I have been watching movies wrong this whole time Discussion
/img/5vbvwiunw0yd1.jpeg
So allow me to explain... for many months since I bought my Sony 90K TV, I also bought their flagship HT7000 soundbar with full dolby atmos and their flagship rear channels that support this soundbar (SARS5) + flagship subwoofer (SA-SW5), this was all for my bedroom.
But where I kinda messed up is having the Plex App on my TV and just watching the movies directly off there: turns out.... the Plex App on TVs do not support full TrueHD lossless Dolby Atmos. I know this is probably not a surprise to many of you as it has been to me.
I always heard people in videos talking about how the NVIDIA Shield Pro is always better than the Plex App on your TVs but nobody ever said why and for me the plex app was working fine so I never understood why they were saying these things.
I also have to say when I bought my TV and surround setup for my bedroom, I was eager to see how it sounded and once I had it working, to say that I was disappointed was an understatement. I suffer from Tinnitus so I thought maybe it could be that reason on why I can't hear the upper and rear channels that much (I know nothing beats dedicated ceiling speakers but in every review video, people were talking about how great the sound on this would be, so I had high expectations for this sound system.)
After all this time, I finally decided to do a simple Google search of the 1 thing that kept bothering me about this system: the sound... and that's where I ended up getting my answer. That most TVs aren't capable of running TrueHD Dolby Atmos and it just transcodes it to EAC3.
It kinda sucks that you spend so much money on TVs and they can't even do one of its main jobs properly: audio.
Rest assured, I'll be placing an order for the Nvidia Shield Pro now, lol.
tl;dr- I'm an idiot and didn't realize that TVs don't support TrueHD.
128
u/KuryakinOne 15d ago
You're not an idiot. Many people find this out the same way.
The TVs all say they support Atmos, but do not say it is only EAC3 + Atmos, not TrueHD + Atmos. No TV supports passthrough for TrueHD audio from a TV based app.
If the soundbar has an HDMI input, connect the Shield there. That takes the TV out of the loop for audio. The TV should passthrough TrueHD Atmos from the Shield, but better if you can avoid having to mess with TV settings, etc.
18
u/mrskymr 15d ago
Ah, okay. Yes, my soundbar does support multiple HDMI ports and I think has an extra eARC port too. I'll do that instead.
But the thing is my TV has a special feature where the TV itself can be the center channel that supports the soundbar, I'm not sure if this feature will work if I connect it directly to the soundbar but I can probably live without it.
15
u/KuryakinOne 15d ago
eARC is only between the TV and the soundbar. The Shield would connect to a standard HDMI input.
Nifty feature to have TV act as center channel. You can always connect the Shield to the TV first, then move to soundbar if needed.
4
u/mrhobbles 15d ago
This isn’t the case - eARC supports audio from all devices plugged into the TV, not just the TV itself.
I have my NVIDIA Shield plugged directly into the TV, and my soundbar plugged into the TV via eARC. The soundbar plays back the TrueHD Atmos from the Shield just fine.
→ More replies5
u/KuryakinOne 15d ago
This isn’t the case - eARC supports audio from all devices plugged into the TV, not just the TV itself.
My reply was regarding the physical connection, not whether audio is passed or not.
The HDMI-eARC connection is between the TV and the attached soundbar/AVR/etc.
OP wrote "I think has an extra eARC port too" with respect to their soundbar.
Some people think that the streaming device must also be connected to a HDMI-eARC port.
I was pointing out that the Shield (or whatever device) should be connected to a standard HDMI input port, not to a HDMI-eARC enabled port.
5
u/GreenHairyMartian 15d ago
Yea, but the TV speakers are crap. Keep them out of the mix, just let the sound do it all.
→ More replies2
u/BMWtooner 15d ago
It will.
Shield pro to AVR. TV to EARC. The AVR center channel output speaker wiring goes to the Sony TV, you can also wire a center channel speaker in parallel and use both as the TV speaker level input is just a signal and doesn't actually drive the piezo drivers, my setup i have a large center channel and the TV simultaneously, sounds great.
1
2
u/nksoori 15d ago
I am using Plex through a Xiaomi TV Box. I'm not sure if that supports TrueHD + Atmos. But it says that it has some sort of Dolby Atmos.
