Surround sound during basketball games? Normal to not have much from rear surround speakers?

Question

Hi everyone, thanks for any help or input in advance.  I just bought a Playbar, Sub, and 2 Playones for surround sound/music in my basement.  I watch a lot of basketball but have been very disappointed with the surround during the broadcast.  I feel like I should be getting crowd noise and what not in my rear surrounds but I get pretty much nothing, except sound effects when they do graphics or a random really loud clap from a fan.  I watch the Vikings/Eagles game on Sunday and it seemed to work great, but I wasn't paying as close of attention to it at the time.  Everything seems to kick on and work great during commercials but then drops off again.  My Sono's set up sounds amazing when playing music or watching Movies.  I called support and the latest answer I got was that it's just the way basketball games are mic'd and they get lots of complaints about.  Is this true or are they giving me the run around.  Thanks!

Airgetlam · Accepted Answer

I don't tend to watch basketball much, but if it's working while you were watching football, I'd be wondering if perhaps the basketball game was only in stereo from the broadcaster. Next time you're questioning what signal the PLAYBAR is interpreting, you can open the controller app, and select the three dots at the bottom, then choose settings. Once on that page, select About My Sonos system, and look in the bottom box for the area covering your PLAYBAR. There should be a line that says "Audio In", followed by the data stream that the PLAYBAR in interpreting, be it Stereo or Dolby Digital.

It's important to note that there is a lot of variation in the way that the signal is mixed by the engineers at the recording venue. They may push a lot of data to the surround, or they may not. I've had some football games that give me a great surround signal of the crowd, and others that are pretty muted. It's not a Sonos issue, it's the data sent by the broadcaster.

Anyway, next time you're questioning whether it's a Sonos issue or not, just look at that "about my Sonos system" area. It will tell you what the Sonos thinks is being sent. And note that Sonos doesn't alter its settings from source to source. It's a "one setting" thing, you make changes to it, and whatever you set is what is set. Then it just depends on the broadcast signal.

luke22zm · Answer

Thanks, it says Doby  Digital 5.1 so it should be in the best format, just something I'll have to deal with I think.  I just turned on a re-run of an old super bowl on NFL network and it comes it great.

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