Multichannel PCM 5.1 dropping out since 14.10 update

Show first post

481 replies

P
Badge

Anyone tried an LG C3 with the Beam 2 yet? 

Airgetlam

Have you updated the software on your TV? It really shouldn’t make a difference if the blue ray player is connected to HDMI 1 or HDMI 3, they both *should* be acting the same.

Bruce
S

While the issue is not resolved what are the best settings for the Beam Gen 2 and PS5? 7.1 LPCM or 5.1 Dolby/DTS?

A

Stopping by to say that this issue remains ongoing. I’ve got an LG C2, Beam (Gen 2), sub mini, Apple TV 4K (3rd Generation) on up-to-date system software and intermittent sound drops are still a nuisance. No sound drops on internal apps on the TV, just on the Apple TV. Changing the audio format on the Apple TV (thus turning off Atmos) stops it, but this is obviously not ideal.  Just ordered one of the cables mentioned throughout the thread and I’ll report back

Updated Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YPRB8T8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Another weird thing and this may be nothing. The Audio output on the Apple TV repeatedly goes from being named “TV Speakers” to “Audio Receiver” and back again. This may just be a display name issue, but it also may be switching from the cable to airplay for some reason. There’s no change in what the Sonos app says is playing (in other words, not switching from 5.1 to stereo) so I think it’s just a display name issue. Still, it’s weird.

 

Have you tried plugging your Apple TV into the HDMI 1 port of your TV? I only had issues when using HDMI 3 or 4. Also using a fiber HDMI cable didn't completely get rid of the issue. I had occasionally drop outs including a black screen for like 2 seconds when using a fiber hdmi cable. The screen black outs only occurred when using the fiber cable. 

Haven’t tried it but will if the problem repeats. So far no problems with the new cable on HDMI 3.

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

When I’m on my ps5 and audio is playing, I turn on my Apple TV (without switching to its source) and the moment it turns on, the audio cuts, just as it does regularly. It returns moments later.

I can repeat this behaviour, as you say it does sound exactly like the regular audio drops. I pulled the power on the ATV a few seconds after the PCM 5.1 dropped on the active HDMI port. There were 3  short audio drops whilst the ATV booted and then the next scheduled dropped occurred at 59 seconds. I’ll try with the A1 next time I have access to the HDMI ports.

Also, I managed to trap the bug into a single HDMI port. Further to observing the PS5 was bugged and the ATV wasn’t, I then repeatedly swapped the HDMI cables between ports 1 and 3 at the TV end. It didn’t matter which device was playing on port 3, it was the bugged one. HDMI 1 also continued without dropouts, regardless if the source device was PS5 or the apple TV. Suggests the C1 isn’t blameless?

C1 firmware updated to 3.34.70, no change in audio drops. 

I also sacrificed a “high speed with ethernet” HDMI cable and cut what I think is pin 13 (CEC), but whilst the HDMI 2 video is intact, and I’m now able to de-activate CEC (the remote also stays working), the TV doesn’t engage either eARC or ARC and audio is limited to the TV speaker. I cut the red wire - maybe I should have cut blue 😬

M

Have you updated the software on your TV? It really shouldn’t make a difference if the blue ray player is connected to HDMI 1 or HDMI 3, they both *should* be acting the same.

Nope no update, I swapped the HDMI port 20 mins into a movie after it was dropping every few mins, and the rest of the movie played with no drops. Very strange.. 

We'll see if it's a long term fix.

A

Stopping by to say that this issue remains ongoing. I’ve got an LG C2, Beam (Gen 2), sub mini, Apple TV 4K (3rd Generation) on up-to-date system software and intermittent sound drops are still a nuisance. No sound drops on internal apps on the TV, just on the Apple TV. Changing the audio format on the Apple TV (thus turning off Atmos) stops it, but this is obviously not ideal.  Just ordered one of the cables mentioned throughout the thread and I’ll report back

Updated Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09YPRB8T8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

Another weird thing and this may be nothing. The Audio output on the Apple TV repeatedly goes from being named “TV Speakers” to “Audio Receiver” and back again. This may just be a display name issue, but it also may be switching from the cable to airplay for some reason. There’s no change in what the Sonos app says is playing (in other words, not switching from 5.1 to stereo) so I think it’s just a display name issue. Still, it’s weird.

