Please add support for DTS for the Sonos Playbar.


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A hifi homecinema soundbar without dts support seems not up to date for me. Are there any plans to add dts support?

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Userlevel 3
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Dts support please Sonos listen to your customers! Iam sad that it still not is support in 2015? Why Sonos Why???
Userlevel 1
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DTS support please
I just dissuaded a family member from buying a playbar because of this issue. That might have been his "in" to the Sonos network. But I told him that without DTS support and without any other Sonos components in his house and he's better off getting different playbar.
Userlevel 7
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We’re sorry to hear that the PLAYBAR wasn’t the right fit. For the future, we have some good suggestions for how to convert DTS audio if you have a lot of DTS only content. We recommend using a Blu-ray player or game system which you use to convert the audio from DTS to Dolby Digital to get 5.1 audio to the PLAYBAR.

Example Blu-ray players which will convert the audio on the fly include the Samsung BD-F6500, Samsung BD-F5900, and Samsung BD-F5700. An Xbox or PlayStation4 can also be used to convert DTS from Blu-rays to Dolby Digital. You can also find a lot of suggestions around the community, including a few in this thread to other workarounds too.

We know that if DTS is key to your home theater experience, the PLAYBAR may not be the right sound bar for your home. Though we don’t have plans to add DTS support at this time, we’re continually improving the Sonos system in other ways through free software updates.
I remember when I bought my first "Smart TV" a few years back, was delighted with it till I found it didn't have DTS support. It always bugged me , I felt like I had been mugged.
A few years later and I have 2 x play1's and in the market for a soundbar.The Playbar was the obvious choice but wait... low and behold no DTS support.
Sorry but this isn't good enough and you can promise as many software updates for other features but without DTS support it's a deal breaker for me.
Not going to get mugged this time around.
SONOS you have gone down the pecking order,...Time to wise up.
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Another vote for adding DTS.

I would be willing to pay for it to at this point.

It is seriously annoying to always double and triple check everything before buying to make sure it has DD5.1. I just want to be able to relax and use my $1K+ setup without thinking too much about it.

I would return ALL my speakers but unfortunately I am past the return date. When something better comes along (The Sony HT-RT5 looks promising) I will ditch my SONOS gear. Another case of "didn't do enough research"
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Love true DD from sonos playbar 5.1, but due to its limitations and sonos trying to make it "simple" they have ironically made it pretty difficult to get the best out of there products. Would I spend £1700 again no....will I sell my set up no. The work arounds are 100% necessary because stereo/faux 5.1 is terrible but when it's good it's outstanding.....my TV does pass DTS through optical
Ryan, is there a reason why DTS will not be supported? I have just bought my first Sonos speaker and have been considering purchasing a Sonos 5.1 HT system.
Userlevel 7
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Ryan, is there a reason why DTS will not be supported? I have just bought my first Sonos speaker and have been considering purchasing a Sonos 5.1 HT system.

There absolutely are reasons and we've talked about them in this thread a little higher up. In the end, it came down to there just not being that many TVs which pass DTS through optical from HDMI sources.The PLAYBAR wasn't designed with DTS in mind and we've found that Dolby Digital 5.1 has a great surround experience which a lot of TVs and other devices can pass through optical to Sonos.

If you're interested in testing it out, we offer a 45 day money back guaranty for all units purchased directly through our shop (http://www.sonos.com/shop). You're welcome to try it out in your home and see if it's a good fit.
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SONOS, after 4 months, you lost me as a supporter.

I tried all the workarounds for DTS, and other formats, but it's just a hassle and quite frankly arcane and annoying to deal with.

For anyone wondering, there is a newish 5.1 full wireless system out there from Sony, called the HT RT5. It has 3 HDMI inputs, and supports:
This is all way to annoying to deal with.

Sold my bar and two play 1s and picked up a Sony HT-RT5. It's a fully wireless 5.1 system, and supports
DTS 96/24,
DTS HD
DolbyTruHD
Dolby Digital+
Dolby Digital/DTS
Dolby Dual Mono
LPCM (2CH/5.1CH/7.1CH) through HDMI

Sorry SONOS, but the play bar with its limitations is just too annoying to deal with.
glad I found this

bought 6 play 1 speakers and boost for a Christmas party. worked well for a small speaker.

researching a new tv and sound bar. way too much research is needed on this stuff. since I planned to expand my sonos speakers, the playbar and sub was my first choice. I could use the play 1s until I could get play 3s for the surrounds.

then I find that many tvs don't pass anything 5.1. the sound bars try to make an educated guess as to what should be routed to the surrounds? for $2,000?

I was hoping for something a little less complex to operate. boxes that provide functions that other boxes say they support, but not fully. or fake support. disappointing. tv can switch BUT... tv has input for this BUT... output for that BUT... interface can support BUT... protocol supports that but...

if the optical protocol does not support ANY of these audio standards, it should be expanded to encompass all of them. if the interface physical properties are the limitation, they need to correct that too. dump the plastic pipes. we can send the entire library of congress around the planet several times per second on a single fiber the size of a hair. this application would not have to support that throughput, and the cost to implement a remarkably fast optical interface would not be cost prohibitive.

throw in plug and play where boxes shake hands and declare their capabilities...

wait - sonos.

$2 grand for a tv - another $2 grand on sonos. and its a compromise. alternatively, more boxes, more complexity, more points of failure, more cables...and you still need an engineering degree to navigate the menus for each box, each media source, each dvd to get the best possible out of the investment. and if sonos is in the mix, its STILL a compromise.

the upside is that many tvs DO pass these protocols now. sony, vizio and Toshiba have been doing it since 2013 and before. sonos needs to stop using that as an excuse. they are NOT going to do it as evidenced by this 2 year old thread.

but thanks all for the info in this thread. i'll keep researching.

that link to dts play-fi looks interesting...
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Been looking at the new Samsung atmos soundbar which has been shown at CES just need to sell of my 5.1. Sonos is good but competition is getting better and I can see them start falling behind in home theatre. It's ashamed because I do love the sub 🙂
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Ryan, I don't mean to toss a stone at you for your reply. But you pretty much didn't answer the question.

Why is DTS not supported, nor is it ever planned to be supported?

Because sometimes the TV doesn't pass DTS to the optical isn't an acceptable answer.
What is keeping Sonos from developing this, regardless of what their thoughts are on the TV passing whatever. Why won't Sonos develop for DTS?

I know it's probably been explained on a technical stance, but seriously guys, pin this answer to the top of the list and make it really obvious to someone reading the forums exactly what is the stance on DTS and why. You're only going to be getting more and more requests and complaints about it as time passes and systems evolve.

It's a serious pain in the ass to deal with. I've had my theater system for a while, and it's a constant source of "What the... why... AH FOR F SAKE!" when I open a new movie/show file. Then I need to piss around trying to convert it, or bodge something together to make it work.

Guys... You can't acceptably call this a home theater package like this... and it's just going to get worse.
Ryan, I'm sorry for blasting, as I find you're extremely helpful and upfront... But this just boggles my mind how it's a glaring problem and doesn't really get addressed.
The stance on DTS has been stated ad infinitum. The fact you cannot accept it is your problem, not Sonos'. Repeatedly bashing a dead horse is not going to change that status.
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Sonos will not support DTS period they made this clear since 2014 and its ashame because the 5.1 is a perfect, flawed product due to having no DTS. As a user you make the choice you buy or you don't it's that simple.
Sonos should stop usng the tv optical output.

Every other decent soundbar now takes hdmi in from the sources and outputs one hdmi to the TV - and obviously supports dts (never mind the latest dolby standas which the latest Yamaha soundbar already is built for!).

usng the bad decision to use optical out from the tv as an excuse to not support dts... oh dear.

Buy a Yamaha, or the Arcam or the B&W Panorama2 I mentioned earlier - these do things properly without absurd workarounds and 'fixes'.
Sonos needs to realize that plugging a TV into the soundbar is only one way to hook it up. They even provide examples in their instructions.

As seen in other threads, a lot of people use switches to accommodate multiple sources. I use this setup as well with a switch that extracts the audio from an HDMI cable and sends it through an optical connection and the HDMI pass-through. However, I haven't found a switch that will extract and convert DTS to DD5.1, so trying to watch Blu-ray is out of the question unless I feel like listening to stereo sound. In principle, no one should have to spend hundreds of dollars to watch a Blu-ray movie after spending $700 - $2000 on a Hifi system.

A simple firmware update would fix all of our problems without Sonos having to redesign the soundbar.
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Hi.
I must say that I feel very disappointed that the Playbar doesn't support DTS. I thought it would work when hooking up the Playbar to a source which sends out surround in DTS? If I for example hook a Playbar up to a blueray player which supports DTS, will the sound then come out in stereo?
Userlevel 7
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Hi.
I must say that I feel very disappointed that the Playbar doesn't support DTS. I thought it would work when hooking up the Playbar to a source which sends out surround in DTS? If I for example hook a Playbar up to a blueray player which supports DTS, will the sound then come out in stereo?


no, unless you have the option on the disc to playback in 5.1 or in the blueray settings to output in stereo, you will hear NOTHING
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Thanks for confirming this. What a shame. It's disappointing that Sonos haven't fixed this long time ago.
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I've had the same issues but I found if you connect the toslink audio cable from your cable box to your playbar, you'll achieve DD5.1- (you'll have to also adjust from the menu screen). they even have toslink audio switches that bridge multiple sources I.E PS4, DVD, cable etc then output them to your playbar. It's a lot of money to invest for this hiccup-no question, but this is the way I found to be most useful.
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.....However, I haven't found a switch that will extract and convert DTS to DD5.1, so trying to watch Blu-ray is out of the question unless I feel like listening to stereo sound.

Completely agree and I have also not found a switch that transcodes DTS to DD5.1. That would be nice, wouldn't it? I emailed customer support at monoprice and octava asking them to include that in their hdmi switches. The reasoning to them was that the increasing popularity of soundbars and wireless, multi-room systems coupled with streamed music is moving the listening experiences into multiple spaces within the home. A simple switch (in TV or externally), with some good core functionality, allows them to steal market share from overly complicated, feature bloated, dedicated A/V receivers. It wouldn't hurt for others with the same opinion to email octava and monoprice the same - they'll consider it.
Please Add this!
Userlevel 4
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+1 for Playbar (2015) or Playbar (2016) supporting uncompressed Dolby and DTS through HDMI ARC.
2 Cents - Add More Support for DTS and Dolby Digital Plus