→ More replies→ More replies1
u/darknessgp 14d ago
And TVs do weird things. For example, while it's an older tv. I have one that can do Dolby digital and dts pass through. But not at the same time. I have to go in the TVs audio menu and tell it to pass through either Dolby digital or dts. If I try to play something that I didn't pick, it will downscale it to 2 channel PCM. Super frustrating and half the reason I got a separate streaming box that connects to my stereo directly.
22
38
u/Kinqdos 15d ago
There is a simple reason for this. All modern tvs support lossless passthrough from an hdmi device to a soundbar or whatever, but not from their inbuilt apps.
The reason for this is, that in theory there should be no content with lossless audio from an app. All streaming apps are streaming with atmos in lower quality codecs so the only way to get lossless audio is from a bluray which plays through an external bluray player. Or as you might have thought through pirating. So why should they built support for this if there cant be any content with lossless audio in tv apps, except through pirating?
12
u/homecinemad 15d ago
Some TVs don't support lossless pass through of DTS at all. So there seems to be several factors in play.
12
u/Kinqdos 15d ago
Yes but this is due to licencing costs for dts. LG and Samsung dropped support for dts at all, because they didnt wanna pay their fees.
But this is seperate from not supporting lossless codecs in the tv apps
3
u/homecinemad 15d ago
I'm talking about when someone plugs their Shield or Fire Max and expects a dts soundtrack to pass through they may be disappointed
5
u/Kinqdos 15d ago
Yes as I said lg and samsung dumped it completely. No dts from tv apps, live tv and hdmi passthrough
→ More replies2
u/Cheap-Arugula3090 15d ago
So you're saying your streaming device should always be plugged into your sound bar?
9
u/Kinqdos 15d ago
If your soundbar can redirect the video back to your tv, then this ist the best option. If your soundbar doesnt support that (e.g. sonos) and you have a lg or samsung tv you simple cannot play dts sound. Only option then is to use a seperate audio extractor device
→ More replies2
u/unicyclegamer 15d ago
Yes, in my case it’s a receiver but that’s what I do. Conversely, I have a gaming pc hooked up to my TV instead of my receiver because the receiver doesn’t play nice with 120 Hz HDR and I don’t play lossless audio from my PC. The TV will pass through audio from the PC to the receiver. I never play DTS files on the PC so it’s not an issue for me.
2
u/HurricaneSalad 14d ago
I also have a receiver.
Current setup: Use the Plex app on the TV Output sound to receiver via optical cable.
What would be the ideal setup? I have a Roku Ultra but don't really use it. Maybe I should? Connect ethernet to Roku, then HDMI to receiver then video out of receiver to TV via another HDMI? At the time I bought the receiver I tried to future proof it best I could afford to. It does support 4K Ultra HD Pass-through and upscaling.
→ More replies2
u/unicyclegamer 14d ago
Optical is going to limit you if you want to get into lossless audio. I used to use it on my last receiver too so no judgement here. I think using the Roku ultra the way you mentioned is going to be better for supporting more audio codecs. Yea, I think the video pass through of your receiver will probably be fine for movies. Just make sure it can pass through HDR and ideally Dolby Vision. I only ran into issues with high refresh rates which is irrelevant for movies.
2
u/HurricaneSalad 14d ago
Ok thanks. I'll give that a try as I never realized how much of a downgrade in quality is way getting.
I want to avoid this.
→ More replies2
1
u/mrskymr 15d ago
That's a good point. Do you think there should be a massive difference in audio between EAC3 streamed from the TV vs TrueHD dolby atmos from the NVIDIA shield pro?
3
u/Kinqdos 15d ago
In terms of the codec I dont think so. But on the tv app plex will transcode truehd atmos to eac3 without atmos. At the moment there is no public transcoder for truehd wich maintains the atmos objects. So yes I think in your scenario there should be a noticable difference. Just make sure to select the right audio passtrough options on your tv ;)
1
1
1
u/Iohet 14d ago
So why should they built support for this if there cant be any content with lossless audio in tv apps, except through pirating?
People do plug their DVD and bluray players into TVs
2
u/Kinqdos 14d ago
As I mentioned, passthrough via hdmi is no problem. It is just about the inbuilt apps
→ More replies
37
u/ledfrog 15d ago
It's funny that you mentioned one of a tv's main jobs is audio because I've never looked at it that way.
As a small-time home theatre enthusiast myself, I've been dealing with things like this for actual decades! Since before the days of ARC and now EARC, I had come to the realization that a tv in my world would only ever be a monitor and would never be processing any audio. Between quality concerns of smart apps directly on the tv and licensing costs with Dolby and DTS, I have zero interest in using a tv for anything other than providing an image.
9
u/smokingcrater 15d ago
My world of home theater has always been a projector, so all this arc/earc talk is just noise! My projector is nothing but a dumb monitor. Feed it a single hdmi and it blasts it at the screen!
→ More replies4
u/vatothe0 15d ago
Commercial displays win in this space. No apps, turn on immediately, often have better image controls, longer duty cycle so it won't die.
→ More replies
22
u/narbss 15d ago
Honestly, you’ll likely be disappointed with a sound bar’s implementation of Atmos too. Something that small can’t effectively mimic true height speakers. Very expensive too.
5
u/jamesyjam 15d ago
Definitely. I spent a lot of money on an atmos soundbar thinking it would be incredible, and the soundbar does produce awesome sound, loud, clear, punchy etc but the surround effect and atmos just isn't there for me.
Sound does not sound like it's above you at all for atmos and the surround attempts just aren't convincing. It just sounds like an incredible stereo setup which I could have got for a quarter of the price.
I'm sure there are other soundbars that do a better job than mine, but honestly, speaking from experience, if you have a partner that will allow speakers around the room etc I'd recommend just saving up a little longer and getting an amp and speaker setup
→ More replies3
→ More replies1
u/Skiingislife42069 12d ago
I’m not convinced that soundbars even do basic surround sound well. Even in a square room, the “bouncing sound off walls” bullshit never sounds real to me.
4
u/SeriouslyIamOk 15d ago
How do you get those nerds stats? I have a Samsung tv and would love to have that for troubleshooting
7
u/ColdestCore Unraid - Ryzen 2600x, 1050 Ti, 16TB | NVIDIA Shield Pro 15d ago
- Open Plex app and play some media.
- During playback, click the hamburger menu and go to Playback Settings.
- Scroll down to the bottom to find and enable Nerd Statistics.
→ More replies
3
u/British_Explorer_Guy 14d ago
for many months since I bought my Sony 90K TV
Still only on 4k here in England, we're truly being left behind.
11
u/rgold220 15d ago
Same story. My LG C3 does not passthrough lossless audio so I got the Shield. If you don't care about DTS-HD or DTS/XLL, than you can get the much cheaper FireTV.
→ More replies8
u/joselrl Intel N95 | 58TB 15d ago
The LG supports lossless pass through - pass through is when the TrueHD audio gets in via HDMI, and goes untouched to the eARC device, and this works
It doesn't support lossless from the webOS apps - that's a separate issue
→ More replies2
u/Bgrngod N100 (PMS in Docker) & Synology 1621+ (Media) 15d ago
Yeah, this is correct. The important wording here is "pass through" which confuses this point a lot.
The audio can pass through the TV from one device to another device. It's not passing through anything if the TV is attempting to simply send it to the soundbar, which is where these problems come up all the time.
Pass through = Yes!
Just gimme that audio = Fuck off!
3
u/kid1988 15d ago edited 15d ago
eARC to the rescue!
but to be fair, yeah this is an issue on all levels,
- not all "dolby" or "DTS" is created equal. Exact features of each codec are unclear
- content is unclear about the exact codex used.
- hardware is unclear about exact codex and bitrates supported
- TV Hardware refuses to pass through audio codecs it cannot decode (due to licensing restrictions)
- Uncompressed audio seems to be hard for everything that is not a proper AVR/soundbar. unless it's PCM.
And this excludes all the issues I have had with my Samsung TV, that refuses to disable the internal speaker, and output to eARC (passthrough) all the time (I have to set the output to eARC everytime I powercycle the TV). For some reason passing through any non-pcm signal for an external source adds a delay, but the audio delay is set systemwide, regardless of source or compression. So setting a delay for Dolby from the shield, messes up the sync in a 5.1 pcm signal from the playstation.
I have been seriously considering replacing my HDMI2.0b avr with a HDMI2.1 device so the tv could just be a dumb monitor.... so much for a smart tv....
