Multichannel PCM 5.1 dropping out since 14.10 update

Interesting, could you explain how the LPCM 7.1 is the same as 5.1 if you know why, please? If I were to guess, I would assume that either the 7.1 can be down mixed to 5.1 by the Beam, or the extra two channels are effectively "empty" placeholders within the audio formatting? 

As far as I understood from people who researched it, they’re just empty channels. The Sonos app will show you 7.1 when you select soundbar as source type, but it’s actually 5.1.

As I'd suspected, then. Thank you! 

As indicated in OP’s first post this isn’t true.

Checking OP’s timeline:

1. ​​​​​​​They were able to use their Beam on PCM 5.1 flawlessly
2. They installed the Sonos 14.10 update which upon googling is a MAJOR update
3. They started encountering PCM 5.1 dropouts
4.  They installed the LG firmware update AFTER they were already having dropouts

So it’s complete and utter hogwash to place the blame on the LG firmware update. On the contrary, it was after applying the MAJOR Sonos 14.10 update that messed things up.

Have been following this thread for a while after recently purchasing a beam, and 2 era 100s. Tv is LG C3 Oled 55”. I was originally just going to confirm that the problem persisted on C3 with the PS5 as someone a few pages back had asked about the C3 model. Regular streaming from the TV itself is fine. (whether it’s 5.1 or dolby atmos) My switch wasn’t working with 5.1 until I plugged it into hdmi slot 1.

However, after a TV firmware update yesterday I can confirm that the PS5 isn’t dropping out anymore when set to 5.1. I tested this by playing about 30 minutes of hogwarts legacy, and confirming on the sonos app what the output was. Software version for the TV is 03.11.10. Not sure what changed or what was updated. Also worth mentioning that I had unplugged the PS5 hdmi for a few days, though not sure that had any effect. 

Anyway just wanted to share that news, in case anyone else with similar tv models can update and test. Hope that helps! 

I've just updated my C1 from 03.34.80 to 03.34.95 with  no change, dropouts still every 59 seconds. At least that means I can still reproduce the issue to try a couple of ideas out. 

@Retcon It’s widely documented that this issue can come and go at random. I suggest you test as much as you can if ever you’re planning to return your Beam. Would be nice though if it really got fixed for you as all we got from Sonos is “LG will fix it. Source: trust me bro”

Maybe it would be a good start for Sonos to do a complete test before shifting the blame to LG. Maybe using the extensive testing the community on this thread have done as a starting point. 
 

You would think Sonos would care a little more if one of their products isn’t super compatible with arguably the most popular high end tvs? 
 

There is a reason why this thread is growing and growing, maybe people with good sound equipment also have arguably the best OLED tvs? Shock 

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?

I observed two new things today:

1. I had the opportunity to swap out the Beam2 out for an Arc in my setup and compared the 11111 diagnostics for "Sonos test card" on HDMI2 over an unmofidied cable. There is a difference in the reported audio formats (albeit that both have silent audio):

    Arc: PCM 2ch 0Hz | N:0, CTS:0, LayoutValue:0, Channel Status: 2
    Beam2: UNKNOWN 9Ch 88200Hz | N: 6262, CTS: 42092, Layout Value: 0, Channel Satatus: 9

2. I finally got round to splicing a Rapsberry Pi TMDS video signal with the Beam 2 control/eARC signals. Pins 1-12 connect the RPi to the TV which replaces the Beam2 test image with the RPi console. Pins 13 to 19 connect the Beam2 to the TV's CEC, DDC and eARC. On power up, the TV was using CEC to operate the Beam2 volume, which was a good start, but needed tweaking to get the setup operating like for like:

• toggled "eARC Support" off/on in the LG TV as it had fallen back to ARC mode (LPCM 2.0) despite indicating that eARC was enabled. Once eARC was re-negotiated LPCM 5.1 played from the HDMI3 source.
• used tvservice command to force enable the RPi HDMI output - since it has no DDC wires connected and therefore no EDID, the RPi doesn’t know what resolution to use so disables HDMI. Mode 34 sets 1080p@30Hz (same as the Beam2 test image):

sudo tvservice -e="CEA 34 HDMI"

At this point, choosing HDMI2 on the TV showed the RPi video signal. Then, switching the TV input to HDMI3 plays LPCM5.1 out of the Beam2 with no dropouts. I can change HDMI2 video modes in the "background" with tvservice (e.g. 720p or 24Hz) without interfering with the eARC audio stream. However, given the observation in #1 I thought I'd try to get the RPi to output 8ch audio into HDMI2, as currently the audio stream is disabled entirely (as per ARC).

I changed input back to HDMI2 and used speaker-test (as I had previously to force 8ch sound). I was surprised to hear it play out of the Beam2, but I guess this should be expected - the TV is just routing the audio received from the selected HDMI input into its eARC circuit and back out to the soundbar, just so happens that it's the same HDMI port for both in this case. I switched back to HDMI3 and Beam2 played LPCM 5.1 without dropouts.

sudo speaker-test -c8

Then I thought I'd change the HDMI2 audio from 48Khz to 88.2Khz (to match the Beam2 diagnostics) and a dropout occurred immediately, but did not repeat. I quit speaker-test and restarted, another drop out. I repeated this and checked on HDMI3 11111 and could see the audio format blip occasionally, in the same way as when the Beam2 drops out.

With the sacrificial cable in this new configuration I can also patch the Beam2 video signal back in to the TV. There's a drop out as soon as the connection is made, then repeating every 59 seconds.

I repeated the tests with the same source on HDMI1: no dropouts (as previously discussed), even when trying to force them with speaker-test.

I repeated the tests with the Arc, no repeated dropouts but I could force them with speaker-test when the LPCM5.1 source is HDMI3 and the video spliced to the RPi (and could not when the source was HDMI1).

I'm thinking that #1 and #2 mean Beam2 is doing something unusual to the audio signal in its "test card" output (into HDMI2) which the LG TV is sensitive to on HDMI3. I can't tell what the odd behaviour is, whether it's close to tolerance, undefined, invalid or just dropping/handshaking. Whatever it is, LG TV is sensitive to it on HDMI3 but not HDMI1 (anymore).