It's now early April of 2019. Just a week ago I purchased the Sonos Playbase via used. (Sorry Sonos, your product pricing is uncommonly steep compared to most.)
I thought I did my research well enough and found the Playbase to meet my needs. In regards to it's sound within the soace I live in it's fantastic!... until I realized my research was woefully ignorant of the one big topic that's permeated through many forums here: Sonos's desire not to succumb to the growing market and past technologies of DTS 5.1 and Dolby Atmos.
Yes I've read their reasons and yes they make sense, but that doesn't negate the fact that if I'm to enjoy any AV media that utilizes, these formats Sonos finds so unpopular, I have to struggle blindly and feel my way to costly work-arounds.
DTS incompatability has been a heavy hitter in this particular arena. I actually don't mind the downgrade to Stereo (which was one of the reasons I chose the Playbase for my theater sound solution) The problem is that when a DTS audio Blu ray is playing and the code is downgraded my Playbase fails miserably when it comes to processing dialogue. It's as if it is playing back 5.1 but missing the center channel, the channel the majority of the dialogue is spoken. Voice enhancement, EQ tweaking, even adding my TV's speakers even has been tried and exhausted to no improvement. The moment a loud action sequence in the movie begins my fine tuned setup (to be able to hear the dialogue) is blown to smitherings as the audio crescendos 5-10 decibles. I then spend the entire time watching any action movie (that is in DTS/Atmos) in anticipation as the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
Again, I understand that Sonos has dismissed DTS as unimportant and why, however, in doing so any "purchased" Blu-ray I own becomes obsolete... that is, of course, unless I venture to another audio solution... one that dmbraces DTS. Something I'd rather not do now that I've invested in Sonos.
It is abundantly clear Sonos has no desire to come up with a cost effective solution... or even to create or invest in some kind of external transcoder or internal converter. I've read almost every forum dedicated to this short-sightedness, all culminating with the same work-around solutions, frustrations, venting, etc. Because this problem is very common and because many if the solutions are scattered throughout I thought I could begin a list of solutions. Unfortunately, bulky, wirey and expensive solutions/work-arounds.
Sonos products focus mainly on Dolby Digital 5.1 therefore it is imperative that that is what the speakers recieve. In my case anything less results in dialogue issues. The list below, although short, begins with solutions I've considered. I'm hoping more people will add to it... assuming this post doesn't get scrubbed.
1) Make darn sure your Blu ray player has the DD 5.1 re-encode option. I gambled and failed as my new $200 player does not. And I'm not buying second one. (It is my understanding that mainly Samsung Players are the only ones capable of this.)
2) If your TV is not able to pass audio through unscathed you'll need a splitter. Depending on your player's out-put (hdmi or optical) will determine which splitter you'd prefer. The goal is to by-pass the TV's audio. However, whatever audio code the splitter gets from your Blu ray player is what your Sonos speaker will recieve. In my case the Playbase will not play any audio.
3) Finding a reciever or external third party source that is capable of transcoding the DTS audio... but at this point you'd rather invest in speakers for the reciever. :/
4) Saying goodbye to your DTS blu ray collection and rebuilding your library on streaming/media sites. (As long as those websites/apps stick to Dolby Digital 5.1)
5) (This is the solution I'm currently trying) I'm taking every Blu ray movie I own that has the DTS 5.1 audio code and converting those entire movie files (straight from the source) into something the Playbase can understand via software on my PC. The software I have is capable of converting the DTS audio to AC3 5.1, the magic format Sonos accepts. My Blu ray player (luckily enough) is capable of playing a variety of media via it's USB port... therefore, theoretically, the Playbase should produce "quality dialogue" as it will be recieving a Dolby Digital 5.1 code.
Again, the list is short... and very generalized. It will take chapters to go into all the specific devices, software, and blu ray players that would help in this problem.
If I wanted Atmos I'd have invested in 7.1 system with a reciever. It was my "assumption" that Sonos would at least be able to convert or transcode the ever-growing (or the ever stubborn) audio formats to some level of respectable clarity... instead, nothing. Currently I have to rely on PCM to create a 2.0 stereo that runs havoc on movie dialogue.
For a system that has such a great sound, that is a shame.
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- Which BD player is yours? I tried Sony UBP X800 and Panasonic DP UB424EGS neither could transcode DTS to DD. Luckily I'm now getting some Oppo UDP-203 which apparently is able to do since April 6, 2017.
