My work around 5.1 via HDMI, Playbar.

Tried one of these kwmobile edid on my Samsung TV, it actually reports a DD5.1 feed in the sound menu but it’s silent through my playbase, so annoying! Am I missing something obvious before I send the edid back?

Hi,

Dragging up an old thread but I am trying to solve a similar issue with this same kwmobile adapter. 

My setup is :

Amazon Firestick - KWmobile - Samsung UE40D5520 TV - all connected via HDMI 

TV - Sonos Beam via Optical connection

Without the KWmobile device my TV will output Dolby Digital 5.1 from the internal tuner and stereo PCM from any HDMI source.

With the KWmobile installed and set to setting B or E I can play a 5.1 source from Netflix or Prime on the firestick and the TV audio menu then shows that is is outputting a DD 5.1 signal. However the Beam is silent. (I have tried other settings which only output Stereo)

In the Netflix app if I change the audio from 5.1 to Stereo it can be heard from the Beam but the TV show it is outputting PCM.

I have checked the Firestick Audio settings which allow me to choose Auto or to select DD via HDMI or DD plus via HDMI. None of these makes any difference.

If anyone else has any suggestions I would be grateful before I contemplate a new TV just to resolve this.

Thanks!

 

I also tried one of these kwmobile edid on my TIVO to Samsung TV, it reports a DD5.1 feed in the sonos menu. The problem is when I change channels or pause the TIVO, I get a buzzing noise from the Beam until the sound resumes. Very loud and irritating. My question is, does the Beam send any signal to the Sonos sub when the input signal is stereo?

Yes, the Beam should send a signal to the Sub in a stereo configuration. It would work just like it does for music with that signal.

Tried one of these kwmobile edid on my Samsung TV, it actually reports a DD5.1 feed in the sound menu but it’s silent through my playbase, so annoying! Am I missing something obvious before I send the edid back?

Please submit a diagnostic report while playing the TV when you don't hear any audio. Reply with the confirmation number and I'll take a look at the signal received.

Has anyone used this device to get an Nvidia Shield TV with DD5.1 working with a Playbase/Playbar?

My TV can pass through DD5.1, for Xbox One and STB box, but not for the Shield.

The Shield doesn't even offer 5.1 as an option in Netflix or Amazon Video. Apparently the Shield can only output DD+ through HDMI and not via Optical. Although that isn't strictly true because you can get DD5.1 on shield using Kodi.

Have you been apply to get it working?

Didn’t get it to work but I have solved the problem: I am sending my Playbase back and as Sonos refuse to confirm if they will ever release a product with HDMI that will decode Atmos, DTS etc I will be buying a new Denon AV Receiver. I didn’t want to run a full 5.1 in the living room again but at least with an AV Receiver you know where you are. Also, consider this; I already have my old 5.1 speakers so for the same cost of a Playbase/Bar I can have the speaker cables professionally installed and it will still be cheaper.

I have an almost new Denon Receiver I bought in January I am selling I even have a transferable 3 year square trade warranty I could transfer, you should send me a PM.

Has anyone used this device to get an Nvidia Shield TV with DD5.1 working with a Playbase/Playbar?

My TV can pass through DD5.1, for Xbox One and STB box, but not for the Shield.

The Shield doesn't even offer 5.1 as an option in Netflix or Amazon Video. Apparently the Shield can only output DD+ through HDMI and not via Optical. Although that isn't strictly true because you can get DD5.1 on shield using Kodi.

Have you been apply to get it working?

I was also having an issue with not getting Dolby 5.1 with new hook up...only getting "stereo". After doing research I ended up going with this product below (see link) from Amazon that solved my problems. Once you connect, go to TV settings and select Dolby for the Audio option then once you check Sonos settings/about the Dolby 5.1 shows up...for optimal audio quality.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SB2TQM2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Has anyone used this device to get an Nvidia Shield TV with DD5.1 working with a Playbase/Playbar?

My TV can pass through DD5.1, for Xbox One and STB box, but not for the Shield.

The Shield doesn't even offer 5.1 as an option in Netflix or Amazon Video. Apparently the Shield can only output DD+ through HDMI and not via Optical. Although that isn't strictly true because you can get DD5.1 on shield using Kodi.

Just FYI,my Sony 46EX653 passes through DD5.1 on all HDMI ports, tested and working using my Sony BluRay Player.

What does not seem to work are the other devices that I have connected to the TV, namely ...

Sky+ HD (Only getting Stereo, even from movie channels)
Roku (Only getting Stereo even when playing DD5.1 demos)
Chromecast (Only getting stereo even when playing DD5.1 demos)

The TV seems to be passing DD5.1 out to the Optical as tested with the BluRay player on all HDMI ports, but the other devices either are not passing DD5.1 to the TV, or there is some other issue.

Any ideas peeps?

Not really much but -

Maybe those devices aren't really outputting DD 5.1?
Have you tried connecting those via optical directly to the Playbar? - Be worth doing that to see if it's the TV or not. But seems odd it works with Blu-Ray player but not the others. Only other thing is the HDMI cable - try using the one you used with the Blu-Ray on one of the other devices

Bought one for my Roku 2, Samsung PS51E6500 TV, when the EDID was installed, the Roku recognised the the device and within the Roku sound settings it said Dolby Digital for the 1st time instead of Stereo! I thought great here we go, however, the TV will not recognise the DD feed, only says PCM which is very annoying. I have the EDID configured correctly on setting E, I also tried the device on another TV with another Roku 2, same again, the Roku recognises the output as DD but the TV only sees PCM, any ideas another before this device goes back to Amazon? Cheers. Oh and the reason I wanted this device was to output DD to my Sonos Playbase....

Had to remove the EDID emulator device, with it installed I had to reboot the entire system every time I turned the TV on. Not very convenient. Sounds like there's next to nothing being broadcast in DD5.1 anyway, so I guess I won't worry about it. Kind of a disappointment though, sure would have liked to hear what DD5.1 sounded like from this play 3s, sub, and playbar Sonos system.

OK, so I confirmed that the TV is passing DD5.1 to the Playbar. At least when playing a DVD. It's awesome. Does that mean that I've confirmed that my setup will pass DD5.1 from any OTA sources, if it's supplied as such?

Dig out a DVD player or Blu-ray player (so long as it has Optical out) and play a movie.

Just don't watch The Big Blue 🆒

The suggestion for a tweak to LG Service Menu isn't relevant to the newer models. Whilst it was necessary a few years back to have an engineer (or use the YouTube instructions) to be able to get the TV to pass through the audio (from an HDMI external device) it's certainly not needed for any of the recent models.


Interesting, my TV is only a year old but I believe the premium OLED models have something of a slower development cycle. I know when I bought mine, the LCD models already had newer software that wasn't available on the OLED. My TV had a 2015 (rev. A) and 2016 (rev. D) model, the latter added HDMI 2.0a and HDR support at hardware level. I believe the HDMI passthru was something of a licensing restriction so they added it to the service menu to allow it to be added by engineers later once the licensing was sorted.

LG have made it relatively easy (and Sonos friendly) to pass through the audio untouched, and there is even an option in the menu to specifically pass it through as "Dolby Digital". What is weird, is that I can't get a single source to output DD+ from Netflix. LG TVs are DD only, same with Apple TV and same with PS4 (interestingly the PS4 used to do it until a firmware upgrade about a year ago where they decided it was more beneficial to spend the bandwidth on picture rather than the audio).

I've been playing with this too, I believe it may be an app limitation however. Netflix currently supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos for one of its movies, but I get neither of those when playing them on either the internal app, the app on my Samsung UHD blu-ray player, or my Fire TV 4k - although it's well known the latter supports neither. The internal LG Netflix app could support either but appears to support none. LIkewise the Samsung app appears very restricted, along with other apps like Plex.

If you don't get DD+ working, however, it won't work well with Playbar. The on board Dolby decoder will understand DD+ but it won't be able to handle the bandwidth required and will work for a few seconds until the buffer gets full and it starts dropping data.

The handshake discussion is interesting because I feed one of my Playbars with a Zone 2 output from my AV amp in other room. If I play a Blu-Ray that was in DTS, then you obviously get silence. But if I play a Dolby TrueHD stream and turn on the LG TV, my amp does a handshake, realises it can't handle the audio, and so downgrades it down to Dolby Digital - which is quite neat (and you can see it change on the Amp display).

I've seen similar behaviour and was somewhat disappointed by it. We were watching a DTS-HD Master Audio movie in the living room and my wife turned on the Samsung kitchen TV to watch the end of the film whilst she cooked. This forced something of a handshake and the living room started putting out only basic Dolby 5.1. I would expect the zone 2 feed to transcode on the fly for that output and not interrupt the main feed. Hopefully it may be an option in the settings that I haven't found yet - I haven't had any time to investigate since.

With regards to Freeview - BBC gives 5.1 (but iPlayer does not!), ITV refuses to do anything beyond 2.0. All the recent showings of the Harry Potter films and The Hobbits etc all broadcast in Stereo (even via Sky).

Yeah, as Lucid AV said, it varies a lot not just between channels but between programmes. Top Gear will be 1080p/DD5.1 but most programmes will be 1080i/PCM2.0. Sky Q will even do Atmos now on supported broadcasts.

The suggestion for a tweak to LG Service Menu isn't relevant to the newer models. Whilst it was necessary a few years back to have an engineer (or use the YouTube instructions) to be able to get the TV to pass through the audio (from an HDMI external device) it's certainly not needed for any of the recent models.

LG have made it relatively easy (and Sonos friendly) to pass through the audio untouched, and there is even an option in the menu to specifically pass it through as "Dolby Digital". What is weird, is that I can't get a single source to output DD+ from Netflix. LG TVs are DD only, same with Apple TV and same with PS4 (interestingly the PS4 used to do it until a firmware upgrade about a year ago where they decided it was more beneficial to spend the bandwidth on picture rather than the audio).

The handshake discussion is interesting because I feed one of my Playbars with a Zone 2 output from my AV amp in other room. If I play a Blu-Ray that was in DTS, then you obviously get silence. But if I play a Dolby TrueHD stream and turn on the LG TV, my amp does a handshake, realises it can't handle the audio, and so downgrades it down to Dolby Digital - which is quite neat (and you can see it change on the Amp display).

With regards to Freeview - BBC gives 5.1 (but iPlayer does not!), ITV refuses to do anything beyond 2.0. All the recent showings of the Harry Potter films and The Hobbits etc all broadcast in Stereo (even via Sky).