Solving the 5.1, DTS issues with the Playbar



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Hi.
In your setup, when playing dts disc on ps3 does the ps3 convert dts to dd5.1 and outputs via hdmi into the switch?
Also, the monoprice switch indicates that it supports 1080p@60hz. Does that mean it would downgrade 120hz source to 60hz?
Thanks


Does the ps3 do that? I think from what I have read is if the source is only in DTS it won't convert it to DD. But I could he wrong.

I am still waiting for Dolby support for my Xbox One, hopefully they will patch it soon to provide support for it.
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Thanks for all your helpful posts regarding optimizing 5.1 surround sound. I'm about to purchase an Oppo BDP 103 and was hoping that I could get all the connections detailed so that I can make sure I'm getting all the cabling that I need.

Current equipment:
Sharp 60" TV
Sonos PlayBar
Sonos Sub
Comcast XFinity HD DVR Cable Box

Future:
Oppo BDP 103
2 Sonos Play 1's or Play 3's

Thanks in advance!
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I tried out an Oppo 103D for a week to see if it was a worthwhile workaround to the DTS issue. Problem I experienced was a cracking and popping sound with the Playbar. I never had that issue with my Sony player, or by connecting my Apple TV or Directv box via optical. Has anyone else noticed the hissing or popping sound using their Oppo? In particular, components that are piped through the Oppo into the Playbar? Thanks.
jgaepi,

While a track is struggling, send a diagnostic to SONOS and note the confirmation number. Follow up with an email referencing that number.
Here is my experience!

TV: Sony 4k 55" TV - XBR-55X850A - This TV does do DD5.1 pass via HDMI to Optical without any issues. Also does DD5.1 from all built in Apps that support 5.1, and from over the air TV.

XBOX One - Only supports: Uncompressed 5.1, 7.1, or Stereo over HDMI to the TV. You can only use Stereo since the Uncompressed sources won't give you any sound. Also via the Optical port it only supports DTS and Stereo, so again Stereo only. Microsoft claims they will have a "Dolby" patch at some point in the future.........

PS4 - PS4 Supports Dolby 5.1 via HDMI or Optical. For games (and the OS) you can use HDMI (DD5.1) and it will pass DD5.1 to the PlayBar via the TV.

But what about DTS? Well...
If you setup the PS4 like the following (PS4 HDMI > TV > Optical Out > PlayBar ) then you will only get Stereo when doing something with DTS sound. Even when you tell the PS4 to use BITSTREAM (Dolby) as the "preferred" audio method via HDMI.

BUT....

If you setup the PS4 using optical cable directly to the Playbar, and then change the PS4 to use Optical Output and only select DD5.1. When you playing a movie that has DTS, you get a new sound option within the Blu Ray player "BITSTREAM(MIX)" and it will play the DTS movie in DD5.1 to the PlayBar. But again this only works when you use optical output directly to the Playbar. (I would assume it would work with an optical splitter as well?)

I also assume if Sony added the "BITSTREAM(MIX)" option for HDMI sound output, then you could use a TV that does Pass DD5.1.

Hopefully this helps anyone who was wondering what would happen when using the PS4 and/or Xbox One.

At least I can now play my DTS movies via the PS4, even if I have to just plug in the Playbar directly when I want to watch them in surround sound.
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How does the ps4 perform as a blu ray player?
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Read the forums and other online sources on this issue. Looks like the Samsung bd-f5900 can output almost any codec as bitstream Dolby. It decodes the bd signal then reencoded it as Dolby digital (if you set it to). Might be a cheaper workaround than the $500 oppo player. It has an optical out that could go directly to the playbar. might just add a $7 optical switch to switch between optical directly from the tv to optical from the bd player when necessary. I just got this setup (without the switch yet).
BUT....

If you setup the PS4 using optical cable directly to the Playbar, and then change the PS4 to use Optical Output and only select DD5.1. When you playing a movie that has DTS, you get a new sound option within the Blu Ray player "BITSTREAM(MIX)" and it will play the DTS movie in DD5.1 to the PlayBar. But again this only works when you use optical output directly to the Playbar. (I would assume it would work with an optical splitter as well?)

I also assume if Sony added the "BITSTREAM(MIX)" option for HDMI sound output, then you could use a TV that does Pass DD5.1.

Hopefully this helps anyone who was wondering what would happen when using the PS4 and/or Xbox One.

At least I can now play my DTS movies via the PS4, even if I have to just plug in the Playbar directly when I want to watch them in surround sound.


