Skip to main content
MSmithSonos
Contributor II
June 27, 2018

Sonos...you're killing me with your lack of HDMI support

Man, I was so ready to go full in on Sonos. Just bought a new house that I'm moving into shortly and was ready to outfit it with Sonos 5.1 in the living room and Play 5's and Play 1's in other rooms. Then I find out poor support for new Dolby formats....tough pill to swallow, but fine. Then I find out no outdoor speakers....grrr...annoying but fine. But then I find out there's no HDMI. Gahh...What? Then I hear about the Beam and think they've addressed the issue. But now reviews are coming out and it seems it's an entry level product and not a Playbar equivalent. Why are they being so stubborn? When they announced the Beam they should have also announced new versions of the Playbar/Playbase/Connect with HDMI support as well.

Sonos, take my money please!!! But you can't have this kind of dough when the product seems destined to become outdated due to it's lack of support of modern standards (arguably it's already there).

Sorry for the vent. Just was really hoping to finally be able to go all in with them, but guess I can't. I have to find a competitor I guess. So annoying. I hope management reads these forums...you're losing potential customers.
      This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

      23 replies

      Show previous replies
      John B
      November 6, 2018
      Error correction? It's a cable. Nonsense.
      Translate
      jgatie
      jgatie
      November 6, 2018
      How do these myths get started? SPDIF has error correction, as does any properly designed digital transport. Specifically, it uses a parity bit and CRC error correction for each 32 bit subframe.
      Translate
      melvimbe
      melvimbe
      November 6, 2018
      Eh, I see it as mostly irrelevant. Optical is fading out, at least in terms of AV cabling, in favor of HDMI cables. Besides handling more codecs, it's clearly an easier to use cable.
      Translate
      Danny
      John B
      November 6, 2018
      How do these myths get started? SPDIF has error correction, as does any properly designed digital transport. Specifically, it uses a parity bit and CRC error correction for each 32 bit subframe.I think I would describe it as 'error disguise' or 'error limitation' rather than 'error correction', in both cases. Maybe that is just semantics.
      Translate
      John B
      November 6, 2018
      Eh, I see it as mostly irrelevant. Optical is fading out, at least in terms of AV cabling, in favor of HDMI cables. Besides handling more codecs, it's clearly an easier to use cable.I would agree with that. HDMI is certainly capable of carrying more, but not necessarily better.
      Translate
      johnzena
      Lyricist III
      November 6, 2018
      Error correction? It's a cable. Nonsense.

      If you actually read what I wrote I never said the cable itself had error correction.

      Here is the article on HDMI error correction technology which optical does not have.

      https://www.cnet.com/news/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/
      Translate
      jgatie
      jgatie
      November 6, 2018
      ]

      If you actually read what I wrote I never said the cable itself had error correction.

      Here is the article on HDMI error correction technology which optical does not have.

      https://www.cnet.com/news/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/

      Could you point out where in that article it says "optical does not have" error correction? Because the only mention of optical in the entire article says nothing about error correction, it only states that when playing a CD, jitter is more likely with HDMI than with optical or coax.
      Translate
      John B
      November 6, 2018
      Interesting discussion here

      https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=6271817

      In the end though, would anyone hear a difference in a blind test? I suspect not. Any evidence anyone has rigorously tested this?
      Translate
      johnzena
      Lyricist III
      November 6, 2018
      ]

      If you actually read what I wrote I never said the cable itself had error correction.

      Here is the article on HDMI error correction technology which optical does not have.

      https://www.cnet.com/news/why-all-hdmi-cables-are-the-same/

      Could you point out where in that article it says "optical does not have" error correction? Because the only mention of optical in the entire article says nothing about error correction, it only states that when playing a CD, jitter is more likely with HDMI than with optical or coax.

      The article doesn't point it out because they can't do it the same way since they are one direction only. That is the digital signal travels from point A to point B only. No two way communication. HDMI can send a signal in both directions hence the two way communication. That's why when you turn on your bluray player it can tell the tv to turn (if it's in standby mode) and what input to turn to. So they can compare the signal.

      Error correction devices for optical and co-ax digital cables do it by predicting or guessing what the true signal should be. Then put bits back in where they think they should go or back in order of where they think it is.
      Translate
      jgatie
      jgatie
      November 6, 2018
      So optical and coax do have error correction?
      Translate
      Show more replies
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement