LG has released a firmware upgrade for the B9/C9/E9 supporting multichannel PCM passthrough. This is great except Arc doesn’t support it yet. Because of this new update, my Apple TV decides it should use LPCM instead of Dolby Digital 5.1 with Atmos enabled resulting in only 2.0 audio for non Atmos content. The current only workaround is to disable Atmos and enable it when you want to watch an Atmos file. Very frustrating as the previous firmware had no issue.

LPCM ETA for Arc? | Sonos Community

My LG BX updated it’s firmware last night and as of today is passing Dolby Atmos through to my Sonos Arc (from an Apple TV 4K). Even says “Dolby Atmos” in my Sonos App!

So maybe LG adjusted their firmware to pass through something the Arc is compatible with while Sonos get their own firmware sorted?

I have been able to pass atmos from my apple tv 4k to ARC since the CX was released back in April.

Was it certain apps on the apple box that prevented this?

There was an issue where LG updated their firmware to accept LPCM, so the Apple TV 4K would send that (which the Arc isn’t compatible with) and you’d get no sound unless you forced ATV to output at 5.1

Not sure why your CX wouldn’t have that issue unless you didn’t update firmware or something?

I have kept CX fully up to date.

I only really use my apple tv 4k for the apple content such as purchased movies but have never had an issue playing Atmos or DD 5.1 content.

My settings on CX are are set to passthrough with eARC on, and on the Apple box just the defaults Auto/atmos on.

On sonos App, it showed ATMOS DD+ or Dolby Digital 5.1

Strange.

I believe a new firmware is out in the UK, but currently Im on 3.10.44

Odd. It’s a confirmed issue by Sonos that they need to add LPCM support, you must have just been lucky somehow!

It is odd I have read a few threads with issues on this and I’ve always wondered why I get no issue, but then I’ve seen other people mention they get atmos and DD5.1 perfectly fine as well.

Could it be that Apple fixed it in tvOS 14? I have kept my C9 on the old firmware but now I’m tempted.

Hi all.

I just wanted to add my experience.

Its been driving me mad having the same setup with the addition of a Fire Stick 4k…. no problems with my Sonos beam… but when I updated to the Arc I have been having some really random problems.

Before I go into detail… I want to reiterate what someone else has just said… at ALL times playing content purchased from the iTunes store such as 4K ATMOS movies they work fine.. and the ARC outputs in Atmos.

My problems stemmed from other apps on the AppleTV. Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Movies that were supposed to be 5.1 were coming out 2,0. Atmos content was not working at all, and mostly coming out at 2.0. Then, it decided to loose the centre channel so I could not hear the dialogue.

Researching the problem, I found this thread.

I grudging accepted that I could not diagnose the issue and I started to use the Fire Stick (which has no problem outputting to the ARC in atmos) or the inbuilt LG apps (My LG is the OLED 2019 model with eARC)

This is so frustrating as ive checked my settings over and over… and there is something that just doesn't work. Lots like this LPCM issue with the arc is to blame and I hope they fix it soon.

However… as I said.. ive got no problems whatsoever with iTunes content… its the only app on the TV that seems to do it correctly. I just cant get my head around why one app works from the same box, and the others dont.

Hi all.

I just wanted to add my experience.

Its been driving me mad having the same setup with the addition of a Fire Stick 4k…. no problems with my Sonos beam… but when I updated to the Arc I have been having some really random problems.

Before I go into detail… I want to reiterate what someone else has just said… at ALL times playing content purchased from the iTunes store such as 4K ATMOS movies they work fine.. and the ARC outputs in Atmos.

My problems stemmed from other apps on the AppleTV. Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Movies that were supposed to be 5.1 were coming out 2,0. Atmos content was not working at all, and mostly coming out at 2.0. Then, it decided to loose the centre channel so I could not hear the dialogue.

Researching the problem, I found this thread.

I grudging accepted that I could not diagnose the issue and I started to use the Fire Stick (which has no problem outputting to the ARC in atmos) or the inbuilt LG apps (My LG is the OLED 2019 model with eARC)

This is so frustrating as ive checked my settings over and over… and there is something that just doesn't work. Lots like this LPCM issue with the arc is to blame and I hope they fix it soon.

However… as I said.. ive got no problems whatsoever with iTunes content… its the only app on the TV that seems to do it correctly. I just cant get my head around why one app works from the same box, and the others dont.

That explains it for me then as to why it works fine, as I only use it for the iTunes purchased stuff.

Could it be that Apple fixed it in tvOS 14? I have kept my C9 on the old firmware but now I’m tempted.

I’m not on tvOS 14, I’m on 13.4.8 but it might have happened with a recent Apple TV update regardless.

My BX is on 13.11.10 and I’m in Australia if that makes any difference.

Hi all.

I just wanted to add my experience.

Its been driving me mad having the same setup with the addition of a Fire Stick 4k…. no problems with my Sonos beam… but when I updated to the Arc I have been having some really random problems.

Before I go into detail… I want to reiterate what someone else has just said… at ALL times playing content purchased from the iTunes store such as 4K ATMOS movies they work fine.. and the ARC outputs in Atmos.

My problems stemmed from other apps on the AppleTV. Netflix, and Amazon Prime. Movies that were supposed to be 5.1 were coming out 2,0. Atmos content was not working at all, and mostly coming out at 2.0. Then, it decided to loose the centre channel so I could not hear the dialogue.

Researching the problem, I found this thread.

I grudging accepted that I could not diagnose the issue and I started to use the Fire Stick (which has no problem outputting to the ARC in atmos) or the inbuilt LG apps (My LG is the OLED 2019 model with eARC)

This is so frustrating as ive checked my settings over and over… and there is something that just doesn't work. Lots like this LPCM issue with the arc is to blame and I hope they fix it soon.