- My Philips 55PUK7150/12 from 2015 can pass Dolby Digital 5.1 from HDMI through optical output. DTS is downmixed into PCM 2.0.
- I searched and searched and could not find anything that does that. Audio extractors are not the solution you are looking for. In a way it does make sense that nobody does that. In fact transcoding a compressed format, DTS, into another compressed format, DD, just does not make sense you could potentially end up loosing significant audio quality. It really is the job of the source to transcode audio to whatever the renderer supports. In the same way that it processes the video for a format that suites your display it should process the audio too.
- That's no solution 🙂
- I've been doing that for years and I'm currently moving away from that path. At least I would like to be able to enjoy a new BD as soon as I get back home without having to spend hours ripping it. That also means you can't watch extras, arguably not a great loss.
the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
I do a lot of remote action too when watching stereo content, though Sonos dialog enhancement and night mode can help you there.
I don't think the Sonos Playbar, Playbase or Beam do any downmixing, well at least not in a 5.1 setup. They either get 5.1 and play it very much as it comes or they get 2.0 and upmix it to 5.1. Therefore poor quality of dialogues in stereo mix can not be blamed on Sonos. It the fault of whoever is doing the downmixing, your player, your TV or even your content provider. To be fair for years dialogues have been a problem when listening the stereo downmix of surround audio. That's why the industry has been pushing soundbars, built-in TV or separate. Soundbars have a central speaker for proper rendering of voices from surround tracks.
I thought I did my research well enough and found the Playbase to meet my needs. In regards to it's sound within the soace I live in it's fantastic!... until I realized my research was woefully ignorant of the one big topic that's permeated through many forums here: Sonos's desire not to succumb to the growing market and past technologies of DTS 5.1 and Dolby Atmos.
Yes I've read their reasons and yes they make sense, but that doesn't negate the fact that if I'm to enjoy any AV media that utilizes, these formats Sonos finds so unpopular, I have to struggle blindly and feel my way to costly work-arounds.
DTS incompatability has been a heavy hitter in this particular arena. I actually don't mind the downgrade to Stereo (which was one of the reasons I chose the Playbase for my theater sound solution) The problem is that when a DTS audio Blu ray is playing and the code is downgraded my Playbase fails miserably when it comes to processing dialogue. It's as if it is playing back 5.1 but missing the center channel, the channel the majority of the dialogue is spoken. Voice enhancement, EQ tweaking, even adding my TV's speakers even has been tried and exhausted to no improvement. The moment a loud action sequence in the movie begins my fine tuned setup (to be able to hear the dialogue) is blown to smitherings as the audio crescendos 5-10 decibles. I then spend the entire time watching any action movie (that is in DTS/Atmos) in anticipation as the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
Again, I understand that Sonos has dismissed DTS as unimportant and why, however, in doing so any "purchased" Blu-ray I own becomes obsolete... that is, of course, unless I venture to another audio solution... one that dmbraces DTS. Something I'd rather not do now that I've invested in Sonos.
It is abundantly clear Sonos has no desire to come up with a cost effective solution... or even to create or invest in some kind of external transcoder or internal converter. I've read almost every forum dedicated to this short-sightedness, all culminating with the same work-around solutions, frustrations, venting, etc. Because this problem is very common and because many if the solutions are scattered throughout I thought I could begin a list of solutions. Unfortunately, bulky, wirey and expensive solutions/work-arounds.
Sonos products focus mainly on Dolby Digital 5.1 therefore it is imperative that that is what the speakers recieve. In my case anything less results in dialogue issues. The list below, although short, begins with solutions I've considered. I'm hoping more people will add to it... assuming this post doesn't get scrubbed.
1) Make darn sure your Blu ray player has the DD 5.1 re-encode option. I gambled and failed as my new $200 player does not. And I'm not buying second one. (It is my understanding that mainly Samsung Players are the only ones capable of this.)
2) If your TV is not able to pass audio through unscathed you'll need a splitter. Depending on your player's out-put (hdmi or optical) will determine which splitter you'd prefer. The goal is to by-pass the TV's audio. However, whatever audio code the splitter gets from your Blu ray player is what your Sonos speaker will recieve. In my case the Playbase will not play any audio.
