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mykasd
Contributor I
February 28, 2020
Answered

Sonos with Yamaha receiver and streaming from laptop

I have an LG projector and a Yamaha receiver, Sonos beam and sub, and wired in surround backs wired to my sonos amp. I typically stream stuff off my laptop through the yamaha receiver which then feeds the video to the projector. The receiver is a TSR-7850 and has an HDMI ARC. I can get picture going from my laptop to my projector but I can’t get corresponding sound through the receiver to my beam and subsequently throughout the surround sound sonos setup. What am I doing wrong?

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    Airgetlam
    AirgetlamAnswer
    February 29, 2020

    Completely understand. ;)

    There are two places I’d be looking at in your system. And I’m not near my Win10 machine to double check for accuracy, so I’ll be somewhat vague, and trust you to poke around and find these things and maybe learn where things are, and figure out where I am just some looney on the inter webs.

    The first place is in the app you’re using to play the files. There should be somewhere in the app where you can control what kind of audio is being sent out.

    The second place is in the Win 10 settings for either Audio or perhaps Video, where you are able to configure the output of the HDMI output, and define what kind of audio is included with the video stream. 

    Look around for those two settings. I think if the first works, you wouldn’t have to worry about the second...but only if that player app is the only one you ever use to play a video. The latter, being a full system setting, is more likely to help in future use. 

     

    Bruce
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    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    March 3, 2020

    @melvimbe how do you get your laptop to send a signal in PCM stereo or DD? It looks like it’s only sending in stereo.

     

    I don’t know.  I don’t use laptops or PCs as a source, only what formats Sonos will accept.  It may be that your laptop can only send stereo.

     

    What content are you watching anyway?  if you’re using the laptop to access streaming services, it would be much easier just to get a streamer like fire tv or roku (ultra).

    Danny
    mykasdAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 3, 2020

    That’s a fair point. I’m streaming youtube, cbs sports, netflix, hulu, golf channel, etc. from my laptop. 

    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    March 3, 2020

    That’s a fair point. I’m streaming youtube, cbs sports, netflix, hulu, golf channel, etc. from my laptop. 

     

    I stream most of those through fire tv in dolby digital, and I’m sure the others are also available.  I would drop your receiver and laptop out of the equation, and use fire tv plus the splitter/extractor you already have.

    Danny
    mykasdAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 5, 2020

    Ok this is crazy, I think I’ve purchased every device I can to make this work and tried every combination.

    I bought the Nvidia Shield (streaming device like Roku, Apple Tv, etc.) and have the HDMI cord from that going into an HDMI splitter. From the splitter, I have an HDMI cord going to my projector and another HDMI cord going to the Beam. This produces video but no sound.

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI cord from the Shield into the extractor with the HDMI output from the extractor going to the projector and the optical output going to the Beam via the HDMI/optical adapter. This produces video but no sound.

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI cord from the Shield into the extractor with the HDMI output from the extractor going to the HDMI splitter. From the splitter I have the HDMI cords going to the Beam and the projector. This produces video but no sound.

    I’ve also tried the HDMI cord from the Shield into the splitter with one output going directly to the projector and the other output going to the extractor. From there I’ve tried plugging the Beam into the extractor’s HDMI output and the extractor’s optical output. Again, video but no sound.

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI from the Shield into my Yamaha receiver and then using the splitters/extractors as outputs from the receiver, but this seems redundant and I can just cut the receiver out if I don’t need it. 

    The extractor has settings for P, 2.0, and 5.1. I’ve tried each of these settings with each of the above configurations. Nothing seems to work. The Beam plays music from the Sonos app so I know it’s set up and working properly. I just don’t know why I can’t project and use sound.

    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    March 5, 2020

    Ok this is crazy, I think I’ve purchased every device I can to make this work and tried every combination.

    I bought the Nvidia Shield (streaming device like Roku, Apple Tv, etc.) and have the HDMI cord from that going into an HDMI splitter. From the splitter, I have an HDMI cord going to my projector and another HDMI cord going to the Beam. This produces video but no sound.

     

     I wouldn’t expect this to work.

     

     

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI cord from the Shield into the extractor with the HDMI output from the extractor going to the projector and the optical output going to the Beam via the HDMI/optical adapter. This produces video but no sound.

     

     

    This should work.  Check to make sure the Beam is set to play from the TV source (using the Sonos app)  and not a streaming source.  You can also change the setting so that it automatically switches to TV audio when it turns on...but you may not have set that yet.

     

    The other thing to check is that your Shield is set to PCM or DD audio.

     

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI cord from the Shield into the extractor with the HDMI output from the extractor going to the HDMI splitter. From the splitter I have the HDMI cords going to the Beam and the projector. This produces video but no sound.

     

     

    Sounds like your first setting.  That won’t work.

     

    I’ve also tried the HDMI cord from the Shield into the splitter with one output going directly to the projector and the other output going to the extractor. From there I’ve tried plugging the Beam into the extractor’s HDMI output and the extractor’s optical output. Again, video but no sound.

     

     

    Not following this one, but pretty sure it’s wrong.

     

    I’ve also tried plugging the HDMI from the Shield into my Yamaha receiver and then using the splitters/extractors as outputs from the receiver, but this seems redundant and I can just cut the receiver out if I don’t need it. 

     

     

    Correct, the Yamaha isn’t really doing anything for you here.

     

     

    The extractor has settings for P, 2.0, and 5.1. I’ve tried each of these settings with each of the above configurations. Nothing seems to work. The Beam plays music from the Sonos app so I know it’s set up and working properly. I just don’t know why I can’t project and use sound.

     

    I don’t know what ‘P’ means.  Perhaps PCM (stereo), but that’s also what 2.0 means.  Regardless, I doubt that’s the issue,   Check to make sure the Beam is set to play the TV source, and your Shield is sending PCM or Dolby Digital.

    Danny
    mykasdAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 5, 2020

    @melvimbe so I’ve tried setting up the Tv through the Sonos app and it gives me two options: (1) plug the HDMI cord into the ARC port or (2) use the optical cord. In either case, when I have these plugged in, the Sonos app does not recognize/find the audio and I cannot set up the Tv in the app. I will try to call Sonos tonight to get help directly but do you have any thoughts there?

    melvimbe
    melvimbe
    March 5, 2020

    @melvimbe so I’ve tried setting up the Tv through the Sonos app and it gives me two options: (1) plug the HDMI cord into the ARC port or (2) use the optical cord. In either case, when I have these plugged in, the Sonos app does not recognize/find the audio and I cannot set up the Tv in the app. I will try to call Sonos tonight to get help directly but do you have any thoughts there?

     

    In the Sonos app, go to the room tab and select the room with your beam.  Then go to the Browse tab, and you should see a list of the music services you’ve setup plus TV as a source.  That’s what I was referring to in my post above.  When you’re using an optical connection.  I’m not sure you have to do any additioanl setup, but it’s been a while, could be wrong on that.

     

    Also make sure your Shield has the right audio settings. 

     

    Calling Sonos is a good idea.

    Danny
    mykasdAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 5, 2020

    @melvimbe tried two different Sonos people on the help line and they couldn’t help. 

    In the Sonos app, go to the room tab and select the room with your beam.  Then go to the Browse tab, and you should see a list of the music services you’ve setup plus TV as a source.  That’s what I was referring to in my post above.  When you’re using an optical connection.  I’m not sure you have to do any additioanl setup, but it’s been a while, could be wrong on that.

    I can get to the Tv source in the app, but then when I click on it to go through the set up (either through the HDMI ARC or the optical) it results in the screen that says “We are not getting a signal” and I can’t complete the setup.

     

    Also make sure your Shield has the right audio settings. 

    I went into the Shield and selected Auto for the type of audio input it would recognize and also tried it with DD manually selected. Neither produce sound.

     

    I guess I’m confused because I have all the tools here but am somehow not aligning them. It should work with either the splitter or the extractor (or both if really necessary) and the projector but it isn’t.

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    March 6, 2020

    I’d just remove the Yamaha from the equation. I think that is where things are failing. Go directly to an HDMI switch. 

    Bruce
    mykasdAuthor
    Contributor I
    March 6, 2020

    I have been. Just added the Yamaha back in to test if it would work. The splitter/switch and the extractor don’t produce sound. I’m not sure if its the order of operations or what...

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