However… as I said.. ive got no problems whatsoever with iTunes content… its the only app on the TV that seems to do it correctly. I just cant get my head around why one app works from the same box, and the others dont.

That explains it for me then as to why it works fine, as I only use it for the iTunes purchased stuff.

I just cant get my head around the problem.

The AppleTV is clearly capable of sending and ATMOS soundtrack to the ARC via the LG eARC port… and it clearly works for iTunes content... However other apps from the same AppleTV do not work at all with varying degrees of weirdness.

Its certainly to do with firmware and correct format support but we are talking about 3 devices that are involved in this chain and the fault could be with any one of them.

So annoying at this is designed to be super simple - and yet its not.

Hi, I posted a brief update about this here on a related thread but the forum doesn't let me duplicate the post.

Thank you

It certainly seems to be the case that this is the root cause of the problems.

Confusing it works sometimes for some content on the appleTV and not others.

Anyway, promising news.

One thing… i wonder if they can preemptively let us know its working and to give it a try? Its a bit hit and miss checking and finding it not working. It would be nice to get an official announcement when its done and we can set about checking it.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Excellent news, thanks for the update.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Well you’ve got yourself another customer if that update is released I’ve been looking forward to replacing the Playbar.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Excellent news, thanks for the update.

Is this coming to the Beam?

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Fantastic, can’t wait!

Just adding myself to get notifications

Their CEO replied to a tweet saying they hope to have it out next month. Fingers crossed.

https://twitter.com/Patrick_Spence/status/1319378961797820417

I have it from the top that it’s coming before the end of 2020...and could be released at any moment. The feature is in test now, so hang tight.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Excellent news, thanks for the update.

Is this coming to the Beam?

I think that would depend on a few things. Manufacturers do like to be able to differentiate their product lines (entice you to pay more for features even if technically possible). It may also be the case that the arc port on the Beam can’t handle the bandwidth which may need earc specs. It would be nice though, at least then Sonos would stop being criticised for no DTS support, even if the format is losing popularity with streaming ever more common for consumers. It’d be nice to see the Beam updated to earc spec but Sonos tend to move very slowly.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Excellent news, thanks for the update.

Is this coming to the Beam?

I think that would depend on a few things. Manufacturers do like to be able to differentiate their product lines (entice you to pay more for features even if technically possible). It may also be the case that the arc port on the Beam can’t handle the bandwidth which may need earc specs. It would be nice though, at least then Sonos would stop being criticised for no DTS support, even if the format is losing popularity with streaming ever more common for consumers. It’d be nice to see the Beam updated to earc spec but Sonos tend to move very slowly.

Yea I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to use this to force an upgrade. But I bought the beam about a week before the Arc was announced. I just want my Nintendo Switch to work with surround sound!

Its just that Sonos is so insanely slow on implementing state of the art stuff from 5 years ago.

Even Trueplay isnt possible with the ipad 2020 i just bought. its just too slow for the pricepoint

Fingers crossed that it'll be soon... Would eleminate the DTS problem, just having the player decode to pcm....

Absolutely. So eagerly anticipating this.

We are actively testing multi-channel LPCM on Sonos and we'll be releasing it as part of a software update by the end of this year. We will update this thread again once it's available.

Excellent news, thanks for the update.

Is this coming to the Beam?

I think that would depend on a few things. Manufacturers do like to be able to differentiate their product lines (entice you to pay more for features even if technically possible). It may also be the case that the arc port on the Beam can’t handle the bandwidth which may need earc specs. It would be nice though, at least then Sonos would stop being criticised for no DTS support, even if the format is losing popularity with streaming ever more common for consumers. It’d be nice to see the Beam updated to earc spec but Sonos tend to move very slowly.

Yea I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to use this to force an upgrade. But I bought the beam about a week before the Arc was announced. I just want my Nintendo Switch to work with surround sound!

Same here, sound on my Playbar 5.1 setup sucks with the switch as it only plays 2ch sound and the ps5 out next week uses 5.1 and 7.1 pcm so again I'll get 2ch only with lpcm support - it's becoming more common for gaming machines to switch to lpcm because it's free you don't have ridiculous license fee to Dolby and dts. And of course my pc also only supports 5.1/7.1 pcm - so until the Arc gets lpcm support all my gaming consoles and PC are stuck on 2 channel audio

The wait for a feature that should have been there since day one is frustrating and It’s getting harder and harder to support Sonos and take it seriously as a home theater company. I’ve been holding on to updating my LG C9 for months so I don’t get a broken 5.1 support on Apple TV and now with new consoles coming out I might be forced to update my firmware to get the VRR fix from 5.00.03.

Hi all,

We hear you. With a software update today, Arc now supports multi-channel LPCM, bringing new immersive sound experiences for gaming, Blu-ray discs, and more. To get support for multi-channel LPCM on Arc, download the latest Sonos S2 update from the app store and then update your system in the Sonos S2 app. After updating the app, go to Settings > System > System Updates > Check for Updates.

All the best,

Ditte

Hi all,

We hear you. With a software update today, Arc now supports multi-channel LPCM, bringing new immersive sound experiences for gaming, Blu-ray discs, and more. To get support for multi-channel LPCM on Arc, download the latest Sonos S2 update from the app store and then update your system in the Sonos S2 app. After updating the app, go to Settings > System > System Updates > Check for Updates.

All the best,

Ditte

YESSSSS. A company that keeps their promises! Thank you SONOS!!!

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