Wife is about to kill me, so so let's try my question again, because i didn't phrase it correctly the first time round :)
I don't think i can be the only one here who loved the concept of SONOS 5.1 (1 playbar, 1 sub, 2 ancillaries).
I use, like many others, MKVs with ac3 or DTS as my main source of entertainment. (or more to the point, my wife does :D)
So, if you assume that:
- I do not wish to sell my sonos setup
- I do not wish to sell my tv (LG OLED65B7V)
- I am *very happy* to source any hardware to create a compatible source
What should I do in order to get the rear speakers to ever work? Whatever I tried, i always end up with the sonos app telling me i'm pushing 'stereo' to it, even though Im clearly not.
I tried:
- Kodi on shield set to 'passthrough'
- set to 'ac3' (only, with dts compatible decoder disabled, as its my understanding that sonos doesn't support dts)
- etc
So, clearly, it's 'not working'.
QUESTION:
How many of you have been able to enjoy a recent movie with the rear speakers activating and playing in full AC3 surround sound - *with a digital source, not bluray*? If so, what is your setup (HTPC, firetv4k, etcetc) ?
Thank you so much!
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Hi shamusonos
I have a similar situation! Currently using an Amazon Fire TV but it’s not playing anything in 5.1. Kodi/Netflix etc. Wondering if buying a Nvidia Shield will help but can’t find a definitive answer on any of these forums.
Just spent loads of money on what is supposed to be a great setup and I can only get 5.1 watching Netflix through my tv. It’s so annoying.
Have had any success since you posted this?
Cheers
I have a similar situation! Currently using an Amazon Fire TV but it’s not playing anything in 5.1. Kodi/Netflix etc. Wondering if buying a Nvidia Shield will help but can’t find a definitive answer on any of these forums.
Just spent loads of money on what is supposed to be a great setup and I can only get 5.1 watching Netflix through my tv. It’s so annoying.
Have had any success since you posted this?
Cheers
Thanks oli1982 - sadly, very little progress. I was able to download a few test files and managed to get most channels working EXCEPT for the sub when using Dolby Digital AC3 5.1. No DTS, nothing else. And the sonos app still says 'stereo' as input, so i suspect this is some sort of sofware wizardry, simulated surround if you will. I'll keep trying, or will return everything , as it's getting on my nerves 😞
Hi, this issue has also been driving me mad and this weekend I have finally achieved 5.1 from all media sources from kodi including true HD and Dts. I have a different TV to the LG mentioned so not 100% on the HDMI options available.
Firstly the Kodi audio options must be:
Speaker options : 2.0
Allow passthrough : yes
Dolby digital transcode : yes
Dolby digital compatible receiver : yes
E-ac3 : no
Dts: no
Now the most important point is ensuring your TV's HDMI setting is set to Bitstream not PCM or auto. This setting was in the audio setup menu of my Panasonic Dx750B.
You will likely have lipsync issues with this setup but this can be easily rectified from the kodi audio options when the file is playing. The offset can change from one file to another so a 'global' setting doesn't seem a workable solution.
This is by no means the perfect solution but the only way I have ever been able to achieve 5.1 sound via passthrough from kodi. I hope this helps!
Firstly the Kodi audio options must be:
Speaker options : 2.0
Allow passthrough : yes
Dolby digital transcode : yes
Dolby digital compatible receiver : yes
E-ac3 : no
Dts: no
Now the most important point is ensuring your TV's HDMI setting is set to Bitstream not PCM or auto. This setting was in the audio setup menu of my Panasonic Dx750B.
You will likely have lipsync issues with this setup but this can be easily rectified from the kodi audio options when the file is playing. The offset can change from one file to another so a 'global' setting doesn't seem a workable solution.
This is by no means the perfect solution but the only way I have ever been able to achieve 5.1 sound via passthrough from kodi. I hope this helps!
Edit: Just wrote the solution below, but re-reading your post, it sounds like your TV is the bottleneck here, not outputting 5.1 on its optical out, so you may need to use an HDMI audio splitter/extractor to extract 5.1 audio and bring it to your Playbar, circumventing the TV. However, I would check your TVs documentation first (or use Google) to see if there isn't any setting that you need to change in order to make this happen. The Home Theater and Television Recommendation Megathread may also be a good place to start.
It might not be the answer you are looking for, and it requires some effort familiarizing yourself with the technicalities involved, but it's free, and more or less guaranteed to work: recode the audio stream in your digital files (mkv) from DTS to AC3 5.1.
In my setup I use an HDMI splitter with optical audio out, with a Chromecast as the streaming device and a projector for the display. I recoded the audio of my digital files to AC3 using a tool called Xmedia recode (freeware) and stream the files from my NAS to my Chromecast via the bubbleupnp Android app on my tablet. I bought my projector from the previous owner of my house, so the Playbar and hdmi splitter were more or less a necessity, since projectors don't have speakers and, considering that, this solution came at no additional cost to me.
Some purists here might not agree, viewing AC3 as inferior to DTS, but hey, it works, and if I ever switch equipment, that will almost certainly support DD5.1. Worst case, I can always obtain files with original audio streams. I did not do it to limit file size, but of course the mkv format will also allow you to have both audio streams in one file, preserving the original DTS track.
Note, the streaming path does not really matter. If you recode your files to AC3, find a way to stream them to your TV, and are sure your TV will output 5.1 on its optical out, you will have solved your issue. This might be possible without any additional hardware, but re-reading your post, it sounds like your TV is not outputting 5.1 on its optical out, so you may need to go the HDMI audio splitter/extractor route.
It might not be the answer you are looking for, and it requires some effort familiarizing yourself with the technicalities involved, but it's free, and more or less guaranteed to work: recode the audio stream in your digital files (mkv) from DTS to AC3 5.1.
In my setup I use an HDMI splitter with optical audio out, with a Chromecast as the streaming device and a projector for the display. I recoded the audio of my digital files to AC3 using a tool called Xmedia recode (freeware) and stream the files from my NAS to my Chromecast via the bubbleupnp Android app on my tablet. I bought my projector from the previous owner of my house, so the Playbar and hdmi splitter were more or less a necessity, since projectors don't have speakers and, considering that, this solution came at no additional cost to me.
Some purists here might not agree, viewing AC3 as inferior to DTS, but hey, it works, and if I ever switch equipment, that will almost certainly support DD5.1. Worst case, I can always obtain files with original audio streams. I did not do it to limit file size, but of course the mkv format will also allow you to have both audio streams in one file, preserving the original DTS track.
Note, the streaming path does not really matter. If you recode your files to AC3, find a way to stream them to your TV, and are sure your TV will output 5.1 on its optical out, you will have solved your issue. This might be possible without any additional hardware, but re-reading your post, it sounds like your TV is not outputting 5.1 on its optical out, so you may need to go the HDMI audio splitter/extractor route.
I have a full 5.1 from my Sonos setup using Nvidia Shield TV as my streaming source. I use Emby media player as my main Media App. I bypassed the TV's optical out due to audio drop outs by using an HDMI audio extractor & plugged that in directly to the Shield & grabbed the optical out of that directly into the Playbar. Even when i'm on the Youtube app I get audio from the rear Sonos Ones (the Sonos app shows only stereo during youtube playback) & it sounds like surround sound, some videos more than others.
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