Update:Audio cuts even though the media is not Dolby Atmos.

A user on another thread suggested this:

1. Enable Input Signal Plus on all HDMI sources.

2. Disconnect all HDMI cables from the One Connect box.

3. Unplug the One Connect from power.

4. After about a minute, reconnect the HDMI cables then plug the One Connect box back into power.

5. Hold power button on the TV remote for 10 seconds until the TV restarts.

Hi @stian89 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Have you had a chance to try @GuitarSuperstar’s suggestion?

If so, and it helped, could you please mark it as Best Answer? If you want to wait a few days before judging, that’s fine. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestion! I am currently on vacation! Will be home in 9 days. Eager to try this. Really hope this will prove to be the solution!

Tried this, but it did not solve my issue. Got two sound drops during a 40 minute episode (playing in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1). Diagnostic: 886794340 and 1090785454.

Hi @stian89 

The Arc is reporting conflicting information (it says it’s playing DD+ but via optical, which isn’t possible). I think therefore the best thing to try is a reboot of the Arc - please switch it off (or unplug) for at least 30 seconds or so.

Test once more, and if that hasn’t improved matters, I would suggest the following:

1. Remove the surrounds from the Arc (Settings » System » Stue » Remove Surrounds)
2. Put the TV into Standby
3. Disconnect the Arc from the TV
4. Factory reset the Arc (https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1096)
5. When the Arc is flashing green, the app will detect it within a minute or so
6. Add the Arc back on to your system
7. During the Arc’s TV setup, connect the HDMI cable when the app asks you to (and not before)
8. Bond the surrounds back to the Arc
9. Test again

I hope this helps

Thanks for replying! Unfortunately it didnt help. Two drops within a minute or two from each other. After 15 minutes of Dolby Atmos content. First: 1356680773, second 1052625710.

Hi @stian89 

Thanks for trying those steps.

Could you please try disabling the CEC features on the nVidia Shield? Settings -> Device preferences -> Display & Sound -> Power Control. Alternatively, just disconnect the Shield from the TV.

Reboot the TV (unplug) afterwards and test. If it hasn’t helped, please re-enable the features (it allows the TV to switch on or over to the Shield when you ‘cast to Chromecast, for example).

Finally, I can only suggest that you try swapping the ends of the Arc’s HDMI cable round - maybe there’s a “dry” or marginal connection on one of the pins. Try another cable, if you can.

If that doesn’t help, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team again. Please let them know that according to Samsung this model of TV was unaffected by the recent firmware issues on other Samsung TVs. It may help to refer them to this thread too.

Thanks for your reply. Tried all the new steps without any success unfortunately.

I sent the following to Sonos Technical Support:

I have done some more testing.
The audio only cuts out when playing from Shield TV, not from the Plex TV app (although sometimes there is a small audio glitch when playing from the TV. Like a cracking sound.

The difference from internal TV to Shield TV is that the TV audio setting is in AUTO when from internal TV. On Shield TV it is set to Passthrough.

I have tried the following:

- 2 different HDMIs, both for Shield TV Pro and Sonos Arc (I bought two new expensive 8k HDMI 2.1 cables).

- I have swapped the ends of those same cables (change which end goes in which device).

- I have tried the trick with HDMI Input Plus Signal (then removing HDMIs, removing power from TV, wait, plug in HDMIs, plug in Power, reboot TV with 10 second on the Power button). This trick resets most of the HDMI Input Plus sources afterwards, so I have to turn that setting on again afterwards anyway.

- I have tried turning off the CEC features of the Nvidia Shield Pro.
- I have removed the surrounds from my arc, disconnected it from my TV and factory reset the Sonos Arc. Then added it all together as shown in the app..

- Removed power from all devices for minutes.

- Shut down all other apps on the Nvidia Shield.

When does it work?

- When I am playing content which is PCM or Dolby Multichannel PCM, from any source. There is no audio drop. Even when the TV is set to passthrough.

- When I change from Passthrough to Auto on the TV, there seems to be no audio cuts. But sometimes (not often) the audio glitches. Like a small cracking noise. The problem with AUTO is that when I play content from the Nvidia Shield Pro in Auto, the lip sync is off and I am not able to match video/audio. Even when I change this from 100 to 0 on the Samsung TV.

Problems / observations:

- When playing content from the Plex Samsung App, almost all content is showing as Dolby Multichannel PCM when in eARC = Auto. When I turn eARC = Off, most content change to Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 in the Sonos App.

