Dear rossveitch_2, thank you for this very interesting post.

I have too a Shield Pro 2019 and a Sonos Beam with 2x Play 1 as surround and I confirm that it’s working perfectly and well supported as Dolby Digital 5.1 for NetFlix but unfortunately, under Plex, it’s working only with AC3 or E- AC3 movies.

Any DTS movies are still converted as Stereo under the Sonos app and not Dolby Digital 5.1.

This is not the case with Apple TV but with the Shield, any DTS movies are in Stereo and not Dolby Digital 5.1. grrrrrrrrr. I have well activated the HDMI pathrough on Plex, but no chance.

If someone can help me, that would be grateful.

Tnx.

I’ve been waiting for a post like this for years. Thanks!!!!

me too but still in stereo with Plex if movies are DTS encoded. 

Absolutely would like to see this. I haven't been able to figure out the optimal solution here. 

This would have to be fixed by Plex but I never found a fix on Plex’s forums…. If anyone can help us, that would be grate. 

I reverted back to using the settings I did on the Old Shield to force 5.1 on DTS using the settings from this thread:
https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/help-getting-dolby-5-1-on-playbase-with-dts-audio-via-kodi-on-lgoled55c7v-6808053

Followed the rest of whats on here and glad to see better 5.1 support over the Optical cable.

It doesn’t work too with Emby, DTS is converted to AC3 Stereo, sad…

I keep my script which converts all my DTS media to AC3 5.1, thank you Sonos!

Anybody know if the 2019 non pro model can do the same? 

The 2019 non-pro does work with streaming.

Using it as a chromecast doesn’t work though - the audio ends up being stereo and dialogue is hard to hear (tested with Disney+). The remote is nice though and so I probably won’t miss casting too much.

Also, it syncs the audio better than a PS4. Lips were out of sync when we tried using the PS4 for streaming.

THANK YOU BABY JESUS!!! Im upgrading my 2015 Shield to a Pro this weekend!  Thanks for posting!  Has anyone tested it for the Goggle Play Movies app?  If it also works for that I’ll be in heaven. 

Yep. I’ve tried Disney+, Google Play Movies, Prime Video, and Netflix. All correctly pass 5.1 to the tv which then goes to the playbar.

A little strangely, Netflix is the only one of those 4 that passes 5.1 correctly when used in chromecast mode. Especially weird that google play movies doesn’t work that way.

Hi Weycon,

Did you ever find a solution for this? Was playing with my settings again but still haven't figure it out to do the transcodng. So I am still using the PLEX addon in KODI as then the audio is transcoded to AC3 properly for the SONOS Beam.

To have Plex convert DTS to Dolby, you select “Optical” as the passthrough, and then you will get another option to select “Dolby” or “DTS.”  Select “Dolby” and voila, 5.1 on AC3, EAC3 and DTS!!!

Is anyone else getting Dolby Digital 2.0 output from Prime Video?  I have literally every other app on this thing that is able passing Dolby Digital 5.1 but Prime Video.  It passes 2.0 even though the content says it has 5.1.  Please let me know if anyone has a fix?

Jason_81: I am also getting Dolby Digital 2.0 when using Prime Video. I used to get 5.1. This happens on a Nvidia Shield Pro 2019. When I use the Sony TV Prime Video app, I get Dolby Digital 5.0. So I think it’s an issue with the Shield Prime Video app. Any luck on your end with resolving this issue?

@21Salinger I remember reading somewhere you need to manually update the Prime app on the Shield.

@106rallye thanks for the heads up. I tried updating the Prime app. I even deleted it an re-installed it, but still getting only Dolby Digital 2.0.

@Jason_81 properly tagging you on my original response. I am also getting Dolby Digital 2.0 when using Prime Video. I used to get 5.1. This happens on a Nvidia Shield Pro 2019. When I use the Sony TV Prime Video app, I get Dolby Digital 5.0. So I think it’s an issue with the Shield Prime Video app. Any luck on your end with resolving this issue?

No, nothing I tried seems to work.  Disappointing but I guess it is what it is.  I was actually getting 5.1 on a rooted OG Shield TV.  Maybe it’ll get fixed by itself.  All other apps (Netflix, Disney+, etc.) give me 5.1 so I have no doubt it’s the Prime app itself, not the device.

Just tested it on my 2019 Shield. Also no DD 5.1 on the Prime app. Not that I use the Shield for this, but it would be nice - Netflix does do 5.1....

I don’t seem to be getting 5.1 sound on Netflix. No sound from the rear speakers. Tried an optical connection with my Beam and HDMI and changed settings on my 2019 SHIELD and my 2019 Sony TV to Dolby Digital, to no avail.

This is pathetic. Why isn’t this working?

Weird thing is, it works on Prime Video, but not on Netflix.

It works just fine on the TV itself, but not on the SHIELD. Really disappointing.

What is your current setup and did you change any settings on your SHIELD and/or TV to get 5.1 sound working? The Sonos app shows Dolby Digital 5.1 but surround sound seems to be working with Prime Video but not with Netflix!

Any more help with this? I really do regret buying into Sonos because of this!

I also found out that when playing content on Prime Video, it plays out of the back speakers, but the Sonos app shows Stereo 2.0.

Playing Netflix etc. on the TV itself never plays in 5.1. Only ever stereo 2.0.

Just got my Arc today and spent ages trying to get the 2015 shield to work. Thanks for this got a 2019 shield on the way.

Great choice, I hope you got the pro version instead of the tube. 
In case anyone’s interested, I managed to get 5.1 working with Netflix; the problem was in fact Netflix and not any of my Sonos devices. I’m a native living in Germany so I have a German Netflix account but watch content in English. Lots of content marked as ‘5.1’ actually only supports 5.1 in German, but not in the English language. What I did in the end was use a VPN to access American Netflix where content is thankfully available in 5.1.

The point I’m trying to make is that the SHIELD is a great choice in combination with Sonos speakers. There’s no settings that need to be changed on the SHIELD itself, everything works right out of the box (which is to be expected from a streaming device with a higher price tag).

Hope you enjoy your purchase!