Surround sound through receiver

Plex Players
1

I am hoping someone can assist me with this problem. My apologies if this has already been answered, I could not find anything relevant.

I have a SONY XBR-55X900F Smart TV, a Yamaha RX-V385 receiver, and an old PS4 connected together. I have Plex installed on both my TV and my PS4. When I watch 5.1 channel surround sound video files on my PS4, it sounds great and is the same surround experience as running a blu-ray through the system. However, when I run Plex through my TV directly, it plays the audio out of all 5 speakers and subwoofer, but it is not real surround sound in comparison to using the PS4. There is a noticeable difference in the audio playing the exact same files. You may ask why I don’t just run everything through the PS4, and that is because it is old and I do not like to leave it on for long periods of time (3 hour movies for example).

Can anyone help me with this? How can I get true 5.1 (or greater) surround sound to be sent to my receiver from the Smart TV version of Plex? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!!

2

How is the TV connected to the receiver? Hopefully via HDMI-ARC.

Note that HDMI-ARC has limitations. It cannot pass lossless audio formats such as TrueHD and DTS-HD. TrueHD will be transcoded to a supported format. DTS-HD may pass the DTS (lossy) core or it may transcode. Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS, and PCM, up to 5.1 channels, should all direct play and passthrough to the receiver.

Monitor playback via Plex Dashboard → Now Playing (Expanded View). It will show you if the video or audio is direct playing, direct streaming, or transcoding.

Compare what happens when you play a given audio format using the PS4 and using the AndroidTV app on the TV.

Also check your receiver for the audio format it is receiving from the TV. Make sure the TV is sending the audio unaltered, instead of converting it to PCM or some other format.

3

Yes, I have it connected HDMI-ARC. I am not sure I should have, but I also connected the TV to the receiver with a Digital Optical Cable. I am not sure if you can switch between them or not. The instructions that came with the Yamaha receiver are pretty skint, it is just basic set-up in three languages.

I will check the dashboard like you suggested and respond later about it.

Thank you for your response, please let me know if you have any further advice.

4

Disconnect the optical cable, then turn the TV off, wait 10 - 15 seconds, and turn it back on.

Optical/Coax audio is very limited compared to HDMI-ARC. Leave it disconnected so there is no chance the TV & AVR try to use optical instead of HDMI-ARC.

Power cycling the TV will make sure the TV knows the optical cable is disconnected. It should also force a HDMI handshake between the TV and the receiver. They use the handshake to let each other know their supported audio formats and other such information.

5

OK, I have done that, thanks very much!

When I play from my TV Plex, it says the Video Stream is 480p (H.264) → Direct Stream, and the Audio says English (EAC3 5.1) → AC3 - Transcode (the video I chose to test is 1080p, so I am not sure why this says 480p??)

When I use the Plex on my PS4, the Video says 480p (H.264) → Transcode, and the Audio says English (EAC3 5.1) → Direct Stream

I feel like we are close to resolving this, and I look forward to your suggestions.

Cheers!

6

Both the TV and receiver support EAC3 audio. It should passthrough.

Check the settings in the Plex Android TV app on the Sony. Make sure Passthrough = HDMI.

Check the TV settings. See if there are any that affect audio passthrough.

Then play videos with AC3, EAC3, & DTS audio and see what happens. Do not enable any subtitles yet.

If things are working correctly, the audio will show as direct play / direct stream in the Plex Dashboard.

7

Got it! Sounds much better now.

Thank you very much!!

8

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