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It's 2016! Make PlayBar Gen 2 for DTS / Fix Aux for Play 5 GEN 2

  • 7 February 2016
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56 replies

U
Userlevel 2
I do have a question.

What's the licensing cost for HDMI? Is the cost significantly more than TOSLINK, or are both zero at this point?

And of course, that goes with:

What's the licensing cost for DTS versus Dolby Digital? Is there an increased amount of processing power that is required to do the decoding?

In my wild imagination, there probably is, and this would cause a company like SONOS to be careful about when they want to upgrade their hardware. Granted, for most of us on these boards, the difference is probably a few dollars/pounds/francs, etc, but if I were making the decision as a Product Manager for SONOS, I'd be looking extremely hard at the demographic of who are the majority of buyers. I wouldn't be looking too hard at the outliers (those of us who post here on these boards). It's much the same in the Gaming space that I work in. I pay less attention to the vocal minority (but not none, for heaven's sake) and more to the larger average consumer, and why they purchase/use the product.

I'm willing to face the fact that what SONOS is in business to make money, and make decisions about their coding and hardware resources that don't necessarily align with my personal wants or desires. Sure, life would be better if they'd just listen to me, and do what I said, but honestly, I'm constantly amused at the posts here that say "this is simple, just do it", without (seemingly) realizing that there are obviously limited resources at SONOS, and their priority is likely the next big feature. I'm pretty sure that currently is the Voice feature that's been discussed, but I'm not an insider. This is the way every company I've ever worked for functions. Some portion of the resources are set aside for current issues, and another portion for future efforts.

That being said, I'd be delighted to pony up for two new PlayBars that have HDMI inputs, and did DTS decoding. But I don't think my $1500 isn't going to sway SONOS if 90% of their user base doesn't feel the need for it, and might balk at the initial purchase price if it were 5% higher than it is to cover those additional fees. So, I'm happy that people keep mentioning it here, and hope that at some point in time it becomes an issue that SONOS can devote some effort/time/money (all the same thing) to. Who knows, maybe they already are?

Which also leads into the "We won't talk about future roadmaps for software updates". An intelligent, albeit frustrating stance. There's been many a time where I've been in a development cycle on software and have had an issue that caused the intended release date to slip. Given how the majority of people react to that kind of thing, it does not surprise me in the least that they prefer not to get roasted because of unexpected issues. It's ultimately easier to get roasted for the one policy of not publishing a roadmap than get lambasted for slipping a timeline on feature after promised feature. Sure, it's painful on our side, but I certainly get it from their side.

Sorry, I've had this thought in my mind for quite a while while perusing these boards on a daily basis, looking at both the large number of posts of people who can't do a simple search, or even look at the topics presented in front of them, as well as the incredibly kind and thoughtful members who make a sincere and intelligent effort to assist folks who are having issues, with a substantial amount of success. And of course, I'd never be able to post these thoughts in any of the boards I've been "responsible" for in my line of work, either, so it's nice to get them off of my chest.

And if anyone does have knowledge about those licensing costs, or where I could find out about them, I'd actually be quite interested.

Agree with your analysis of development cost versus return but surely there are enough people, going by the posters on the many forums, that the I am sure small development costs, would be returned if they made a stand alone converter for atmos, DTS etc to dd5.1 so we can use our very expensive Sonos systems instead of jumping to Bose, Sony, Yamaha etc. As to those development costs if you can get a bluray player for £40-50 that does the conversion I am sure it wouldn't cost much more to bring such a device to market.
U
Userlevel 3
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I just dumped all of my Sonos speakers, embraced google home along with spotify, picked up 4 google homes, new sony HT-9 speakers (whatever the model) and I'm loving it all. No more entrapment nightmares through sonos!
U
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Well, we can hold out some hope for the next device they release. I've got too much invested in Sonos devices to just leave because I'm upset (which I'm not). Honestly, the system works well the way it is. Sure, I wouldn't mind more, but it's not like it's performing any differently today than it was yesterday.

But sure, if you were to offer me the job of CEO at Sonos, I'd be happy to evaluate direction. But, I suspect that the current folks have been doing that for a long time, and based their decisions on what the true marketplace is looking for. My perception is that the folks who tend to post on these boards are the 1%, and not necessarily representative of the entire marketplace, particularly of those that Sonos may be going after.

Just dumped everythign on ebay. Google connect is now the thing. I love it!
U
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Can't believe that new Soundbase has been announced without support for HDMI and DTS etc. SONOS need to get their act together over this as I can't justify dumping my separate surround sound set up without this functionality even though I use SONOS extensively elsewhere.

It's an insult. This was the last straw and now selling everything. Google home along with true multicasting around the house and talking to a speaker is great. Jamming now!
T
My wife just bought us a Sonos 5.1 system. I really want to like it. We lived in Santa Barbara for years, and know quite a few Sonos employees/execs, so we want to support it. But with the lack of DTS support and HDMI inputs, I just can't do it. Sorry Sonos, but you've lost our business. Sonos' position on DTS and HDMI is completely contradictory to their mission/value statement. The future is being able to integrate high quality home theater with a full home experience. In my opinion, Sonos is missing the boat on a huge market segment. After a ton of research, WiSA seems to be the answer... looking at Axiim, and in my opinion, the extra $800 or so is worth it, and certainly more future-proof vs. Sonos.
D
Userlevel 1
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Yep my play 5s will be up for sale soon, Moved to a Yamaha receiver and music cast, 5.1 all the formats I need from all the sources I need. :)
Bye Sonos
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