This is exactly the kind of clear information that is very helpful. Thanks!
Read the forums and other online sources on this issue. Looks like the Samsung bd-f5900 can output almost any codec as bitstream Dolby. It decodes the bd signal then reencoded it as Dolby digital (if you set it to). Might be a cheaper workaround than the $500 oppo player. It has an optical out that could go directly to the playbar. might just add a $7 optical switch to switch between optical directly from the tv to optical from the bd player when necessary. I just got this setup (without the switch yet).

MrWoofer,

So you are confirming that the Samsung BD-F5900 can convert the DTS track of a disc to Dolby Digital "on the fly" and output that DD 5.1 track over the optical out? If so that is indeed a great and relatively affordable solution.
How does the ps4 perform as a blu ray player?

Just fine to me... Right now it doesn't support "3D" but that is supposed to be added later via a software update...

Both the Xbox One and the PS4 seem equal performing as a BluRay player, expect that the Xbox One doesn't support any type of Dolby Digital at all right now.
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I got this setup and it seems to work with Dolby true hd conversion to Dolby 5.1. Playing ironman 1 with output from the player set to bitstream reencoded Dolby 5.1 on setting about my system it indicates i am getting Dolby 5.1. I have an hdmi running from the player to the tv and an optical cable running to the playbar. I don't have a dts disk to test but I will look for one. The manual indicates it will do dts as well. Will post when I try it.
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Follow up to my earlier post. I just tested my setup with the Bourne identity using dts-hd and can confirm i am getting Dolby 5.1 into the playbar. I previously tested it and got the same with Dolby truehd. Setup is as follows: Samsung bd-f5900 with hdmi into a Samsung c630 TV. Optical cable fom the blu ray player to a $10 monoprice toslink switch from amazon into the playbar. Using playbar, sub, and 2 play1s for rear speakers. This is a $95 player at Walmart, a lot less expensive than the $500 oppo player discussed as another solution elsewhere in this forum. Hope this helps.
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I was wondering if this would solve all the 5.1 Surround problems (DTS) for the Sonos Playbar:

The Hama HDMI Audio Splitter:
you find it on the Conrad site and it cost 69,99 euro.

Anyone got some experience with this product?
Iam curious about it..
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Answerd at the dutch forum.
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Audio output. PCM192 for those movies that dont have a 5.1 DD option.

Racin929, or anyone else. I just purchased an Oppo 103 and tried the suggestion above. I still cannot get 5.1 DD from the movie "Moon" which only has a DTS track. What are the other settings that I need? Thanks much.

--Orccro
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Follow up to my earlier post. I just tested my setup with the Bourne identity using dts-hd and can confirm i am getting Dolby 5.1 into the playbar. I previously tested it and got the same with Dolby truehd. Setup is as follows: Samsung bd-f5900 with hdmi into a Samsung c630 TV. Optical cable fom the blu ray player to a $10 monoprice toslink switch from amazon into the playbar. Using playbar, sub, and 2 play1s for rear speakers. This is a $95 player at Walmart, a lot less expensive than the $500 oppo player discussed as another solution elsewhere in this forum. Hope this helps.

Mr Woofer, quick question, I have an Apple TV and a Sony Bluray. How I accomplish the 5.1 is to get the tosh link and run optical cable from the ATV and the Bluray to the tosh link then to the playbar? What about the tv? Right now I have playbar optical right to tv. Thanks
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If anyone is still interested, the Monoprice 7974 performs with mixed results. It WILL convert Dolby TrueHD into Dolby Digital 5.1. It WILL NOT convert (transcode) DTS-HD into Dolby Digital 5.1. It appears that it would convert DTS-HD to DTS 5.1, which is still useless to the Playbar. So, this unit is not a solution to the DTS/Playbar issue.

My setup as tested:

Sony KDL-70R520A TV (which will pass 5.1 through optical, even for HDMI-connected sources)
Sony BDP-N460 Blu-Ray Player
Monoprice 7974

I connected the BDP to the 7974 switch with HDMI. I connected the 7974 to the TV with HDMI. I connected the 7974 to the Playbar with Toslink.

I played the 2009 Star Trek Blu-Ray, which has a Dolby TrueHD track. The 7974 switch was outputting Dolby Digital 5.1 to the Playbar, according to the Sonos app.

I played "The Heat" Blu-Ray, which has a DTS-HD track. The 7974 was outputting an incompatible audio format to the Playbar (likely DTS 5.1).

So, it gave me 5.1 sound from Dolby TrueHD discs, but not from DTS-HD discs. Until Sonos fixes the Playbar to decode DTS, the Monoprice 7974 is only half a solution.

