DTS, Dolby 5.1 on Playbar, 2015 edition!

What proportion of programmes via Sky are DTS or Dolby Digital +?

I'm guessing somewhere between 0% and 0%

Quite a few of the Sky HD channels send Dolby 5.1 (I keep checking on the Sonos > About My Sonos > Playbar section)

And the Playbar WILL play DD 5.1 brilliantly.

Is there something you wish to get off your chest sweetheart?

You were/are complaining that that the Playbar won't decode DTS, you confirmed your TV will pass DTS and Stereo and you stated the majority of your video source is SKY thereby heavily implying SKY outputs audio in DTS (else why would you be bothered?).

I was just pointing out that SKY does not, in fact, broadcast a DTS audio signal. Your problem is your TV mangles the DD5.1 signal it receives into stereo.

You were/are complaining that that the Playbar won't decode DTS, you confirmed your TV will pass DTS and Stereo and you stated the majority of your video source is SKY thereby heavily implying SKY outputs audio in DTS (else why would you be bothered?).

Sky outputs audio in DD5.1 (at least on a lot of the main HD channels) therefore if I connect my Playbar to my Sky box directly I can see that my Sonos setup is receiving 5.1

My TV does NOT pass DD5.1 from anything that is connected to it directly via HDMI (i.e. my Sky box), it will only pass stereo or DTS Neo (the DD option is greyed out).

If Sonos supported DTS I could plug my TV directly into my Playbar

You were/are complaining that that the Playbar won't decode DTS, you confirmed your TV will pass DTS and Stereo and you stated the majority of your video source is SKY thereby heavily implying SKY outputs audio in DTS (else why would you be bothered?).

Sky outputs audio in DD5.1 (at least on a lot of the main HD channels) therefore if I connect my Playbar to my Sky box directly I can see that my Sonos setup is receiving 5.1

My TV does NOT pass DD5.1 from anything that is connected to it directly via HDMI (i.e. my Sky box), it will only pass stereo or DTS Neo (the DD option is greyed out).

If Sonos supported DTS I could plug my TV directly into my Playbar

I'd be amazed if your TV output DTS if it received DD5.1 so how would that help?

I'm hoping someone will read this. I am trying to make sense of the OP but somehow I can't.

I have the same TV and for me, it doesn't pass through any DD 5.1 from connected HDMI sources, no matter what I do.

1. What did OP do to make it work for him?

2. Why does he talk about buying an optical switch to get 5.1 from all sources including PS4 etc, then suddenly the solution is to just buy a different model BluRay player?

3. Why does he have an audio receiver and how is that connected to the playbar?

I have a Samsung 55ku6500 TV which according to the manual should pass 5.1Dd from my sky box. However I can only get 2.0. When I connect directly from my sky box I do get 5.1 so it's not an issue with the sky box. Can anyone with a similar TV confirm that it does indeed pass 5.1 from their external source and if so what am I doing wrong as it's driving me bananas?

I'm hoping someone will read this. I am trying to make sense of the OP but somehow I can't.

I have the same TV and for me, it doesn't pass through any DD 5.1 from connected HDMI sources, no matter what I do.

1. What did OP do to make it work for him?

2. Why does he talk about buying an optical switch to get 5.1 from all sources including PS4 etc, then suddenly the solution is to just buy a different model BluRay player?

3. Why does he have an audio receiver and how is that connected to the playbar?

before I lay out my situation below (as we have different TVs) you first need to figure out if your TV can pass a source or not, some TVs might just output direct stereo ALWAYS, then you will never get any surround. My tv will output dolby digital if it gets a good source. it will not convert a DTS source to dolby digital at all though.

I'm currently battling this baffling decision as well. My situation, and trying to use PLEX to solve it (which isn't going well).

New tv OLED 55B6V from LG (amazing telly)

surround setup with 1x playbar and 2x play 1s.

TV will pass any signal, does no conversion.

running plex on this thing and having anything with DTS audio format = no sound.