- The sound cutting happens both when eARC is in AUTO and OFF (from Shield). 

- The sound cuts on both Dolby Atmos and DD 5.1 It is only PCM which is "safe".

Testing:

I found two movies/shows that show up as Dolby Atmos from both the Samsung App and from Nvidia Shield. It feels like the audio is better in Passthrough than when it is set to Auto. Here are my observations:

Settings Shield:
Audio Output: Auto

Dolby Audio Processing ON
DTS Off

Settings Samsung:
eARC: Auto

Audio: Auto

1. Watched the first movie on Samsung Plex App for 37 minutes. No audio cutting. No glitching.

2. Changed to Shield TV and changed from Auto to Passthrough.
After 9 minutes the first audio cut happened. Diagnostics: 1661171794.

13 minutes later the next audio cut happened: Diagnostics: 1133793596.

After this point I tried the HDMI Inputs Plus signal trick mentioned earlier.

I also swapped which end of the HDMIs goes in which device.
All 3 devices power plug removed for minutes.

3. Tried playing a new movie from the Samsung Plex app again (Dolby Atmos). No audio cutting, but what felt like an audio glitch happened right before diagnostics: 1222914398.

4. Played the same movie on my Shield. Audio cut after 10 minutes (no diagnostics).

5. Still playing from Shield TV I changed from Passthrough to Auto. The audio is now out of sync, but there is no audio cutting. I was not able to get audio/video in sync, even at det lowest setting in the Samsung TV (from 100 to 0).

6. Changed settings to: eARC: Off and Passthrough. Still playing Dolby Atmos from Shield. Audio cutting after 8 minutes. Diagnostics: 1912372364.

7. I set eARC back to Auto and swapped back to the Samsung Plex App. Now there was no sound coming from the movie at all. Tried switching between different settings. eARC OFF and PCM made the Arc play the audio. All other settings were silent. Had to reboot the TV (10 seconds from the remote) to make the audio work again.

8. Got a new cracking sound from the Samsung Plex App. Diagnostics: 1571315200.

Conclusion:

I don't know what else I can try to make this work. This just isn't acceptable with the kind of money spent on the new TV and Arc setup.

- Playing content from the Samsung Plex App is not an option for me: The app is slow, doesn't support all 4K content and mixes most sound to PCM Multichannel.

- Shield TV handles all formats and is a lot quicker than the apps on the TV. So this is my main home theater and it has to work.

- Shield TV in auto is not an option. Lip sync issues make me want to throw the TV off the balcony.

- PCM is not an option.

- I can't keep spending tons of money on new HDMI cables (I have already tried this once).

Hi @stian89 

My colleague @Xander P  found this, which seems very relevant:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShieldAndroidTV/comments/elic3q/shield_2019_atmos_audio_stuttering_cutting_out/

Thanks again for the reply!
I download the Refresh Rate app and got really hopeful, but after some testing I can confirm that it did not help the case.

I have also the following still with audio cutting:

• A new source: Windows 10 PC playing Dolby Atmos content. Diagnostics for PC: 1497426989.
• Plex via Kodi on Shield
• Different settings in the Refresh Rate App
• Tried the Nvidia Shield beta function match framerate.

I am starting to really regret this Sonos Arc purchase. :(

Hi @stian89 

I had my hopes up for that one too.

Do you have another TV in your home? Given that the PC had the same issue, if you can test with another TV then that would narrow the source of the issue down to either the TV or the Arc.

I recommend giving the above information to our technical support team, if you haven’t already.

Thanks for responding Corry P. :)
I don’t have another TV, unfortunately. I had an LG OLED65B7V when I got the Sonos Arc Surround Package. This TV had an ARC HDMI port. I was able to get Dolby Atmos from the TV, but it was truly impossible to get the audio/picture in sync after hours of trying and failing.

In stead of returning the Sonos Arc I chose to purchase this brand new Samsung TV, which introduced the audio cutting issue.

I tried different media and different players on the PC (VLC / PotPlayer / Atmos / DD5.1). It always cuts the audio, like on the Shield.

I also purchased a Netflix subscription. It play Atmos from internal TV app with no issues. But all other sound types are converted to Dolby Multichannel PCM, and PCM works regardless of source.

The Netflix app on Shield / PC gives me audio cutting. But playing netflix from Shield I get real Dolby Digital 5.1 (not PCM).

I sent my previous comment to the Sonos technical staff. 

