanted the codecs were prepared to pay for them, then that might have helped encourage Sonos to perhaps introduce these things, but it still strikes me that those who want the codec seem to not want to pay for the service.

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I don't think a muti million dollar company like sonos should have any issues covering the cost. 

The same could be said for LG and Samsung? I was really pleased to see Sonos adding standard DTS because then I should have got some sound instead of silence, only to find LG had deleted DTS between my TV model years. I can transcode to LPCM but then hit an intermittent sound drop issue. Obviously HD and X would be even better for convenience, but I’d quite like the basics to work first.

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The xbox one and the Series X upscales DTS X to Dolby Atmos.

I don't think a muti million dollar company like sonos should have any issues covering the cost. 

I guess that could mean there is no real ‘incentive’ for Sonos to introduce these things then. I don’t need the DTS-X/HQ codecs personally speaking, particularly if it might mean that product costs will go up in the future to recoup the cost of the DTS licence fee, whereas if those who wanted the codecs were prepared to pay for them, then that might have helped encourage Sonos to perhaps introduce these things, but it still strikes me that those who want the codec seem to not want to pay for the service.

So are you mostly streaming then? And don't own alot of physical media?

DTS HD & DTS X would be amazing. Like 60% of my physical media collections would have new life breathed into it! Imagine if sonos made this happen for Christmas 2022. Wouldn't that be incredible. 

I’m curious. Would you pay for the mentioned codecs and if so, how much? What if it was a monthly subscription?

I’m thinking that if there was a suggestion that people might be happy to pay for these additional codecs, then perhaps Sonos might go onto introduce these things as there is probably a licence fee attached to them for their use.

When your paying nearly 2k or more for a surround sound. It should come standard don't you think? 

So are you mostly streaming then? And don't own alot of physical media?

That’s correct, I do have some Blu-ray discs, and can use all the Dolby formats, DTS and MC-LPCM, but my majority movie-viewing is now mostly via the online streaming services. I’m happy to see DTS-X/HQ added to Sonos, but personally speaking, if that means increased costs due to licensing and development, then I think it should be those that want those codecs who pay for them.

Maybe a subscription service would be the answer. I’m just not sure there is the demand for the codecs though, as it appears the majority are now streaming movies/shows these days. I guess if the demand had been high, then Sonos would have implemented such a subscription service for those codecs by now.

I’m curious as to what those users would pay to have those codecs, if it were say, a monthly subscription?

So are you mostly streaming then? And don't own alot of physical media?

That’s correct, I do have some Blu-ray discs, and can use all the Dolby formats, DTS and MC-LPCM, but my majority movie-viewing is now mostly via the online streaming services. I’m happy to see DTS-X/HQ added to Sonos, but personally speaking, if that means increased costs due to licensing and development, then I think it should be those that want those codecs who pay for them.

Maybe a subscription service would be the answer. I’m just not sure there is the demand for the codecs though, as it appears the majority are now streaming movies/shows these days. I guess if the demand had been high, then Sonos would have implemented such a subscription service for those codecs by now.

I’m curious as to what those users would pay to have those codecs, if it were say, a monthly subscription?

I'd be more interested to know just how much dts would ask sonos to pay them.

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@Macro dynamics It’s difficult for Sonos to spend money on lossless DTS support when major TV manufacturers like LG and Samsung aren’t even supporting it anymore.

@Macro dynamics It’s difficult for Sonos to spend money on lossless DTS support when major TV manufacturers like LG and Samsung aren’t even supporting it anymore.

Yeah I wonder if years from now. DTS will have a comeback and dominate the market like Dolby is currently doing. Then we'll have tvs that only have DTS. 

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It was good that they at least supported basic DTS (only recently) because otherwise you would either get stereo or no sound at all from Blu Rays (not that I am 100% sure as I don’t use Blu Rays).  The fact is, people who buy Blu Rays are now very much a niche market and I assume Sonos has to pay a large nominal licensing fee (I really find the hassle of having blu rays outweigh by the benefits personally).   In situations like these I sometimes wonder whether companies like Sonos or even Samsung (which refuses to pay the licensing for Dolby Vision in its TVs) should just offer a service to platinum customers who are willing to pay a fee for these codecs if they really want them.  

So its not a technical issue - that is simple.  Its all about licensing (they are 1s and 0s at the end of the day).  Yes they are penny pinching because a lot of competitors who sell far less product than them pay it.  

In theory if your internet is 1 gigabit, there should be no reason why you shouldnt be able to stream a full Blu Ray quality video with uncompressed Atmos (even though 99% of people couldn’t care less).  I smell an opportunity for streaming companies to support that in upper tiers for real video/audiophiles who also want the convenience.  