Take the following actions

TV settings for DTS audio

TV must be set to output dolby digital

settings -> all settings -> sound -> DTV Audio Setting -> Dolby Digital

Plex client must always transcode the audio otherwise no sound. (sound bar can't handle it)

from home -> settings -> audio -> DTS(DCA) UNCHECKED

home -> settings -> video -> 'Allow direct play' UNCHECKED

doing this should allow to play 5.1 surround from a DTS source.

^ the effect of the above on my setup is that audio plays, but it plays with clicks pops/drops.

I'm really mad at sonos for not including DTS to be honest. Regretting my purchases, because I was around 4000 euro out the pocket before I discovered that this was even a thing I had to contend with. After reading these forums I'll stop recommending and start discouraging people to buy Sonos.

DTS

DTS will have to be re-coded as Dolby Digital to be played by the PlayBar, else it will be silent (displaying "Audio not supported"). There is no way of playing DTS itself.

Work arounds: My experience

I read the above post and went off to buy a switch (although, this one in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DZIXIMQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00, called Portta 4x1 HDMI Switcher with Toslink and Digital Coaxial Port 3D Splitter with Remote and AC Adapter/ 3D 1080P).

You can also work around the DTS issue by connecting the Playbar to an XBox or PS4, or at worst, a switch.

I hope this helps!!! :)

So the Portta 4x1 HDMI Switcher actually re-codes the DTS signal as Dolby Digital? I have an Octava HD41-ARC and I didn't have luck with this. I have an nvidia shield tv box connected to an hdmi input on the switch. The hdmi output goes to an hdmi input on the TV. The optical out put on the switch goes to the playbar. When I play a file in plex that's encoded with DTS 5.1 audio, I get no sound from my playbar and I also get the unsupported audio message in Sonos.

Am I missing something?

the ONLY product I ever saw mentioned in these forums to do this was this one

http://www.ambery.com/2hddodtsdihd.html

or search 'au-hcp2' on ebay

however, I dont have one so cant verify this claim (DTS received on HDMI converted to DD 5.1 over optical) one way or the other.

if you have success then please share the news !

DTS

DTS will have to be re-coded as Dolby Digital to be played by the PlayBar, else it will be silent (displaying "Audio not supported"). There is no way of playing DTS itself.

Work arounds: My experience

I read the above post and went off to buy a switch (although, this one in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DZIXIMQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00, called Portta 4x1 HDMI Switcher with Toslink and Digital Coaxial Port 3D Splitter with Remote and AC Adapter/ 3D 1080P).

You can also work around the DTS issue by connecting the Playbar to an XBox or PS4, or at worst, a switch.

I hope this helps!!! :)

So the Portta 4x1 HDMI Switcher actually re-codes the DTS signal as Dolby Digital? I have an Octava HD41-ARC and I didn't have luck with this. I have an nvidia shield tv box connected to an hdmi input on the switch. The hdmi output goes to an hdmi input on the TV. The optical out put on the switch goes to the playbar. When I play a file in plex that's encoded with DTS 5.1 audio, I get no sound from my playbar and I also get the unsupported audio message in Sonos.

Am I missing something?

I feel your pain. I got a result though , I don't have nvidia shield but otherwise your experience mirrors mine (I have lg b6 TV with plex app from lg webshop) provided your client options are same as mine my thread on plex forums should help you

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/263218/audio-drops-when-playing-dts-sources-via-plex-app#latest

It's essentially a case of 'force plex server to transcode the audio' you will NEVER get dts audio out of a Sonos bar, unfortunately Sonos picked optical for god knows what reason and is doomed as a viable surround sound solution. Sucks because the audio is amazing for music, but surround is terrible optical doesn't have the bandwidth to carry the signal so you n Ed down convert. Worst choice ever, I'm really bitterly disappointed with my very expensive purchases because I didn't know this beforehand.

You will get working surround this way at least. Make sure. You check the Sonos app and -> about to see that your signal is markesd as 5.1 because if you get options wrong you will get stereo output to all speakers and it can trick you into thinking surround works for a while.

