Solving the 5.1, DTS issues with the Playbar

Did that title get your attention? Good. I'm actually here to defend the complainers.

If there was a comparable alternative, that's where people would go. However, no one else is currently able to offer an experience like Sonos. So, our only hope is that Sonos will be able to add this last piece to the puzzle.

Also, folks have no idea what it takes to implement such a change. It seems so easy from where we're sitting. "Heck, if freaking Vizio can do it, why can't Sonos?! Right?" But there must be something difficult holding Sonos back on this. Is this DTS issue not the biggest heartache of Sonos users? One "little" thing could make so many of us so happy. Why don't they just do it? There must be a reason, because I'm sure Sonos isn't stalling just to piss us off. But it's still frustrating.

The forums with the most heated debates are a result of having the most passionate users. Sonos owners LOVE their systems. They want them to be perfect. They are so close to perfect. It's like owning a Ferrari in a sea of Fiats - except your Ferrari won't turn left. To have such a beautiful and powerful piece of equipment that is one step away from being everything you hoped for is...frustrating.

As for the kids in the car, they never ask "Are we there yet?" on the way to the dentist. But they will ask every mile on the way to Disney. These customers and potential customers are excited. They can't wait for Sonos to deliver on their expectations. It can get old and repetitive, but cut them some slack.

There are probably a dozen reasons why Sonos can't divulge more information around their DTS roadmap - competetive secrecy, ongoing vendor negotiations, etc. But it would be so nice to know what they are up to on this.

Sincerely,

One of the kids in the back seat on the way to Disney:D

I think that ght001's Disney metaphor is spot on when it comes to describing the perfectly normal response of someone who loves Sonos in general but is not completely happy with the implementation of the Playbar.

The fact is that Sonos chose the intended use of the Playbar to be that you wire all your sources to the TV and wire the optical out of the TV to the Playbar. The second fact is that people have found some creative ways discussed in this thread to try to get around this intended use to use the Playbar as they would like rather than Sonos intended. The unfortunate consequence of of using something not as it was intended is you can run into problems, such as silence when a Bluray player is directly connected to the Playbar and the disc only has a DTS track.

When the Playbar came out, I was disappointed. My analysis of it, for me personally and not necessarily for others, was that it's limitations made it suitable for a secondary viewing area such as a master bedroom, but not for my primary viewing area in the living room. As a result, I don't own a Playbar.

When it comes to Sonos in General, the kids in the backseat are used to going to Disney. Unfortunately when it comes to the Playbar, they are disappointed to learn that this time the car is headed to the local carnival and not to Disney. All the heated conversation on this issue is their attempt to change the destination to Disney. Unfortunately all indications are that the parents (Sonos) have no intention of changing direction.

Thanks. That sums up my feeling in a way that I was finding it difficult to put into words.

I too would love to have a Playbar system but I feel that with the inherent 'design flaw' (in my opinion) I just can't make any use of it.

None of my televisions will pass through correctly and only 1 out of 3 of them actually has an optical out anyway. The beauty of Sonos for me has always been the simplicity of the system and the way it just works. Looking at the way people have to buy external switches and employ other workarounds just to make it work for them makes me cringe.

I ordered a Sonos Playbar and Sub and will do some testing this Weekend.
Today i checked my Blu Rays (i know - a little late) and most of them are DTS only :-(

So after testing i have to send it back.

No DTS Support for nearly a Year now - OMG...

Thanks - i really consider that.

Most time i stream Movies with my Apple TV. I'm really worried that Apple could decider one day to switch over to DTS. Then my new Homecinema System would become useless for me.

Sounds like sensible solution while I don't doubt it sounds great I assume something is lost somewhere in this conversion.

Are there any experts that can elaborate on this solution ?

I picked up a Samsung BD-F6500 today.

I am currently watching Django Unchained with the DTS-HD audio track selected. The player has the Bitstream re-encode Dolby D option selected. Optical straight from player to Playbar. I also have sub and two rear Play:1s.

And ...

It's glorious. The Playbar is showing DD5.1 input, and the surround speakers are operating correctly. None of that fluttering you get with stereo up scaling to 5.1. As far as I can tell, I am now enjoying a full surround sound experience with the Sonos setup. I am happy!

As for whether there are losses, there does not seem to be a loss of audio positional information. That is, the surround speakers are providing the correct audio as if there was no conversion. Theoretically, a DD track has a lower bit rate than a DTS track. So, there could theoretically be a quality loss. However, I expect hardly anyone would notice - you're getting into proper audiophile territory there and I don't think such a person would choose Sonos anyway.

I got the player from Richer Sounds in the UK for £94.99 - well worth it in my opinion to replace whatever Blu-ray player you may have. Picture quality seems excellent so far too, and there are no audio sync issues whatsoever.

