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n1c0
Trending Lyricist I
December 26, 2021

Sonos Arc and 7.1 Downmix to 5.1

  • December 26, 2021
  • 53 replies
  • 6785 views

Hi,

 

I recall that after we got the LPCM update for the Arc, it was noticed by the community that 7.1 LPCM tracks were not being properly downmixed to 5.1 and the end result were missing channels. Is that still an issue today? If I have the Sonos app reporting LPCM 7.1 does that mean I will be missing 2 channels  when outputing it to Arc, 2x Ones and a Sub?

Thanks

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53 replies

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ste_ms
Enthusiast I
April 7, 2022

@ste_ms I don’t believe he is dismissing the issue. I think he is saying that it is less of a Sonos issue and more of an LG issue. It’s no coincidence that 99% of the users experiencing this issue have LG TVs. Have you contacted LG yet?

He is saying that but has no basis for it - all anyone is asking for is a little investigation from Sonos to confirm either way. The pairing of Sonos soundbars with LG OLEDs must be much more common as a proportion of Sonos customers than LG customers.  

GuitarSuperstar
Lead Maestro
April 7, 2022

@ste_ms I don’t believe he is dismissing the issue. I think he is saying that it is less of a Sonos issue and more of an LG issue. It’s no coincidence that 99% of the users experiencing this issue have LG TVs. Have you contacted LG yet?

He is saying that but has no basis for it - all anyone is asking for is a little investigation from Sonos to confirm either way. The pairing of Sonos soundbars with LG OLEDs must be much more common as a proportion of Sonos customers than LG customers.  

Even though the Sonos app is reporting “Multichannel PCM 7.1”, do you actually hear any audio loss from the surround channels?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
ste_ms
Enthusiast I
April 7, 2022

@ste_ms I don’t believe he is dismissing the issue. I think he is saying that it is less of a Sonos issue and more of an LG issue. It’s no coincidence that 99% of the users experiencing this issue have LG TVs. Have you contacted LG yet?

He is saying that but has no basis for it - all anyone is asking for is a little investigation from Sonos to confirm either way. The pairing of Sonos soundbars with LG OLEDs must be much more common as a proportion of Sonos customers than LG customers.  

Even though the Sonos app is reporting “Multichannel PCM 7.1”, do you actually hear any audio loss from the surround channels?

I don’t know, I have tried using test tones etc to see if everything is as it should be but it’s hard to be sure. I don’t have surrounds but am reluctant to get them based on this issue as there are reports of surround channels not working correctly with PS5 for example.

This issue only manifests itself in the Sonos app so it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect Sonos to check it out and confirm if it is a problem on their end or not. I have seen no similar reports with other soundbars/receivers and LG TVs for example but they may exist.

geek-god
Trending Lyricist I
April 7, 2022

sonos does not support 7.1, that is correct and we know it 

But other issue is that system is not able to properly downmix LPCM 7.1 to 5.1

tweet from sonos CEO over a year go.

 

 

    GuitarSuperstar
    Lead Maestro
    April 7, 2022

    But other issue is that system is not able to properly downmix LPCM 7.1 to 5.1

    For all users or just some users with certain TV models?

    "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
    geek-god
    Trending Lyricist I
    April 7, 2022

    But other issue is that system is not able to properly downmix LPCM 7.1 to 5.1

    For all users or just some users with certain TV models?

    did you miss the part where sonos CEO acknowledge this?

    ledzep1
    Headliner II
    April 7, 2022

    Hi @ledzep1 

    Are they?

    Sorry to quote an old post, but this issue is ancient now, its quite laughable that they said they were working on it, which is well over a year ago. They dont even acknowledge the issue or respond to posts on the subject anymore to give an update. 

    Issue or no issue, they should respond.

    Sonos does not currently support 7.1 channel McLPCM audio, though, as you see above, some users report experiencing no problems with it.

    The official line is, “this is a feature we are currently working on, however; we do not have any further information to share with you at this time. Rest assured, we will address this in a forthcoming update.”

    Once we have made our position clear - that we have never supported this format, therefore it not working isn’t an issue or a bug, but a forth-coming feature that we haven’t yet released or advertised - it seems needless to repeatedly answer all references to it. When we do release the feature, we’ll update the relevant threads on the forum - closed or not. Incidentally, I don’t think “working on” literally means there’s someone coding away at it right now, but that it is in a list of work that needs to be done and is quite likely to be repeatedly pushed down that list by actual bugs/issues that show up, or by upcoming projects/features that require a lot of concerted effort.

