I’ve got and Arc Ultra, Era 300s, and Sub 4 and just purchased an Amazon Fire TV that is Dolby Atmospheres capable. However, when watching a movie with Dolby Atmos, I am only getting Dolby 5.1. Trying to figure out what settings I need. For digital audio format I know I’m not supposed to use PCM or Auto; should I use Dolby Audio or Passthrough? For ARC mode, do I select ARC, eARC, or Auto? Any other settings I need to be aware of? Does the quality of the HDMI cable matter?
Answered
Getting Dolby Atmos with Amazon Fire TV and Arc Ultra
+1Best answer by Airgetlam
I would suspect a labeling issue, if it’s working on ‘some’, it would be working on all that are sending that type of signal. Sonos tends to be binary, if it works, it works. It wouldn’t be a ‘sometimes’ thing.
It really depends on the TV and its capabilities. You should have the TV set to eARC, and be using the Sonos cable, since it is the correct type to pass the data. You should also set the TV to passthrough, with the hope that it can passthrough both Dolby Digital Plus, which most streaming companies use, as well as Dolby MAT, which some Blu-ray and some Apple devices use. But it should be said, just because your system is Atmos capable doesn’t mean all shows broadcast in, or Sonos updates content to Atmos…you have to test with Atmos content, and not YouTube ( which while it may claim to be Atmos, is usually stereo).
There are many threads which have links to Dolby Labs downloads which can be used for testing.
Amazon FireSticks have an Atmos test screen, starting there eliminates many of the possible problems. Once it is working from there move on to using other sources.
Go to Settings on your Fire TV Stick.
Select Display & Sounds.
Select Audio/Video Diagnostics to see supported settings.
The test option is at the bottom of the screen.
+1It is not a firestick, it is a fire tv.
After more experimentation, I do get Dolby Atmos sound on some movies/programs, but not on all movies/programs labeled as Atmos. So I’m not sure if it is a labeling problem or if I need to change something.
I would suspect a labeling issue, if it’s working on ‘some’, it would be working on all that are sending that type of signal. Sonos tends to be binary, if it works, it works. It wouldn’t be a ‘sometimes’ thing.
Note that YouTube videos marked as 5.1 or Atmos are not 5.1 or Atmos 99% of the time if you are using a free YouTube account. The majority of videos are downgraded to 2.0 stereo when uploaded to YouTube.
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