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I’ve got a Sonos beam connected to my tv, with two S2’s and a Sonos sub. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and saw an article saying to check that it is playing in 5.1. I’ve checked and realised my tv was playing in PCM rather than Dolby Digital.

I’ve set out my set up below:
Samsung TV model UE42F5000
Amazon 4K Fire TV Stick 
Sonos Beam
Sonos S2 x 2
Sonos Sub 

My Sonos beam is connected to the TV via Dolby digital output, as this TV does not have a HDMI ARC. 
The fire tv stick is connected in HDMI 1.
Everything else is set up and my TV was working fine, but it was using PCM instead of Dolby Digital.

I went to change my tv to DD from PCM but it was greyed out, until I then went on the TV stick settings and changed the settings under Audio > Surround Sound and selected Always Dolby Digital. 

On my TV settings I clicked menu, then sound, checked my speaker settings are on external and then went to Additional settings where I could now select Dolby Digital. 

Both seem to be on DD so I’m curious why no sound at all plays through my TV? Considering sound was working prior to these changes to settings, and works fine when I change them back.

I’d be grateful for any help, I’ll let you know any other details if you think are necessary but I think I covered everything.

Thanks,

I see that your TV is from 2014. It could be that your TV is not capable of passing through Dolby Digital audio from an external device through your TV’s optical output. Have you tested any of your TV’s internal apps like Netflix or VUDU?

@GuitarSuperstar cheers for the reply.

I googled whether it supports Dolby digital before and it says it does & when I’m on my TV settings I can select Dolby Digital when my Amazon TV stick is set to output Dolby Digital. My TV doesn’t have any internal apps unfortunately so cannot test this way. Perhaps it’s time to get a new TV, I have had this one since it was first released.

Is there a Digital Audio Out setting on your TV? What is it set to?

Are you connecting the beam via HDMI or Optical from the TV?

@bockersjv via optical from the TV. My TV doesn’t have a HDMI ARC port, just standard HDMI.

Then check the optical out settings on the TV. They are probably set to pcm as default and may not even be possible to send Dolby. What is the TV make and model?

@GuitarSuperstar @bockersjv once I have gone to settings on my Amazon TV Stick and have changed that audio to Dolby Digital, i am then able to change the settings on the TV to Dolby digital. Once I’ve done this no sound comes out the TV at all. After work I can send in photos of the settings.

 

@bockersjv it is a Samsung TV, model UE42F5000

 

appreciate the help guys, thanks 

In the Tv settings under sound..

 Check that sound output is Audio out /Optical

 then go to expert settings

 If there is a Digital Output Audio Formet setting set this to Dolby Digital Not Dolby digital plus 

 

if there is only a PCM only then this tv will not pass through Dolby via optical. 
Great excuse for a new tv?

@bockersjv @GuitarSuperstar sorry only just logged back in. Here are the tv and Amazon tv stick settings:

 

@bockersjv think I’m just going to get a new TV, seems a good excuse. Debating the SAMSUNG UE43TU7100KXXU 43" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV. Any suggestions? Unfortunately I can’t go any bigger than 50 due to the design of my unit

What are your “Advanced Audio” settings set to on the Fire TV Stick?

Be careful on the Samsung TV’s  They can add a delay to the audio for external devices (DVDs Sky boxes etc), which cannot be corrected.

My model is Samsung UE40NU7120 has this issue.  I had to add an optical switching box to direct Audio to my Playbase to stop the delay.  Playing the Internal TV content and YouTube apps etc is fine. n I even bought a BEAM and connected via HDMI ARC and the delay was still present.

Hi @Samgriffiths 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Do you still have the TV and this problem? If so, I would definitely try unplugging the TV from power for a minute or two. I also recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system.

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