 

 I am sorry to say the cable may not work if it is only Atmos that has the dropouts, I know as i bought one, sadly the only thing that will work is an earc audio extractor such as an HDFURY Arcana for info in this thread

 

So far I haven’t had the dropouts on the new cable.  I’ll update if the cutouts come back.

M

Okay, so I fix it by myself. It wasn’t a Sonos issue but an LG issue. I saw that a lot of people with that issue own an LG TV. So I look for more information on that. I found an issue on Reddit link to 5.1.

What I did on my LG C1

  • Remove my Sonos Beam from the external output as a sound bar
  • Reconfigure Sonos Beam as a sound bar (Sonos is not directly proposed by LG you have to enter the brand in the search bar)
  • Uncheck one of the conditions of use to reboot of my LG. 

Since I don’t have issues anymore and that without reset!

WebOS version: 03.33.11

Sonos version: 14.18

Can you tell me how to do the first two steps please, can’t seem to figure it out :/ help would be appreciated! 

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

I’m having the same problem. I recently upgraded to the new Apple TV 4K which fixed the problem of everything being sent as PCM 7.1 but now with PCM 5.1 I’m getting audio drop outs every minute or so. I’ve tried all the fixes in this thread to no avail.


I’ve done a diagnostic that should capture the issue so hoping to get some feedback if possible @Corry P 

Diagnostic 1711446570

O
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

When I’m on my ps5 and audio is playing, I turn on my Apple TV (without switching to its source) and the moment it turns on, the audio cuts, just as it does regularly. It returns moments later.

I can repeat this behaviour, as you say it does sound exactly like the regular audio drops. I pulled the power on the ATV a few seconds after the PCM 5.1 dropped on the active HDMI port. There were 3  short audio drops whilst the ATV booted and then the next scheduled dropped occurred at 59 seconds. I’ll try with the A1 next time I have access to the HDMI ports.

Also, I managed to trap the bug into a single HDMI port. Further to observing the PS5 was bugged and the ATV wasn’t, I then repeatedly swapped the HDMI cables between ports 1 and 3 at the TV end. It didn’t matter which device was playing on port 3, it was the bugged one. HDMI 1 also continued without dropouts, regardless if the source device was PS5 or the apple TV. Suggests the C1 isn’t blameless?

C1 firmware updated to 3.34.70, no change in audio drops. 

I also sacrificed a “high speed with ethernet” HDMI cable and cut what I think is pin 13 (CEC), but whilst the HDMI 2 video is intact, and I’m now able to de-activate CEC (the remote also stays working), the TV doesn’t engage either eARC or ARC and audio is limited to the TV speaker. I cut the red wire - maybe I should have cut blue 😬

What you’re saying is interesting. For me the ATV is on HDMI 1 and I don’t have sound drops (although it’s usually playing Atmos or stereo content), and the Switch is on HDMI 3 and the PS5 on HDMI 4.

Perhaps it’s HDMI 3 and 4 only which are bugged…

Anyway it’s looking like something with some kind of device polling every 59 seconds.

O
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Oh forgot to mention, the LG support asked me for a video showing the issue, but it’s currently disappeared for me so I can’t send them. Any chance one of you could make a video recording of the issue occurring?

L

Just got a beam (gen 2) and two one Sl. 
 

Having this exact issue when Audio is set to (5.1) on ps5 and Nintendo switch. 
 

Very frustrating after spending 600 on a new set up. 

 

Yeah it’s unfortunate and very frustrating. Over the past few months I tried replacing it with other soundbar systems, and while one or two did sound better that included a sub at a similar price, they all dealt with there own issues. Ones that I found more egregious than this hiccup the Sonos has.

The only other bug I’ve experienced with the Beam over 2 years was playing Resistance: Fall of Man on PS3, terrible audio distortion for some reason (I tested on other systems and they didn’t have this issue with the game). Otherwise it’s great. I do eventually want to replace this system with a full on receiver and dedicated speakers.