The response was in my opinion dreadful customer support.

As long as it plays audio from the internal app without issue, the product is functioning as intended, and there is nothing more for us to do.

Come on! In 2021 a brand new, expensive sound bar does not work with a brand new Samsung TV if I play something from an external source through HDMI?

The mail from Sonos techinal staff here:

The same errors about the unsupported Sample Rate and Format are to be seen in the diag you have sent while sound from the PC was being played.

Sadly, the way in which you try to use your Sonos Arc here is not what the product had been built with in mind. If the soundbar works while connected to the Samsung TV with no issues, as you've mentioned, then, once again, I can only confirm that the intended purpose is fulfilled and that the product works fine.

What you're trying to use here is third-party devices with which Sonos does not promise fully supported compatibility. They can work, sure, but limited support is expected.

Sadly, there aren't any further tips we could provide other than the ones you have already tried.

Thank you so much for your time and dedication, and we are very sorry that the product you have purchased does not meet the expectations you have - however, as I've noted before, the set-up you are trying to use here is not supported by the Arc.

At this point i truly regret purchasing the Sonos Arc surround package. I knew that there were other, better (and cheaper) alternatives out there. But being a loyal Sonos customer for 11 years I chose the Arc. 

I am still hoping that there is a fix. Software wise from Sonos or Samsung. Or that there is some magic trick in the settings that I have yet to try. It seems like the only option for me is to try another troubleshooting step, HD Fury Arcana, but then there is another 200USD + tax + shipping for something that should not be needed, and something that is not guaranteed to work.

Techincal summary

• All sound  from internal TV-apps works without audio cutting. But when the TV is the source it is automatically set to AUTO (not passthrough). Also most of the audio played from TV-apps (Netflix, Plex) are converted to Dolby Multichannel PCM. But I have confirmed that Dolby Atmos works from internal TV app.
• PCM audio always works regardless of the source. It works both in passthrough and AUTO-mode.
• Auto-mode on the TV always works, regardless of source. But when in AUTO and playing content from HDMI, it is not possible to get lip sync correct.
• When playing from external source through HDMI, the TV has to be in passthrough to make the audio be in sync. When in AUTO the lip sync is off, and it is not possible to adjust it properly.
• I have tried different HDMI-cables, different sources (PC/Shield). Different media, different players/apps. A lot of different settings. It allways cuts out from external source, except when the audio is PCM or the TV is set to auto (and then you have the lip sync issue)..

Hi @stian89 

I appreciate that you must be frustrated. Essentially, given that we know the Arc plays without issue when a TV app is used, we can therefore say confidently that the Arc is working as intended. It’s not that you can’t get any help with this issue, it’s just that we can’t provide it as it’s clear that the TV is the source of the problem - I can only suggest you get in touch with Samsung for a fix (if they have one), or as you suggested use an (unsupported) device such as the Arcana to bypass what the TV is doing incorrectly. There are many users on this community that use the Arcana without issue - it’s just that we can’t support it. But the manufacturer certainly will.

Thanks for replying. :)
This weekend I watched TV for an extended period of time for the first time in a while due to this problem.
And i actually got audio cutting from using the internal TV apps also! Are you able to check the diagnostics to see if it is a similar problem as the audio cutting from external sources?

1. Watched Eurovision through the Samsung TV “NRK-app” (Norwegian broadcasting company). Twice in 3 hours we got audio cutting. The app output Dolby Multichannel  PCM 2.0 audio, and the TV was set to “AUTO”. Diagnostics: 1479483562 and 779150358.
    
2. Watching the Formula 1 series on Netflix from the internal Samsung APP gave me audio cutting at one point. Audio output was set to AUTO on the TV and Sonos displayed Dolby Atmos. Diagnostics: 122715828.

Hi @stian89 

I’m still seeing similar messages from the Arc.

Can you please try connecting the Arc to the TV with the supplied Optical adaptor? You won’t be able to get Atmos, but it would be informative to test. Dolby Digital and PCM are supported over the optical link (even on the same TV, I would expect the optical feed to be more likely to be left alone by the TV than HDMI is).

Better yet, if you have a source device that has optical output, connect the Arc directly to the source device and test that. If the Arc still drops audio in these setups, please let me know.

If playback is solid over the optical link, that would reaffirm that the TV is at fault in handling the streams over HDMI.

