Multichannel DTS Workaround on Arc?

no

Yes. Use a media player such as Kodi or Plex to convert DTS to a supported multi channel format such as DD5.1 when a file with DTS is played.

Two remarks:

• it depends on your TV if you get stereo (my new Samsung QE65Q90) or silence (my old UE46D8000) when playing DTS;
• if your library consists of Bluray discs I have read an X-Box will convert DTS on the fly.

There's one user that seems to have proven his Sony Bluray player also converts DTD to DD: https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/sony-x800-option-to-convert-dts-dd-6798103

Yes, you can actually use a PS4 or PS4 Pro, I have Sonos Beam connected through HDMI to optical on the PS4 using the adapter that comes in the box and I get Dolby Digital coming out playing a DTS Blu-Ray.

You need to tweak the audio settings in the PS4 but it’s really easy, if you need more details I can screenshot the steps :-)

Something I don’t know is whether the conversion DTS to DD has an impact on sound quality but it works.

My Samsung Blu-ray-Ray Player also transcodes to DD 5.1 on the fly. Definitely the most elegant solution getting a capable Blu-Ray Player. Would assume any of the current Xbox and PS can do the same but should of course be verified before purchasing. 

@ant0 I also have a PS4, though I use HDMI. Can you show us the steps you took?

@106rallye Sure thing, so you need to go here

Settings>Sound and screen>Audio Output Settings> Primary Output Port and choose Digital Out (Optical) and make sure the Dolby Digital is checked

The reason why you wanna use the optical port is that the PS4 only transcode though that port.

The last thing to check is during playback, press the Option button and make sure you have the output on Bitsream.

This is it!

@User830255 if you have a PS4 this is the way to go ;-)

I have successfully used Samsung BRPs for this is the past - and indeed still do, although I rarely watch BRs these days.  I think Samsung have now stopped making BRPs but no doubt there are second hand units out there.

@ant0 Thank you. I actually used optical with my old TV, using an extractor/embedder to get the optical sound signal into the HDMI-cable to the TV - never made use of this option for DTS. I used the extractor/embedder because my old TV did not receive DD via HDMI. My new TV does, so I removed the extractor/embedder.

Interested in hearing how hard audio and video go out of sync for those using these types of hacks

@Lalligator not sure if you are referring to the PS4 conversation but this is not a hack, the PS4 natively transcode DTS to DD through optical output.

Optical is the most reliable method there is. There are lots of reports of poorly engineered TVs that add delays to audio-over-HDMI-ARC but I don’t recall any such reports with good old s/pdif optical.

Plus this isn’t a hack, its how multi-channel audio has been delivered for decades. I still have Laserdisc hardware that used it.

Sorry, it was my understanding that a lot of people are using optical to hdmi adapters to sum the audio back with the video, which I kind of assumed would automatically lead to the two going out of sync… and IMO does qualify as a hack ;)

I’m well aware of the benefits, and unfortunately, limitations when it comes to multichannel audio of the toslink connection. I made many a minidisc rip of cds thanks to the format, and it is a lovely way of transporting lossless stereo or ac-3.

Based on a cursory look at the forums, practically every time people are complaining about audio/video being out of sync, a satellite box or similar that doesn’t carry audio through HDMI shows up at some point as the, IMHO, likely culprit

Arc has worked flawlessly in the one Sony tv I’ve owned that came equipped with it, but back when I still had a full HT rig, it was the non-arc devices that had to be manually tuned for audio delay…

As I’m currently unable to find a “light” HT rig that would do all the things I want (work without requiring much from me after inital setup, be unobtrusive, attractive, accept lossless DD Atmos, DTS-HD MA and multichannel PCM and hopefully be able to use the Sonos sub), I’m genuinely interested in how far from my target the Sonos system would take me.