Home Theater and Television Recommendation Megathread



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Thank you!!
As it turns out, my Turtle Beach X42 gaming headsets, which we use in our movie room because the movie room is an acoustical nightmare, can use a the same list of DTS-> Dolby transcoder 3D Blu Ray players. Also if you need a cheap 3D Blu Ray player that can either transcode DTS -> Dolby OR Dolby -> DTS, consider a Playstation 3. I already have one buty am looking for a second one. One time I found a Sanyo Blu ray player for $15 at Goodwill. If only there was a PS3 or Samsung 3D Blu Ray at Goodwill, we'd solve the poor DTS through our X42s. I got an email from Dolby Labs saying Sonos soundbar users are in the same boat, and referred me to this conversation. Samsung says all of their Blu Ray players from 2014 onward have DTS->Dolby conversion.

By the way, does anyone know anything that can do LPCM 5.1 -> Dolby 5.1 conversion for my Nintendo Wii U and MAYBE the Switch?
If you're an HD DVD hold-over, those discs are automatically converted from DTS-> Dobly if you use the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. An Xbox 360 (any model) is required. Real oold ones don't have HDMI, real new ones gdon't have Toslink, but you can buy any Toslink extractor, and if encoded in Dolby, will pass Dobly 5.1 to the soundbar or my headsets in addition to a LPCM 2.0 together.
I have a soundbar and two play ones. Is there a way I can play the same thing through the play ones as the soundbar when watching TV? I would really like to be able to switch between true surround and just replication of all 3 speakers when watching TV.
Hi all, new to the Sonos magic here...was hoping that someone may be able to help me. Does anyone know if Kogan is a known TV to not have a optic cable outlet?
Never heard of Kogan before. Do you have a model number you're interested in, so we might look it up and give you some specific answers?

Just got a SONY KD55XH9005, works great with the Beam and two sonos one. 

Does the Samsung UN75MU800D pass DD 5.1 through optical? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
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Hi all, I've been looking around the various home cinema threads and can't seem to find any recommendations for 2017 tv's that have just come out and which pass through the 5.1. Any one from the UK just bought a decent tv and had success getting it to work with the 5.1 pass through? I'm looking at approx 50 inch tv's, possibly Sony or LG? Thanks in advance for any help 🙂
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Hi Alex99, I've got a 2016 Sony KD-55XD9305 which passes DD 5.1 via optical out and works brilliantly with my Sonos system. I'm pretty sure that most new Sony TV's pass DD 5.1 as did most of the older models.
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Just had a look at the User Guide for the following models and they should all pass DD 5.1:-

KD-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 55XE85xx / 49XE90xx
FW-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 49XE90xx

"DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL)
Digital optical jack (Two channel linear PCM:
48 kHz, 16 bits, Dolby Digital, DTS)"
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Brilliant - thanks opsman that's all really useful! I'm going to go with Sony then. Much appreciated!
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No problem, be interested to know what TV you get and how you get on?
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Glad you are enjoying your new Sony. What are you using for your Blu Ray source?
Hi everybody. Please ask me to install a microphone for the karaoke karaoke area of ​​30m2 should install any kind and need to feng shui. https://ustone.com.vn/vong-tay-da-mat-ho-do
Not sure I understand, your English is a little unusual. But if I understand what you're asking for, Sonos is *not* something you want to do with Karaoke. The delay involved with getting an analog input into the system would make it incredibly hard.
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Following the debacle with the 7.4 software update I would currently treat these television recommendations with scepticism. Following the update the Samsung Ks8000 now longer passes 5.1 via the optical and works with the Playbar using PCM stereo only. I hope this is a temporary problem that will be fixed by Sonos
Just had a look at the User Guide for the following models and they should all pass DD 5.1:-

KD-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 55XE85xx / 49XE90xx
FW-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 49XE90xx

"DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL)
Digital optical jack (Two channel linear PCM:
48 kHz, 16 bits, Dolby Digital, DTS)"


Hi,

nice research! I'm going to buy a new Sony television and I think I'm going for the KD55XE8599BAEP. This TV should pass Dolby 5.1 through the optical port, right?