3) Finding a reciever or external third party source that is capable of transcoding the DTS audio... but at this point you'd rather invest in speakers for the reciever. :/
4) Saying goodbye to your DTS blu ray collection and rebuilding your library on streaming/media sites. (As long as those websites/apps stick to Dolby Digital 5.1)
5) (This is the solution I'm currently trying) I'm taking every Blu ray movie I own that has the DTS 5.1 audio code and converting those entire movie files (straight from the source) into something the Playbase can understand via software on my PC. The software I have is capable of converting the DTS audio to AC3 5.1, the magic format Sonos accepts. My Blu ray player (luckily enough) is capable of playing a variety of media via it's USB port... therefore, theoretically, the Playbase should produce "quality dialogue" as it will be recieving a Dolby Digital 5.1 code.
Again, the list is short... and very generalized. It will take chapters to go into all the specific devices, software, and blu ray players that would help in this problem.
If I wanted Atmos I'd have invested in 7.1 system with a reciever. It was my "assumption" that Sonos would at least be able to convert or transcode the ever-growing (or the ever stubborn) audio formats to some level of respectable clarity... instead, nothing. Currently I have to rely on PCM to create a 2.0 stereo that runs havoc on movie dialogue.
For a system that has such a great sound, that is a shame.
I absolutely agree and I have been soliciting the problem for a long time, they have said that they will put new codecs too I have to be with the remote control in hand, to turn up the volume lower .... it's very frustrating
Your TV would need to have support for DTS pass through too though, and most don't. A lot of people miss that small detail.
The easiest solution to the blu ray issue is to get a device that transcodes DTS on the fly. The cheapest is probably an Xbox one s, and it will also do ultra HD blue ray to boot. A PS4 will also do it, but only with optical output, and your stuck with normal blu rays.
I personally rip and transcode my disks to a home server. It seems like a hassle at first, but it has its advantages. No more trailers for starters. If i really must use the disk (twice ever, iirc) I use my PS4.
The easiest solution to the blu ray issue is to get a device that transcodes DTS on the fly. The cheapest is probably an Xbox one s, and it will also do ultra HD blue ray to boot. A PS4 will also do it, but only with optical output, and your stuck with normal blu rays.
I personally rip and transcode my disks to a home server. It seems like a hassle at first, but it has its advantages. No more trailers for starters. If i really must use the disk (twice ever, iirc) I use my PS4.
I've been doing that for years but it got really boring. Moreover you potentially loose audio and video quality in the process unless you use an insane amount of storage which can get expensive.
- Which BD player is yours? I tried Sony UBP X800 and Panasonic DP UB424EGS neither could transcode DTS to DD. Luckily I'm now getting some Oppo UDP-203 which apparently is able to do since April 6, 2017.
- My Philips 55PUK7150/12 from 2015 can pass Dolby Digital 5.1 from HDMI through optical output. DTS is downmixed into PCM 2.0.
- I searched and searched and could not find anything that does that. Audio extractors are not the solution you are looking for. In a way it does make sense that nobody does that. In fact transcoding a compressed format, DTS, into another compressed format, DD, just does not make sense you could potentially end up loosing significant audio quality. It really is the job of the source to transcode audio to whatever the renderer supports. In the same way that it processes the video for a format that suites your display it should process the audio too.
- That's no solution
- I've been doing that for years and I'm currently moving away from that path. At least I would like to be able to enjoy a new BD as soon as I get back home without having to spend hours ripping it. That also means you can't watch extras, arguably not a great loss.
the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
I saw it specifically advised to do the audio extractor in here. I have Amazon open to buy one in preparation for my device arriving (because I have a Samsung TV, and I will surely have the same issue). :/ But you’re saying audio extractor is not the way. Sigh.
The easiest solution to the blu ray issue is to get a device that transcodes DTS on the fly. The cheapest is probably an Xbox one s, and it will also do ultra HD blue ray to boot. A PS4 will also do it, but only with optical output, and your stuck with normal blu rays.
I personally rip and transcode my disks to a home server. It seems like a hassle at first, but it has its advantages. No more trailers for starters. If i really must use the disk (twice ever, iirc) I use my PS4.
What program do you use to rip bluray discs?
It's now early April of 2019. Just a week ago I purchased the Sonos Playbase via used. (Sorry Sonos, your product pricing is uncommonly steep compared to most.)
I thought I did my research well enough and found the Playbase to meet my needs. In regards to it's sound within the soace I live in it's fantastic!... until I realized my research was woefully ignorant of the one big topic that's permeated through many forums here: Sonos's desire not to succumb to the growing market and past technologies of DTS 5.1 and Dolby Atmos.
Yes I've read their reasons and yes they make sense, but that doesn't negate the fact that if I'm to enjoy any AV media that utilizes, these formats Sonos finds so unpopular, I have to struggle blindly and feel my way to costly work-arounds.
