Dolby Digital Plus update

So, as expected, there is always a device in between, doing the conversion from DD+ to DD 5.1.
I suspect that for Netflix, your TV is doing this, as it will not be able to output DD+ over its optical output.

This thread is about situations where this is not the case, such as some TVs that only bitstream and do no conversion, or people like me, that have a projector and an HDMI switch without the option of conversion..

You are lucky to be exactly in the target demographic for Sonos: your peripherals are doing all the work audio-wise.

I may be wrong, but I think some people are giving the Beam's handshake capabilities more credit than deserved.

In my understanding, handshake is simply a feature enabling the Beam to request supported fileformats. The Beam supports PCM and Dolby Digital but not Dolby Digital Plus.

Handshake does not mean that the Beam can downmix Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital - the Beam cannot do that.

Handshake simply ensures that the TV will provide the best possible sound available that the Beam supports. Meaning that if e.g. Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital and PCM is available, the TV will send Dolby Digital to the Beam.

However, Netflix for instance does typically not include several types of audioformats in their streams. With Chromecast and most other systems, only Stereo and Dolby Digital Plus are available for Netflix.

In this case, handshake will ensure that the Beam receives the best possible, supported format being stereo (PCM).

Some people seem to be of the impressions that most TV-sets can downmix e.g. Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital and that handshake will force the TV to do so.

I have yet to find a single tv-set with this feature. In any price range. I even put up a specific thread to identify any TV-sets with this feature - but was out of luck.

Except for some Blu-ray-players, Xbox/Playstation and Apple TV, TVs and streaming-boxes (including popular choices as Chromecast and Fire sticks) are not able to downmix Dolby Digital Plus or DTS on the fly.

Some build-in apps on TVs only stream in e.g. Dolby Digital and avoids the problem this way, but generally - unless you use an Apple TV, Playstation, Xbox or similar - you will not be able to get full surround from Netflix and many other streaming services from a Sonos-device - including the Beam.

This is coming from a long-term Sonos-fan owning (and having done so since their respective dates of release) each of the Playbar, Playbase and Beam.

All of them are great products, but getting the most out of them is becoming increasingly more difficult with the widespreading of unsupported file formats.

Here is hoping thay Apple will continue supporting the excellent on-the-fly converting capabilities of the Apple TV (or LG/Sony releasing a decent Oled TV-set with similar capabilities!) - cause I am sure Sonos will not be changing their strategy on this. They never did on DTS and I do not see any sign of change in terms of Dolby Digital Plus.

New models of LG Oled transcoding DD, DD+ and HE-AAC to DD output signal, so 5.1 should be played when watching netflix or other streaming services. I have asked to LG how new models are going to deal with atmos.

https://www.lg.com/ca_en/support/product-help/CT20098005-1437136302910-others

I may be wrong, but I think some people are giving the Beam's handshake capabilities more credit than deserved.

In my understanding, handshake is simply a feature enabling the Beam to request supported fileformats. The Beam supports PCM and Dolby Digital but not Dolby Digital Plus.

Handshake does not mean that the Beam can downmix Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital - the Beam cannot do that.

Handshake simply ensures that the TV will provide the best possible sound available that the Beam supports. Meaning that if e.g. Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital and PCM is available, the TV will send Dolby Digital to the Beam.

However, Netflix for instance does typically not include several types of audioformats in their streams. With Chromecast and most other systems, only Stereo and Dolby Digital Plus are available for Netflix.

In this case, handshake will ensure that the Beam receives the best possible, supported format being stereo (PCM).

Some people seem to be of the impressions that most TV-sets can downmix e.g. Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital and that handshake will force the TV to do so.

I have yet to find a single tv-set with this feature. In any price range. I even put up a specific thread to identify any TV-sets with this feature - but was out of luck.

Except for some Blu-ray-players, Xbox/Playstation and Apple TV, TVs and streaming-boxes (including popular choices as Chromecast and Fire sticks) are not able to downmix Dolby Digital Plus or DTS on the fly.

Some build-in apps on TVs only stream in e.g. Dolby Digital and avoids the problem this way, but generally - unless you use an Apple TV, Playstation, Xbox or similar - you will not be able to get full surround from Netflix and many other streaming services from a Sonos-device - including the Beam.

This is coming from a long-term Sonos-fan owning (and having done so since their respective dates of release) each of the Playbar, Playbase and Beam.

All of them are great products, but getting the most out of them is becoming increasingly more difficult with the widespreading of unsupported file formats.

Here is hoping thay Apple will continue supporting the excellent on-the-fly converting capabilities of the Apple TV (or LG/Sony releasing a decent Oled TV-set with similar capabilities!) - cause I am sure Sonos will not be changing their strategy on this. They never did on DTS and I do not see any sign of change in terms of Dolby Digital Plus.New models of LG Oled transcoding DD, DD+ and HE-AAC to DD output signal, so 5.1 should be played when watching netflix or other streaming services. I have asked to LG how new models are going to deal with atmos.

https://www.lg.com/ca_en/support/product-help/CT20098005-1437136302910-others

I actually have a fairly new LG Oled and I have that exact setting.

Unfortunately, this will not make the tv transcode any inputs.

The setting simply makes the tv choose the selected format when available. So build-in apps will play in the selected format and sources supporting the selected format will be requested to provided the selected format. However if an input source does not support the selected format, e.g. a Chromecast not supporting Dolby Digital, you will not be getting the selected format but rather PCM/stereo.

Again, I have yet to see one single tv-set that actually transcodes any input signal to Dolby Digital.

So if you are a Sonos-user with a full surround set, better choose your sources carefully: Use build-in apps, an Apple TV or an Xbox/PS4 as they will be able to convert audio on the fly and allow you to continue playing in good-old DD 5.1 while the rest of the world is moving on to DTS, DD Plus, Atmos and beyond - DO NOT use a Chromecast, Firestick etc.

I have a Sony android tv connected to Sonos beam via arc cable and 2 Sonos 1s as surround sound is working fine with Netflix. When I go to the setting in Sonos iapp it says 5.1 dd even though I don’t have a amp how can this make sense ?

I have a Sony android tv connected to Sonos beam via arc cable and 2 Sonos 1s as surround sound is working fine with Netflix. When I go to the setting in Sonos iapp it says 5.1 dd even though I don’t have a amp how can this make sense ?

Not sure what you mean when you say you don't have an amp. You don't have a receiver, but each of your Sonos speakers has an amp in it. The Beam takes in a dobly digital signal from the TV. The handshake between Beam and TV tells the TV to send a DD signal if it can.

If you mean you don't have a Sub for the '.1', no audio is discarded. So if the 5.1 signal is coming in, all channels are used to the best of the capabilities of what you've got set up.

I mean I have no sub connected and it still says 5.1 dobly... in the Sonos setting under about my sonos

I mean I have no sub connected and it still says 5.1 dobly... in the Sonos setting under about my sonos

That is the source, not the output.

Please enlighten us all on how.
What device are you using to watch Netflix? If it is an app on your TV, there's a good chance that the TV is feeding DD 5.1 to Sonos. If not, then I'd like to know how you've managed to convert the DD+ from Netflix to the DD 5.1 that Sonos needs.

I've a Beam 5.1 setup connected to a 4 year old Sony KDL50W829b. The TV supports DD+. All devices are connected to TV via HDMI. The Beam receives 5.1 confirmed by Sonos App from Netflix on PS4, but not via Chromecast. I always assumed the TV was doing the magic, but it could well be the PS4.

On the other hand, I can cast Google Play Movies, which I believe is DD+, and I get my 5.1 on the Sonos.