Basically, I am now a happy man!

Is there a workaround to get DD from the media players like WD TV live? I have so many movies that have DTS but WD TV live downmixes them to stereo

btw, same old response from sonos: https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/no_clarity_on_playbar_supporting_dts_still_please_dont_be_arrogant

Just tested my new Playbar.
I got 5.1 from Apple TV and TV Receiver. My Sonos Sub wasn't delivered yet, so i miss the Bass right now.
First Impression: The Playbar ist good, but not great. I've got a simple Samsung All-in-One 2.1 HT to test side by side. Without the Sub the Playbar sounds ... mmh... a little bit weak.

Apologies for asking a stupid question, as I am new to all of this Sonos stuff, but how does this work, connection wise?

I am looking at getting a Playbar (I already have a couple of Play 1's) to connect up to my TV, which has an Optical out.
If I understand correctly, the Playbar only has 1 Optical in port

Thus if I get the Samsung BD-F6500 would I have to unplug the optical cable from the TV into the DVD player, which then goes into the playbar, when watching DVD's

What about just watching normal T.V. would I have to unplug the optical cable from the Samsung BD-F6500 and plug it back into the T.V. to get sound out of the playbar or is the Playbar not really used when watching normal T.V.?

Thanks
Andrew

Andrew, you are right. If you want proper 5.1 from your Blu-ray player, like the BD-F6500 like I now have, you will need to send optical from the player to the Playbar. This is because most TVs will only output stereo from their optical port for external TV inputs. So you'll need a way to switch the optical input to the Playbar.

I do a cable swap each time. However optical ports are notoriously weak. Perhaps an optical switch is a good idea. A passive one probably won't work as the Tv will always output optical audio so the passive switch will mix two active optical signals - bad. An active switch would be able to select between inputs but consumes power, needs a power socket and no doubt there is another remote to juggle! Also there is a cost but a reasonably good cheap optical switch should not cost much more than £50.

Edit: I should add that bizarrely the DD re-encode option only applies to Blu-rays - if a DVD has a DTS track then the Samsung player will NOT re-encode it and will output a DTS track. As I have never seen a DTS DVD I doubt it's much of an issue.

Just tested my new Playbar.
I got 5.1 from Apple TV and TV Receiver. My Sonos Sub wasn't delivered yet, so i miss the Bass right now.
First Impression: The Playbar ist good, but not great. I've got a simple Samsung All-in-One 2.1 HT to test side by side. Without the Sub the Playbar sounds ... mmh... a little bit weak.

On its own I found the Playbar to be pretty good. Your comparison could have so many variables - perhaps your Samsung unit has the bass relatively high by default? The only way to determine if one is better than the other is if you find one can't be adjusted to sound the way you want it to. "Out of the box"' though, isn't really a fair comparison (and of course this also applies where the Sonos prima facie sounds better than other units!).

I have a 4 way optical switch (CYP AUD41 4-WAY OPTICAL SWITCHER WITH IR) with the TV, BLURAY and APPLE TV all going IN and the OUT going into the Playbar. Dolby 5.1 sound all-round. The sound is fantastic and I can't tell any difference with a converted from DTS or an actual Dolby soundtrack

The optical switcher won't be doing any conversion so presumably your Blu-Ray player can convert DTS to DD?

What do you mean by "out of the box"?
Of course i adjusted the settings on both, the Playbar and the Samsung HT to "my" best.
I can't imagine that anyone can be satisfied with the Playbar without the Sub for watching Movies.
Hope there will be a big boost after the Sub arrived.

I mean, perhaps cynically (but probably truthfully) that some systems' default settings are tweaked so that they sound better than other systems in similar conditions. I'm not saying that's the case in your situation, but it's something to be aware of.

If you have fiddled with the settings a lot and still found that the Sonos system is still not up to scratch though then perhaps it's not for you.

On the other hand, if you do get the sub (and it's quite an investment really for such a small amount of the frequency spectrum) it makes a reasonable difference, the bass is more "there" and much more satisfying. Apparently the Playbar itself will then concentrate more on midrange and higher but I've never pushed it hard enough for it to struggle anyway so I have not noticed much difference with the sub apart from much better bass 🙂

The optical switcher won't be doing any conversion so presumably your Blu-Ray player can convert DTS to DD?

Yes the BluRay coverts the DTS Bitstream to Dolby 5.1. The switcher a) Prevents fragile optical cables being constantly transferred. 😎 My Samsung TV passes Dolby 5.1 through optical and not HDMI. So I get 5.1 sound from all sources (if transmitted), so the Playbar, Sub and 2 Ply 1's work in the way they should and certainly doesn't disappoint.