LG C9 + Arc + UB820 / Multichannel PCM for DTS Blu-Ray discs
I’m running an LG C9 with a Panasonic UB820 Blu-ray player, Sonos Arc + Sub gen 3 + One SL surrounds. The lack of DTS support on the Arc has been frustrating for non Dolby encoded Blu-ray discs, so I have been eagerly awaiting the multichannel PCM update.
It’s finally arrived (thanks, Sonos!) and I tried playing a DTS encoded Blu-ray and… no dice. Still stereo PCM 2.0. Has anyone running a similar set-up managed to get 5.1 PCM output from the Arc?
The C9 supports eARC and multichannel PCM, I’m using 48gbps HDMI cables that support up to 8k60Hz, all of the devices are up to date, I have the C9 set to PCM with eArc enabled, DTS output set to PCM on the UB820… I’m really at a loss here. Any ideas or suggested settings?
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Thanks for that link. Yeah, sounds like it might be the issue with sampling frequency still not correct. Maybe an easy fix if LG wants to do it.
This issue is so frustrating! I submit a long email about this to both LG and Panasonic and linked this thread hoping that one of the 2 (more likely LG) could fix this with firmware. I have until Feb 7th to refund this UB820 UHD player and I’m still thinking about doing so and just going back to using an Xbox to play my blu rays but I really love the clarity and the Dolby Vision support with the player so I’m so distraught over this on what I should do.
I agree with the frustration (and am on a similar timeline on returning the 820). But the picture is great, and there really aren’t any other players I prefer. The Sony ones require manual switching Dolby Vision. The LG one cannot send out PCM for just DTS - it’s all audio or none. The Samsung and Oppos are not made any longer.
Interestingly some guy on Reddit owns a CX and said that
“If you set the TV earc to passthrough and then unplug the TV from power for a few seconds. It will start miraculously playing whatever the number of channels you expect.”
I haven’t got round to testing it yet
I also have the same setup. Instead of losing more hair, I finally gave up and purchased the Sony UBPX700, which also has Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. It’s very inexpensive and it works. I am now getting LPCM 5.1/7.1 when playing DTS discs. Until the issue is fixed, I will use the Panasonic for Dolby encoded discs and the Sony for DTS encoded discs.
Hi pdedmon,
Just new to this forum, with a Sonos ARC underway, I was getting worried about my Bluray collection with DTS tracks (and potentially new 4K Blurays with DTS). Just bought a Sony UBP-X700 as well, so I was very happy to see your post. Can you tell me which settings you had to change on the Sony to get it to output LPCM and have it working with the ARC?
I might have an additional challenge as my Philips TV does not support eARC, but I’m looking into the HDFury Arcana for that.
Thanks in advance!
Erik
@swoopie On your Sony player, when watching a DTS-encoded disc, set Digital Audio Output to PCM. And go ahead and set both BD Secondary Audio and Audio DRC to Off.
EDIT: Also set DTS Neo:6 to Off and Downmix to Surround.
Because your TV doesn’t support eARC, it will not be able to pass through lossless multichannel PCM. But the Arcana will allow you to bypass your TV and send audio straight to the Arc.
@swoopie On your Sony player, when watching a DTS-encoded disc, set Digital Audio Output to PCM. And go ahead and set both BD Secondary Audio and Audio DRC to Off.
Because your TV doesn’t support eARC, it will not be able to pass through lossless multichannel PCM. But the Arcana will allow you to bypass your TV and send audio straight to the Arc.
@GuitarSuperstar damn that was fast Thanks! Will try this as soon as my ARC arrives (around 19 Feb ), or perhaps I can already view the output settings somewhere. Will check it out!
Hi all, just stumbled on this thread which seems relevant to me as I’m getting a UB820EB. Does anyone know if the latest LG CX / GX firmware 03.21.16 which just came out helps with the issue of passing through multichannel pcm?
@Chetiya According to the LG website, the latest firmware update only enhances the picture quality.
@Chetiya According to the LG website, the latest firmware update only enhances the picture quality.
Thanks, had a feeling it wouldn’t do. Guess it’s the HDfury DrHDMI 4k for me then.
Anyone received any reply from Panasonic or (more preferably) LG on this that wasn’t just them denying it being a software issue or claiming it isn’t meant to be able to convert to multi channel PCM?