I don’t like recommending stepping up to the ARC to avoid this issue because I really believe Sonos should fix this on the Beam, but I’d consider if I were you. Otherwise if you want to go all out, build your own system with a receiver! :)

The Beam is overall really good for a soundbar. They NEED to fix this issue but hopefully you can use HDMI port 1 or the cable workaround discussed a few comments above here if you decide to stick with the Beam.

K
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

@Corry P is at least aware of the issue (look at first page of this thread) but no idea if this is really actually being looked at by engineers. It seems that they won't check it out without factory resetting TV and Sonos. I cannot do that because I would lose trueplay and I don't have easy access to an iPhone. Others in the thread refused to factory reset for different reasons so I am afraid we are stuck, stupid really...

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Perhaps it’s HDMI 3 and 4 only which are bugged…

Anyway it’s looking like something with some kind of device polling every 59 seconds.

I’ve observed the bug mostly with a single HDMI device connected, which makes me think any polling is coming from the beam2 or C1 itself (hence Quickstart+ setting seemed like a viable lead a few pages back, maybe an LG app interfering in the background).

I’d forgotten about HDMI 4. My C1 is wall mounted since before I noticed the bug. I’d need to re-attach the stand, something for when I have more spare time.

The 1 second dropout might be how an eARC handshake sounds, which could have various triggers - a new EDID appearing upstream, a faulty cable, a buffer overflow...

A

Annoyingly… The fault has stopped again so I can’t call them right now. Just waiting for it to break again. 🙄

Y
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Hmm… I did all my previous tests on ports 3 and 4. When the ATV4K arrived, I moved my PC to HDMI1 but had since set it to either Atmos or PCM 7.1. I set it to PCM 5.1 just now and played a 3 minute song uninterrupted.

Whether this is a “workaround” or just a case of the common “randomly works, but mostly bugged”, can’t say yet. As shared before, my ATV4K worked at first and bugged out on the next use but it wasn’t on HDMI1. Maybe if this persists for over a week, I’ll switch over a different device that heavily uses PCM 5.1. 

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Just to give an update, the dropouts came back, not sure if there was another Tv or sonos update since my last post. I’m just using ps5 with 7.1 and seems pretty good so far with miles morales. Was curious if there was any xbox users here as I have’nt seen any mention for settings working with series x. Need to hook mine up and see what the options are. 

Also curious as an experiment, since hdmi slot 1 seems to work (have been playing zelda totk without issue this way) if using an HDMI switcher might help? Most of the switchers are 4k and 60hz, which would potentially cap framerate depending on the console/display. 

Why buy a switch when you can buy a one way optical HDMI cable to fix it? See my posts a few pages back about this workaround if you haven’t seen it. 

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Annoyingly… The fault has stopped again so I can’t call them right now. Just waiting for it to break again. 🙄

Same here, so I’m now holding off upgrading the LG firmware and wiring in the eArc amplifier until it returns.

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Also curious as an experiment, since hdmi slot 1 seems to work (have been playing zelda totk without issue this way) if using an HDMI switcher might help? Most of the switchers are 4k and 60hz, which would potentially cap framerate depending on the console/display. 

Why buy a switch when you can buy a one way optical HDMI cable to fix it? See my posts a few pages back about this workaround if you haven’t seen it. 

I guess a switch would be operating all signals as intented, whereas blocking the Beam2 video by whatever means could be interpreted as out of spec for Warranty purposes.

Maybe this sort of thing would be sufficient:

https://amzn.eu/d/feSCeXi

My experiences with switches involving  HDMI though are that they either miss some vital capability or are annoyingly slow.

S
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

When I’m on my ps5 and audio is playing, I turn on my Apple TV (without switching to its source) and the moment it turns on, the audio cuts, just as it does regularly. It returns moments later.

I can repeat this behaviour, as you say it does sound exactly like the regular audio drops. I pulled the power on the ATV a few seconds after the PCM 5.1 dropped on the active HDMI port. There were 3  short audio drops whilst the ATV booted and then the next scheduled dropped occurred at 59 seconds. I’ll try with the A1 next time I have access to the HDMI ports.