It was good that they at least supported basic DTS (only recently) because otherwise you would either get stereo or no sound at all from Blu Rays (not that I am 100% sure as I don’t use Blu Rays).  The fact is, people who buy Blu Rays are now very much a niche market and I assume Sonos has to pay a large nominal licensing fee (I really find the hassle of having blu rays outweigh by the benefits personally).   In situations like these I sometimes wonder whether companies like Sonos or even Samsung (which refuses to pay the licensing for Dolby Vision in its TVs) should just offer a service to platinum customers who are willing to pay a fee for these codecs if they really want them.  

So its not a technical issue - that is simple.  Its all about licensing (they are 1s and 0s at the end of the day).  Yes they are penny pinching because a lot of competitors who sell far less product than them pay it.  

In theory if your internet is 1 gigabit, there should be no reason why you shouldnt be able to stream a full Blu Ray quality video with uncompressed Atmos (even though 99% of people couldn’t care less).  I smell an opportunity for streaming companies to support that in upper tiers for real video/audiophiles who also want the convenience.  

I actually wonder what the next step is after streaming. Because the thing is with buying physical media, it can often be more of an experience. & releases are often loaded with extras. And if you have your favourite movies on the shelf anytime you want to reach for them they are there. I totally understand having the space though to store them can be problematic. It's why about a year ago I had a clear out and made decisions to only collect movies I would rewatch. Apologies for getting off subject

It was good that they at least supported basic DTS (only recently) because otherwise you would either get stereo or no sound at all from Blu Rays (not that I am 100% sure as I don’t use Blu Rays).  The fact is, people who buy Blu Rays are now very much a niche market and I assume Sonos has to pay a large nominal licensing fee (I really find the hassle of having blu rays outweigh by the benefits personally).   In situations like these I sometimes wonder whether companies like Sonos or even Samsung (which refuses to pay the licensing for Dolby Vision in its TVs) should just offer a service to platinum customers who are willing to pay a fee for these codecs if they really want them.  

So its not a technical issue - that is simple.  Its all about licensing (they are 1s and 0s at the end of the day).  Yes they are penny pinching because a lot of competitors who sell far less product than them pay it.  

 

 

There is also the dev and maintenance costs associated with supportting another format.  You could argue that that is less of a concern for a product that doesn’t provide firmware updates than one that does.  However, since Sonos did eventually adopt DTS, it does seem that licensing was the bigger hurdle to overcome.

 

I do wonder sometimes if Sonos doesn’t adopt a standard because they don’t think it presents their product in the best light, at least currently.  That was the case with bluetooth audio I think.  You could argue that Apple often takes a similar stance, such as having their own Lightning cable rather than following the standard USB.  Apple tends to be praised more for it, as a lot of people trust them, and the have more control over markets.

 

In theory if your internet is 1 gigabit, there should be no reason why you shouldnt be able to stream a full Blu Ray quality video with uncompressed Atmos (even though 99% of people couldn’t care less).  I smell an opportunity for streaming companies to support that in upper tiers for real video/audiophiles who also want the convenience.  

 

I don’t think we’re there yet.  And I suspect streaming services will start offering 8k video before they start offering uncompressed audio.  Just feels like that would draw in more customers, even if it may not actually be as beneficial to customers.  It’s a ways away though as I don’t think gigabit service to homes has nearly the penetration needed for this to make sense, nor do I think streaming services are looking to compete with this sort of offering.  We are seeing that sort of competition with music streaming services because they essentially have the same content, and  higher quality is the only way they really can compete.

 

I actually wonder what the next step is after streaming. Because the thing is with buying physical media, it can often be more of an experience. & releases are often loaded with extras. And if you have your favourite movies on the shelf anytime you want to reach for them they are there. I totally understand having the space though to store them can be problematic. It's why about a year ago I had a clear out and made decisions to only collect movies I would rewatch. Apologies for getting off subject

 

I don’t think the upcoming generation has any real concept or need to buy physical media.  They honestly don’t even really have much of a concept of owning media.  It’s all subscription service to them.  Maybe trends will go back to owning your own digital copy again, if subscription prices get out of control, leading to piracy, leading publishers to look at cheaper a la carte options.  But maybe not.   I do think that eventually, we will move away from the ‘cloud computing’ trend and homes will start having local servers.  I can see a setup where you still have subscription services, but instead of getting the content from a cloud server, you’re getting it from your own home server, that gets updated from the cloud and a much less frequent basis.  Subscription service lowers cost and you get a little more privacy, plus whatever local smart home processing you need.  But that’s a guess.  It does feel like we cycle between local processing and cloud/server processing as time goes by. 

