Where Films and Tech Meet
Getting 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound from a SONOS PlayBar or PlayBase
Dear Big Picture Big Sound,
After reading your overview of the Sonos PlayBar, i got myself one, along with some Enjoy:1 speakers and a subwoofer therefore I could do an easy 5.1 sound that is surround from my television. We plug all my products (cable field, Blu-ray player, Roku) into my television making use of HDMI cables. We plug my television’s digital fiber that is audio production in to the PlayBar. Every thing appears good, but i am confident i am maybe maybe not getting genuine surround noise. Extremely sound that is little through the Enjoy:1 speakers in the straight straight back, also on films that i understand have plenty of surround information. My television is really a Samsung LED and my Blu-ray player is Samsung too https://besthookupwebsites.net/flirtwith-review/.
I’m sure that a complete great deal of my Blu-rays have been in DTS and I also observe that the PlayBar does not support DTS noise. It just does Dolby Digital. Could this function as the issue? How do I tell if i am getting 5.1 noise? wef i am perhaps not, what can i really do about any of it?
-Two-Channel Charlie
We actually understand this concern a great deal from buddies and from visitors, not merely in regards to the Sonos PlayBar but about other soundbars that provide real 5.1 channel surround sound options. The Sonos PlayBar is just a product that is great streaming music and will make huge improvements in your TV quality of sound, but it is perhaps maybe perhaps not actually that easy to have real discrete surround sound from the jawhorse, even if you add the Enjoy:1 backside speakers and a subwoofer. Presuming you have configured the speakers properly when you look at the Sonos set-up (Enjoy:1s and sub are grouped with all the PlayBar in a system that is single the Play:1s put up as surround speakers), you’re going to get discrete 5.1 channel surround noise if the PlayBar gets 5.1 channel surround sound, and that is where things will get just a little tricky.
Improvement (March, 2017): exactly the same advice relates towards the SONOS PlayBase television platform presenter because it utilizes similar types of fiberoptic input whilst the PlayBar in addition to comparable sound processing.
Just Passing Through.
Many TVs can pass 5.1 channel Dolby Digital sound away from their fiberoptic electronic outputs (and to the PlayBar) when you’re viewing television utilizing the set’s integrated ATSC TV tuner, or if you’re utilising the streaming apps (like Netflix, Vudu or Amazon Video) built into the television it self. However, if you are viewing films or programs from a cable package, Blu-ray or DVD player or outside streaming package like a Roku, many TVs are not able to feed a 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sign through the supply unit through the television and out of the fiberoptic slot.
Almost all of the TVs from Samsung, LG and Panasonic that people have actually tested usually do not go through Dolby Digital 5.1 from outside elements linked via HDMI cables. Therefore regardless if your Blu-ray player or cable package is delivering a Dolby Digital 5.1-channel sign towards the TV, the television is only moving along a 2-channel (stereo) Dolby Digital or PCM sign through its fiberoptic dgital output. The notable exceptions to the guideline are Sony and VIZIO – the majority of the Sony and VIZIO TVs we’ve tested ( and that our buddies at CNET, HD Guru, Sound and Vision, etc.) have actually tested do go through 5.1 channel Dolby Digital from sources linked via HDMI cables through the television’s optical sound slot. In a few full instances, you will need to be sure to go fully into the television’s Audio Settings make it possible for this passthrough, and perhaps, it is automated. Your Samsung television most likely can not do so, but it is well worth checking the settings that are audio in case.
CNET utilized to help keep tabs on this inside their television reviews, plus they do still point out the function if they review brand brand new TVs. Here is a compilation by Ty Pendlebury regarding the outcomes from testing 20 TVs for the 5.1 feature that is passthrough. I’m able to concur that the passthrough function does nevertheless focus on more recent Sony and VIZIO TVs: 20 TVs tested – which go through Dolby Digital 5.1?
Placing the Five in Five Dot One
Just because your TV can go through a Dolby Digital 5.1 channel sign, your supply device must also be outputting Dolby Digital 5.1 noise into the TV. Most cable that is digital satellite set top bins in addition to DVD players, Blu-ray players and streaming containers is set to “bitstream” production, or even to “Dolby Digtal 5.1” output when you look at the sound settings menu. So ensure this is certainly set on your own sources aswell. When it comes to DTS noise, which, while you pointed out, can be bought on numerous Blu-ray Discs currently in the marketplace, things could possibly get tricky once more.