DTS incompatability has been a heavy hitter in this particular arena. I actually don't mind the downgrade to Stereo (which was one of the reasons I chose the Playbase for my theater sound solution) The problem is that when a DTS audio Blu ray is playing and the code is downgraded my Playbase fails miserably when it comes to processing dialogue. It's as if it is playing back 5.1 but missing the center channel, the channel the majority of the dialogue is spoken. Voice enhancement, EQ tweaking, even adding my TV's speakers even has been tried and exhausted to no improvement. The moment a loud action sequence in the movie begins my fine tuned setup (to be able to hear the dialogue) is blown to smitherings as the audio crescendos 5-10 decibles. I then spend the entire time watching any action movie (that is in DTS/Atmos) in anticipation as the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
Again, I understand that Sonos has dismissed DTS as unimportant and why, however, in doing so any "purchased" Blu-ray I own becomes obsolete... that is, of course, unless I venture to another audio solution... one that dmbraces DTS. Something I'd rather not do now that I've invested in Sonos.
It is abundantly clear Sonos has no desire to come up with a cost effective solution... or even to create or invest in some kind of external transcoder or internal converter. I've read almost every forum dedicated to this short-sightedness, all culminating with the same work-around solutions, frustrations, venting, etc. Because this problem is very common and because many if the solutions are scattered throughout I thought I could begin a list of solutions. Unfortunately, bulky, wirey and expensive solutions/work-arounds.
Sonos products focus mainly on Dolby Digital 5.1 therefore it is imperative that that is what the speakers recieve. In my case anything less results in dialogue issues. The list below, although short, begins with solutions I've considered. I'm hoping more people will add to it... assuming this post doesn't get scrubbed.
1) Make darn sure your Blu ray player has the DD 5.1 re-encode option. I gambled and failed as my new $200 player does not. And I'm not buying second one. (It is my understanding that mainly Samsung Players are the only ones capable of this.)
2) If your TV is not able to pass audio through unscathed you'll need a splitter. Depending on your player's out-put (hdmi or optical) will determine which splitter you'd prefer. The goal is to by-pass the TV's audio. However, whatever audio code the splitter gets from your Blu ray player is what your Sonos speaker will recieve. In my case the Playbase will not play any audio.
3) Finding a reciever or external third party source that is capable of transcoding the DTS audio... but at this point you'd rather invest in speakers for the reciever. :/
4) Saying goodbye to your DTS blu ray collection and rebuilding your library on streaming/media sites. (As long as those websites/apps stick to Dolby Digital 5.1)
5) (This is the solution I'm currently trying) I'm taking every Blu ray movie I own that has the DTS 5.1 audio code and converting those entire movie files (straight from the source) into something the Playbase can understand via software on my PC. The software I have is capable of converting the DTS audio to AC3 5.1, the magic format Sonos accepts. My Blu ray player (luckily enough) is capable of playing a variety of media via it's USB port... therefore, theoretically, the Playbase should produce "quality dialogue" as it will be recieving a Dolby Digital 5.1 code.
Again, the list is short... and very generalized. It will take chapters to go into all the specific devices, software, and blu ray players that would help in this problem.
If I wanted Atmos I'd have invested in 7.1 system with a reciever. It was my "assumption" that Sonos would at least be able to convert or transcode the ever-growing (or the ever stubborn) audio formats to some level of respectable clarity... instead, nothing. Currently I have to rely on PCM to create a 2.0 stereo that runs havoc on movie dialogue.
For a system that has such a great sound, that is a shame.
if i know it can’t work with DTS , I would not bought it . there are many choice , indeed.
As some suggest, the only real solution here is replacing that almost new BD-player with a Samsung or a gaming console.
It sucks, but the truth is that Sonos never intended their products for techies. The Playbar and all the surround products that came after it, was more a way of upgrading the TV-sound and integrating it to their echo system.
When I got the Playbar in 2012, I was using build-in speakers and the Playbar was a huge upgrade regardless of whether I was getting DD or PCM.
I of course soon learned that the Playbar was much better with DD and began the ever struggling journey of making sure to feed the right format to the Playbar.
I think the main reason why Sonos is getting pushed more and more on this is that it is becoming more and more common for people to invest in surround sound systems, as there are so many “light” options in the forms of soundbars and wireless speakers. So wanting a proper sorround experience is no longer just a demand from the techies.
