The definitive DTS-HD sound work-around for the Sonos Arc

OK, that is good to know!

I haven't found anything, and am sure it doesn't exist, which transcodes DTS-HD to TrueHD.

On the same topic, I have found a more practical way around this whole thing. Arc supports Atmos; most Blu-Rays are in DTS-HD. However, a lot of studios are re-releasing their titles as 4K discs with Atmos! This is great, you can pick up the 4k disc (if used) relatively cheaply and watch it in 4k with Atmos to boot. I’ve just done this with Angels & Demons, Man of Steel and a few others.

Some 4k released are still DTS-HD, which shows you how capable DTS-HD is.

Yes, I have been gathering different sources, that are from my collection but in different codecs, to remux them together but also get the A/V sync to be proper. 

There is a great freeware to try called Shotcut ( here) where I'm trying different codecs to see what works and what doesn't with the Arc. Next on the list is MLP.

Krishna, I am confused. The Arc is a wonderful sounding device, but the premium that we have paid and the lack of inputs and functionality (not supporting DTS which is WIDELY used on so many titles, many of which are Hollywood staples) is such a glaring omission especially when compared to the competition. 

Does Sonos have any plans in at least giving us DTS capabilities so we don't have to use these ridiculous work around in 2020? 

No, Sonos will never support DTS…also will never give a real answer as to why. Every other TRUE home theater component from the 1980’s and up supports DTS. 

I agree that Sonos will never support DTS. Why they haven’t in the past is a bit of a mystery, but with the Arc I can understand their rationale. Arc is built for the streaming future and DTS doesn’t seem to be playing a role in that. No streaming video or audio service that I’m aware of uses DTS and, moving forward, the vast majority of Arc customers won’t know or care that it doesn’t support DTS because it DOES support the formats used by the services they use to watch TV and movies:  Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, etc. 

I’d further argue that if DTS and Blu-ray Discs are a major part of your movie watching routine then the Arc simply isn’t for you and you should use one of the many, many other very fine home theater solutions out there. 

While I have bought and collected thousands of DVDs and BDs over the years, I’ve long since moved on to a media server-based system (Plex) out of sheer convenience so this whole DTS thing has been a non-issue for me, personally. Not arguing that this is the right solution for everyone out there, but it has proven to be a super flexible, useful, and convenient option for me and many others. 

Oh, and Dolby Digital didn’t come out until 1992 (Batman Returns) and DTS didn’t come out until 1993 (theatrical, starting with Jurassic Park) and 1996 (consumer), so no “true home theater component from the 1980’s” was doing any sort of discrete digital surround sound. ;-) 

Was be over exaggerated, a quick search on the interwebs would have brought the years or even the exact date lol. But.. you get my drift, as far as Sonos being DTS obmissive due to streaming popularity is still a cop out on their part...REGARDLESS.

Thanks for posting this Evander, I’m in a similar position with:

• A stack of blu rays I’d like to backup onto digital
• A Plex server
• A new Arc with sub.

From your post, I should select E-AC3 at 960 with a mixdown of “5.1 channels”, and you said:

the mkv produced was recognised by the Arc to be 5.1 channel Dolby Digital Plus.

How do you work that bit out? I assume it doesn’t generate an ‘ATMOS’ sign in the app?

Also, do you think that is better than doing an auto-passthrough on the TrueHD master?

Just wanting to pick the best option before hitting ‘go’ on the handbrake queue!

I've been doing this for a while, although I'm satisfied with bog standard AC3.

The benefit here is that yon can ditch the disks ;)

I tried to convert some DTS-HD 5.1 tracks to TrueHD 5.1 using ffmpeg. The TrueHD versions play fine in VLC on my computer but when I try to play them through Plex with my Sonos Arc, no audio comes out. I have an eARC connection and “official” 7.1 TrueHD Atmos files work fine; it’s the home-converted 5.1 files that don’t work. Any suggestions? Do we have to somehow limit the TrueHD bitrate for compatibility? Thanks.

Hi Sturman I’ve tried this too, using a great program called XMediaRecode; but this doesn't work. My educated guess on this is as follows.

Firstly there is no free way to convert DTS-HD to Dolby TrueHD; this simply does not exist. I think professional software does, which I have seen about, but that’s serious stuff for serious sound people like broadcasters etc.

Secondly, I think ffmpeg and XMediaRecode do not actually recode the audio to TrueHD, they just change the label or container in the MKV. So your computer will still play the underlying DTS-HD even though its labelled TrueHD because it can actually decode the underlying data. However, it is not in fact TrueHD. Which is why with Sonos, which cannot actually play DTS, it will not play.

I had the same experience using XMediaRecode--worked on my Mac and computers but not Sonos. 

That’s what I think. It makes no sense that free applications could actually convert DTS-HD to TrueHD when even paid consumer applications can’t do this. Also, nowhere has anyone claimed to have done this and it worked. When I researched this, this was an issue people could only work around and not directly convert from one to the other.

Best you can do--as my experience in the original post says, is convert rich lossless 1,500kbps+ DTS-HD to 960kbps DD+ using (eg) XMedia Recode which is really fast and works perfect.

Regards