Thanks for replying. :)
No source with optical out unfortunately!
Tried with Optical Out from the TV. I think i experienced an audio drop, but I wasn’t paying 100% attention at that moment. Diagnstics for the possible incident: 425689714.
Been in contact with Samsung as well and done a few things (none of them helped).

Here is a step by step summary:

A new firmware for the TV released 18th of May (v. 1056). I installed it and tried, unfortunately it did not work.
Contacted Samsung support, this time they were a little bit more helpful than back in April, but it made no difference.

Here is what we did with:

1. Samsung customer support first reset the HDMI-ports. Then they reset the entire TV. All HDMI-cables were disconnected.
2. I pulled the power plug on the TV for 30 minutes.
3. Removed sub and surround speaker from Sonos Arc, then factory reset it.
4. Started up the TV and set it up. Connected only HDMI 1 (Shield) and HDMI3 (Sonos) when the TV asked for it.
5. Set up Sonos Arc from the Sonos app (only the Arc).
6. On the TV i set audio output to AUTO and eARC to Auto.
7. I set Input Signal Plus to ON for HDMI 1 and 3. This made the sound disappear.
8. Restarted the TV by holding the power button on the remote. The sound returned.
9. Restarted Nvidia Shield and quit all applications.
10. Started an episode with Dolby Atmos content from Plex on the Shield.
11. 16 minutes in: Audio drop
12. Changed to HDMI - Optical adapter.
13. Passthrough then changed to Auto (causing lip sync issue) and Atmos changed to DD 5.1.
14. I believe there was a small audio cut after 15 minutes, but I am not 100% sure as I was not giving it my full attention. Sonos Diagnostic: 425689714.
15. Put the Arc back in the HDMI3 port.
16. Turned off Input Signal Plus for both HDMI1 and 3, set the TV to passthrough and restarted it.
17. Started a new episode from Plex. Audio cut out after 17 minutes.
18. Found a thread on AVSForum.com which had a theory that CPU/memory overload on the TV is causing this due to the TV network constantly pinging websited. Disconnected LAN and WiFI and tried again. Audio cut out like normal at: 18 minutes.
19. Another tip was that since my TV only has HDMI2.1 ports, it is more sensitive to interference than HDMI2.0 ports.Rewired the HDMI-cables to come out in front of my TV-bench, to avoid other wires in the back of the TV-bench. I also swapped the cables in this process. Audio still cut out after 18,5 minutes.

There must be a compability issue between Samsung and Sonos. Samsung support said that my next step (if the issue is on their end) is to order a service technician. If there is nothing wrong with the TV and this is due to a compability issue, I will have to pay the Samsung service technician to come take a look...

Hi @stian89 

Thanks for updating with the steps you’ve tried.

The diagnostics show cut-outs 24 seconds before the diagnostic was sent. I assume this matches with what you thought you might have heard?

I believe the only way to ever know for sure is to try another TV or Arc - and we don’t have enough proof of the Arc being at fault to authorise a replacement at this point. Are you sure you have no old cable-TV boxes or satellite-TV boxes lying around with optical outputs? Even a desktop PC will have optical out, so playing a movie on the PC in Dolby Digital with the Arc connected directly to it would be a good test, if that’s possible?

Again, if that works faultlessly, then that would indicate that the TV is the problem, but I don’t know if Samsung would just classify that as incompatibility. While we aren’t aware of any such incompatibility, our knowledge of such things is mainly driven by customer reporting, so if no-one has used this particular QE65QN95AATXXC TV in conjunction with an Arc before, we’d know nothing of it. 

24 seconds sounds about right. :)
Tried the Sonos Arc with my desktop computer through Optical Out. Played Atmos Content (shows up as DD 5.1). After 25 minutes there  are no audio drops.

So​ the problem must be compability issue with the Samsung TV..

Earlier I was in contact with Samsung over the phone.
Now I sent an e-mail request through a contact form with my findings. The answer below is probably just from a random support agent and  they do not seem interested in helping out:

 After all the troubleshooting which has been done, unfortunately it seems like the Sonos Soundbar is not compatible with the TV.​​​​​​

Hi @stian89 

Atmos can’t “fit” on the optical cable, so DD is expected. If you’re happy to call it after 25 minutes, great - but you might want to extend the testing a bit.

It certainly seems like the TV is at fault.

Something you could do is buy another (cheap) brand of soundbar to test - if it has the same problems as the Arc has when connected to the TV, then that’s something to feed back to Samsung. If the TV is in-warranty, that should be enough to convince them to try a replacement. You could then return the test soundbar for a full refund. If the other soundbar doesn’t display the same issue, then perhaps Samsung are correct in their incompatibility assessment. At this point, you’d need to choose between the Arc and the TV, or a third-party option that I can’t really recommend, but others on the community can.

I almost had a hope that the problem had disappeared, but the problem reappeared unfortunately.

This is what I did:

1. A couple of hours after I tried the Sonos Arc with my computer through optical, I reconnected it to the Samsung TV via Optical and turned eARC to OFF.
2. Watched an episodes with Atmos content through Samsung TV Netflix app. No issues.
3. Connected the Sonos Arc to HDMI3, still eARC OFF. Another episode worked fine.
4. Tried the same show on the Netflix app on Shield TV. It worked without an issue.
5. Turned eARC: AUTO and watched another episode. Still works.
6. Connected surround and sub to the Sonos Arc. It worked for another episode.
7. Swapped to the Plex app. Watched a couple of episodes with Atmos content with no issues. Then I went to bed.

It has never worked longer than 20 minutes without audio drops earlier, so I was getting hopeful.

Input Signal Plus for HDMI3 (Sonos Arc) is disabled. It is enabled for the Nvidia Shield.

Most of my testing has been with both of these enabled, but I have also tried and failed when they have been disabled.

1. Today I watched 25 minutes of a Atmos movie on Plex. No audio drops.
2. Next I tried an episode of Game of Thrones with Atmos sound. The audio then dropped after 16 minutes of the episode. Diagnostics: 597141272. I suppose this is an audio drop like all the previous ones?

Something definitely has changed, it suddenly worked for a long periode of time.
I started another Atmos media file now to see if the audio drop happens within 20 minutes.

How does the Sonos Diagnostics work? I don’t have the time to sit and watch movies all day (I wish). If I play an entire movie while I am not at home, and then do a Diagnostics after 2 hours. Is it possible to see in the logs if there has been an audio drop? Or will it be difficult with such a diagnostic?

Hi @stian89 

Actually, that drop-out looked more like the stream had just stopped - assuming it was immediately before the diagnostic was submitted. I had to go back 1 hour in the logs before I saw messages indicating there was something wrong with the stream. Bear in mind that we can’t tell the difference in you changing the channel/ending a stream and, for example, the cable being faulty (we see “Signal lost” messages all the time that are perfectly normal).

Regardless of what the Netflix app says, if your Arc is connected to the TV via the optical adaptor, you will not get Atmos. The interface isn’t physically capable. When you submitted the latest diagnostics, Atmos was playing so I have to assume that at that point optical was not in use - was it in use when you had no interruptions?

The diagnostics are just packages of OS system and module logs from all speakers. As such, they are snapshots of the exact moment you submit them. Some logs go back for days, some only go back 20 minutes. If you don’t immediately submit diagnostics, we need some idea of the time period involved or we’d be looking for a needle in a haystack that may not be a needle. Or hay.

So yes, if you submit some and give me an indication of when the movie was playing, relative to when the diagnostic was sent, I could take a look. It would need to be free of interruption however - as in, no adverts as that would constitute a change in audio feed. Having said this, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team for some real-time troubleshooting. Mind you, they can’t wait for an entire movie to play either.

If things seem to be considerably better now, perhaps something has resolved itself - that one interruption may have been unrelated to the ones you were suffering from previously. We can certainly hope so.

After some more testing, I believe the issue has mostly been resolved!
I believe the Samsung TV was the main issue here. Resetting the HDMI-ports, the whole TV and NOT using Input Signal Plus for the eARC seems to have been my solution. :)

I have tried both internal apps on the TV and different streaming apps on the Shield TV. DD5.1 now works totally fine.
Dolby Atmos is also working, except when delievered in 4K high bitrate movies with TrueHD 7.1.

I have tried a 4K movie with two different audio tracks: TrueHD 7.1 Atmos and DD5.1. There is audio cutting every 15-20 minutes on the TrueHD 7.1 track, none on the DD5.1. This specific problem I believe is related to the Nvidia Shield.

Thanks @Corry P for all your support! :) 

Will update this post if the problem comes back, or if I am able to resolve the TrueHD7.1 issue. :)

Hi @stian89 

Fantastic! I’m glad you can now finally enjoy your TV and movies without these interruptions!

Thanks for sharing the fix - hopefully, you just helped a few other with the same problem.

You’re very welcome.