New to Sonos and new to the forum. Love my Sonos but clearly DTS is a real issue to many. Clearly Sonos have no intention to solve this issue and Who can blame them when sales of their products are still strong. So I guess the answer is to stop buying their products. No company can survive without its customer base. Please Sonos read and act sooner rather then later. Your customers have spoken.

Hi all

I am writing this post in the hope it may help those struggling with the above issue(s). The first topic which appears on this in Google is the post at https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/solving-the-51-dts-issues-with-the-playbar-34523, which is now out of date. For my part I wanted to set out what I did to "resolve" this issue (or more accurately, work around it).

Since the above post, Sonos have written a few useful notes. The most helpful is: https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1945/~/maximizing-playbar-sound-from-your-television.

A further note deals with the XBOX work around (https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2490/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNDQxMjA4NzE0L3NpZC9JdER6cXR2bQ%3D%3D) and another provides the details for PS4 (https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3075/related/1).

The Issue

Playbar with 2 Play:1s and a Sub is a 5.1 Surround system. However, because the Playbar connects through a Digitial Out/Toslink/SPDIF, its limited bandwidth prevents it from EVER being compatible with DTS-HD, Dolby True-HD or any other lossless/HD audio. However, it is possible to play Dolby 5.1 providing your TV can output a Dolby Digital signal through the Digital Out.

People realise that they are only listening to Stereo when they go to About My Sonos System and realise that the AUDIO IN listed under PlayBar is STEREO. When its 5.1 it will say Dolby Digital 5.1, or when Dolby Digital 2.0, exactly that.

DTS

DTS will have to be re-coded as Dolby Digital to be played by the PlayBar, else it will be silent (displaying "Audio not supported"). There is no way of playing DTS itself.

Work arounds: My experience

I read the above post and went off to buy a switch (although, this one in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00DZIXIMQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00, called Portta 4x1 HDMI Switcher with Toslink and Digital Coaxial Port 3D Splitter with Remote and AC Adapter/ 3D 1080P). When I connected my BD-Player to this by HDMI, with my STB and TV, and connected the switch to the Playbar, it started to play 5.1. Result. However, this is a poor solution as you have to manually switch between inputs, have another remote, cannot use a magic remote or the input management system on the TV etc.

I thought about buying an XBOX (which my research indicted is the better media system when compared to PS4) it (with PS4) decodes DTS to DD 5.1 "on the fly.

I also thought about buying the OPPO BDP-103 for a whopping £400 as suggested by the post.

However, there are literally a handful of BD Players which also re-code DTS to DD (please see SONOS's own post). I purchased the Samsung BD-H6500 for a very reasonable sum and can now play DTS easily on the Playbar (obviously, recoded to DD5.1).

I have set my system up as follows. My LG 55EC930V is connected to the Playbar. This TV outputs Dolby Digital (and I think, even Dolby Digital Plus) via Digital Out. I have then connected my Virgin Media STB to the TV via HDMI (STB set to output Dolby Digital Audio) and the BD Player via HDMI, which is set to output recoded DTS.

My issue was that my wired Home Cinema system (Panasonic SC-BTT270) would not output DD as it only had an Optical In, so I had to buy a new player. I highly recommend the one I bought, it plays great.

Also, my Playbar also plays 5.1 from Netflix, Amazon Prime video and Live TV (though, not Youtube for some reason).

Other work arounds

You can also work around the DTS issue by connecting the Playbar to an XBox or PS4, or at worst, a switch.

I hope this helps!!! :)

Like others this is a problem that we have had to learn how to work around (but should not have to).

When I first heard about the PlayBase I was getting ready to move our SoundBar to another room and replace it with the PlayBase as I just assumed that Sonos would "correct" the omission of DTS support with the new product. Shame that my assumption was incorrect.

I still live in hope that Sonos will bring out a PlayBar II with DTS and perhaps even HDMI support, but after so many years of disappointment I am not holding my breath nor assuming anything!!

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