Hey! So i do have this setup
TV: Samsung Q60R (2019 year mode)
Soundbar: HW-Q90R Samsung Harman Kardon 7.1.4ch Soundbar with Dolby Atmos (https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/home-theater/sound-bars/hw-q90r-samsung-harman-kardon-7-1-4ch-soundbar-with-dolby-atmos-hw-q90r-za/)
The soundbar is connected through ARC HDMI
While i try to play media file, the sound gets transcoded (https://imgur.com/a/SueRX6O). Is there a way to fix it? Maybe i’m doing something wrong or my setup is not full/do not support DTS HD MA?
Samsung TVs do not support DTS audio, therefore Plex has to transcode it to a supported format.
To direct play / direct stream dts audio, you would need a streaming device attached to a HDMI input of your soundbar.
The Nvidia Shield Pro will passthough DTS, DTS-HD, & DTS:X audio. I believe Roku devices passthrough the DTS core 5.1 audio. An AppleTV will convert the audio to PCM then pass it to the soundbar.
Thank you! Sound sad tho, but is it a big deal? Will i feel the difference between transcoded and the original one in this case? Just don’t want to throw out 200 EUR…
That depends on the soundbar and your ears. 
My gut tells me direct played DTS will sound better simply because it is not being transcoded.
However, I’ve never done a comparison, so I’ve no real-world data to share.
I should have mentioned that Plex Desktop and Plex HTPC also passthrough DTS audio (at least on Windows, unsure about Mac/Linux).
You could load one of those apps on a PC, connect it to a HDMI input on the soundbar. It will passthrough DTS & DTS-HD audio.
That would let you compare direct played DTS vs DTS transcoded to AAC. You could then make a decision on how to proceed.
Plex Desktop / HTPC Download Link: https://www.plex.tv/media-server-downloads/#plex-app
Plex Documentation
→ Plex Desktop
→ Plex HTPC
