No surround sound in Plex. Works Fine in VLC

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.21.1.3876
Player Version#: 4.47.3

Hi Everyone! I noticed that my Plex Server isn’t outputting Surround sound audio.
I have plex Media Server running on an HTPC where all my media is stored.
If I play a movie that has 5.1 audio in VLC, then I get all channels, Using Plex MS I only get Stereo when playing the same movie.

I looked for a setting within the Settings on PMS menu for audio, but can’t seem to find any. I looked at other troubleshooting threads, but they are all from over a year ago and mention an Audio menu that I don’t see in my set up.

Is Surround Sound only available in Plex Media Player and not when using Plex Media Server locally?

Any tips would be appreciated

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Plex Media Server has no player. It streams media to Plex clients.

How are you playing the videos - Plex Web (Chrome/Firefox/etc), Plex for Windows, or Plex Media Player?

Plex Web is limited by the capabilities of the web browsers.

If you want multi-channel output, use Plex for Windows or Plex Media Player. Both available at plex.tv/download. Either can be configured to passthrough multi-channel audio such as Dolby Digital, dts, and TrueHD.

Plex for Windows & Mac is the current desktop app. It has a look & feel similar to the web interface. It is updated on a regular basis as new features are added and bugs fixed.

Configuring audio settings for Plex for Win/Mac is similar to configuring Plex Web settings. See Windows & Mac Desktop documentation for details.

Plex Media Player, PMP, has the “10 foot interface” (TV Mode) similar to the Smart TV, Android TV, etc apps. It is use by many people with HTPCs. PMP is essentially in maintenance mode, not receiving new features. Its long term future is unclear (unless I’ve missed an announcement).

When first launched, PMP appears in Desktop Mode, similar to Plex Web. To configure audio options, place it in TV Mode by selecting the TV icon (rectangle w/ “TV” inside) in the top right portion of the application window.

Edit:
Select your username/icon to TV Mode settings to configure audio passthrough, etc.
Also, while in TV Mode settings you will have to use the arrow keys, escape key, etc for some navigation. Not all choices are available via mouse clicks.

See Plex Media Player documentation for additional details.

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Hello, I’m having the same problem on a Mac. My server is on a different computer and I’m using PMP in TV mode with the audio configured as below:

Screen Shot 2021-03-07 at 11.21.32 PM
Screen Shot 2021-03-07 at 11.21.32 PM786×636 169 KB

I’m using a multichannel audio interface that is configured in audio/midi setup for 5.1 and it plays 5.1 in vlc. My goal is to set plex to do the decoding since my interface cannot.

The only device type options are HDMI and SPDIF but my interface is neither. It’s connected to my Macbook via USB-C. Should my device be able to receive 6 channels regardless?

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I suggest testing a different client other than PMP and see if you get different results

5

Intel Mac computers running macOS provide access to the audio subsystem by means of CoreAudio. Apple has never supported lossless HD codecs such as Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master Audio. They are not likely to ever support these either unless Hollywood starts allowing for these codecs to be included in official content stores.

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