app shows stereo pcm / 2.0, but using eARC and surrounds

  • 24 March 2021
  • 18 replies
  • 49542 views
B

Hi

 

I have a sonos Arc and 2 Sonos one SL as surrounds 

 

The app says its playing stereo pcm and in the settings that the arc is receiving stereo 2.0

 

However, I'm running a brand new 55 inch LG oled TV and the arc is connected via a eARC hdmi cable.

 

The app shows that the audio is set to surround and the rear speakers are working.

 

But when I stream dolby atmos from Disney plus the app still says its receiving stereo

 

So ... I have connected it properly, I'm streaming dolby atmos, the TV is running the audio out correctly to the arc sound bar, the rear speakers are connected correctly, the app shows the sound mode is set to surround,  but on the about my system and the player on the app it says clearly its running stereo pcm…

 

How do I get this set up to run atmos?!?!

 

Ben dadds 3 years ago

Hi buddy,

 

Its a cx series LG OLED

 

However, after some exploring I found there were some additional setting in the tv's advanced sound settings that had not activated,  ... I changed them to dolby digital plus and pass through and it seems to have worked!

 

Full atmos and also 5.1 on other services 

 

Job done…

 

Tbh,  I wouldn't have worked it out if I hadn't been reading for round in these forums.

 

Thanks chaps

View original

18 replies

G
Userlevel 7

What specific TV model do you have?

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

Hi buddy,

 

Its a cx series LG OLED

 

However, after some exploring I found there were some additional setting in the tv's advanced sound settings that had not activated,  ... I changed them to dolby digital plus and pass through and it seems to have worked!

 

Full atmos and also 5.1 on other services 

 

Job done…

 

Tbh,  I wouldn't have worked it out if I hadn't been reading for round in these forums.

 

Thanks chaps

P

Hi Ben

I have the same issue. I have an LG CX7 OLED and found the setting for Dolby Digital Plus, but it made no difference.

I did find a setting for Digital Sound Out, for the HDMI Arc connection, that was set on PCM and I have changed that to Auto.

Where is the pass-through setting you found? Is that on the TV or the app? 

 

Cheers

Wayne

B

It was buried I the spund settings in the tv 

 

I think it was under extras or additional settings etc.

 

It was third tier in the menu so wasn't at all obvious 

P

Thanks Ben. I think the setting I found for PCM that I set to auto has done the trick. I am now seeing Dolby for Netflix 5.1 movies. Still saw Stereo PCM for Dolby Atmos demos on YouTube but they may be my slow internet connection

G
Userlevel 7

Thanks Ben. I think the setting I found for PCM that I set to auto has done the trick. I am now seeing Dolby for Netflix 5.1 movies. Still saw Stereo PCM for Dolby Atmos demos on YouTube but they may be my slow internet connection

All YouTube videos are in stereo. YouTube doesn’t support Dolby Atmos or 5.1 audio.

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

Hi there

 

I sometimes seem to have the same Problem. I’m using a Nvidia shield as a Player and sometimes, eventhough I’ve got the passthrough on auto in the eARC Settings not pcm.

Regards

Wytoo

Ken_Griffiths

Hi there

 

I sometimes seem to have the same Problem. I’m using a Nvidia shield as a Player and sometimes, eventhough I’ve got the passthrough on auto in the eARC Settings not pcm.

Regards

Wytoo

It may depend on what you are playing and from which App …and in some instances it may also depend on the level of subscription, for instance a Netflix ‘premium’ account needs to be used to be able to playback Atmos content.

Gerard McCormack
Badge

Hi buddy,

 

Its a cx series LG OLED

 

However, after some exploring I found there were some additional setting in the tv's advanced sound settings that had not activated,  ... I changed them to dolby digital plus and pass through and it seems to have worked!

 

Full atmos and also 5.1 on other services 

 

Job done…

 

Tbh,  I wouldn't have worked it out if I hadn't been reading for round in these forums.

 

Thanks chaps

This is brilliant thank you, I have the same tv and soundbar and couldn't figure out why it was only pcm 2.0. It was driving me mad.. changed my audio settings to pass through in the LG and left the digital plus option to auto and its working perfectly. Thank you!

