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Why doesn't Sonos support DTS 4 (ie. Blu Ray DTS)?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
December 5, 2022
17 replies
1062 views

So I’ve had a longstanding issue with DTS on Sonos, where I can play DTS Blu Rays, but only if I turn off the ‘eARC’ of my TV. This is better than nothing, but frustrating as turning eARC off causes other issues with my setup.

Sonos today told me that this is due to my Blu Rays outputting a form of DTS called ‘DTS 4’ which apparently Sonos don’t support. I’ve never been aware of DTS 4, and it seems all/most Blu Rays output DTS using that.

Apparently the reason it works with eARC off is that my TV then downgrades DTS 4 to DTS, and Sonos plays it.

But I really don’t understand why this is not supported as standard if it’s the only form of DTS on Blu Rays, and why there isn’t a way to just automatically downgrade it (without turning eARC off)? Does anyone know if Sonos are likely to add support for this soon?

My setup:

TV - LG B9 OLED

Blu Ray Player - Panasonic DP-UB820

Sonos - Sonos Arc + One SLs

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RobboadamAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Ken_Griffiths

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Just switch the sending device/player to transcode the DTS audio to Mc-LPCM. Both DTS-X/HQ are not (currently) supported by Sonos.

DTS 5.1 (lossy) is supported, but also note some TV’s may not pass-through the codec.

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RobboadamAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Just switch the sending device/player to transcode the DTS audio to Mc-LPCM. Both DTS-X/HQ are not (currently) supported by Sonos.

DTS 5.1 (lossy) is supported, but also note some TV’s may not pass-through the codec.

As I said in the other thread, doing this means that you also lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD, so that’s more of a hassle than turning eARC off/on.

There should be a way to automatically downgrade it to a supported audio without downgrading every audio type - or better still for Sonos to support a DTS audio type that the vast majority of DTS users will be playing (ie. for Blu Rays).

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Just switch the sending device/player to transcode the DTS audio to Mc-LPCM. Both DTS-X/HQ are not (currently) supported by Sonos.

DTS 5.1 (lossy) is supported, but also note some TV’s may not pass-through the codec.

As I said in the other thread, doing this means that you also lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD, so that’s more of a hassle than turning eARC off/on.

There should be a way to automatically downgrade it to a supported audio without downgrading every audio type - or better still for Sonos to support a DTS audio type that the vast majority of DTS users will be playing (ie. for Blu Rays).

How do you “lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD” when playing a DTS-encoded disc that doesn’t have a Dolby Atmos/TrueHD audio track?

FYI… the Panasonic DP-UB820 has separate settings for Dolby and DTS audio. Set Dolby Audio to Bitstream. Set DTS/DTS-HD to PCM. And set BD-Video Secondary Audio to Off. With these settings (and with eARC enabled on the TV), anytime you play a disc with a Dolby TrueHD/Atmos track it will play the correct audio. When you play a disc with a DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:X track, it will play as “Multichannel PCM” out of the Arc.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

Ken_Griffiths

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Just switch the sending device/player to transcode the DTS audio to Mc-LPCM. Both DTS-X/HQ are not (currently) supported by Sonos.

DTS 5.1 (lossy) is supported, but also note some TV’s may not pass-through the codec.

As I said in the other thread, doing this means that you also lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD, so that’s more of a hassle than turning eARC off/on.

There should be a way to automatically downgrade it to a supported audio without downgrading every audio type - or better still for Sonos to support a DTS audio type that the vast majority of DTS users will be playing (ie. for Blu Rays).

I’ve just replied to your post in the other thread - I don’t toggle eARC off at all and with it enabled on the C9, it passes through both DTS 5.1, MC-LPCM and all the Dolby codecs including Dolby TrueHD - I do not have Atmos, as I use a PlayStation, but presumably the TV would happily pass-through Dolby TrueHD (Atmos).

My C9 TV firmware is version 05.30.11, just in case that may assist you too.

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RobboadamAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I’ve not heard of DTS 4 but it could well just be DTS-HD that they’re referring to.

Just switch the sending device/player to transcode the DTS audio to Mc-LPCM. Both DTS-X/HQ are not (currently) supported by Sonos.

DTS 5.1 (lossy) is supported, but also note some TV’s may not pass-through the codec.

As I said in the other thread, doing this means that you also lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD, so that’s more of a hassle than turning eARC off/on.

There should be a way to automatically downgrade it to a supported audio without downgrading every audio type - or better still for Sonos to support a DTS audio type that the vast majority of DTS users will be playing (ie. for Blu Rays).

How do you “lose Dolby Atmos/TrueHD” when playing a DTS-encoded disc that doesn’t have a Dolby Atmos/TrueHD audio track?

FYI… the Panasonic DP-UB820 has separate settings for Dolby and DTS audio. Set Dolby Audio to Bitstream. Set DTS/DTS-HD to PCM. And set BD-Video Secondary Audio to Off. With these settings (and with eARC enabled on the TV), anytime you play a disc with a Dolby TrueHD/Atmos track it will play the correct audio. When you play a disc with a DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:X track, it will play as “Multichannel PCM” out of the Arc.

No, this doesn’t turn DTS into LPCM for me - this turns it into Stereo PCM (I’d love to know how you get LPCM though).

When I say I’ve ‘lost Atmos’, that’s when I’ve turned Secondary Audio to ‘On’ - I get DTS 5.1, but it also switches all Atmos content to DD 5.1 too.

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

@Robboadam Be sure your TV settings are set to this:

HDMI Input Audio Format: Bitstream

Digital Sound Output: Pass Through

eARC Support: On

If your TV is already set to these settings, then more than likely your TV is not able to pass through LPCM audio from the UB820. This has been an issue with LG and Panasonic for quite some time. But it was fixed with some of the newer model LG OLEDs about 5 months ago. Either it hasn’t been fixed on the B9 or you need to update the B9 with the latest firmware/software.

The other option is to get a different Blu-ray player.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

R

RobboadamAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

@Robboadam Be sure your TV settings are set to this:

HDMI Input Audio Format: Bitstream

Digital Sound Output: Pass Through

eARC Support: On

If your TV is already set to these settings, then more than likely your TV is not able to pass through LPCM audio from the UB820. This has been an issue with LG and Panasonic for quite some time. But it was fixed with some of the newer model OLEDs about 5 months ago. Either it hasn’t been fixed on the B9 or you need to update the B9 with the latest firmware/software.

The other option is to get a different Blu-ray player.

Hmm, I feel like I’m back to square one with this. B9 supports DTS (which the later models don’t), so I don’t know why it can’t just downgrade DTS-HD to DTS.

Like, it’s nice to have DTS ability, but no matter what setting I put it in there seems to be an issue that goes along with playing DTS.

Which is why I don’t understand why Sonos can’t just add support for the format that is actually used most. No one uses standard DTS, it’s always DTS-HD/4

Ken_Griffiths

Yes, FWIW - those are my LG C9 TV settings here too, I rarely ever change them.