Word of warning for anyone looking at the Beam to start a 5.1 surround sound system, it will NOT work ideally for any streaming box except the Apple TV. I would suggest really doing your research and/or staying away from the Beam if you want a home theater solution.
The Beam does not support Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) and only supports PCM (poor quality) or Dolby Digital. Why does that matter? DD+ is the current standard. Dolby (the only thing Sonos support) sounds good but is hardly used anymore by anything halfway modern. PCM is the audio equivilent to standard definition TV.
DD+ is the de facto standard for streaming boxes and services. Hulu, Netflix, HBO and I want to say Plex support this standard and only this standard. Those services do not use Dolby Digital. To get Dolby Digital, that means the stream must be downconverted (transcoded) on the fly by either your streaming device or your TV before reaching the Beam. If you do not convert, you are forced to use the poor quality PCM.
Now here's the rub. Few TVs downconvert. If you have one that does? Great! You should have few problems. Thing is though today, few streaming boxes do as well. In fact, the only one that does that I can tell is the Apple TV 4K. The nVidia Shield does not, nor does any modern Roku device. The 2016 Ruku Ultra does, but the 2017 and 2018 models do NOT. Looking at Roku forums, a software update from Roku may have removed that option thus meaning no Roku converts DD+ to D.
I can not believe Sonos is selling a device, geared for home theater, that does not support what is a very common standard. Every single streaming device support DD+ along with all the major players including Netflix and Hulu. It is THE standard, yet Sonos does not support it.
Keep this in mind as you're researching. I find it very disappointing, and will be returning my Sonos products.
WARNING: Beam does not support Dolby Digital Plus, That is a BIG deal
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I’m not sure if the TV needs to do a “DD+ to DD conversion” or of it just needs to ask the player in question to deliver DD.
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+23
I looked into Youtube and there's a "hack" to get into the LG system and change the settings to passthrough 5.1. Has anyone tried it?
I didn't use a YouTube video, I used this page http://blog.workingsi.com/2012/02/hacking-lg-55lw5700-tv.html
I bought a $10 remote and accessed my LG service menu to change the setting. Mine is a 55LW5700.
I think it’s the latter. I don’t think TVs do any transcoding at all, but pass the “request” received by HDMI-CEC from the Beam back to the source device, and it is up to the source to send the appropriate signal, even if it doesn't show up as a normal audio option in that device’s settings.
However, this is speculation on my part. There’s an internal logic that appeals to me, but I haven’t researched it. One of these days, I’ll look up the HDMI-CEC spec and see what it says about passing that data request back to a source. Or, if there’s a video engineer willing to confirm or debunk my theory, it would be nice to have an authoritative source.
I’m using a Philips 32PFK4101/12 and 50PUS6272/12 and these are not even high price models, the first one is not even a smart TV. In general I think Philips is fine when it comes to audio.
It sounds fantastic. I assume you mean you were getting Dolby Digital and not Dolby Digital Plus on your Sonos as the Plus is not supported. And you did confirm receipt of Dolby Digital in the Sonos-app? I have never gotten anything but a “Stereo” read on Sonos when using a Chromecast.
Will visit a dealership later this week and have a look at their Philips-lineup then. I had one a few years back which was horrible in many other ways, but hopefully they have improved :)
Sorry for the late response. Yes I was getting Dolby Digital and I have actually tested it last week with my old Chromecast and still it was working fine. I tested Netflix and selected a DD+ track from Stranger Things and the TV has put it out as Dolby Digital just fine.
I spent two hours researching Sonos and the internet for a solution to this problem. At last, I was able to solve my issue by doing the following:
- Upgraded my Sonos OS to SONOS 2 ( S2 v12.0.2) from App Store( Apple, Google Play, etc.).
- Ran a test in Netflix and was able to hear audio in my Play 1’s and Beam.
- Resolved
... Nearly every surround sound amplifier has had it built in for the last five years. It’s now the nearest thing to a universal surround format which is why the omission of it from the latest Sonos bar is so puzzling and frustrating.
more then 100% agree !!!
I am looking to buy a sonos beam because of so many good reviews, but will wait (or change brand) until DD+ and eARC will be available.
Ah the Beam Gen 2 perhaps??? ...(maybe one day..!!) ..but I would also want it to include ‘Atmos’ capability too for use with the current streaming services, like Netflix, alongside at least the DD+ compressed format… but that would then still not take care of Apple TV, which is supporting Dolby MAT (TrueHD uncompressed on/by the AV Receiver).
Question is whether Sonos will want to upgrade the Beam Codecs as it stands at the moment and possibly damage some PlayBar sales by adding such additional codecs to the Beam? ...I personally can’t see that happening and think we’ll have to wait a while. Time will tell though, I guess.
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