Contributor I

Sonos Playbar + NVIDIA Shield TV Pro 2019 = Dolby Digital 5.1 from Plex / Netflix / Prime Video / Kodi apps

23 replies
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[ X-posted from /r/sonos forum on Reddit ]

I'm a long suffering Sonos Playbar owner who has wasted a lot of time and money trying to get 5.1 surround sound working from my Nvidia Shield TV 2015 edition. From the number of posts on the Sonos and Nvidia user forums I'm clearly not alone.

Last week I picked up the new Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 and I'm happy to report that the Sonos is now seeing DD 5.1 from all of the sources I mentioned above. This is confirmed both by my ears but also via the Sonos mobile app > System > About My System > Playbar TV > "Audio In: Dolby Digital 5.1"

My hardware setup: Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 : HDMI Out --> HDMI In : Samsung TV UA65F9000AKXXS : Optical Audio Out --> Optical Audio in : Sonos Playbar

The new Shield TV Pro 2019 has new audio settings that the old model didn't and it is handling the conversion of pretty much any surround sound format into whatever audio formats the connected device can support, which for the Playbar is just AC3 (Dolby Digital). For me this just worked out of the box for the Netflix and Prime Video apps and with a few audio settings changes for Plex and Kodi.

Shield TV > Settings > Device Preferences > Display & Sounds > Advanced Sound Controls > Available formats:

Auto: Use the formats your audio device reports supporting (recommended)
Manual: Select which formats to use
None: Never use surround sound

I'm using the default "Auto" selection but if you select manual then you can toggle these options:

Dolby Atmos
Dolby MAT
AC3 (Dolby Digital)
E-AC3 (Dolby Digital Plus/DD+)
DTS
DTS-HD
AAC
Dolby TrueHD

Source Android TV app audio settings:

Plex - Username > Settings > Advanced > Passthrough: HDMI
Netflix - defaults
Amazon Prime Video - defaults
Kodi - System > System > Audio > Audio Decoder > Number of channels: 5.1
Kodi - System > System > Audio > Audio Passthrough > Allow passthrough [On]

The new Shield TV remote is also able to control the volume on the Playbar via the IR blaster built in to the remote and the setup for that was also straight forward.

If the Nvidia marketing team happens to read this you would be well served by making all of the above explicit in your product marketing materials because elegantly handling conversion of surround sound formats is a significant USP for this device.

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D

djfit

Lyricist I

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.

M

mawie

Lyricist I

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.

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.

J

Jason_81

Lyricist III

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?

2

21Salinger

Lyricist I

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?

106rallye

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

2

21Salinger

Lyricist I

@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?

J

Jason_81

Lyricist III

@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.

106rallye

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....

JamesDan

Prominent Collaborator I

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.

JamesDan

Prominent Collaborator I

@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.

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!

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