Also, I managed to trap the bug into a single HDMI port. Further to observing the PS5 was bugged and the ATV wasn’t, I then repeatedly swapped the HDMI cables between ports 1 and 3 at the TV end. It didn’t matter which device was playing on port 3, it was the bugged one. HDMI 1 also continued without dropouts, regardless if the source device was PS5 or the apple TV. Suggests the C1 isn’t blameless?

C1 firmware updated to 3.34.70, no change in audio drops. 

I also sacrificed a “high speed with ethernet” HDMI cable and cut what I think is pin 13 (CEC), but whilst the HDMI 2 video is intact, and I’m now able to de-activate CEC (the remote also stays working), the TV doesn’t engage either eARC or ARC and audio is limited to the TV speaker. I cut the red wire - maybe I should have cut blue 😬

What you’re saying is interesting. For me the ATV is on HDMI 1 and I don’t have sound drops (although it’s usually playing Atmos or stereo content), and the Switch is on HDMI 3 and the PS5 on HDMI 4.

Perhaps it’s HDMI 3 and 4 only which are bugged…

Anyway it’s looking like something with some kind of device polling every 59 seconds.

The problem has always been my ATV on HDMI3, the PS5 on HDMI1 is fine. I had previously moved the ATV to HDMI4 but that never fixed it.

Perhaps the HDMI sockets are split into 2 banks somehow with the Beam being on the HDMI 1 and 2 ‘bank’ due to ARC being HDMI2? Then perhaps it is some kind of interrupt from the 3/4 bank that is causing the issue? I still can’t work out why the Arc would be unaffected though

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

No change with my Kabeldirekt 5m optical on HDMI 3, didn’t need to power cycle the beam. My understanding is whilst the TMDS signal is converted actively to optical, the ARC/eARC signals are still copper wires (at least on the shorter runs). Maybe some optical cables do more than just pass through and/or have optical returns.

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

Perhaps the HDMI sockets are split into 2 banks somehow with the Beam being on the HDMI 1 and 2 ‘bank’ due to ARC being HDMI2? Then perhaps it is some kind of interrupt from the 3/4 bank that is causing the issue? I still can’t work out why the Arc would be unaffected though

I’m convinced that one of the first things I did when I first noticed the bug was switch between HDMI 1 and 3. At the time though I didn’t consider using two 5.1 devices, just switching between 7.1 and 5.1 on the same device. That was also when the drops were 39 seconds apart. Maybe some LG firmware update shuffled some HDMI chipset contention around to “fix” HDMI 1, at the expense of HDMI 3 getting worse… 

I cannot find much on the internet about the HDMI chipsets, other than the C9 is apparently based on a custom design by Synopsis called Hawk 2. I would expect most smaller devices to use COTS parts, but I guess LG does have the economies of scale to step up to an ASIC/FPGA implementation. 

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

No change with my Kabeldirekt 5m optical on HDMI 3, didn’t need to power cycle the beam. My understanding is whilst the TMDS signal is converted actively to optical, the ARC/eARC signals are still copper wires (at least on the shorter runs). Maybe some optical cables do more than just pass through and/or have optical returns.

I read somewhere that some features are still bi-directional on optical HDMI but thought I’d try it anyway. I can’t explain why it is working for me and not you. Just to check - you put the cable between the TV and Beam right, with the TV at the source end of the cable? Not between the source and the TV. 

S
Badge

On the main page I go to param of (input/ouput)

And I got settings screen: 

 

Was really hoping this would work, and initially the first try did work. Tried it again today and back to no audio coming through. Has anyone had any success or identified a fix?

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

What I did on my LG C1

  • Remove my Sonos Beam from the external output as a sound bar
  • Reconfigure Sonos Beam as a sound bar (Sonos is not directly proposed by LG you have to enter the brand in the search bar)

My drop outs returned today, about 59 seconds apart. I tried the above steps, made no difference. Maybe we have similar but different problems.

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings