Dolby Digital Plus update

I totally agree, it's the same with DTS. They are pretending that it's because they focus on online streaming bla bla bla. Meanwhile, I want to watch netflix on my Nvidia Shield. However, Netflix uses Dolby Digital Plus so I don't have surround sound....

How is that for a system that's about 2000 euros...

It's just appalling and cheap to hide behind an excuse that is not even true anymore...

The beam uses HDMI and it automatically down mixes DD+ as well as TrueHD/Atmos. For DTS, it does send stereo but i've found that it simulates surround fairly well using Pro Logic.

I imagine they will release a playbar that utilizes the updates that came with the beam.

The Sonos Playbase and Playbar only have an optical connection. The Beam has an HDMI connection.

Due to bandwidth considerations, you need an HDMI v1.3 (or later) connection to deliver Dolby Digital Plus.

For the current Playbase and Playbar, either your TV or your STB (e.g the Apple TV) must extract the Dolby Digital core from the Dolby Digital Plus stream and transmit that Dolby Digital stream to your Playbase and Playbar.

The Beam currently supports only PCM stereo or Dolby Digital. It seems possible for Sonos to upgrade the Beam to support Dolby Digital Plus. This would permit direct playback of Dolby Digital Plus streams from streaming services including iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. It would also permit third party app developers (e.g. Infuse, Plex) to transcode in a perceptually transparent manner from lossless codecs like TrueHD and DTS:X (as well as lossy codecs like DTS that are unsupported by Sonos) to Dolby Digital Plus.

I cover this in detail here:
https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/feature-request-enable-dolby-digital-plus-e-ac-3-or-dd-for-better-audio-quality-6812870

When using ARC there is a handshake to ensure it always receives the proper signal, and it automatically downmixes DD+ as well as TrueHD/Atmos.

Hi, am slow to the scene but does it mean that Sonos PlayBar doesn't support the native surround sound format of Netflix (DD+) and will only playback the Stereo stream?

Neither supports DD+ but when connected via ARC with the beam it uses the handshake to seamlessly down mix. Since playbar uses optical it would then come down to whether your TV supports that. You could also use an Apple TV or another box that allows for DD output.

I think it's your TV that does the down conversion for the Beam, as long as you're lucky enough to own a smart enough one! Unfortunately many of us still need to "upgrade" our panels in order to enjoy the true Sonos home theater experience using mainstream sites like Netflix after spending over $1000 for a minimal configuration of a Beam, Sub, and a couple of Play:1s. Try to find that fact on the Sonos website! Sadly for many of us, even with the Beam, the Sonos audio formats, and thus the Sonos experience, does not live up to the price point!

That only applies when connected over optical, as stated above. When connected over ARC it will always ensure the proper signal is received and down mix other Dolby codecs.

When using HDMI-ARC, Beam will automatically request Dolby Digital 5.1 from the device it's connected to, which should convert Dolby formats for the best sound.

https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/sonos-beam-now-available-setup-and-useful-information-6809808

It requests via HDMI handshake, yes, but it does not do the conversion. If your input device cannot do that, it is up to the input device what you get: either it will revert to stereo, or still send DD5.1+ in which case you will have no sound. I don't know the standards, so not sure what the default behavior should be in that case.

When using ARC it will do the handshake to request the proper signal and then facilitate the downmix.

It would be purely up to the input device for DTS as it needs to be transcoded into DD, and if that is not possible then it will either output no sound or stereo.