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Pairing two sonos Play:5 to a TV?

  • 26 February 2017
  • 1 reply
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T
Hi there.

I own two Sonos Play:5 (2gen) and want to pair the two to a TV, is that possible?
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Best answer by SHARKB8T 26 February 2017, 20:30

Potentially, If you have a way of getting the audio out of the TV to a 3.5m stereo plug... but you may not like the results.

First - many TV's now only have HDMI, or optical output... so getting the audio in could be a challenge depending on your setup...

The Play 5s audio inputs are not specifically designed for TV - specifically they are not expecting to try to sync the audio to a TV picture, but are expecting music audio. As part of the system design that Sonos uses to produce sync'd audio throughout a home, there is a 70ms buffer that allows for wireless data transmission and smoothing of the data flow across the wifi (e.g. there will invariably be some minor fluctuations is data flow over the network and this small buffer allows for smoothing that out to minimize audio gaps, etc.)

This delay may make the lack of audio sync noticeable and for some isn't ok for TV watching.

The PlayBar is the device intended for TV audio and takes an optical input and plays it with a minimal delay (~30ms). The 5's can serve as "surround" speakers in this circumstance and will be in sync with the PlayBar because of how the PlayBar sends the data to its surrounds. (5's are kinda overkill for surrounds IMHO, but just so you know it can be done.)
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SHARKB8T
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Potentially, If you have a way of getting the audio out of the TV to a 3.5m stereo plug... but you may not like the results.

First - many TV's now only have HDMI, or optical output... so getting the audio in could be a challenge depending on your setup...

The Play 5s audio inputs are not specifically designed for TV - specifically they are not expecting to try to sync the audio to a TV picture, but are expecting music audio. As part of the system design that Sonos uses to produce sync'd audio throughout a home, there is a 70ms buffer that allows for wireless data transmission and smoothing of the data flow across the wifi (e.g. there will invariably be some minor fluctuations is data flow over the network and this small buffer allows for smoothing that out to minimize audio gaps, etc.)

This delay may make the lack of audio sync noticeable and for some isn't ok for TV watching.

The PlayBar is the device intended for TV audio and takes an optical input and plays it with a minimal delay (~30ms). The 5's can serve as "surround" speakers in this circumstance and will be in sync with the PlayBar because of how the PlayBar sends the data to its surrounds. (5's are kinda overkill for surrounds IMHO, but just so you know it can be done.)

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