Would be great if Sonos could create some sort of transcoder to put between its speakers and the tv which could convert any format on the fly. I don’t think any other manufacturer will make such a product, as this is not a common issue for other manufacturers.
It's now early April of 2019. Just a week ago I purchased the Sonos Playbase via used. (Sorry Sonos, your product pricing is uncommonly steep compared to most.)
I thought I did my research well enough and found the Playbase to meet my needs. In regards to it's sound within the soace I live in it's fantastic!... until I realized my research was woefully ignorant of the one big topic that's permeated through many forums here: Sonos's desire not to succumb to the growing market and past technologies of DTS 5.1 and Dolby Atmos.
Yes I've read their reasons and yes they make sense, but that doesn't negate the fact that if I'm to enjoy any AV media that utilizes, these formats Sonos finds so unpopular, I have to struggle blindly and feel my way to costly work-arounds.
DTS incompatability has been a heavy hitter in this particular arena. I actually don't mind the downgrade to Stereo (which was one of the reasons I chose the Playbase for my theater sound solution) The problem is that when a DTS audio Blu ray is playing and the code is downgraded my Playbase fails miserably when it comes to processing dialogue. It's as if it is playing back 5.1 but missing the center channel, the channel the majority of the dialogue is spoken. Voice enhancement, EQ tweaking, even adding my TV's speakers even has been tried and exhausted to no improvement. The moment a loud action sequence in the movie begins my fine tuned setup (to be able to hear the dialogue) is blown to smitherings as the audio crescendos 5-10 decibles. I then spend the entire time watching any action movie (that is in DTS/Atmos) in anticipation as the explosions (in volume) are swiftly dealt with my TV remote so I don't wake up the neigbors.
Again, I understand that Sonos has dismissed DTS as unimportant and why, however, in doing so any "purchased" Blu-ray I own becomes obsolete... that is, of course, unless I venture to another audio solution... one that dmbraces DTS. Something I'd rather not do now that I've invested in Sonos.
It is abundantly clear Sonos has no desire to come up with a cost effective solution... or even to create or invest in some kind of external transcoder or internal converter. I've read almost every forum dedicated to this short-sightedness, all culminating with the same work-around solutions, frustrations, venting, etc. Because this problem is very common and because many if the solutions are scattered throughout I thought I could begin a list of solutions. Unfortunately, bulky, wirey and expensive solutions/work-arounds.
Sonos products focus mainly on Dolby Digital 5.1 therefore it is imperative that that is what the speakers recieve. In my case anything less results in dialogue issues. The list below, although short, begins with solutions I've considered. I'm hoping more people will add to it... assuming this post doesn't get scrubbed.
1) Make darn sure your Blu ray player has the DD 5.1 re-encode option. I gambled and failed as my new $200 player does not. And I'm not buying second one. (It is my understanding that mainly Samsung Players are the only ones capable of this.)
2) If your TV is not able to pass audio through unscathed you'll need a splitter. Depending on your player's out-put (hdmi or optical) will determine which splitter you'd prefer. The goal is to by-pass the TV's audio. However, whatever audio code the splitter gets from your Blu ray player is what your Sonos speaker will recieve. In my case the Playbase will not play any audio.
3) Finding a reciever or external third party source that is capable of transcoding the DTS audio... but at this point you'd rather invest in speakers for the reciever. :/
4) Saying goodbye to your DTS blu ray collection and rebuilding your library on streaming/media sites. (As long as those websites/apps stick to Dolby Digital 5.1)
5) (This is the solution I'm currently trying) I'm taking every Blu ray movie I own that has the DTS 5.1 audio code and converting those entire movie files (straight from the source) into something the Playbase can understand via software on my PC. The software I have is capable of converting the DTS audio to AC3 5.1, the magic format Sonos accepts. My Blu ray player (luckily enough) is capable of playing a variety of media via it's USB port... therefore, theoretically, the Playbase should produce "quality dialogue" as it will be recieving a Dolby Digital 5.1 code.
Again, the list is short... and very generalized. It will take chapters to go into all the specific devices, software, and blu ray players that would help in this problem.
If I wanted Atmos I'd have invested in 7.1 system with a reciever. It was my "assumption" that Sonos would at least be able to convert or transcode the ever-growing (or the ever stubborn) audio formats to some level of respectable clarity... instead, nothing. Currently I have to rely on PCM to create a 2.0 stereo that runs havoc on movie
I have your same problem a big frustration of the fact that they are not interested in us, they don't have licenses with the optics DTS is possible !!!
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