I recently purchased an LG OLED TV and Sonos 5.1 Home Theater (Sonos Playbar) setup. Given the Sonos’ ability to only decode DD AC3 5.1 or Stereo PCM, I was counting on Plex’s promoted “Partially-Transcoded Direct Stream” feature to take any of my DTS or HD audio content and properly transcode it to 5.1 AC3.
Having run Plex Media Player and enabled the proper audio configurations in its settings (Settings > Audio > Show Advanced Settings > Dolby Digital AC3), I am concerned to see that only video content with an existing DD 5.1 track is properly sent through to the receiver. All other content, DTS etc, is simply received by the TV/Playbar as Stereo PCM.
What am I missing? Where is the latent “Partially-Transcoded Direct Stream” feature?
Any help would be very much appreciated because, if the DTS/HD transcode to AC3 cannot be accomplished, I’ll be forced to return the Sonos 5.1 setup.
Thank you!
3 days later and not a single response from a veteran Plex rep?
The setting in PMP only tells the app that AC3 may be supported. Your receiver (the Sonos) in this case still needs to relay the information that it supports AC3 5.1. Can you provide the server and app log for time with the start of the video playback. This will explain why it is not working.
@MovieFan.Plex said:
The setting in PMP only tells the app that AC3 may be supported. Your receiver (the Sonos) in this case still needs to relay the information that it supports AC3 5.1. Can you provide the server and app log for time with the start of the video playback. This will explain why it is not working.
Thanks for the feedback. I fear that perhaps there may have been a miscommunication. To be clear, when I enabled the Dolby Digital AC3 option under Advanced Settings, a file with DD 5.1 was properly transmitted to the Sonos Playbar and accordingly played back in 5.1 surround sound. My concern lies with any files that have baked-in audio tracks that are anything other than DD AC3 5.1—DTS, multi-channel linear PCM, loseless Dolby and DTS, etc. When I tested those files, they were all sent through as stereo PCM.
I’ve since returned the Sonos 5.1 setup, but am now considering the Vizio SB4051 as a result of its support for many more codecs:
“Digital audio format support for the SB4051 includes Dolby Digtal, DTS, and several flavors of Linear PCM at up to 96kHz.”
My concern prior to purchasing lies with Plex’s absolute ability to ensure that any audio formats outside of that spectrum are always transcoded to something within that spectrum.
@ArtemMoshkovich said:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
The setting in PMP only tells the app that AC3 may be supported. Your receiver (the Sonos) in this case still needs to relay the information that it supports AC3 5.1. Can you provide the server and app log for time with the start of the video playback. This will explain why it is not working.
Thanks for the feedback. I fear that perhaps there may have been a miscommunication. To be clear, when I enabled the Dolby Digital AC3 option under Advanced Settings, a file with DD 5.1 was properly transmitted to the Sonos Playbar and accordingly played back in 5.1 surround sound. My concern lies with any files that have baked-in audio tracks that are anything other than DD AC3 5.1—DTS, multi-channel linear PCM, loseless Dolby and DTS, etc. When I tested those files, they were all sent through as stereo PCM.
I’ve since returned the Sonos 5.1 setup, but am now considering the Vizio SB4051 as a result of its support for many more codecs:
“Digital audio format support for the SB4051 includes Dolby Digtal, DTS, and several flavors of Linear PCM at up to 96kHz.”
My concern prior to purchasing lies with Plex’s absolute ability to ensure that any audio formats outside of that spectrum are always transcoded to something within that spectrum.
Buy a AVR and speakers that supports all codecs. Soundbars suck for compatibility.
@danjames92 said:
@ArtemMoshkovich said:
@MovieFan.Plex said:
The setting in PMP only tells the app that AC3 may be supported. Your receiver (the Sonos) in this case still needs to relay the information that it supports AC3 5.1. Can you provide the server and app log for time with the start of the video playback. This will explain why it is not working.
Thanks for the feedback. I fear that perhaps there may have been a miscommunication. To be clear, when I enabled the Dolby Digital AC3 option under Advanced Settings, a file with DD 5.1 was properly transmitted to the Sonos Playbar and accordingly played back in 5.1 surround sound. My concern lies with any files that have baked-in audio tracks that are anything other than DD AC3 5.1—DTS, multi-channel linear PCM, loseless Dolby and DTS, etc. When I tested those files, they were all sent through as stereo PCM.
I’ve since returned the Sonos 5.1 setup, but am now considering the Vizio SB4051 as a result of its support for many more codecs:
“Digital audio format support for the SB4051 includes Dolby Digtal, DTS, and several flavors of Linear PCM at up to 96kHz.”
My concern prior to purchasing lies with Plex’s absolute ability to ensure that any audio formats outside of that spectrum are always transcoded to something within that spectrum.
Buy a AVR and speakers that supports all codecs. Soundbars suck for compatibility.
Yeah, that’s what I’m starting to fear. The AVS Forum thread for the Vizio is just filled with confusion regarding codec support. Ugh.
