Issue with Dolby Digital from blu-ray player

[rawpowerocks]

I was wondering if anybody may be able to help me.

My setup is a Sony blu-ray player, which is connected to my Sony TV via hdmi. I also have a Sonos Beam soundbar connected to the TV via hdmi arc.

When I play a blu-ray disc movie which has DTS audio I get no audio through the Sonos Beam because it is not compatible with DTS. The Sonos Beam reports the audio in is DTS and it is not supported. That is exactly what I was expecting, so no surprises for me there.

This is what my issue/problem is....

The blu-ray player has audio settings. One of those settings is 'Dolby D Compatible Output' which I then turn on. This setting says it converts DTS audio to Dolby Digital for output. But even after turning this setting on my Sonos Beam still reports the audio in is DTS not Dolby Digital, which seems weird to me as it should report Dolby Digital. Am because its receiving DTS I still have no audio.

The only way I seem to get audio through the Sonos Beam is by putting the blu-ray player 'Digital Audio Output' setting to PCM rather than auto. Then I can actually hear the movie. But the Sonos Beam then reports that the audio in is Stereo 2.0.

Why can't I get Dolby Digital from my blu-ray player to the Sonos Beam? Any ideas to what my problem is? