Please add support for DTS for the Sonos Playbar.

Caved in and ordered a matt Sub (glad I did - they went fast!) to go with the potential Playbar purchase - once DTS is confirmed (obviously). Sonos, if you’re listening - you may want to get a rebate off DHL for their shoddy delivery service and put it in the DTS licence kitty. (Ordered on 19th March, left Netherlands on the 20th arrived in England on the 21st. Great. Sent to Ireland on the 22nd - eh?.. I live in England. Sent back to England on the 25th – and still waiting!!) Anyhoo, I’m a bit concerned with the post from Sander regarding the Sonos dealer’s comments with the technical difficulties of streaming DTS and the inability of the Sonos system to cope with the bandwidth. A simple ‘yes it’s possible’ would be nice from Sonos instead of the non-committal response stating that “Hilmar is the lead product architect”. My initial reaction was that this comment was about as useful as a chocolate teapot and about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. Of course I would like to think that if Hilmar has stated that DTS is purely a software issue it would follow that the hardware would stand-up to the bandwidth imposed by the DTS stream (together with the system being used in other locations in the house for music). To be fair, I’m sure that is what Mike C was getting at. However without some official black and white ‘yes it’s possible’ comment after over 120 votes in 2 weeks I’m beginning to think this is firmly on the back-burner for Sonos. Which is disappointing to say the least. When an employee of Sonos is unable to confirm that this is technically possible (regardless of whether it will be implemented) it may mean that the topic isn’t being discussed within Sonos, or then again it may mean they’re bored and like to keep us guessing about whether their HT solution will ever be any more than a squandered opportunity. Obviously I’m biased but for me DTS in a HT system is a no-brainer to the point of being ludicrous that it wasn’t included in the first place (regardless of how Sonos think we should use the system). Also, unlike anything else on this forum that I can see the DTS omission is a certain purchase stopper which should therefore trump all of the other ‘feature’ requests no matter how useful they are - and there are a good number that I think are brilliant suggestions that would definitely enhance the Sonos platform. But, if they weren’t implemented would they stop me buying another Sonos component? Simple answer… No. Can the same be said for DTS?... Well, for me it's easy - no DTS = no Playbar. I’m guessing there are a lot more people out there with the Playbar that haven’t found their way to this forum yet and are just living in hope that Sonos won’t pursue such a narrow view of audio implementation in their HT solution. Still waiting to make the jump (for the time being the Sub will complement my Play5 setup in the living room – when/if DHL deliver it), but the more time goes on and this issue remains in limbo I’m sure I’ll just lose my initial excitement/interest and go back to being content with my current HT setup.
Chris, Yes, it is technically possible. We have not yet decided whether or not to include it in a future software update. There is a response in this very thread thread which references a statement made during the Live Chat with Developers by Hilmar Lehnert, a principle designer of the PLAYBAR: COMMENT FROM JOEP Will the playbar support DTS? Wednesday February 20, 2013 10:20 HILMAR LEHNERT: Currently we don't support DTS as it's unlikely to be found on a optical output or and HDMI ARC. It's currently also not used for internet streaming either. Wednesday February 20, 2013 10:21 HILMAR LEHNERT: We could add it later through a software update Wednesday February 20, 2013 10:22

+1, Pls add DTS support!

Following a careful evaluation, we have decided not to implement support for the DTS audio format in PLAYBAR at this time.
 
PLAYBAR uses a single optical connection directly from your television and was designed this way to make it as easy as possible to set-up and enjoy great HiFi sound.  Most PLAYBAR owners connect PLAYBAR to their TV in this simple way. This is the intended setup for playing the sound from your TV.
 
Today, very few TVs pass a DTS-encoded audio stream through their optical output.  Instead, the TV or source device converts the audio signal automatically to PCM, which PLAYBAR supports.  This is how PLAYBAR plays DTS-encoded Blu-rays.
 
We are committed to supporting the existing and future ecosystem of streaming video services. Currently, popular streaming services do not use DTS and most use Dolby Digital encoding, which PLAYBAR supports.
 
We are aware that PLAYBAR is being connected by customers to devices other than the television. In this configuration, when PLAYBAR receives a DTS signal, it will not process the signal.  If you are not able to connect your PLAYBAR directly to your TV and would like to explore solutions, please click here. 
 
If DTS support is crucial for your current set-up, PLAYBAR may not be the right solution for you and we apologize for this inconvenience.  If you are currently a PLAYBAR owner and would like to discuss options, please contact Sonos Customer Care.
 
We’ll be actively monitoring TV and streaming services capabilities and trends. If our development stance around DTS decoding in PLAYBAR changes, this community will be among the first to know. 
First I want to say that I am very disappointed about your decision. You are completely ignoring your customers needs. I own a 4 year old Sony TV which was not high-end at the time I bought it and it does support DTS output. So I cannot believe your TV - argument.

I already sent an E-Mail to the Sonos support and am looking forward to the offer.

@Thomas can you give us further information on the switch? I would prefer to have an automatic switch that automatically tunes to the right input depending on which device is being displayed on the TV screen. Does anybody have an idea on how this could be done?

Hello, have a question to the community who own a Playbar. If we supposed that the Playbar supports DTS, does your TV support DTS passthrough over the optical cable? I think the most of us have to buy an additional optical audio switch.
PLAYBAR also does not support LPCM. It's most likely that your PS3 is sending 2.0 PCM and this is being upscaled. Alternatively, your blu-ray may contain a secondary Dolby Digital audio track and it is using that.

There is also an issue is being reported in many threads regarding sound drop outs from the playbar from TV broadcasts.. One that I have been following has been archived and is not visible to community members, even though the followers are still commenting on this issue. I have been suffering the same issue for several months and recently gave up trying to resolve it as the conclusion from Sonos support teams is that the issue is due to lots of HD broadcasts being in Dolby Digital Plus which is not fully supported by the playbar. The only way is to downgrade to stereo which defeats the point of investing in a high end surround system.
I am starting to think that there is a real problem here that SONOS are hiding by archiving threads. With the DTS problem from BluRay and the DD+ issue from Netflix and HD channels, there are not many sources left that the Playbar supports. 
What are SONOS going to do with all these problems from a complete lack of correct product development.

Caved in and ordered a matt Sub (glad I did - they went fast!) to go with the potential Playbar purchase - once DTS is confirmed (obviously). Sonos, if you’re listening - you may want to get a rebate off DHL for their shoddy delivery service and put it in the DTS licence kitty. (Ordered on 19th March, left Netherlands on the 20th arrived in England on the 21st. Great. Sent to Ireland on the 22nd - eh?.. I live in England. Sent back to England on the 25th – and still waiting!!) Anyhoo, I’m a bit concerned with the post from Sander regarding the Sonos dealer’s comments with the technical difficulties of streaming DTS and the inability of the Sonos system to cope with the bandwidth. A simple ‘yes it’s possible’ would be nice from Sonos instead of the non-committal response stating that “Hilmar is the lead product architect”. My initial reaction was that this comment was about as useful as a chocolate teapot and about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. Of course I would like to think that if Hilmar has stated that DTS is purely a software issue it would follow that the hardware would stand-up to the bandwidth imposed by the DTS stream (together with the system being used in other locations in the house for music). To be fair, I’m sure that is what Mike C was getting at. However without some official black and white ‘yes it’s possible’ comment after over 120 votes in 2 weeks I’m beginning to think this is firmly on the back-burner for Sonos. Which is disappointing to say the least. When an employee of Sonos is unable to confirm that this is technically possible (regardless of whether it will be implemented) it may mean that the topic isn’t being discussed within Sonos, or then again it may mean they’re bored and like to keep us guessing about whether their HT solution will ever be any more than a squandered opportunity. Obviously I’m biased but for me DTS in a HT system is a no-brainer to the point of being ludicrous that it wasn’t included in the first place (regardless of how Sonos think we should use the system). Also, unlike anything else on this forum that I can see the DTS omission is a certain purchase stopper which should therefore trump all of the other ‘feature’ requests no matter how useful they are - and there are a good number that I think are brilliant suggestions that would definitely enhance the Sonos platform. But, if they weren’t implemented would they stop me buying another Sonos component? Simple answer… No. Can the same be said for DTS?... Well, for me it's easy - no DTS = no Playbar. I’m guessing there are a lot more people out there with the Playbar that haven’t found their way to this forum yet and are just living in hope that Sonos won’t pursue such a narrow view of audio implementation in their HT solution. Still waiting to make the jump (for the time being the Sub will complement my Play5 setup in the living room – when/if DHL deliver it), but the more time goes on and this issue remains in limbo I’m sure I’ll just lose my initial excitement/interest and go back to being content with my current HT setup.
;o) Nice reply, thanks John, I genuinely meant no offense. Sorry if it read that way.

Quite honestly this sounds like a complete cop-out! Hundreds of your customers, and no doubt thousands of potential customers, request what seems to be a fundamental requirement of any TV sound bar (never mind one advertised as "playing all sources") and yet you continue to ignore them. Poor show Sonos!

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@Martin

You're absolutely right - sound quality is all based on personal opinion.  I would encourage you to form your own, especially since you're already in possession of the PLAYBAR.

To answer your question, PLAYBAR was designed to be connected to your television's optical port to make it as simple and easy as possible and enjoy.  There are many people who love the way their PLAYBAR sounds and have never heard of PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.

If you enjoy the experience of your PLAYBAR but prefer Dolby Digital to PCM, you could consider converting a DTS signal to Dolby Digital.  There are several blu-ray players which transcode from DTS to Dolby Digital, and as long as your TV passes the DD signal, this could be a good solution for you.

Ultimately, if you're not satisfied with the way PLAYBAR sounds for any reason, we'll take it back.  

Hello, have a question to the community who own a Playbar. If we supposed that the Playbar supports DTS, does your TV support DTS passthrough over the optical cable? I think the most of us have to buy an additional optical audio switch.
I definitely get DD 5.1 on the PLAYBAR. My cable box, PS3 games and any Blu-ray with a DD5.1 correctly show "Dolby Digital 5.1" when I check the Sonos app. However whenever I play a Blu-ray that only has a DTS track I see "Stereo" for audio in on the Sonos app.

come on give a Update

Caved in and ordered a matt Sub (glad I did - they went fast!) to go with the potential Playbar purchase - once DTS is confirmed (obviously). Sonos, if you’re listening - you may want to get a rebate off DHL for their shoddy delivery service and put it in the DTS licence kitty. (Ordered on 19th March, left Netherlands on the 20th arrived in England on the 21st. Great. Sent to Ireland on the 22nd - eh?.. I live in England. Sent back to England on the 25th – and still waiting!!) Anyhoo, I’m a bit concerned with the post from Sander regarding the Sonos dealer’s comments with the technical difficulties of streaming DTS and the inability of the Sonos system to cope with the bandwidth. A simple ‘yes it’s possible’ would be nice from Sonos instead of the non-committal response stating that “Hilmar is the lead product architect”. My initial reaction was that this comment was about as useful as a chocolate teapot and about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit. Of course I would like to think that if Hilmar has stated that DTS is purely a software issue it would follow that the hardware would stand-up to the bandwidth imposed by the DTS stream (together with the system being used in other locations in the house for music). To be fair, I’m sure that is what Mike C was getting at. However without some official black and white ‘yes it’s possible’ comment after over 120 votes in 2 weeks I’m beginning to think this is firmly on the back-burner for Sonos. Which is disappointing to say the least. When an employee of Sonos is unable to confirm that this is technically possible (regardless of whether it will be implemented) it may mean that the topic isn’t being discussed within Sonos, or then again it may mean they’re bored and like to keep us guessing about whether their HT solution will ever be any more than a squandered opportunity. Obviously I’m biased but for me DTS in a HT system is a no-brainer to the point of being ludicrous that it wasn’t included in the first place (regardless of how Sonos think we should use the system). Also, unlike anything else on this forum that I can see the DTS omission is a certain purchase stopper which should therefore trump all of the other ‘feature’ requests no matter how useful they are - and there are a good number that I think are brilliant suggestions that would definitely enhance the Sonos platform. But, if they weren’t implemented would they stop me buying another Sonos component? Simple answer… No. Can the same be said for DTS?... Well, for me it's easy - no DTS = no Playbar. I’m guessing there are a lot more people out there with the Playbar that haven’t found their way to this forum yet and are just living in hope that Sonos won’t pursue such a narrow view of audio implementation in their HT solution. Still waiting to make the jump (for the time being the Sub will complement my Play5 setup in the living room – when/if DHL deliver it), but the more time goes on and this issue remains in limbo I’m sure I’ll just lose my initial excitement/interest and go back to being content with my current HT setup.
Chris, No offense taken. We all of us understand that this topic is one which the users in this thread feel passionate about. We simply have no other information to provide at this time. As Ben points out, this topic is still Under Consideration.

I for one will not purchase until DTS is added. With new systems such as Pure and Cambridge audio making push in the market, Sonos would do well to listen to their loyal customers.
I agree 100%

Everyone, a note on comments.  

We are actively moderating discussion in this thread and removing posts that contain inappropriate language.  If your post contains language which is not suitable for a wide audience, it will be removed.

Thank you for your understanding.
@Martin +++ Just for clarification:

In example DTS 5.1 is an audio stream with 6 separate channels intended for a system with 6 separate speakers: 1x Center, 2x Front, 2x Rear and 1x Subwoofer.

PCM is legacy two channels Stereo for two speakers: 1x Left, 1x Right

Virtual Surround Sound on the PLAYBAR in this case is recalculated from PCM for 4 speakers: 1x PLAYBAR simulating 1x Center and 2x Front, 2x PLAY:3 (or PLAY:1, but not PLAY:5) as Rear and 1x SUB as Subwoofer.

So you are going from 6 discret channels down to 2 channels and recalculate to 6 virtual channels for 4 Speakers.  

 

This is the SONOS vision of home theater entertainment. Period.