Sonos Beam soundbar only supports PCM stereo and Dolby Digital

Plex Media Server Desktops & Laptops
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Server Version#: 1.16.5.1554
Player Version#: Plex app on Samsung TV

My setup: Plex server on a Windows 7 PC networked to a Samsung Smart TV running the Plex app.

I just upgraded my cheap Samsung soundbar to a Sonos Beam, connected via HDMI-ARC. I’m quite pleased with it but amazed and disappointed to find that it only supports PCM stereo and Dolby Digital so my .flac music and movies with DTS soundtrack are silent (and I’m guessing I’m going to have a problem with videos with EAC3 audio too). The old Samsung bar played both without a second thought.

Is it possible to persuade Plex to re-encode these on the fly and would it be able to do it without having to re-encode the video as well? If so, could someone talk me through it please? The server works so well that I never need to touch it so I’m not at all familiar with it. :slight_smile:

Thanks.

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Is there an option on the Samsung TV settings or in the Plex app on the Samsung to disable support for various audio codecs? If so, you might be able to force PMS to transcode the audio.

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It’s not going let you convert the audio only. There was long thread on these forums recently about the Sonos Beam and outputting AC3 through a Samsung. Search for it, as it will have the best tips.

I think the user transcoded in advance.

ffmpeg -i "original.mkv" -c:v copy -c:s copy -c:a ac3 -ac 6 -ab 640k "film.with.ac3.mp4"

That’s a basic command that will convert the first audio track to AC3 and leave the video and first sub track unchanged, but it will lose any second audio track, chapters, and other subs. Those take a more complex command.

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