Having failed to connect an epson projector to era 100 via Bluetooth, it turns out that Sonos do not currently support the Epson scms-t for copyright projection, and as such Bluetooth cannot connect until this is changed. Any idea when this might happen? My era 100s are a waste of time otherwise and I foolishly stamped on the boxes already so can't return them.
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.
Sonos rarely makes announcements about future products and enhancements, so I can’t see them giving you an ETA or even stating that this is being developed.
Just my opinion, but unlikely this will be done. The Era 100 isn’t designed to connect to a projector or any video source really and will have some latency built in for multiroom audio. (This may or may not be acceptable to you personally). If Sonos upgrades their bluetooth firmware to be SCMS-T compliant, it won’t be for this reason.
Some possible work arounds are a direct wired connection to the Era 100, or perhaps using a 3rd party bluetooth transmitter that doesn’t involve copyright protection.
Userlevel 7
If you can’t get the Era 100’s to work as you would like you might consider the following:
- Re-purpose them elsewhere in your home
- Sell them to a friend or on eBay
FYI, don’t destroy packaging for any product you purchase before the return period has expired. It’s a long shot (assuming you purchased from Sonos direct); but you might call Sonos Sales Support to see if they will take them back due to extenuating circumstances.
Another note...Sonos speakers hold their value quite well. I have the packaging for every Sonos speaker I own. When I upgrade (at 3-5 years upon the release of a new model) I sell them on eBay and typically recoup 60%-70% of the original purchase price. The packaging helps with the sale.
I just attempted to connect my Epson projector to an Era 100 speaker and ran into this problem. Wasn’t something I was even aware of but now we learn something new. I’ll probably just buy a Bluetooth transmitter as a workaround for what is a pretty petty issue.
Thanks for the replies. All very valuable advice. It seems strange that Sonos would move into Bluetooth capabilities without fully commiting to what appears to be universal requirements, such as scms-t. I understand the point about not being designed for video, but given av is so integrated these days it seems like another delay on Sonos' side ahead of full compatibility.
Hear you on the packaging, just don't have much space!
Is a Bluetooth transmitter easy to set up?
Upon further research, the bluetooth transmitter option is probably a non-starter because most of them require battery charging and to toggle on/off, so with my projector mounted to the ceiling, it’s just not practical. I saw somebody recommend on Reddit to use the latest generation Google Chromecasts with BT audio output built into the dongle, so that might work.
One more workaround I’ve thought about it perhaps buy the Sonos USB-C/aux dongle and connect a BT receiver. That’s less elegant but I suspect it’ll work.
Thanks for the replies. All very valuable advice. It seems strange that Sonos would move into Bluetooth capabilities without fully commiting to what appears to be universal requirements, such as scms-t. I understand the point about not being designed for video, but given av is so integrated these days it seems like another delay on Sonos' side ahead of full compatibility.
I’ve never heard of scms-t before, so I’m not sure I can agree with calling it a universal requirement. It seems more of a protocol that never really got far off the ground to me, but I’m not a subject matter expert.
Sonos is a wireless multiroom audio system first, and home theatre audio speakers second. Buffering is required for multiroom audio. Quite often, system like Amazon and Google will only play from streaming music sources, no TV or aux sources, so you don’t even notice the buffer. Apple and Chromecast (I think) get around this by only allowing TV playback from video sources they control, so they can buffer the video as well as audio. The tech just isn’t there to do instantaneous wireless multiroom audio.
There is room for debate on whether Sonos should allow consumers to use all the products as standalone AV rooms (no buffer) or multiroom audio (with buffer) as they see fit, rather than the specific soundbars and amps for AV audio...but it’s somewhat moot since the decision is ultimately up to Sonos.
Userlevel 7
It’s proprietary security that epson for whatever reason has chosen to implement. Doesn’t appear to be mainstream.
Therefore, Sonos will probably not expend time and money to appeal to a very select few manufacturers. Besides as has been said the Era 100 are not designed to be used as primary audio for projectors. Read more about the security protection at the link.
https://www.poly.com/no/no/support/knowledge-base/kb-article-page?lang=en_US&urlName=RN8345
It’s proprietary security that epson for whatever reason has chosen to implement. Doesn’t appear to be mainstream.
Therefore, Sonos will probably not expend time and money to appeal to a very select few manufacturers. Besides as has been said the Era 100 are not designed to be used as primary audio for projectors. Read more about the security protection at the link.
https://www.poly.com/no/no/support/knowledge-base/kb-article-page?lang=en_US&urlName=RN8345
I’ve given this more thought and concluded it might not actually be entirely Epson’s fault because I had no issues connecting the projector to a set of KEF LSX previously, and I was pairing them with Bose Revolve speakers while I was waiting for my Sonos speakers. So I’m probably missing something, but it seems like the implementation of Bluetooth on the Sonos system is also problematic.
Userlevel 7
It’s proprietary security that epson for whatever reason has chosen to implement. Doesn’t appear to be mainstream.
Therefore, Sonos will probably not expend time and money to appeal to a very select few manufacturers. Besides as has been said the Era 100 are not designed to be used as primary audio for projectors. Read more about the security protection at the link.
https://www.poly.com/no/no/support/knowledge-base/kb-article-page?lang=en_US&urlName=RN8345
I’ve given this more thought and concluded it might not actually be entirely Epson’s fault because I had no issues connecting the projector to a set of KEF LSX previously, and I was pairing them with Bose Revolve speakers while I was waiting for my Sonos speakers. So I’m probably missing something, but it seems like the implementation of Bluetooth on the Sonos system is also problematic.