Thanks for your advice!
Just had a look at the User Guide for the following models and they should all pass DD 5.1:-

KD-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 55XE85xx / 49XE90xx
FW-75XE90xx / 75XE85xx / 65XE90xx / 65XE85xx / 55XE90xx / 49XE90xx

"DIGITAL AUDIO OUT (OPTICAL)
Digital optical jack (Two channel linear PCM:
48 kHz, 16 bits, Dolby Digital, DTS)"

I've just bought a Sony 49XE9000 and can confirm that it passes DD 5.1. Excellent sound and picture.


I have the same TV but i am not able to pass DD5.1 from HDMI through optical, did you change any TV setting to get it? It would help me a lot if i can find the rigth parameter
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FYI, the LG 55 B6V model is throughputting DD 5.1 succesfuly 🆒
Works with different HDMI sources (PS4, Apple TV and Samsung set top box)

I have the same TV, for now not with a playbar, but with a BOSE SOLO 5 (same optical connection). Using a blue ray with DTS soundtrack, and having set bitstream dolby on PS4, and Dolby Digital as preferred TV output, the audio is mute, so I suppose the B6V does not passtrugh DD 5.1 between HDMI and Optical...
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Anyone have any thoughts on compatibility with TCL P Series TVs?
I'm also interested in hearing whether or not these TCL Roku tv's are a viable plug and play option with either a Playbase or Playbar. Thank you for your consideration and constructive advice.


I'm also interested in knowing this as well.
Thanks for this very useful thread.
For DVD/Blu-ray players, I interpret the following from the thread:
Main options to work with Sonos (transcoding DTS to DD) are Samsung or OPPO players.
Sony have this feature on some, but not all, of their recent players.
LG don’t seem to provide this feature on their players at all.

I am still feeling annoyed with Sony since I currently have their BDP-S5500 player, which claimed to have transcode to DD, the menu option is there, but as others have also reported, it doesn’t work. It doesn’t seem as though Sony have any interest or plans in fixing this broken feature on this old model. Hence I don’t feel particularly inclined to spend new money in their direction.

It is a shame LG don’t support this feature. We have a nice LG OLED TV, so I would have bought LG player to go with it if I could.

The Samsung and OPPO models look well summarised in the community recommended devices section.

On my way through my search I interpreted the following about Sony models:
Sony BDP-S3700 supports DTS transcode to DD
Sony BDP-S6700 supports DTS transcode to DD
Sony UBP-X800 does not support DTS transcode to DD, though it can transcode to multi-channel PCM (I haven’t stopped to look into what that means for Sonos compatibility)
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Will my Philips 55POS9002 OLED tv pass through 5.1 to a Playbase along with a pair of Play1:s and sub?
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After much reading about the potential problems of DD5.1 Passthrough I can confirm that my concerns were unwarranted and my setup went perfectly and everything works. My equipment is:

TV - Sony Bravia KDL-50W815
Sonos units - Playbase + 2 Play1s
BluRay - Panasonic DMP-BDT230 Blu-ray Player
Freesat - Humax HDR-1100S
Other - Apple TV Generation 4

HDMI cables connect from the above to the TV. Then an optical cable from the TV to the Playbase. Dolby Digital 5.1/2.0 and Stereo signals pass through perfectly and the Sonos App reports the correct Audio In signal (in Settings, About).
I'm looking into getting a LG 65UJ7700 tv and a Sonos 5.1 (Soundbar, play 3x2 and sub) to upgrade our aging living room setup. We stream 90% of what we watch either through Chromecast or Netflix/Hulu/Amazon. So there won't be a BluRay or receiver in the new setup, just the tv, soundbar and Chromecast. Trying to keep the cleanest setup (no HDMI switcher) as possible for the less tech savvy wife. Anyone know firsthand if this tv's optical pass-through works without any snags?