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jgfermart
Contributor I
February 23, 2015
Question

New LG TV's and 5.1 pass through

I know this is a recurrent topic, but I actually believe it would be very helpful if Sonos address this issue in a concise webpage with continuous updates. Right now the whole forum is full of questions about TV's ability to pass-through a 5.1 HDMI signal. The (so voted) most helpful comment on amazon about the playbar is about the problem of not getting a real surround but an artificial constructions from a PCM 2.0 signal from the TV. And this is also the main issue mentioned in CNET for the review of the playbar.

So, guys, could you make a systematic and compressive study/review of which TV's will work with the Sonos surround system? I'm currently considering to get a full sonos surround pack, but I cant not make a decision before knowing if my LG 65UB930T (LG65UB9500 in USA) is able to pass the signal form the devices connected to the HDMI ports. And I believe this situation is generalized for all potential consumers, many of them buying your product without being aware of the issue with the 5.1 signal. 
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    65 replies

    CosmoNerd
    Enthusiast II
    February 23, 2015
    I own a LG65UB9500, and the TV forwards and plays Dolby Digital 5.1 from HDMI sources.
    If your source however plays DTS, TrueHD, etc., the playback device like BluRay player or console has to take care of the upstream conversion, or the TV's audio format has to be set to PCM.

    Hope this helps.
    -Cheers
      jgfermartAuthor
      Contributor I
      February 23, 2015
      Many thanks Bernhard! that's very useful, I have been looking for that information for days. I wish that information was included in the manuals/specifications of the TV's.
      jgfermartAuthor
      Contributor I
      February 26, 2015
      Ok, in case this is useful for someone else; I finally bought the Sonos system and I can confirm my TV PASS THROUGH the 5.1 signal form HDMI to the optical out, providing real surround to the SONOS system, and this is probable true for all LG XXUB9XXX TVs since all of them have the same technology.

      As Benhard mentioned, the TV just pass the signal without modification, so you need to configure your HDMI devices (XBOX, PS, Bluray Player...) to output 5.1 Dolby.
      drflett
      Lyricist II
      October 26, 2015
      I have an LG 58UF830V and it passes 5.1 through. nice
      Philip Linke
      Lyricist I
      November 12, 2015
      Does anyone know if a LG 55LW5600 passes true 5.1 through the digital output?
      Paulchen2000
      Trending Lyricist I
      February 7, 2016
      so a similar question from me: I unpacked my 65EF9509 yesterday and I noticed that PLEX APP (Xplay) seems not to provide 5.1 and also my first trys with 4k content from Netflix and Amazon Prime did not play in 5.1. on the Playbar. So what is your experience so far?

      passing 5.1 from external devices will be fine (if it will work - I will try that later) but the future is streaming the content from Netflix & Co. and so there is no possibility to influence the upstream conversion while you stream directly to the LG

      Peter
      Stuart_W
      Stuart_W
      World-Class Superstar
      February 7, 2016
      so a similar question from me: I unpacked my 65EF9509 yesterday and I noticed that PLEX APP (Xplay) seems not to provide 5.1 and also my first trys with 4k content from Netflix and Amazon Prime did not play in 5.1. on the Playbar. So what is your experience so far?

      passing 5.1 from external devices will be fine (if it will work - I will try that later) but the future is streaming the content from Netflix & Co. and so there is no possibility to influence the upstream conversion while you stream directly to the LG

      Peter

      There will likely be a setting in the audio menu of your TV to output audio in DD5.1. When watching a program on an app (say Netflix) that you are fairly sure will have DD then if you aren't getting that on your Playbar check the audio out settings on your TV menu.


      On my TV the DD output option was greyed out until I actually had a DD5.1 source
      Arc + Sub (Gen 1) + 2 x Play 1/ Stereo Play 3s/ Era 100 Stereo in Kitchen, One Stereo in Bedroom, Play 1 stereo pair in Study, Play 1in Bathroom, Sonos Move 2
      Paulchen2000
      Trending Lyricist I
      February 7, 2016
      I can give me the answer myself: LG passes perfect 5.1 in Dolby Digital,Dolby Digtal Plus, AAC and also in MPEG.

      BUT after selecting that in the preferences I got a lot of Audio dropouts :-((( very, very bad. in an other thread here in the forum is that problem heavly discussed. Since about 2 years!! and it seemed not to be solved :-(((

      ist there anybody having the same problems and solved that?
      thanks for your help

      Peter
      P.S. its definitly not the LG! I tried the same Movies streamed from my fire TV and got the same dropouts
      Johnny5Alive
      Contributor I
      February 8, 2016
      I mentioned this in another thread, but I have a 65 inch OLED EG9600 model.. Both this and the flat version (EF9500) can pass DD 5.1 from external HDMI sources as well as from internal apps, however from the factory the setting is off.

      For internal apps, you must go into sound settings and under format, and change it from PCM to auto and it will send 5.1.

      For HDMI connected devices, in order for the TV to pass DD 5.1 you will need a service remote. In the EZ Adjust menu go to tool option 7 and change the EDID setting from PCM to AC3. TV will reboot and you will have full 5.1 pass through. You will still need to solve the DTS conversion to DD 5.1 issue separately. PS3, PS4, and XBOX One supposedly all solve that issue.
        sksnyc
        Lyricist I
        February 23, 2016
        I mentioned this in another thread, but I have a 65 inch OLED EG9600 model.. Both this and the flat version (EF9500) can pass DD 5.1 from external HDMI sources as well as from internal apps, however from the factory the setting is off.

        For internal apps, you must go into sound settings and under format, and change it from PCM to auto and it will send 5.1.

        For HDMI connected devices, in order for the TV to pass DD 5.1 you will need a service remote. In the EZ Adjust menu go to tool option 7 and change the EDID setting from PCM to AC3. TV will reboot and you will have full 5.1 pass through. You will still need to solve the DTS conversion to DD 5.1 issue separately. PS3, PS4, and XBOX One supposedly all solve that issue.

        HI - what is a service remote? I will send input using a ROKU via HDMI to the TV .. and via optical digital out to the Playbar. So to get true 5.1 I need to 1. change LG tv setting to output Digital 2. roku setting to 'auto' output and 3. anything more? And how can I tell I am finally listening to 5.1 not simulated 5.1? Appreciate the clarity in this thread. About to buy EF9500 and wanted to seek this level of knowledge before jumping in.
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