WARNING: Beam does not support Dolby Digital Plus, That is a BIG deal

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.

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 don’t think CEC has anything to do with this, i think it is EDID that is used for the audio codec negotiation over HDMI. But I could be wrong.

I don’t fully understand why anyone needs the Beam to play a DD+ (Atmos compressed) audio source, as I believe that codec is for a minimum of a 5.1.2 speaker setup, where the .2 is for downward firing speakers (or can be upward firing to reflect down from a ceiling).

The Beam and surrounds do not support that type of setup in terms of their hardware (no upward/downward firing speakers)??

My 2016 Sony will not pass any DD+ from devices plugged into hdmi ports on TV.  The TV will only output 2 ch.

My 2019 Sony does, but on only 3 of 5 ports.

I think the OP’s issue is the TV.  We are asking it to be a receiver (or preamp) of sorts to handle all formats. 

I think most TV manufacturers believed a sound bar or receiver would be where you connect everything and only video goes to the TV.  If you plugged in something like a Roku to an hdmi port on the TV instead of a receiver, the TV didn’t need to pass anything because there are only 2 channel speakers on the TV itself.

I personally would have liked the Sonos to be the hub and not the TV, but I can see why they did this.

I also know to get wireless to work with uncompressed would be a huge issue due to the amount of data needing to go over wifi to different components at the same time.

Your mistake is conflating DD+ for Atmos.  DD+ is a method for containing a number of surround formats starting from “standard” 5.1 and going up from there.  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.

For another data point, I’m experiencing a problem where the surround sound works only partially.

I have the beam and two play ones as my surrounds on my 2019 TCL ROKU 6 Series (plugged in thru the ARC). Using the built in apps on my TV, the surround works on Disney+, Amazon Prime, and the Dolby Channel, as well as my local antenna. However, audio from Netflix, Hulu, HBO GO, ESPN, YouTube, Showtime, and more seem to be stuck in stereo and will ONLY play on the beam itself. Is this caused by the lack of support for DD+ and is there a way around this?

This is a very common problem indeed, the forum is full of such reports. You shouldn’t really have hijacked this thread for it, but here we are.

Some TVs do not pass-thru DD 5.1 from external HDMI sources, but do for internal sources ie the built-in apps. You need to use an EDID emulator on each external input, to force the (dumb) TV to accept DD 5.1. Surprising that any 2019 model TV still has this problem, as the misunderstanding that the HDCP spec caused should be well in the past now.

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.