    Thanks for responding, a few posts up is a tweet from the CEO, ages ago mentioning they are working on this, I have no idea what that means, but obviously nothing has been worked on, as no way would it take this long, whatever potential fix that may be.

    So what exactly did the CEO mean by “working on this” clearly there was some issue they could see their end.

    Corry P
    Corry P
    Sonos Staff
    April 8, 2022

    Hi @ledzep1 

    Once we have made our position clear - that we have never supported this format, therefore it not working isn’t an issue or a bug, but a forth-coming feature that we haven’t yet released or advertised - it seems needless to repeatedly answer all references to it. When we do release the feature, we’ll update the relevant threads on the forum - closed or not. Incidentally, I don’t think “working on” literally means there’s someone coding away at it right now, but that it is in a list of work that needs to be done and is quite likely to be repeatedly pushed down that list by actual bugs/issues that show up, or by upcoming projects/features that require a lot of concerted effort.

    Thanks for responding, a few posts up is a tweet from the CEO, ages ago mentioning they are working on this, I have no idea what that means, but obviously nothing has been worked on, as no way would it take this long, whatever potential fix that may be.

    So what exactly did the CEO mean by “working on this” clearly there was some issue they could see their end.

     

    You literally just quoted my answer to this.

    "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
    ledzep1
    Headliner II
    April 8, 2022

    Hi @ledzep1 

    Once we have made our position clear - that we have never supported this format, therefore it not working isn’t an issue or a bug, but a forth-coming feature that we haven’t yet released or advertised - it seems needless to repeatedly answer all references to it. When we do release the feature, we’ll update the relevant threads on the forum - closed or not. Incidentally, I don’t think “working on” literally means there’s someone coding away at it right now, but that it is in a list of work that needs to be done and is quite likely to be repeatedly pushed down that list by actual bugs/issues that show up, or by upcoming projects/features that require a lot of concerted effort.

    Thanks for responding, a few posts up is a tweet from the CEO, ages ago mentioning they are working on this, I have no idea what that means, but obviously nothing has been worked on, as no way would it take this long, whatever potential fix that may be.

    So what exactly did the CEO mean by “working on this” clearly there was some issue they could see their end.

     

    You literally just quoted my answer to this.

    Yeah sorry.

    I guess we misunderstood that tweet then. At the same time I also didn't think the sonos arc had that many bugs/issues that something needs to be pushed down a list for going on 2 years since the tweet. 

     

    Whether it is an actual issue or not, before the LPCM update on Sonos, the sonos app reported as receiving DD 5.1 fine (apart from DTS, my LG does not support that). So it’s the sonos lpcm update that altered something.

     

    Corry P
    Corry P
    Sonos Staff
    April 8, 2022

    Hi @ledzep1 

    I guess we misunderstood that tweet then. At the same time I also didn't think the sonos arc had that many bugs/issues that something needs to be pushed down a list for going on 2 years since the tweet. 

    We don’t have software engineers that only work on the Arc. To be honest, I have no idea how the team is divided, if at all. I think it’s a fair assumption, however, that most of the work they do in regards to fixing issues is done on a priority basis. As 7.1 downmixing is not seen as an issue, but as an unimplemented future feature, its priority is low. This thread, here on this forum, may be bumping it up the queue as we speak.

    Whether it is an actual issue or not, before the LPCM update on Sonos, the sonos app reported as receiving DD 5.1 fine (apart from DTS, my LG does not support that). So it’s the sonos lpcm update that altered something.

    As HDMI is a connection that allows control communication between the devices, I think what’s happening is that since the update, when the Arc is queried as to what formats it can play, it now replies with an answer that includes LPCM. That makes either your TV or source device change it’s opinion about which audio stream should be played (the best quality stream supported by all the devices would be chosen - that used to be DD 5.1).

    It’s possible that your source/TV is remapping (or up-mixing) a 5.1 LPCM track to a 7.1 LPCM track. If the two extra channels are silent, or duplicates of other channels, then it won’t really matter that the Sonos app reports 7.1. As long as you get the intended 5.1 channels in the correct places, that is what counts.

    I hope this helps.

    "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
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