Other notes: The 7974 seemed like a solid unit. The HDMI-CEC worked properly and switched between active inputs with no effort on my part. The ARC function worked properly and passed the Dolby 5.1 to the Playbar from my AppleTV and DirecTV receiver that were connectied directly to the TV. The LEDs on the front are a little bright. Might want to color them over with a marker or something.
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If anyone is still interested, the Monoprice 7974 performs with mixed results. It WILL convert Dolby TrueHD into Dolby Digital 5.1. It WILL NOT convert (transcode) DTS-HD into Dolby Digital 5.1. It appears that it would convert DTS-HD to DTS 5.1, which is still useless to the Playbar. So, this unit is not a solution to the DTS/Playbar issue.

My setup as tested:

Sony KDL-70R520A TV (which will pass 5.1 through optical, even for HDMI-connected sources)
Sony BDP-N460 Blu-Ray Player
Monoprice 7974

I connected the BDP to the 7974 switch with HDMI. I connected the 7974 to the TV with HDMI. I connected the 7974 to the Playbar with Toslink.

I played the 2009 Star Trek Blu-Ray, which has a Dolby TrueHD track. The 7974 switch was outputting Dolby Digital 5.1 to the Playbar, according to the Sonos app.

I played "The Heat" Blu-Ray, which has a DTS-HD track. The 7974 was outputting an incompatible audio format to the Playbar (likely DTS 5.1).

So, it gave me 5.1 sound from Dolby TrueHD discs, but not from DTS-HD discs. Until Sonos fixes the Playbar to decode DTS, the Monoprice 7974 is only half a solution.

Other notes: The 7974 seemed like a solid unit. The HDMI-CEC worked properly and switched between active inputs with no effort on my part. The ARC function worked properly and passed the Dolby 5.1 to the Playbar from my AppleTV and DirecTV receiver that were connectied directly to the TV. The LEDs on the front are a little bright. Might want to color them over with a marker or something.


Thanks for the info. Can you tell me if this switch can transcode from dts to dolby 5.1?
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Thanks for the info. Can you tell me if this switch can transcode from dts to dolby 5.1?

I can't say for certain, but based on what I've seen, no. I think the switch will downconvert the higher-level formats to their 5.1 versions, but will not transcode between Dolby and DTS formats.
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so after 11 months of waiting, the latest response from Sonos at ask.sonos.com to the DTS question is....


....brace yourself....

... is it a 'Yes'...

.... is it a 'No'....

..."John M (Official Rep) about 10 hours ago
Vineet, I do not have an update at this time. You will be notified via email when an update is made to the thread."

wow - after 4 months since the last update, I feel so much better now with that really useful insight into what is going on :rolleyes:
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Hi,

I've potentially looking at buying Sonos, my requirements are
1. 5.1 surround sound in living room for music and TV (so looking to buy the play bar, sub and a pair of play 1s or play 3s
2. Outdoor speakers for my deck.

I've got a few questions I'd really appreciate some help with:
1.I've just bought a new Samsung TV, UA60ES6500 Samsung LED TV. I am also going to buy a new Apple TV. Does the sound bar work properly with Samsung?
2. I want outdoor speakers and was thinking the Bose 151SE. I believe I just buy the Sonos Connect Amp and then can link the Bose outdoor speakers as well. Is this right and anything I need to be aware of?
3. I already have a Bose Soundlink Air speaker which I've loved. If I get the Sonos Connect Amp, will this work as another speaker for indoors?

Thanks heaps
so after 11 months of waiting, the latest response from Sonos at ask.sonos.com to the DTS question is....


....brace yourself....

... is it a 'Yes'...

.... is it a 'No'....

..."John M (Official Rep) about 10 hours ago
Vineet, I do not have an update at this time. You will be notified via email when an update is made to the thread."

wow - after 4 months since the last update, I feel so much better now with that really useful insight into what is going on :rolleyes:


Hopefully, soon they will have an update as to when they will update us on the update to the update. :rolleyes: Looking forward to that!!
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Fingers crossed!
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On the other hand, it does seem like a good excuse to sneak a PS4 purchase past the wife :)

But it does no good for the sales of Playbar's. It will put questions in peoples minds, will DTS be added and would that only be to a new version ?, would I have to buy a new unit ?, even if users never use DTS surround, I can't but help feel anyone researching one would now be put off.

I know I am.
It was probably in response to incessant nagging about the lack of a more recent communication.

:rolleyes:

Keith