Xbox One S - the answer for DD5.1 woes?

Do you connect the optical to the TV in this set-up or to the Xboxone S?

Motor, that would depend on whether your TV will send the 5.1 audio signal out or not... some TVs will downconvert 5.1 audio signals from HDMI to 2.0 from the optical connection. If your TV does this, then I'd use the optical connection from the Xbox instead so you still get the surround sound signal.

I would be super interested if anybody has an already working setup with Xbox One S and the Playbar. I read some at least irritating postings about the lack of Bitstream output of the Xbox One S and consider this a potential problem (though statements of Microsoft can be interpreted in such a way that they will bring it in a later update). Opinions?

I would be super interested if anybody has an already working setup with Xbox One S and the Playbar. I read some at least irritating postings about the lack of Bitstream output of the Xbox One S and consider this a potential problem (though statements of Microsoft can be interpreted in such a way that they will bring it in a later update). Opinions?
There's two ways to read bitstream support on Xbox...

1. If the disc is DTS (or whatever audio format it is), there's no way to send that DTS bitstream audio out from the Xbox.

2. The Xbox audio output setting offers a Bitstream option... but the only bitstream format available is Dolby Digital.

#1 has always been an issue, even with the original Xbox One, as the Xbox only supports PCM and Dolby Digital audio output. If, however, #2 is not available on the Xbox One S, then that would be a problem. #2 has always been present on the original Xbox One, so I would imagine that it would also be on the Xbox One S. If it weren't, then it sounds like the Xbox One S only supports PCM audio output, and that would just be weird.

Did anyone confirm this?

I can confirm this. I set up a Playbar with the optical audio out of XBOX ONE S and into the Playbar. Settings in Xbox for Optical Audio are set to Bitstream and Dolby Digital. Sonos Settings in the controller app display Dolby Digital as the source for the Playbar. I also have the Xbox connected to an OTA Antenna via the suggested Hauppage USB tuner and the sound is really great on the HD channels and much better on the SD channels, very full all around and much better than the tin cans my TV uses for speakers. Whether or not the sound changes between apps, TV or games is still unknown but hooking up the Playbar to the XBOX ONE S worked for me. Also, I connected the Xbox Media Remote to the Playbar for controlling volume and can see the icon on my TV screen changing as well as the Sonos controller app changing as I turn up or down the volume. It's pretty cool stuff!

Well thanks for sharing. Recently I have bought Xbox one.

I posted this same message over in a different thread but I wanted to post it here because I'm not sure if my issue is an Xbox issue or something else. I have the following:

TV: Sony 50W805B with confirmed DD 5.1 output through optical
Xbox One S with a 1st Gen Chromecast plugged into HDMI slot.
Sonos playbar, sub, and two play 3s as surrounds

Here's my set-up: I have the Chromecast plugged into the HDMI port on the Xbox and the Xbox audio setting set to bitrate to output DD5.1. HDMI from the Xbox is plugged into the TV. Optical from the TV is going to the playbar. I thought with the Xbox and a TV that passes DD5.1 I could forego the the HDMI switch with Toslink workaround.

My problem and question: I have no issue getting DD5.1 while playing Xbox games. The system sounds great! The issue seems to be with the Chromecast. When playing a movie through Google Play movies the Sonos app says the playbar is receiving DD5.1. Unfortunately, the play3 surrounds are silent when casting a movie. It's clearly not 5.1 audio despite what the Sonos controller app says. What am I doing wrong? What am I forgetting? Do you have any suggestions on how to get this setup to play nicely? Would the following Ligawo HDMI switch fix this issue?

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00EOVD01M/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2HJPDC3GC0XOS&coliid=I1KHZVFWH2WXA9&psc=1

If you're not having issues when playing the XBox games, that means that the XBox audio is set up properly. I'm not familiar with Chromecast myself, but I'd be willing to bet that there's an audio setting on that as well, and you need to look at it before the XBox will pass it correctly.

Now, a couple of caveats. First off, because you've appropriately turned on DD 5.1 on the XBox, that's what will be sent to the Sonos, so it will be reporting it no matter what your input is. However, I'm not sure I know enough to guess as to how the separate HDMI input on the XBox is set up. I've seen a couple of cases recently where some computer video cards that were HDMI weren't actually passing a true 5.1 signal through to a TV. I really don't know if that may be an issue that you're experiencing, but you may want to do some research to make sure that the input that you've connected your Chromecast through is a true "pass through" without any restrictions. Now, I can't quite figure out why it wouldn't be, since I'd assume that it would take more work to make it not a true pass through, but perhaps a part is 1 cent cheaper that way?

I've gotten way off topic, my apologies. I suspect your issue is the sound settings on the Chromecast, not the XBox. Hopefully it's a simple adjustment to make.

Best of luck!

Did you find your solution to this?

I'm having the same issue where my playbar and play 1's don't provide surround sound coming from my Chromecast Ultra plugged into my Xbox One. Games provide surround sound but not streams from the Chromecast even though the stream is supposed to be in Dolby digital.

I don't see any indication on the Chromecast Ultra specs as to what audio codec it supports/uses. Is there an audio setting as part of the device? What is it set at?

AVS forum seems to indicate it's putting out Dolby Digital Plus, which can't be handled by Sonos. Needs to be locked down to Dolby Digital.

I don't see any settings within Chromecast Ultra that limit or define audio output. I have my Xbox one set to output via optical out only. No HDMI audio output. Also set to bitstream with Dolby digital setting. Anything that doesn't have Dolby digital will only be output in stereo. Unfortunately, looks like Sonos doesn't look to support any updates to audio codec support. Especially with only an optical input limitation. Have a very expensive set of paperweights. 😞

I have an Xbox One (First Gen), Playbar, 2 Play1s, and Projector (BenQ) it and it works great!! I get surround sound on just about all streaming video and games. It's nice to have one box that does it all (discs, streaming, games, tv (antennae))