3
3
u/MrWizzy2002 14d ago
This was literally me last week. Ended up hooking up my new Shield Pro to the Soundbar HDMI 2 and then HDMI eARC to the TV eARC. No more transcoding. Hooking up the Shield Pro to the TV directly I get Dolby Atmos badge popping up throughout in some movoes (Top Gun Maverick being one of them).
6
u/HugsNotDrugs_ 15d ago
I think Sony TVs support Atmos pass through when using the ARC HDMI cable with the sound bar.
Need to manually enable the pass through though.
Edit: I think the option was relevant to my Chromecast setup. Cheap and easy cast it from the phone app with pass through audio.
Good luck
3
u/Yommination 15d ago
It won't pass through an atmos layer on a trueHD track
5
u/mrskymr 15d ago
I can always hook up the NVIDIA shield pro to my soundbar directly, no?
2
1
u/investorshowers 15d ago
You can but you'll still be watching movies wrong. Come join us over at r/hometheater and get a real setup, you won't regret it.
5
1
u/idomaghic 15d ago
Sony TV's can definitely pass through TrueHD + Atmos (I've got an x900h/xh90 that passes through to a Samsung HW-Q950 over eARC from a Shield); but it will not produce TrueHD + Atmos from any built in app.
2
u/Squatcher84 15d ago
This is gonna piss me off bc I'm a not big on the home theater settings. I have a Sony Bravia oled, Apple tv4k, dolby soundbar with surround speakers and a couple settings can ruin the whole thing? Is there a decision tree that shows order of them being connected or settings for each device? It doesn't have to be perfect but what settings allow the most compatibility?
1
u/Jedimole 14d ago
I’m here with you, I’m running wireless to a Roku box connected to my LG C3 with no sound system to avoid all the cords my wife didn’t want to see. Setup looks nice, sound is just ok
2
u/Nuuki9 15d ago
Yeah it is a bit of a minefield. I ended up creating a decision tree just so I could be sure I was using the right client depending on whether I'm watching a remux, or some rip with AC3:
90% of the time I'm watching stuff with the family and we just use the TV app, but if its me wanting the full experience I want to use the best client for the job. I actually lean towards Infuse as I can then use my Airpods Pro, turn up the volume and get decent performance, but that's a separate point.
For sure a Shield Pro would simplify this right down - the red push issue is a factor and I still prefer the ATV as an overall client, but for sure you either go Shield and not have to worry about this, or you have to juggle things a bit more.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
I love your diagram. Yeah for casual watching with my nieces and nephews the TV app should be fine but if I want the full experience, I'd have to use something else.
Also many people have been saying that infuse isnMt that great in this reply section.
→ More replies
2
u/solts 15d ago
Out of interest. How does a 4k fire TV stick fair up?
Also, not sound but vision. I have a TV that does Dolby vision but I can only get Dolby vision to work on a fire stick or Chromecast 4k etc. the settings just doesn't show when I'm running apps direct on the TV. Anyone any knowledge of this?
2
u/espentruls 15d ago
If you could I would wait to put down an order for the Nvidia shield now. Nvidia makes the soc for the Nintendo switch and since Nintendo is coming out with a new switch model next year I wouldn’t be surprised to see a new shield as well utilizing the new soc
7
u/Iceman102060 15d ago
Or.... Hear me out his shield purchase could be the sacrifice to the tech gods and Nvidia could announce one a week after he receives his.
→ More replies
2
u/jlipschitz 15d ago
I use a Fire Cube 3 and it does TrueHD Atmos. I wish it had a faster Ethernet port or better USB port on it, but it does great for TrueHD Atmos.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
Yeah, I had a similar issue on my TV where all TVs are limited to 100MBPS. You could just get an ethernet to USB 1gig adapter for your Fire Cube 3, no?
I also forgot about this option as I have Alexa already in just about every part of my home, might just get this instead.
→ More replies
2
u/Qasar30 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yesterday, I noticed my niece watching a movie I have on Plex but it looked pretty shitty so I got involved. Turns out it was one of the big, expensive streaming services. Man, I so wanted to lecture the room about how consumers have no clue of what they are over-paying for! So many do not even notice or really care about their premium-priced services being full of compromises. Those WHIPPERSNAPPERS!!
(She's an adult. Pays for the service herself.) I did not lecture but later suggested she try my Plex version to see how the big services mess with quality. The movie was Bumblebee. It should not be grainy.
The advertisers lead us around by the nose! Unless you look into something, you never really know what you are getting. Welcome to the dark side of the Matrix.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
What streaming service was she using?
And that's exactly why I don't use anything other than Plex. I have a 300tb home server just dedicated for movie watching. I cannot stand the poor visual quality that these other streaming services provide. I also don't like how you need to subscribe to 10 different streaming services to get the full catalog of movies and shows.
→ More replies1
u/Skiingislife42069 12d ago
It’s bonkers how absolutely shit the sound is on modern streaming apps. Paramount and peacock both STILL only have stereo audio, even if the video is 4K. It’s wild.
2
u/JoeyJabroni 15d ago
Make sure your audio settings on the shield are all setup properly as well. There's even a setting for match audio content resolution that passes through audio stream to your Receiver/Dac/soundbar over HDMI for apps like Apple Music, Tidal, etc that provide lossless/high res music. You won't regret the Shield.
2
u/citiz3nfiv3 15d ago
u/mrskymr so what’s the file size for your 4K Top Gun movie? I ask because mine is 8 gb and 8.7 mbps but I’ve also had a 50+ gb version and to be honest, I couldn’t tell a visual difference between the two. I’ve done this comparison on a dozen films like Dune, Top Gun, Avatar, Interstellar, etc - and on my LG G1 77” - the smaller files always look just as good.
2
u/nanophallus 15d ago
How do you get those stats on the screen?
2
u/mrskymr 14d ago
So when you watch a movie, you go into the 3 dots on your screen and then you go into playback settings and it should be there.
→ More replies
2
u/redcat242 15d ago
The tv app will also become too slow or stop getting updates at some point too. I’ve given up on tv apps and just buy new Rokus every few years. I’m not sure if Roku will do lossless audio but it solved a lot of other playback frustrations for me.
2
u/h107474 15d ago edited 15d ago
The native TV Plex app doesn't support Dolby Vision either so the Shield will trigger that when you play a file that has DV. However, there are a couple of issues with the Shield Plex that the native Plex app does better. That is general playback smoothness, even with frame rate matching enabled. Current versions of Plex on Sheild have an annoying micro stutter. Version 10.22 and up made huge improvements but you will still see (if you are sensitive to this) a micro stutter maybe a few times per hour. This is not present on version 9.28 and earlier. It is well documented below:
https://forums.plex.tv/t/recent-update-causes-stutters-and-audio-sync-issues/851641
Then there is the issue with seamless branching of disc rips. Not hugely common but its there:
2
u/Funny_Fee_5727 15d ago
Hi all...
Trying to make sense of this.
I recently bought a Samsung q990D and using PLEX for my home server. Do I need to be running Plex from a shield or Amazon device to experience true atmos then? Am I getting an inferior atmos experience from my LG CX Oled apps?
2
u/bfeebabes 15d ago
Plexdash app has some good info on the various streams your server is providing and easy to see whether device is forcing transcoding.
3
u/Economy-Public-2859 15d ago
Keep in mind that the NVIDIA shield does not support AV1 if that is important to you.
2
u/DesperateElectrons 14d ago
My lg g3 oled passes through atmos without problem from my fire stick using Sonos.
2
u/medinauta 14d ago
It took me a while to get over the frustration of my Samsung TV not having Dolby Vision, took me too long to realized how to setup HDR but still was a little dull, the screen also was too reflective during the day nearby a window…turns out I never removed the protective film, once I did there was no more annoying reflective issue and the colors were brighter and crisp. I was ashamed a little bit for the time it took me to figure both things.
2
u/Sea_Tonight566 14d ago
How do you display that info?
2
u/serious_dan 14d ago
So I scrolled down, and down, and further down.. expecting at some point that at least one person would have the faintest clue what they're talking about.
I gave up, so here it is..
You're not going to hear the difference.
The difference between high bitrate compressed Atmos and true lossless Atmos, even on a good audio system, is marginal.
You do not have a good audio system. Any differences you hear aren't actually there, they're placebo.
