Lost surround and sub ( after update ?)

I am loving this “disable/enable wifi” trick. It’s basically an unofficial restart function 

I’m starting to think broader. There must be errors all the time with HDMI systems when CEC/source/format/codec switching. Maybe 14.6 introduced a behaviour that somehow latches when there’s an error and discards some audio when before the system just recovered better on its own. 

Yeah, I see where you are going. But (for me) I have been unable to reproduce the issue using the Native app to play Netflix and Amazon Prime. But, who knows, perhaps I did not test long enough and maybe its the way Apple have that Dolby MAT thing.

I was forced to upgrade my Sonos today as it stared disabling features until I updated! I dont mind that much, but its really meant that I now have inconsistency during testing. 

like foxis, I think the problem comes from Sonos at the audio codec level. in any case, the solution of deactivating the Wifi of the arc (if it is wired) is a better solution than unplugging it. I'm glad to see that the forum continues to grow! and again, OK we do diagnostics for Sonos, but a company like Sonos is therefore not able to do the tests themselves? it's pretty amazing, it's been over a month and still no update solves the problem!

Yeah I have tried that an no joy for me like Peter unfortunately. 

The Engineer seems focused on the CEC error - he says that when my system loses the subs and surrounds (from my many, many diags I sent) this error is present and its not expected. He said the other  device connected to my TV is set to TRUE - and that would be my Apple Device as its the only device connected to the TV bar the ARC.

It’s great that we might be finally getting some traction with Sonos support but a big benefit of this forum has been finding work arounds to make living with this easier while we wait for a fix. This is the best one!!!

Edit: NOPE didn’t fix it

 may have discovered something *knock on wood*

Since @Brad Porter gave me the idea of using trailers on amazon prime to force the issue, and other folks chiming in about browsing netflix and the auto previews causing the issue I’ve been able to confidently and consistently reproduce the issue whenever I try new fixes.

Also, all of this CEC talk got me thinking from a different perspective. I basically went to my Sony A9G’s audio output settings and starting turning things off one by one. I was always able to reproduce the issue until finally I tried turning off “A/V sync”. This has 3 options on my tv: “auto, on, off”. It was on auto, just to test I turned it off. 

I went through my testing of going between various content in 5.1, atmos, stereo, then played the contractor trailer (thanks @Brad Porter I will never ever want to watch this movie now) on amazon prime, and then went to netflix and just started browsing. I did this for about 30 minutes and the issue never occurred. previously with this process I could get it to happen within 5-10 minutes. Thinking about the point of this feature if something changed with the Sonos software unintentionally to affect this it makes sense with the symptoms we’ve all been having (changing formats, switching frequently, CEC theories, etc). I’m also not sure if everyone experiencing this has an equivalent setting on their TV?

Maybe just a fluke? I’m leaving these settings as is and will monitor through the evening and keep the thread updated. I’ve included some photos of the settings:

FALSE ALARM: it finally just happened again sorry everyone 

O dear. Not good.

@ peterbaultcongratulations to you, you've been there since the beginning, you always try to find a solution by all possible means, it's nice to have someone like you in the forum!

One quick question that may be unrelated:

During all of this I have noticed that I cannot disable Wi-Fi on the Arc or it will cause immediate loss of surrounds and sub. The arc is wired, the surrounds and sub are not. I thought the Arc had its own networking to the surrounds / sub not relying on Wi-Fi.

So should I be able to turn off Wi-Fi on the Arc and still have sound from the non-wired rears and sub? Or am I experiencing expected behavior?

thx!

You need to have Wi-Fi turned on in the ARC so it can connect to the Surrounds.  I have my Wi-Fi disabled on the ARC but that is because every speaker is wired with Ethernet.

@foxisif you deactivate the Wifi of the arc even while being wired, you lose the Sub and the surrounds!

By the way, although my testing led me to experiment with a fully wired system, I can say it does sound awesome! Not because it makes the sound better, but the speakers fire the exact time they should which creates a very nice and coherent sound stage. 

Pity I am going to have to unwire all this when the issue gets fixed!

I’m fully up to date with the app and Sonos firmware and I’ve just lost the sub and surrounds on my Arc. Happened when I switched from PC source (HDMI) back to Freeview on the TVs internal tuner.

Diagnostic: 22305365

always a change of source at the root of the problem...

I keep going around in circles. Yours was one case where tv internal apps appeared to be involved but Windows uses Dolby Mat. Do you have any sense for whether using your PC could be triggering the instability? Have you tried disconnecting/reconnecting everything HDMI wise and power cycling everything? Is it possible to regain and maintain stability that way if you don’t use the PC at all?

I’ve experienced this issue many times before tonight, always the same symptoms: the surrounds disconnect (after changing sources), then require reconnecting using the app. The whole time, the Sonos app never registers anything as being wrong. 
 

Tonight, something different occurred: after changing sources (LG Plex app —> Apple TV) the surrounds disconnected as usual, but this time the Sonos app said my Arc was offline, with the spanner icon (with LS?RS? displayed as well). 
 

This time, it needed a complete power cycle on all three devices for it to work properly again. Thanks 14.8!

I’ve not pinpointed if it only happens when switching from PC to TV but I’m pretty certain it also happens when switching from TV to one of the internal apps.

Ive just switched from TV to PC and back again to see what happens and I’ve now got the issue where the surrounds and sub are out of sync.

And a few minutes later, it now sounds like it’s sorted itself out without touching anything.

when you say “switch to TV” what exactly do you mean?

Switching to the TVs internal tuner. I’m in the UK and we still get TV channels via an aerial.

The reason I ask is I’ve been observing behaviour that suggests ‘something’ happens to destabilize the system (in my case almost exclusively including an HDMI source change) and then I get dropouts frequently when changing sources, apps, content within an app, etc. Then I disconnect/reconnect and power cycle everything which seems to restore stability and I’ve gone up to 2 weeks without a dropout. If I just power cycle the arc alone, it restores the sub and surrounds but not stability because it will almost surely happen again half an hour later. In your case I’m wondering if switching to PC is your destabilizing action? Or I’m wondering even more generally if others are seeing this same stable/unstable behaviour

@foxisif you deactivate the Wifi of the arc even while being wired, you lose the Sub and the surrounds!

Yes, but the surrounds and sub are not wired. Only the arc is. Still unsure whether the surround should still work. 

@foxisif you deactivate the Wifi of the arc even while being wired, you lose the Sub and the surrounds!

they won’t. turning off wi-fi completely disables the wifi radio

well I ordered a CEC blocking HDMI adapter just out of curiosity. should arrive tomorrow