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Sonos with Yamaha receiver and streaming from laptop

  • 28 February 2020
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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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Best answer by Airgetlam 29 February 2020, 19:14

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45 replies

buzz

Why isn’t the Yamaha transmitting audio to the Beam?

In addition to video and audio information there is two way communication between the HDMI source and the “sink” (display). When you connect the YAMAHA HDMI output directly to BEAM, the YAMAHA is asking “what kind of display are you?” Since BEAM is not a display it cannot answer the question and the YAMAHA shuts down that output.

The audio extractor sitting between the YAMAHA and the projector answers the YAMAHA’s question and extracts audio for BEAM.

buzz

Sometimes unplugging an HDMI cable for a second will trigger the EDID to successfully renegotiate the setup.

M
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Ok, my frustration with Sonos “easy” set up system continues to mount. I purchased the below audio extractor from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082KW5MXS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And tried setting it up with the Yamaha receiver and Sonos sound bar using every configuration possible (I used the HDMI to optical converter with the Beam and plugged the projector into the extractor as well) with the other end going to the HDMI output on the Yamaha receiver (tried both ARC and non-ARC slots). I even tried using a splitter in addition to the extractor so I wouldn’t have to use the optical converter on the Beam HDMI cable. Can anyone help? If I can’t use the Yamaha receiver, that’s fine, I just want my Sonos set up to work as the audio for my projector. If I’m at an impasse, then I will just have to return the Sonos and go with wired speakers which I don’t want to do.

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@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.

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@buzz right now I’m trying to use Yamaha as the input selector. All my speakers are run through the Sonos, which only has one connection point via the Beam to the Yamaha. The HDMI output is to the projector for picture (non-ARC HDMI output) and the HDMI input is via an HDMI cord from my laptop and should be producing video and audio for the Yamaha receiver. The question is, how do I get the Yamaha receiver to transmit the audio to the Beam and the picture to the projector? I have picture, so that works. And I have the option to do the Beam via an HDMI cord (ARC-compatible) or the optical adapter for the HDMI cord. No other speaker wires are attached to the Yamaha receiver. In fact, no other cords are attached to the receiver except for the HDMI output to the projector, the HDMI input from the laptop and the Beam, however I determine that it should be connected.

Why isn’t the Yamaha transmitting audio to the Beam?

melvimbe

 A couple points to make.

 

First, forget about using ARC in the scenario.  As Buzz pointed out ARC is useful in connecting a display device to an audio player device.  You can’t use ARC to connect two audio player devices together, which both your Yamaha and Beam are.  The ARC ports on these devices are both  tehcnically HDMI outputs, which might be hard to understand, but mention it just to illustrate why connecting the two together like that won’t work.  Since it does help you in this situation, all you really need to know is that it doesn’t help you in this situation.

 

Second, you said you are using the yamaha receiver to switch inputs, but you’ve only mentioned one input, the laptop.  Do you have others?  If not, the Yamaha receiver isn’t useful in your situation, just connect the laptop to the splitter you already bought.   If you do have more than one source, then you can replace it with a HDMI switch with 2 or more inputs, and HDMI output + optical output.  I’m not saying you can’t use the Yamaha in your setup, but you aren’t using it as it’s designed to be used, and you’re introducing more ‘points of failure’ with it’s inclusion.

 

If you remove the Yamaha from the equation, then the issue could be that your laptop isn’t sending audio in PCM stereo or dolby digital.  It looks like you already know where to check that.  The other end would be the Beam and making sure that’s setup correctly.

Danny
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@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.

Airgetlam

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

Bruce
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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...

melvimbe

@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
Airgetlam

Source set to Dolby digital. Not Auto, not Dolby Digital Plus, not anything other than Dolby Digital. This may be a challenge on your Shield,  I would be testing with something I know works, such as a standard DVD player. Once the path works, you can go back and substitute back in the Shield, or the PC, or pretty much anything else. Reduce the variables until you can prove the process works.

Source connected via HDMI to HDMI switch.

Optical cable from HDMI switch to adapter for Beam, or directly to PLAYBAR or PLAYBASE.

HDMI cable from switch to viewing device for video feed.

This should work. Once you’ve proven to yourself that the process works, you can start substituting devices, like the laptop, or the Shield, as the source,  and identify whether or not they are capable of sending a Dolby Digital signal. 

 

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

melvimbe

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
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@buzz this makes sense if your only option is Yamaha’s HDMI output but what if you use the optical output? Doesn’t Yamaha expect that to be audio?

 

Either way, I’ve ordered the extractor and will report back in a few days to update on how that works!

M
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Ok guys, I’m calling it quits. A new extractor came in today so that I could be sure I had good equipment. I tried everything, even introduced a new optical cord to connect into the audio port of the Yamaha receiver to try to then push that to the Sonos. Nothing worked. Multiple extractors, HDMI splitters, receivers, nothing is working. For some reason, when connected to the projector, the audio just did not want to work. When connected to a Tv, it worked fine…

I’m send the Sonos back and ordering some wired speakers. Thanks for everyone’s help on this!

buzz

myksad,

The projector might be part of the problem. Another component of the HDMI signals shared between the units is EDID. EDID allows sources and sinks to inform each other which audio and video formats are supported.  If your projector replies “no audio”, the source might not send audio with the video. If no audio is sent, there is nothing to extract.

I didn’t check out the spec’s of the extractors that you tried, but some switches and extractors (not the cheap models) allow one to customize the EDID sent back to the source. With one of these units you could trick the source into sending audio if the projector would normally report “no audio”.

buzz

That YAMAHA does not offer any digital outputs. Attempting to use the YAMAHA’s analog outputs in this application will be very frustrating.

M
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I just had a thought - would Sonos connect work if I have my surround back speakers (two sets) hard wired into my Yamaha receiver and my Nvidia shield connected into that directly as well along with the projector as an output? Then I could use Sonos connect to bring in the Beam and the subwoofer?

Ken_Griffiths

I just had a thought - would Sonos connect work if I have my surround back speakers (two sets) hard wired into my Yamaha receiver and my Nvidia shield connected into that directly as well along with the projector as an output? Then I could use Sonos connect to bring in the Beam and the subwoofer?

Connecting an A/V source, where the audio is split and goes via a line-in to Sonos devices, will result in 'lip-sync’ issues with the projector video output, with what will be a stereo only signal, as the audio is buffered by minimum of 75ms delay in these circumstances. So I doubt this would achieve the outcome you are perhaps looking for here. 

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I’ve got the ability to sync up sound/video in either the receiver or the Nvidia shield (can’t remember which) by delaying one of the feeds, so I think that would be solved but you’re right, the whole point of this is to get surround sound so if I can only do stereo with a Sonos Connect, then this is moot.

Ken_Griffiths

mykasd,

The Connect will only provide Stereo and if you delay the audio on your 3rd party Receiver or Shield, it still means the video out on the projector will be ahead of the audio… it maybe okay, no echo etc; but I think it would be noticeable when watching people speaking on screen. It really needs the Beam to do this, as it supports 5.1 audio, plus the delay is minimal (think of it as not buffering the audio) and it communicates with its ‘bonded’ (not 'grouped') surrounds over a faster 5ghz ad-hoc Network… less chance of lip-sync issues with that device, but appreciate you are having some issues using that product with your Yamaha Receiver involved in the mix.

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@Ken_Griffiths I tried everything I could without the Yamaha in the mix: audio extractor, HDMI splitter, using another Tv as a switch basically. Nothing could get the Beam to accept the sound file while the projector was displaying picture. I’m baffled. Had a lot of smart people offering advice on what to do and we couldn’t get it set up so I had to buy a set of wired speakers for the home theater. Unfortunate.

Ken_Griffiths

Yes, I have been following this thread.. it’s rather baffling that you haven’t got things to work. I’m sure you have double-checked your device Settings, but 'on paper’ I would have thought it should have worked with an audio extractor/splitter by simply taking the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio from the Shield direct to the Beam and it’s surrounds ... and then splitting the video off to your Projector.

Adding the Yamaha Receiver into the mix adds a little complexity  … like @Buzz mentioned earlier, I think the Projector and EDID might be where the problem lies for you and my thought was to perhaps run a 'playing‘ 5.1 audio source to the Beam from the Shield using an HDMI-ARC connection (not Optical) and then introduce the projector connection into the setup afterwards, once you have confirmed the playing audio is correctly being output ....the idea being that the initial HDMI-ARC handshake between the Shield and Beam sets up the Dolby surround audio and by adding the Projector afterwards it will (hopefully) not alter the original handshake … but not sure if that would work?

I 'think' you can purchase EDID adapters to force the correct HDMI handshake required, but it’s not something I have ever used myself, personally speaking.

M
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Bruce,

Thanks for the help. I must admit though, most of what you’re saying sounds like it is written in a foreign language. I have no idea what type of audio signal I’m sending the receiver. I have an HDMI cord that goes from my laptop to my receiver. The HDMI ARC port is an output on the receiver. You can see it on pg. 15 here: https://usa.yamaha.com/files/download/other_assets/3/1188333/web_AV17-0350_TSR-7850_om_U_En_D0.pdf

How do I know if I have a Dolby Digital signal coming out?

How do I know if my laptop is transmitting a DTS, Dolby Digital Plus, or Dolby Atmos signal to the receiver? It’s a Dell Latitude 7490.

How can I convert the signal to something the Beam can interpret? Surely people stream from their laptops and project using a projector and use Sonos for the sound, right?

M
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Ok team, we’re making progress here.

I tried running this through another Tv under the following set up: Shield (my streaming device) HDMI plugged into back of Tv, then Beam via HDMI/optical adapter into optical output of Tv. I got picture through the Tv and audio through the Beam! Success!

I then tried introducing the extractor: Shield HDMI into input of the extractor, HDMI from extractor to Tv and optical to Beam. I got picture on my Tv but no audio on the Beam. I’m guessing this means my extractor is no good, so I’ve ordered a new one and will report back after I try that out.

Anyone have any other thoughts or a different conclusion than what I came up with?

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