I have a Sony AG9 TV and have connected a Sonos Arc soundbar to the TV via HDMI eARC.
How do I enable audio passthrough in Plex TV?
How can I check if audio passthrough in Plex TV is enabled?
Regards.
what are you trying to pass through, truehd/atmos/dtshd ?
if so, then you cannot.
there are no known smart tvs that can/will pass truehd/dtshd through e-arc via the tv app. (e-arc appears to only work with EXTERNAL hdmi devices, such as blurary players, shield, consoles, etc)
otherwise, dolby digital and regular non-hd dts should work, assuming the sonos arc supports dts (if not it will be transcoded anyway).
In the Plex app settings on the TV, set passthrough = HDMI.
Monitor playback via Plex Dashboard → Now Playing.
You want the audio to Direct Play or Direct Stream, not Transcode.
Also, look at whatever indicators are on the Sonos.
Additional Comments:
Sonos does not support dts audio (reference).
The Sonos should signal a lack of dts support to the TV and to the Plex app. Plex should then transcode dts to a supported format.
However, some users have reported no audio with playing media with dts audio (apparently the signaling breaks down somewhere).
If this happens, in the Plex TV app, change passthrough = optical, then disable passthrough for dts audio (leave AC3/Dolby Digital enabled). This should force the Plex Media Server to transcode dts to a supported format.
The problem is that if I do not activate the passthrough, Sonos ARC always receives the signal as “Dolby Digital 2.0” (even if the audio is 5.1 or 7.1, this is a flaw in the Plex application) and if I activate it the DTS is not heard.
Did you try passthrough = optical and disabling dts?
The soundbar is connected via HDMI, not optical.
I took it for granted that a soundbar like the Sonos ARC covered major movie audio. I was disappointed to see that this is not the case, so I returned it and bought the Sennheiser Ambeo which does cover all current codecs.
Problem solved. 
Wait, so smart TV’s can pass through DD/DTS but not TrueHD/DTS-HD/Atmos.
Any explanation as to why?
I mean if the TV can pass through certain codecs and has eARC, and the receiver also handles eARC, why is there a limitation on the types of codecs that will pass through?
Most likely licensing costs.
No streaming service (Netflix, etc) uses TrueHD audio. Neither does any broadcaster, cable or satellite service.
It is happening with dts audio as well. Samsung and LG no longer support dts audio in their sets. Use the Plex app on a current LG/Samsung TV and dts audio will transcode.
If you’re a TV manufacturer, why pay for the license if only 0.001% of your customers will use it? Think about the number of TVs sold by LG/Samsung/etc. How many of those will ever have an app like Plex/Emby/etc installed?
TV manufacturers try to keep cost of goods sold as low as possible.
That’s why TVs have 100 Mbps Ethernet ports, not 1 Gbps. Cost differential is probably pennies per set, but when you sell tens of thousands, the costs add up.
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fordguy explained it about as well as can be from this side.
if you want more details, you will have to ask the manufacturers, but typically they do not provide such details to anyone but themselves.
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This was informative. Thanks to all.
Been trying to setup an Atmos system for Plex for a few years now. Dabbled with the Intel NUC, hit a road block. There was more options with a Raspberry Pi, but I’m not fluent with Linux.
So years later, the best option for pass-through audio is still the Nvidia Shield… at least for Plex.
xbox one is now an option for pass through, but neither shield or xbox are perfect, and nothing else is either.
@TeknoJunky xbox one is now an option for pass through, but neither shield or xbox are perfect, and nothing else is either.
I haven’t bought the Shield yet. When you say XBox One does that include the new X and S?
Are the Plex client apps similar in performance or not in these 2 systems?
I ask cus for years I used the Tivo Plex app, then moved over to LG TV Plex app and it was night and day. Rarely buffers now on 4K HEVC playback.
The only thing that goes against the licensing argument, at least for LG, is that LG has Atmos sound capability in some of it’s higher end models (C9, etc). So if they’re paying for that licensing already. It’s baffling why they wouldn’t allow it on the pass through capability.
But overall your explanation makes a lot of sense.
They support “Streaming Atmos” which is Dolby Digital Plus + Atmos, the kind used by Netflix, Amazon, etc streaming services. That will pass over HDMI-ARC/-eARC to a soundbar, receiver, etc.
They do not support passing TrueHD + Atmos, which is the kind found on Blu-ray discs.
The TrueHD codec would be another license they have to acquire at additional cost.
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The only device (other than a PC) that allows pass-through HD audio using Plex is “Nvidia Shield”, is that correct?
Xbox one recently added support for truehd/dts pass through
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supposedly also a Raspberry Pi running Linux with Plex on it. But I haven’t looked at that option in years, so my response may be outdated.
but definitely the Xbox One and Nvidia Shield are your best options for pass-through HD audio.
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