Question

Sony TV, Xbox One and Playbar advice

  • 18 November 2017
  • 4 replies
  • 1746 views

Hi, I'm close to taking plunge into the world of Sonos but have been doing some reading this afternoon and found myself unsure if my TV is compatible with the Playbar that I was looking to buy.

My plan was to start by purchasing a Playbar and a Sonos:One and then add more speakers over time. I'm mainly after multiroom streaming capability. I have an existing LG Soundbar and Sub-Woofer (http://www.lg.com/au/sound-bars/lg-NB4540) connected to my TV (a Sony KDL-55W800B - http://www.sony.com.au/electronics/support/televisions-projectors-lcd-tvs/kdl-55w800b/specifications) and would look to replace with the Playbar. Other than listening to music I watch Freeview TV via my Xbox One and downloaded TV shows and movies via Plex, also on the Xbox.

I've seen a lot about Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, HDMI and passthrough. Looking at the Sony TV specs above I'm not sure that the Playbar would work properly with the TV? However, I also saw that i could connect the Playbar to the Xbox One via the Optical Out port available on that device. I don't have any other devices connected to the TV so I'm thinking that could be my best option.

Any clarity people could offer would be appreciated!

Cheers,

Ross

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4 replies

Userlevel 3
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Yes the Xbox One S will work with a direct connection to the Playbar. It will even decode the various audio signals it receives in order to output Dolby 5.1.
I have just completed doing this exact setup. I was a little worried as well as the basic guidelines are to run everything through the TV. For the Xbox this isn't the case. Like you, the TV is the only video output from the xbox, and the optical runs straight into the back of the playbar. The bar also learned the xbox remote IR codes so the volume control was a breeze.
Word of advice, if you remove the audio receiver from your listed devices on the xbox, it will start trying to send volume signals to your TV. I went about disabling the TV speakers, but kept getting an annoying popup with volume changes... Simple fix was to keep the xbox thinking that there is a receiver hooked up, and then the IR signals won't conflict with the TV.

Enjoy!
Italiantrev, I’ve only just seen your reply!

I got the Playbar today and setup with the Sony TV and thought everything was great. Then I remembered I needed to check the status of the audio in.

My heart sank when I saw stereo and not 5.1 ? Note that Sonos support on twitter read this thread and said DTS passthrough would be supported by my model of tv. It isn’t for anyone googling and ending up here!

I then tried unplugging the optical cable from the tv into the Xbox (an original Xbox one) and....it worked! I had to change the audio settings on the Xbox (bitstream, Dolby digital).

Not sure I follow your last paragraph but at the moment the tv remote is still controlling the volume without any messages popping up. I suppose because I setup via the tv first and the hdmi cable running from the Xbox to the tv. It confuses me a bit but it all seems to be working!

Hope this helps someone else in the future.
I’ve got another update. Turns out the settings I changed on the Xbox when I plugged the Playbar directly into it fixed the optical to tv connection too.

So for anyone searching,the Sony KDL-55W800B is compatible with the Playbar and passing through the 5.1 signal.