Dolby Atmos, Smart TV and Playbar/Playbase

Hi everyone! I know that Sonos playbase/playbar do not reproduce Dolby Atmos, but my question is:

Anyone having a modern Smart TV (Atmos compatible) connected to the playbar/playbase have achieved reproduce Atmos via on air TV-transcoding to Dolby Digital 5.1??? Theoretically, it could be possible as Atmos signal is hidden via Dolby True HD and DD+, and some TVs as LG OLED permit on air transcoding of those formats to dolby digital.

Anyone can prove this? or by contrast there is no way to have DD 5.1 from a Dolby Atmos signal?? Stereo will be the only option?

If I am gonna invest 2,000€ in a audio setup, I would like to have at least Atmos as DD 5.1.

Thanks!

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Unfortunately you mistaken.

5.1 is standard surround sound.

5.2.1/5.4.1 is Atmos.

They are the same thing just one has additional channels.

Your TV/audio source will pass through what ever the signal is and the playbar has to understand it.

Well, playbar will understand it only if it is in DD, nor DD+ neither Dolby trueHD.

Flagship Sonos hardware (playbar/base) not upgraded to HDMI and DD+ is currently unaceptable.

So to answer the question though I watch Vudu 4K movies that are DD Atmos (DD+) soundtracks. My tv (A TCL R series) bitstreams the audio to my Beam and my beam is decoding it as 5.1 and not stereo. I’m getting discrete rear channels during the movies I’m watching (currently about 3/4 through the Marvel catalog in preparation for next week of which I own all that are available in 4K which means all but iron man and the first two Thor). It’s debatable if the Beam is decoding the audio or if the TCL is transcoding the audio but since DD+ is just base DD 5.1 with added data for atmos all that matters is that I’m getting the 5.1 I want for my movies through the beam + sub + two play units.

The Beam does not have the ability to transcode. It does, however, tell the TV set that what the maximum signal it can accept is, via HDMI-CEC. It tells the TV that it's Dolby Digital, and relies on the TV to send a Dolby Digital signal, so in your case, I'd say it's the TCL that's doing whatever transcoding is going on.

I waited a long time for Sonos to come out with something decent like a soundbar with Atmos and or DTS:X no the wait is over welcome Samsung

https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/home-theater/sound-bars/hw-q90r-samsung-harman-kardon-7-1-4ch-soundbar-with-dolby-atmos-hw-q90r-za/

I still use Sonos for bedroom, kitchen etc, but living room not, Sonos is too slow to catch up with the market and they loose ground because of that.

I waited a long time for Sonos to come out with something decent like a soundbar with Atmos and or DTS:X no the wait is over welcome Samsung

https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/home-theater/sound-bars/hw-q90r-samsung-harman-kardon-7-1-4ch-soundbar-with-dolby-atmos-hw-q90r-za/

I still use Sonos for bedroom, kitchen etc, but living room not, Sonos is too slow to catch up with the market and they loose ground because of that.

Is it really too late though? There certainly is Atmos content out there, but as far as I can tell, the majority is not. As well, I’m personaly a little skeptical of how much of a differece atmos makes from a soundbar setup. It feels like it’s bouncing off walls too much (and I don’t have the best room for that). I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see that option from Sonos, but I’m not ready to drop Sonos for an atmos soundbar setup from someone else.

I’ll put it this way, give the option between a Sonos discrete channel 5.1 setup (discreet front channels/no soundbar) vs a dolby atmos soundbar setup, I think I’d go with the 5.1 setup. I don’t think I’d lose much for movies/TV and would definitely be better for music playback. Of course, I had a dedicated theatre room, I’m going with a wired setup.

Thanks Danny the problem i see is if you invest a lot of money now and Atmos will be used more in near future your not going to change anytime soon..

But then again thanks for your reply, its not too late yet, still looking at all options.

Reading forums, lip sync seems to be also a big things with lots of soundbars and yes music quality is also a top priority for me.

Looking at WiSa as well

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/wisa-wireless-explained/?itm_medium=editors

Thanks Danny the problem i see is if you invest a lot of money now and Atmos will be used more in near future your not going to change anytime soon..

I’m not seeing why this is a problem You can also choose to invest later, when Atmos is used more, and there are cheaper and perhaps better options available for Atmos systems.

But then again thanks for your reply, its not too late yet, still looking at all options.

Reading forums, lip sync seems to be also a big things with lots of soundbars and yes music quality is also a top priority for me.

Looking at WiSa as well

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/wisa-wireless-explained/?itm_medium=editors

Nothing worng with looking around! WiSa looks interesting. It’ll be interesting to see how widely it’s adopted. The standard sounds a lot like HDMI-ARC, in that companies have some room to implement the standard as they sit fit, and things may not work together quite as well as they should. I’d be concerned about how stable a system is. When it’s not working who do you get to fix it. The TV manufacture? Receiver? Speaker brand? The other speaker brands you might be using?

I’m all for industry standards like this, as it would definitely increase competition and be overall good for the consumer. I just wouldn’t want to invest in it, till it’s a lot more well established.

I have an LG OLED65E9PLA connected to Playbase with optical cable

When I open netflix with the WebOs LG App, and watch a Dolby Atmos movie, the audio is sent to playbase as Dolby Digital 5.1, as confirmed by Sonos App (settings->sytem->info)

Sonos just released bar with Atmos !!!!

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