Stereo PCM

What do u mean ? Nvidia shield has no HDMI out connection? I checked on the web it does

I have the same  type Phillips tv and there is nothing wrong in how Phillips implemented the HDMI sound out  as I did some testing with my Yamaha soundbar that has indicators for which type of signal is coming into the soundbar 

Let's look at the options

Multichannel - this is like the automatic setting in Sony or LG tvs . what this does is pass pcm stereo or the downconverts to  vanilla version of Dolby like ac3 or 5.1 or DTS from the sources like Atmos or ddplus. If the source is YouTube,  mp3 it passes pcm uncompressed stereo. If the source is 5.1, atmos or DD plus  from netflix it will pass appropriately as surround ac3 downmixed .  If yr soundbar does not recognize Dolby digital plus or Atmos, it's best to choose this option as it auto recognizes the unsupported source and down converts to regular Dolby digital ac3 . 

Multichannel (bypass) - bitstream. Does exactly whats it's supposed to do. Pass the audio bits unaltered to the external connected HDMI sound system like soundbar or receiver to be processed .For more complex formats like ddplus Atmos DTS,Dolby true hd ect that need to be utilized with external equipment to reach full potential. Works best with high end soundbars like Sonos . If your soundbar/ receiver do not support the higher true hd Dolby or DTS formats, u will not get any sound.

Uncompressed Stereo  - outputs Uncompressed Stereo pcm from all sources    to  all soundbars both low and high end ones or any speakers  that do not need or work with multichannel capabilities ( examples are  bookshelf speakers like Klipsch the fives  or edifiers using optical or HDMI)  With this option the sound output is always assured regardless of 5.1 source or stereo. all sources will be converted to uncompressed stereo. 

the difference between multichannel (non bypass) and uncompressed stereo is this :

Multichannel - outputs stripped 5.1 from atmos/DD plus  source and PCM stereo from stereo only sources. lets say u connect a cheapo 2.1 soundbar , u will not get sound when the source is 5.1. but if the source is stereo only, u will get sound. Example is youtube videos ( some videos  are stereo while some are in 5.1 formats recently). basically this option outputs stereo as it is and downcoverts surround sources to vanilla ( if yr soundbar is just a 2.1 it cannot recgnise the downconverted surround too). This option is best suited to those   soundbars that come with 5.1 capabilities  and outputs sound in virtual surround but does not atmos or DDplus .

Uncompressed stereo - u will get sound regardless of any source be it be atmos . dd plus or true hd ect. All will be converted to stereo. This  is why this option best fits cheap 2.1 soundbars with no multichannel capabilities because they can accept only one type of signal; - stereo.



 

what happens if u connect a stereo only soundbar or speaker  and set the option to multichannel bypass?

the soundbar will behave the same as multichannel ( non bypass):

if the source is stereo the soundbar will output it , itf the source is 5.1 it will not  output any sound because the DAC / AV receiver in the stereo only soundbar can only process stereo if its  in the bitstream being passed over . if the bitsream contains 5.1 only ,  the soundbar DAC/ receiver cannot process it. since its not capable.

i have tried 3 different soundbars with varous format support on my phillips tv that has the same options . i could see no problem and all of them behave the way they are supposed to .

Creative stage V2 -  Stereo only soundbar

Not capable of  any  ac3 , dolby or dts or any surround format output

multichannel  - no sound 

stereo uncompressed - works with  all source formats input

multichannel ( bypass) : no sound 
this is because the soundbar DAC cannot  process dolby or dts formats 

Yamaha SR-B20A  - dolby digital / DTS:virtual X soundbar .

Not capable DD plus and atmos format output

multichannel  - works with all source formats input 

stereo uncompressed - works with all source formats input

multichannel( bypass) - works for stereo, dolby digital 5.1 and DTS input only.  no sound  in bypass when atmos or dd plus is fed.  this is because the soundbar DAC cannot process DD plus or atmos.

Samsung HW-N650 - dolby digital / DD plus / DTS: virtual X soundbar .

Not capable of Atmos. output

multichannel  - works with all source formats input. 

stereo uncompressed - works with  all source formats input. 

multichannel( bypass) - works with stereo, dolby digital 5.1, DTS  and DD plus input only . no sound  in bypass when atmos is fed .this is because the soundbar DAC cannot process atmos.

So this leads me to think that there is nothing wrong with phillips tvs. There must be something wrong with the  Sonos beam  as clearly its not behaving in the way its supposed to 

No, the Shield (I own one) does not have an HDMI-ARC output, so sends it’s audio to different pins on the connector. You cannot get sound on a Sonos soundbar connected to a “normal” non-ARC HDMI connection. So connecting an Nvidia “directly to soundbar” wil not work.

Ok I understand, I do not have a shield device with me. But on another occasion I have read a post in a forum that stated that a soundbar had no sound in HDMI arc but once they connect it to the normal HDMI in port they had sound 

No. The Sonos input is only on the ARC/eARC pins, and not the standard audio pins for HDMI. 

So the Sonos doesn't have HDMI/ in on it's side for direct connection to devices?

Your profile says you have an Arc: does yours have one?