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I’ve criticised Sonos on these forums for not supporting DTS particularly when the Playbar was current and discs were more common . The strength of Sonos is simplicity with only one input which also becomes its weakness if the TV doesn’t pass through all audio formats. With less TVs passing through DTS unless Sonos start offering multiple HDMI ports I don’t think it matters now particularly as multi channel pcm (if that’s the correct term) is now supported. From my perspective I very rarely buy discs any more, Apple TV and other services have rendered everything else obsolete. I think you just need to buy with the knowledge that Sonos has limitations for those seeking the latest and greatest audio formats but can’t be beaten for convenience.

I’ve criticised Sonos on these forums for not supporting DTS particularly when the Playbar was current and discs were more common . The strength of Sonos is simplicity with only one input which also becomes its weakness if the TV doesn’t pass through all audio formats. With less TVs passing through DTS unless Sonos start offering multiple HDMI ports I don’t think it matters now particularly as multi channel pcm (if that’s the correct term) is now supported. From my perspective I very rarely buy discs any more, Apple TV and other services have rendered everything else obsolete. I think you just need to buy with the knowledge that Sonos has limitations for those seeking the latest and greatest audio formats but can’t be beaten for convenience.

So is multi channel pcm exactly the same & It just doesn't say DTS on the app? Or is it different without the proper DTS codec?

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I’ve criticised Sonos on these forums for not supporting DTS particularly when the Playbar was current and discs were more common . The strength of Sonos is simplicity with only one input which also becomes its weakness if the TV doesn’t pass through all audio formats. With less TVs passing through DTS unless Sonos start offering multiple HDMI ports I don’t think it matters now particularly as multi channel pcm (if that’s the correct term) is now supported. From my perspective I very rarely buy discs any more, Apple TV and other services have rendered everything else obsolete. I think you just need to buy with the knowledge that Sonos has limitations for those seeking the latest and greatest audio formats but can’t be beaten for convenience.

So is multi channel pcm exactly the same & It just doesn't say DTS on the app? Or is it different without the proper DTS codec?

From what I think I understand so far, LPCM or multichannel PCM 5.1 or or 7.1 surround sound playback will sound as good as DTS or DTS:HD. Both process full surround sound up to 8 channels or 7.1.

https://www.the-home-cinema-guide.com/blu-ray-audio-codecs-explained.html

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My current question/investigation is around passing LPCM from DTS:X (spacial/object-based sound like Dolby Atmos) from 4K UHD Discs. Does DTS:X object-based/height speaker data layer pass through LPCM?

Apparently Dolby Atmos height speaker effect/data will not pass through LPCM but not a problem since the Sonos ARC processes Dolby Atmos fully to include the two front ARC height speakers.

However, from what I read, the main difference between Dolby Atmos and DTS:X is that you can experience DTS:X using a conventional 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system. 

When I pass LPCM from DTS:X 4K UHD Blu-ray to the Arc 5.1.2, I think I hear the spacial/object-based effect, but so far haven't been able to isolate specific sounds coming from the height speakers with the DTS:X content I've tried so far passed through as LPCM.

@LBJ2,

Dolby have produced test/demo discs, for users to check each channel output, I haven’t looked online, but maybe DTS have the same option available, but you may have to purchase a demo-disc however, er.. perhaps🤔? Maybe try Amazon or eBay etc.

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@LBJ2,

Dolby have produced test/demo discs, for users to check each channel output, I haven’t looked online, but maybe DTS have the same option available, but you may have to purchase a demo-disc however, er.. perhaps🤔? Maybe try Amazon or eBay etc.

I found this:  https://www.find-demo-disc.com/2020-dts-demo-disc-vol24-4k-uhd-p-849.html which includes DTS:X and as you suggest may have to go this route to isolate and hear height speakers effect to be 100% certain

So far I have been testing with the movie “Lone Survivor” 2013. DTS:X via LPCM on the ARC. Plenty of helicopter and gun fight sound passed through as LPCM. I do hear the height effect on the Sonos ARC 5.1.2. I compared this soundtrack side by side between the Sonos ARC 5.1.2 and the Sony HT-A9 + Sub which does support full DTS:X. I couldn't tell a difference in the 3D effect for this movie between either system. Both sounded like 3D action to me. Pretty thrilling to be honest--but due to all the other sounds I haven't been able to isolate a particular height speaker sound on the ARC with my ear right to the height speaker with this movie like I have been able to do with some of my Dolby Atmos test blu-rays on the ARC.

I might just need more time to isolate DTS:X height effect via LPCM on the ARC, but regardless DTS:X via LPCM sounds so very good surround sound wise, I'm not too worried. But my OCD wants to know for certain 😉

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