If people could share what they wrote to LG and Panasonic, then others that would otherwise not bother writing their own emails might then at least do a copy-paste job to them? More emails might increase the odds of rectifying the issue.
Hi all I've sent LG and Panasonic an email about the problem with a link to this topic. Can anybody confirm the the hd fury Dr hdmi 4k works?
Setup is LG c9
Ubp 820
Sonos arc
Thanks for any help
Just want to say this thread has been really useful to read, as I’m having the exact same problems.
Spoke to LG about it and they said:
Panasonic gave an even more abrupt ‘not our problem to solve’ response:
Hi all I've sent LG and Panasonic an email about the problem with a link to this topic. Can anybody confirm the the hd fury Dr hdmi 4k works?
Setup is LG c9
Ubp 820
Sonos arc
Thanks for any help
I’ve got a GX, arc, and ub820ebk and have ordered a dr hdmi 4k, which is cheaper than the Arcana. Will update this thread when I’ve tested it.
My HDFury DR HDMI 4K arrived today!
Happily, as expected, the device works to address the issue between the 820-LG C9-Sonos Arc. I have set the unit to the 4K max mode EDID. “Green 1 – 4k60-444-600M-HDR-BT2020-3D-FULLAUDIO” - 820 is set to DTS → PCM and Dolby to pass through. All of the media I tested before (see earlier in this thread) played exactly the same way. Dolby Atmos passed through the LG with TrueHD to the Sonos Arc. DTS Master HD and DTSX both were converted to PCM. For 5.1/7.1, they show up on the Sonos as Multichannel PCM 7.1. 2.0 DTS shows as 2 Channel PCM.
Picture is correct for Dolby Vision and HDR and looks great both for 4K native sources (Hobbit & Psycho) and upsampled 1080p and 1080i Blu-ray discs.
So, for me, this $99 (+ shipping) unit handles the handshake issues for at least the C9. Hopefully someone will verify this also works on the CX models too. The Arcana seems to be overkill for the problem (and I will try to sell mine on eBay at some point).
I will do more experimenting when I have time on the weekend to see how other settings work.
Laird
Great thanks for the update I'll order mine today then.
Thanks for confirming, mine hasn’t arrived yet but your update is reassuring! I’ll confirm it works for the GX when I get it.
Thanks for confirming, mine hasn’t arrived yet but your update is reassuring! I’ll confirm it works for the GX when I get it.
My current setup is the UB820-LG CX-Sonos Arc and I hope DR HDMI works for your GX! I will look into buying one if it does. I finally got my Sonos Arc last week and one of the main reasons was because of its ability to convert DTS into PCM 5.1/7.1. Pretty disappointing to know the UB820 and LG CX don’t get along well Currently I’m using an Xbox One X when it’s a DTS track Blu Ray but it would be nice to use just one Blu Ray Player!
Does anyone know whether the same solution works for other LG 9 versions, such as the B9? I’m having the same problem with the B9 - although I’m still not tempted by getting the HDFury, it’d be good to know it’s not restricted to just C9s.
Pretty sure this would be a fix across the board. Two members have confirmed this appears to be the resolution on both a CX and C9 so i don’t see why a B9 would be any different.
I’m getting nowhere with LG/Panasonic support (panasonics is the worst - seem to just be ignoring that this is an issue) so have gone ahead myself and ordered a DR HDMI 4K.
I would be interested to find out if anybody with a non LG TV had this working. So an AG9 > UB820 > Sonos Arc setup or similar. We already know that the oppo units work fine with LG but for some reason panasonic setup creates an EDID issue
My setup is the UB820-LG CX-Sonos Arc and I got tired of waiting for a solution from Panasonic or LG for the multichannel LPCM problem so I purchased DR HDMI 4k and tried it a few days ago.
I was hoping to just set the unit to the 4K max mode EDID. “Green 1 – 4k60-444-600M-HDR-BT2020-3D-FULLAUDIO” and have it all work, but for me it wasn’t quite that simple. Using this mode did allow me to get 7.1 channel LPCM from the UB820, but I noticed 2 problems:
I wasn’t getting Dolby Vision indicatations by the LG CX. Only HDR indications even for disks that supported Dolby Vision (and that I had seen Dolby Vision indicated when I wasn’t using the DR HDMI).
