Short Version
Not possible with your current equipment.
You need to:
Purchase a 2019 Shield Pro
then
Replace TV with one that supports HDMI-eARC
or
Replace the Sonos Arc with equipment that has HDMI inputs (not just HDMI to TV).
Long Version
Atmos
There are two versions of Atmos for home theaters:
- “Streaming Atmos” or “Lossy Atmos” is the type used by Netflix and other streaming services. It is Dolby Digital Plus + Atmos (EAC3 + Atmos).
- “Blu-ray Atmos” or “Lossless Atmos” is the type found on Blu-ray discs. It is TrueHD 7.1 + Atmos.
Streaming Devices
- The only off the shelf device that passes (bitstreams) TrueHD + Atmos is the Nvidia Shield.
- Due to TV manufacturer restrictions, the Plex app on SmartTVs cannot pass TrueHD audio via HDMI-eARC to attached audio equipment (the restriction applies to all apps, not just Plex).
- TVs with HDMI-eARC will pass TrueHD audio to compatible audio equipment from external devices (ex: Blu-ray player, streaming box, etc connected to TV HDMI input port).
HDMI-ARC & HDMI-eARC
- HDMI-ARC is bandwidth limited. It cannot pass lossless, high bandwidth audio such as TrueHD and dts-HD MA. It can pass Dolby Digital, dts, and Dolby Digital Plus (including Atmos) up to 5.1 channels and PCM 2.0.
- HDMI-eARC does not have the same limitations as HDMI-ARC. It can pass lossless audio such as TrueHD and dts-HD MA audio. However, both the TV and sound gear must support HDMI-eARC or it falls back to HDMI-ARC.
Your Equipment
- The FZ950 supports HDMI-ARC, not HDMI-eARC. Therefore, it cannot pass TrueHD audio to the Sonos ARC.
- The Sonos ARC supports HDMI-eARC.
- The Sonos ARC supports Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus + Atmos, TrueHD + Atmos. It does not support dts audio of any type.
- The Sonos ARC does not have any HDMI input ports, so you cannot directly connect equipment such as a streaming box, Blu-ray player, etc.
- The DS214play can stream 4K HDR video as long as it is direct played. It cannot transcode 4K video (it can transcode 720p video at best).
Options
Step 1: Purchase a 2019 Nvidia Shield Pro.
Option 1: Acquire a TV that supports HDMI-eARC.
Shield ← HDMI → TV ← HDMI-eARC → Sonos Arc
Note that the Sonos Arc does not support dts audio formats. I’m not sure what happens with dts audio in this scenario. It may be transcoded to another format or it may be decoded to PCM audio. I looked at other threads in the forum and did not see a definitive answer.
Option 2: Acquire Atmos enabled audio equipment with multiple HDMI inputs.
Shield ← HDMI → Receiver/Soundbar <–HDMI-ARC–> Panasonic FZ950
Additional Information
This (very long) thread has additional information: [INFO] Plex, 4K, transcoding, and you
Plex NAS Compatibility List
The spreadsheet referenced in the document lists Plex compatible NAS and their transcoding capabilities.
