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Hey guys,



I feel dumb for not being able to figure this out, but I'm looking for some help in getting the most out of my 5.1 setup with my Xbox. I've read as many posts as I can but some are quite old and a lot of the links given by Sonos Support are broken.



When I go into the Xbox audio settings I have the option for 5.1 but it comes back with an error. I have my Playbar connected to my Samsung TV (2yrs old), along with a Sub and two Play 1's. When I go into the Controller it says that the player is outputting in stereo. I've read that some people are using switches to connect their Xbox directly to their TV but it seem like it should be more simple than that given everything is fairly new. Any thoughts on the settings to get surround going?



Thanks in advance!
I'd recommend looking at the audio settings with your TV, and make sure that it is passing the 5.1 (Dolby Digital) signal that your XBox should be sending through to the Playbar. It's possible that your TV is outputting Stereo, i.e. taking the any 5.1 signal from HDMI inputs and downsampling it to stereo, which would be why the app is indicating that the Playbar is getting stereo.



Now, once you've double checked your TV, go back in to the XBox and make sure it's pushing out 5.1 (Dolby Digital) as well. It shouldn't come back with an error. If it does, can you let us know what the error says? I'm sure there's someone on this board that can diagnose issues with the XBox, despite this being a Sonos board.



Hope this helps!
On the Xbox, the option you want to choose for the HDMI or Optical output is Bitstream. Then there's a Bitstream Format choice where you would select Dolby Digital.



As Airgetlam mentions, your TV could also be affecting the audio reaching your Playbar. Make sure that it's set to output Dolby Digital as well, if your TV has such options. If it doesn't, try hooking the optical cable directly to the Xbox and see if that works (it most definitely should if your Xbox is set correctly).
I can tell you, I own a few Samsung TVs and all of them only output 2 ch stereo regardless of input.. That's probably the issue
I can tell you, I own a few Samsung TVs and all of them only output 2 ch stereo regardless of input.. That's probably the issue

I think some of last year's and this year's models do pass 5.1 (I know the UN55KS8000 I got less than a week ago passes it through)... but yes, most older Samsung TVs don't. Maybe it's something they're doing with their 4K TVs, while their HD models only pass stereo audio through... incentive to upgrade? 🙂
On the Xbox, the option you want to choose for the HDMI or Optical output is Bitstream. Then there's a Bitstream Format choice where you would select Dolby Digital.



As Airgetlam mentions, your TV could also be affecting the audio reaching your Playbar. Make sure that it's set to output Dolby Digital as well, if your TV has such options. If it doesn't, try hooking the optical cable directly to the Xbox and see if that works (it most definitely should if your Xbox is set correctly).



Thanks Mike, that did the trick
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