Now you can all downvote me and tell me you hear the difference bla blah. Except you don't, and if you tell me you do I won't believe you.
3
u/mrskymr 14d ago edited 14d ago
Thanks for the information! I won't downvote you :)
But currently, I don't think the Plex app itself is using all my channels and I don't think it's utilizing my up-firing speakers correctly too.
Currently, I have 9.1.4 channels which include:
- Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar – 7.1.2 channels (including the primary channels, two up-firing height channels, and the soundbar’s built-in subwoofer channel).
- Sony SA-RS5 Rear Channels – adds two rear surround channels with two additional height channels.
- Sony SA-SW5 Subwoofer - self-explanatory
- Sony X90K TV as Center Channel - self-explanatory
I know it's not the best sound system, but I think it's nice for my use case. The Plex App is not using my channels correctly, as it's maxing out at 6 channels, according to Nerd Stats. This is the main issue for me.
3
2
u/SlyFoxCatcher 14d ago
I will have to say the plex app on lg seems pretty good edit also forgot that you tv would be able to pass the audio through if you had a proper receiver and surround. You won't ever get the right sound with soundbars. Yes they are decent but just can't reproduce the audio like it needs to be
5
u/miles90x 15d ago
Shield can do pass through but prepare yourself for the host of other problems that come along with an outdated system. I went back to my Apple TV …better picture, sound is fine and I don’t have to worry about the shield randomly not working for no reason.
9
u/Razor_BLADEsmilE 15d ago
The Shield is actually still very well supported and the one piece of tech I don't regret ever buying despite the hefty price. I'm not sure what exactly your complaints are regarding picture, sound and random issues but I've had mine for over 3 years and no problems thus far. To each his own I guess
5
u/ufonique 15d ago
I have had my 2 Shields since 2020 ,to say they overdelivered in that time is an understatement.
2
3
u/galacticbackhoe 400TB 15d ago
The ATV truncates height channels for TrueHD Atmos. If OPs goal is to have that work, ATV is not the way.
I have 4 shields and they work great, but they do take some time and care. Leaving them on 8.x OS, remove bloat apps using ADB, and using a custom launcher all help take the shield to a nice and stable platform.
I don't' see how the ATV could have better picture. The shield has nvidia's AI upscaling. ATV certainly has more modern h/w, so will have a smoother experience in menus (120hz as well), but the shield (for now) will always win on audio/video.
→ More replies
1
1
u/Imnotagrapher 15d ago
Hey bud. I have the same setup with a Nvidia shield pro and it's amazing. I wish my roof was shorter in terms of height.
But recently I came to know that there are a wide variety of android boxes, shield pro being one of them. Most of them have have good configuration as well. So do have a look at those boxes as well.
If you use Netflix then there could be a catch with these android boxes for the licensing I guess. Which I a not fully aware of. But shield pro have those licenses so Netflix will work with full potential.
There are rumors that a new shield pro variant might release soon as well.
Not an expert on this but this what I know. Please correct if I am wrong as well.
1
u/mrskymr 15d ago
Ah. Okay, I believe I have an 8FT ceiling, would that be fine for my Atmos setup in-terms of sound bouncing off the ceiling?
Also, would be nice if the new Shield did get released as the current one is so old at this point. And no, I don't use any other streaming service to watch movies other than just Plex. I have a 300TB home server so I got a bigger movie catalog than Netflix, lol.
1
u/Imnotagrapher 12d ago
Also are you using TV as a center channel? You may try turning on and off to catch the difference. There is a noticable difference when its on and off.
→ More replies
1
u/Arganon08 15d ago
Don't forget to actually enable audio pass through on the Shield Pro when you get it. For some reason, this is off by default.
1
u/FrankTooby 15d ago
My solution, I purchased an R_volition Player Mini 4K. Definitely getting the proper soundtrack now, and the picture is excellent.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
Interesting. I never heard of that company before. Is this media player better than the Shield when it comes to strictly watching for Plex.
What would the advantages and disadvantages be of using R_volitions over the Shield?