For certain disks, I would get no audio when the playback first switched to multichannel LPCM (decoding DTS). For example the UHD Bluray menu may have started in DD 5.1 and only switched to LPCM for DTS when starting the actual movie. The UB820 indicated 7.1 LPCM being sent out, but the Sonos app would indicate no audio being received. Forcing the DR HDMI to restart a handshake fixed the problem each time.
I ended up fixing this by copying the LG EDID that was being sent out into the special bank for this in the DR HDMI. Then I used the DR HDMI utility on my PC to copy the EDID to a binary file, and then used an EDID editor (with GUI) on my PC to find the Dolby Vision “Vendor Specific Data Block“ EDID that was being provided by the LG and copied that info into a side file. Then I copied the “Green 1 – 4k60-444-600M-HDR-BT2020-3D-FULLAUDIO” bank to a binary file, and I used the EDID editor to start with that as a base and then added the Dolby Vision support info that I saved off in a side file. Then I saved off the resulting modified EDID into a binary file and then used the DR HDMI EDID utility to save that to bank “Custom 1”. (I’m a little surprised the utility provided by DR HDMI doesn’t have more support to actually “decode” the binary into a GUI that figures out each field and includes a description)
When I used Custom 1 from the DR HDMI 4k, now I could see the LG confirming that it was getting Dolby Vision and not just HDR. But I was still getting the problem of not hearing the LPCM 7.1 for some disks unless I restarted the handshake of the DR HDMI.
So then I went back and looked at what the LG was sending for supported audio and modified the EDID I was using in Custom 1 to have matching audio support (this involved things like removing audio support for things like DTS/DTS-HD/1-bit SACD audio as well as 192k and 96k support for LPCM). After I saved these changes to the Custom 1 bank of the DR HDMI and used this, now my audio worked right away all the time for LPCM 7.1 coming out of the UB820 (no need to force the DR HDMI to reinitialize a new handshake). I wonder if the UB820 was trying to send out 96k LPCM for DTS-HD on some disks initially and only redoing the handshake somehow got it to send LPCM in a format supported by the LG and/or Sonos Arc.
I also mention that when I examined the EDID being sent by the LG CX, when I looked at the audio data block section of the EDID, I couldn’t find anything wrong. So its not obvious why the UB820 couldn’t figure out that it could send multichannel LPCM based on the EDID from the LG. There must have been something else wrong or different about the EDID being sent by the LG compared to the DR HDMI 4k max mode that is messing up the UB820. Oh well, now that I have something that works, I don’t think I’m going to bother investigating that any more.
I hope this helps anyone else with this setup that doesn’t get things to work exactly right when using the built-in modes of the DR HDMI.
@AaronT Thanks for sharing. I wonder if I was mistaken on Dolby Vision on my end and need to do the same thing for the C9. I will check when I can.
In the meantime, can you share which editor you are using? (Do you recommend it?) I was going to try to get the RS232 connection to work to inspect the TV one.
Also, I am curious if your 820 is limiting downsampling to 48kHz in the settings of the 820 or allows up to 192kHz which might explain why you had to change the EDID. (The Sonos can only accept up to 48kHz I think.) I have my 820 with this limit in place (which I am not sure even applies to the HDMI output).
So, my unit arrived and I’ve done a quick test.
LG GX
ub820ebk
SONOS ARC
I can confirm Aaron T’s observations with the GX on
Green 1 – 4k60-444-HDR-2020-3D-Q9FN ALLM VRR HDR10+. (That’s the description on my unit, seems a little different from what others have?)
Dolby Atmos pass through works fine. DTS is presenting as 7.1 PCM
Unfortunately, DOLBY Vision no longer works. Laird, is it the same for you?
I tried a few of the other presets but none of them worked either.
I guess we’ll have to use Aaron’s workaround. Aaron, any further details on your method/ software would be greatly appreciated!
Curious if anybody has raised this with HDFury direct on their Discord server - their customer service is supposed to be excellent.
I have a unit ordered from TMF but not sure how long it takes to arrive. Hopefully quick for £11 postage :)
Curious if anybody has raised this with HDFury direct on their Discord server - their customer service is supposed to be excellent.
I have a unit ordered from TMF but not sure how long it takes to arrive. Hopefully quick for £11 postage :)
I got mine from TMF as well. Took a couple of working days.