V

Hi all. Thanks for everyone’s input so far. I seem to be getting a “better” sound than the stereo channel that it used to purge out of the Arc but after following the settings recommended above, I seem to only get Dolby Multichannel PCM 2.0 (watching Extraction on Netflix, which is meant to be in Atmos I’ve read). Can anyone please have some info on the exact settings you have to enable/disable?

 

mine is as follows:
LG C1 

Settings >

Sound Out: HDMI(ARC) Device

Advanced Settings >
(please note my Dolby Atmos is greyed out for some reason)


DTV Audio Setting: Auto (I also tried this on Dolby Digital Plus but get the same result)

Digital Sound Output: Auto (again, I tried on Passthrough and produced the same result)

eARC support: On (when I turn this off, it becomes Dolby Digital Plus 5.1rather than Dolby Multichannel PCM 2.0)

 

 

Gerard McCormack
Badge

Here are all my settings, I found changing the digital sound out to pass through fixed it for me as this was set to pcm by default on me.

 

Don't mind the TV installation type as this only has an impact if using the TV internal speakers.

 

Gerard McCormack
Badge

For clarity... my tv is a cx 55, just sitting on the ps5 menu now it shows as pcm multichannel but this would change to dolby if the source was outputting dolby like on disney or certain netflix 

 

V

Thanks for that. Weird thing is watching “Army of the Dead” now shows Dolby Atmos on the Sonos app (see below)


…but the weird thing is Dolby Atmos is still greyed out in the LG menu. Should I not be bothered by that anymore?

Gerard McCormack
Badge

I'm pretty sure that only matters for the internal speakers.. Once the audio is set to pass through.. the TV let's the sound bar do all the work and allows the app to speak directly with with soundbar.. im no expert but that's what I took from it.. mine is greyed out but set to on.. if it was bothering you, you could try change the audio output to TV internal speaker, turn it on.. then change the audio back to e-arc and it should grey out but be set to on.. but I don't think it matters, the sonos system tells you what signal its outputting and if you go to the sonos app and click settings, then system, then about my system and scroll down you should see what audio format each speaker is receiving... again I'm no expert but that's what I picked up googling stuff and this forum.

Gerard McCormack
Badge

To check for sure.. search 'atmos' on netflix. It will give you all the dolby atmos titles.. pick one, let it play and go check your sonos app. As long as you see it in both places in the app then you're fine. Here's what I see when I watch 'our planet' on netflix in dolby vision-atmos.

 

 

A

Same issue here :(

 

i have a panasonic panasonic jz1004 connected to my apple tv. Randomly it’s switch to pcm 2.0 with the same source he work before in atmos or pcm 5.1.

 

My tv is setting to passthrough. The problem is the same with dolby or pcm.

 

All my device are updated (sonos, tv and apple tv).

A

Hello,

 

just a little feedback about the problem for me.

 

the problem came from the remote control work with IR (not official of apple tv) !!!

 

When apple tv 4k is blocked in pcm stereo, i just "turn off" normally the apple tv. I wait 30 seconds to be sure apple tv, tv and sonos are in stand by mode. After this i turn on apple tv with official remote and now it's works !!!

 

It’s a sync problem with tv, apple tv and sonos ;)

 

If you use official remote control sold with apple tv (for turn on), you will not be blocked in pcm stereo !!!

O

Hello,

 

just a little feedback about the problem for me.

 

the problem came from the remote control work with IR (not official of apple tv) !!!

 

When apple tv 4k is blocked in pcm stereo, i just "turn off" normally the apple tv. I wait 30 seconds to be sure apple tv, tv and sonos are in stand by mode. After this i turn on apple tv with official remote and now it's works !!!

 

It’s a sync problem with tv, apple tv and sonos ;)

 

If you use official remote control sold with apple tv (for turn on), you will not be blocked in pcm stereo !!!

Think i’m a little confused, but I have seen people mention that the stand by/powering mode with Appletv4k will distort things, so I believe you’re on to something..

 

Just to clarify, do I want to use my LG TV remote to power everything on or are you saying that I should use the Apple4k TV remote? I believe I’ve previously seen people suggest that using the Apple4k remote to control things is the culprit..

Also, just so I understand.. if everything is working as intended, will I still see some content in Stereo pcm or should I never see it? I’m confused as to what is the worst output I should expect to see if everything is set up 100% correctly?

Reply


Terms & ConditionsCookie settings