Sound Output question relating to surround sound

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I will preface this question with a couple of points.

  1. Not trying to spend a ton of money on surround sound.
  2. Don’t need the best quality in the universe, not an audiophile.
  3. I have done some research but am far from an expert and so want to check some information before buying anything.
  4. Media is a very mixed collection, been collecting DVD’s since the 90’s and more recently Blu-Rays, so audio is everything from 2.0, 5.1, 7.1 and many versions of Dolby or DTS etc. (everything has been ripped to files, mostly mkv).

Setup:
Intel Skull canyon NUC running Win10 and plex server.
Synology NAS storing TV and Movies.
Primary Client is LG OLED 65C8 TV using the LG app store plex client.
All physically networked via 1g ethernet.

So I want to get a 5.1 (maybe 7.1) speaker setup, and it seems that there are lots of options, many of them very affordable, take them out of the box, plug them in via ARC port or Optical and it should work.
But …
Most of them only support a small range of Audio codecs/standards. So with my collection I can see a lot of things not working properly.

I have a few questions/suppositions.

  1. I assume that Plex simply passes the audio that is in the file to the TV and the TV plays it however it wants through its internal speakers. Or does plex downmix it to 2.0 for the TV to play?
  2. If I change the output of the TV from internal speakers to optical or ARC (both available), will it simply pass through whatever audio is in the file to the output port? So whatever is connected then needs to deal with that. (relates to Q1 I guess).
  3. Given the wide variety of audio streams (and altering or trying to re-encode is not an option) is the only truly viable option to get a decent amplifier or something that will accept almost anything and/or remix it? Thereby needing to get some sort of amp and a speaker set separately?
  4. Am I overthinking this? :slight_smile:
  5. Any suggestions/recommendations for how to approach this? Similar experience?

Help and advice appreciated.

2

No you are not over thinking it.

My first through is passthru from the TV.
Can it out put 5.1 via optical.

Now is the LG smart app picked up as a 5.1 player by plex?
Plex could down mix to 2.0 so even if your TV can passthru 5.1 it wont be recieving it form the TV app.

7.1 and atmos is getting popular and people are upgrading a lot. Now is the perfect time to get a 2nd hand 5.1 system. I got a stunning Kef system for 10% of its original value.

You could pickup one of those cinema in a box systems (DVD/bluray player with 5.1 amp built in) for really cheap as they some times have an optical input. I ran that setup for years.

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Yes passthru from the TV was what I was thinking, or what I was trying to say, not sure I was completely clear, or perhaps I dont quite understand how plex actually functions.

The Intel NUC is running Plex server.
The LG TV is running “Plex for LG” version 3.76.1 so it is running as a client.

How would I tell what plex thinks it is audio wise? In the Plex for LG settings under audio all I can see is AC3, EAC3 and DTS with a check box next to each for one/off. By default all of them are turned on.

According to LG’s information the TV should output all of the following, though channel numbers aren’t listed. MPEG/PCM, DD, DD-Plus, HE-AAC, DTS, DTS Express, DTS-HD MA.

I guess what I dont understand clearly is what is going to come out the optical port of the TV when I am playing a video via the Plex for LG app. Should it be an raw stream of whatever is in the video whether it is DTS or Dolby or whatever?

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