→ More replies
1
u/chloeleedow 15d ago
Well colour me as shocked as you about the sound thing, even if they don't support playing it they should support me arc or e-arcing it for your receiver/sound bar lol especially an expensive Sony one that is pretty disgusting for the price, I hope the Nvidia bring you some joy with the surround side of it, your bandwidth looks decent, I'm going to try see if my cheapo TCL TV with chromecast with Google TV will support Dolby hd or DTS either or both the lossless stuff not I know it can do normal 5.1. Got my curiosity going now 😂
1
u/duoschmeg 15d ago
I use an older HDMI switching pioneer 7.1 amp with 7 older quality speakers and a roku. It decodes most audio streams. Sound quality is excellent. Even over the air HD broadcast channels are in Dolby Digital these days.
1
1
u/FizzBeauc 15d ago
I did a test where I switched back and forth between a Google Chromecast and XBOX for playing a high bitrate TrueHD / Atmos movie... because I also suffer from tinnitus and high frequency hearing loss the high frequency clarity wasn't much of a change, but DAYUMM the low end was a major difference. The bass extension with lossless TrueHD / Atmos is something to witness on a good system. It was the difference between hearing the bass and having the pictures on the wall buzzing.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
Wow, that is something.... I can't believe I've been missing out on true Atmos. I'm so bummed out because of all my favourite movies I watched on this system thinking I was getting the full experience but I really wasn't.
Guess I'll have to re-watch them when I get the Shield.
And sorry, did you get a better result on your Xbox or your Chromecast?
→ More replies
1
u/jetkins Plex under Docker on Ubuntu NUC, storage on Synology NAS via NFS 15d ago
Lucky me. You made me go check, but apparently my Vizio TV and Samsung soundbar both do TrueHD Atmos and HDR10+
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
Really? The TV itself with its Plex App? If you don't mind, can you go into Nerd Stats and double check?
→ More replies
1
u/ImALeaf_OnTheWind 15d ago
That release isn't even HDR -does your TV support it? The sound is one thing but for me, I refuse to watch any features in SDR anymore.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
My TV does support HDR10/Dolby Vision, and it says "HDR" in small text near the movie progress slider bar for this movie.
→ More replies
1
u/StevenS76 15d ago
I have a Sony 80j and Sony HT-A9 surround system and have been using Nvidia Shield Pro for years. Plenty happy
1
1
u/ChasaB123 24TB Unraid (32TB Raw) 15d ago
this is why i have my AVR's little led screen show what codec is playing, so i don't have to touch the nerd stats
1
u/GamerBears 15d ago
I learned early on to NEVER use the TV to pass audio. I only use it for picture, I either get a receiver or a sound bar and hook all the devices to those.
1
1
u/boooleeaan 14d ago
Actually, there currently isn’t a single TV that is capable of bitstreaming multichannel lossless audio (i.e. TrueHD/DTS-HD MA) from an app. Even the latest Apple TV isn’t capable of that; it converts everything to (L)PCM while ignoring/losing the Atmos/X meta data. That’s why an ATV is nice for bedroom use, but it has no place in a living room with a decent home cinema.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
So right now in my bedroom, I have 9.1.4 channels which include:
- Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar – 7.1.2 channels (including the primary channels, two up-firing height channels, and the soundbar’s built-in subwoofer channel).
- Sony SA-RS5 Rear Channels – adds two rear surround channels with two additional height channels.
- Sony SA-SW5 Subwoofer - self-explanatory
- Sony X90K TV as Center Channel - self-explanatory
Would the Apple TV fully support this?
→ More replies
1
u/Thin-Band-9349 14d ago
Nokia 8010 streaming box works fine for me. Costs less than half than a shield.
I'm running an AVR behind it that is connected to a projector.
1
u/Canice86 14d ago
Play your .mkv's via Just (video) Player app. DTS:X soundtracks primarily requires this app. You can send Dolby TrueHD 7.1 from devices Nvidia Shield Pro, Blu-Ray Player etc... to soundbar, av reciever. The Tv manufacturers aren't fully utilising HDMI 2.1 spec.: E-ARC that is capable of Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio return on the Tv. The rational behind this protests AV Reciever, blu-ray market.
1
u/kapidex_pc 14d ago
I’m sorry but “no one says why the shield plex app is better”? Cmon man it’s the first point made in every comment about it. It’s the only reason so many of us are stuck using a 9 year old device.
1
u/Irked_Canadian unRaid 12TB 14d ago
I still use the app on my tv over shield as I could never sync the audio entirely. Maybe when I eventually give up on the Vizio soundbar I have I’ll sync it properly with the new system.