It’s not anyone’s fault. Epson chose to include scms-t as part of their Digital Rights Protection (DRP) management program. Sonos either by design or by omission does not override or give the user an option to recognize scms-t. It’s that simple.
Sonos has been in the wireless speaker world for quite some time. I doubt Sonos would exclude a device that it deemed critical to the vast majority of their audience.
I suggest you post your concern as a feature request. Depending upon how many people request it Sonos may consider (if possible) implementing the ability to hand-shake with scms-t in a future update.
It’s proprietary security that epson for whatever reason has chosen to implement. Doesn’t appear to be mainstream.
Therefore, Sonos will probably not expend time and money to appeal to a very select few manufacturers. Besides as has been said the Era 100 are not designed to be used as primary audio for projectors. Read more about the security protection at the link.
https://www.poly.com/no/no/support/knowledge-base/kb-article-page?lang=en_US&urlName=RN8345
I’ve given this more thought and concluded it might not actually be entirely Epson’s fault because I had no issues connecting the projector to a set of KEF LSX previously, and I was pairing them with Bose Revolve speakers while I was waiting for my Sonos speakers. So I’m probably missing something, but it seems like the implementation of Bluetooth on the Sonos system is also problematic.
There obviously are some bluetooth speakers that support SCMS, but it definitely looks like a protocol that failed to get wide adoption. You could call Sonos problematic for not supporting something that many other companies also do not, but you should also factor in that the Era 100 was never intended to be connected to Epson or other TV/projector sources.
If the Era 100 couldn’t connect to many modern phones, tablets, PCs, etc...that would be problematic.
FYI, I have Era 300s connected to a TV via bluetooth. I consider it a bonus feature that it works with minimal lip sync issues. Was not at all my expectation when I got it.
Clearly people have different expectations based on their affinity for Sonos products. I (however naively) assumed that Sonos would, much like my Bose Headphones, speakers etc, work out of the box. Whether or not the protocol is widely adopted or not seems moot, the point I guess I am making is about ubiquity, and if you are going to add new functionality, why not design it with full compatibility.
Not sure I see the reason behind a bluetooth audio product not being designed for TV / projector connectivity. If products have bluetooth functionality, then the expectation for them to work together is justifiable, surely
Clearly people have different expectations based on their affinity for Sonos products. I (however naively) assumed that Sonos would, much like my Bose Headphones, speakers etc, work out of the box. Whether or not the protocol is widely adopted or not seems moot, the point I guess I am making is about ubiquity, and if you are going to add new functionality, why not design it with full compatibility.
My expectations are not based on my affinity, but on the stated purpose of the company that made the product. Why not make expand that functionality to greater compatibility? I would guess that there is a license fee for scms-t, and there could very well be added hardware costs, firmware dev/test costs...for what amounts to a very limited number of consumers. And again, even if was scms-t, you still would have lip sync issues since the Era speakers are designed for multiroom audio, with a built in delay/buffer, rather than for home theatre where the audio must match the video.
Not sure I see the reason behind a bluetooth audio product not being designed for TV / projector connectivity. If products have bluetooth functionality, then the expectation for them to work together is justifiable, surely
Which I’m sure is a big part of the reason why Sonos did not add bluetooth functionality in their products until relatively recently. People have expectations from bluetooth that do not fit will with their multiroom audio system. It’s not unreasonable to assume that a speaker can work as WiFi/multiroom audio and bluetooth speaker without any compromises, but that doesn’t make it true. Perhaps Sonos should spend more time trying to educate consumers and ‘control expectations’ before the purchase (I don’t see this info anywhere on the product page), but a lot of consumers will just trust their assumptions and not put effort into better understanding, or they aren’t thinking of using the speaker for home theatre anyway. As well, it’s probably not good marketing to list out all the things your speaker doesn’t do.
I’m bored of litigating this issue and arguing around something that I doubt can or will be resolved. As an update, I replaced my pretty old gen2 Google Chromecast and with a Xiaomi TV Stick 4K that comes with bluetooth audio connectivity and it’s connecting fine with the Era 100, so problem solved.
The sole reason I picked the Xiaomi is because it 1) it has bluetoth audio support and, 2) can run off the power supplied by the projector’s USB, saving on additional wiring. It’s the second feature that differentiates it from other products like Google Chromecast for TV or the Amazon Fire Stick. I honestly didn’t do comprehensive research around this - figured anything Android is quite generic anyway. So far so good with this solution.
I’m bored of litigating this issue and arguing around something that I doubt can or will be resolved. As an update, I replaced my pretty old gen2 Google Chromecast and with a Xiaomi TV Stick 4K that comes with bluetooth audio connectivity and it’s connecting fine with the Era 100, so problem solved.
The sole reason I picked the Xiaomi is because it 1) it has bluetoth audio support and, 2) can run off the power supplied by the projector’s USB, saving on additional wiring. It’s the second feature that differentiates it from other products like Google Chromecast for TV or the Amazon Fire Stick. I honestly didn’t do comprehensive research around this - figured anything Android is quite generic anyway. So far so good with this solution.
Sorry, if it wasn’t clear from my answer earlier, what this does is that it routes bluetooth audio through the streaming device rather than rely on the projector to do so, and therefore works around the problem of bluetooth compatibility between the Epson projector and the Sonos speaker.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.