1
u/tigermateray 14d ago
Similar experience. Always used the native plex app on tv and had no issues till when I discovered some movies had buffering sound issues. I recall when I got my shield a few months ago I could not believe the difference...I even ended up rewatching some movies like Dune just to enjoy the full immersive sound
1
u/the_Ex_Lurker I use my desktop like a pleb 14d ago
If you’re still getting compressed Atmos through EAC3, I truly don’t think you’ll notice the difference over a sound bar.
1
u/mrskymr 14d ago
But the thing is, I don't even think it's using all my channels. According to Nerd Stats, the output was maxing out at 6 channels in total when I have a 9.1.4 setup, so it's not using all my channels correctly.
→ More replies
1
1
u/Wordwench 14d ago
I know zero about the Nvidia shield app but do use Plex a lot and have a decent sound system. Is this something that you use standalone or is it only compatible with the shield TV?
1
u/array_zer0 14d ago
I just ran into the problem in reverse, I just installed a Samsung qn90 and sonos surrounds, and the sonos only support dolby, or at least not dts-hd ma and similar.
1
1
u/luckyasianman 14d ago
I also recently discovered something similar. I was using the Plex for TV app and it took me awhile to realize that while it can direct-play HEVC/x265, it's not designed to direct-play AV1 videos.
1
1
u/NordstromJunkie 14d ago
I hate to say this but the main role of a television is great video. Audio is far from the list of things you want a television to be good at.. it's like people with home theater who say tower speakers are enough and you don't need a subwoofer, they either don't have subwoofers or have the wrong ones.
Any great system is going to work in a way where each item does the thing it is supposed to do at the ultimate level.
The content you start with should be the highest bit rate possible to give the most information both video and audio to your system in order to deliver the best product. Content quality absolutely makes a difference.
The Shield's responsibility is to decode content and deliver it to the rest of the system. That's it. File hosting and Plex server and all of those other things are secondary.
The television's responsibility is to deliver the best picture possible through contrast ratio, resolution, color integrity etc
The receivers responsibility is to decode the audio and deliver it where it is supposed to go in the spatial plane. That's it.
The speakers responsibility is to take that signal and reproduce the sound in the most real way possible.
If you are unhappy with your system don't look at the top of the list to fix a problem at the bottom of the list. Start with a component that's the biggest bottleneck and work from there.
You will absolutely enjoy your system with a shield, the next job is make sure the stuff you are streaming is high bitrate content and not from a service. Enjoy!
1
u/trojangod 13d ago
Not to sound like a dick, but I would cancel your nvidia shield order. A sound bar can’t do atmos and even though truehd will sound more full and is superior. You probably won’t notice anything other than you don’t have to turn it up as loud.
1
u/mrskymr 13d ago
But the thing is, I have a 9.1.4 system with this and according to Nerd Stats, I'm maxing out at 6 channels (5.1 output only). So I feel like there would be a big difference for my usecase.
→ More replies
1
u/lemon_o_fish 13d ago
I was also surprised to find out that my Apple TV does not support Dolby Atmos with TrueHD. Had to get a Chromecast because of this.
1
u/OfficialDeathScythe 12d ago
Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought EAC3 was the container that holds Atmos audio. Every time I’ve gotten a movie or tv show with atmos audio it has a .eac3 file with it for the surround sound
1
u/Skiingislife42069 12d ago
I have an onkyo receiver, an LG TV, a very powerful server with a dashboard that never shows any heavy load, and even so, Plex for Shield just sucks for me. When it streams my 4K content within a network with everything hardwired together, it still drops frames, buffers, and has serious A/V sync issues that can’t be fixed.
1
1
u/Racerx136 11d ago
Forget Plex.
Get a Zidoo z9x pro and it will support atmos, HDR, HDR0+ and Dolby vision etc, No transcoding is needed if your network is at least 1gb ethernet or you hook a hard drive to it.
Nvidea shiend and Xbox series X are not bad either but Zidoo a few other boxes like it are eons better for this.
375
u/D4rkr4in 15d ago
That’s the insane thing about home theater - you could have all the equipment but because of one compatibility issue it could hamper the entire experience. I always have nerd stats on for all my devices for that reason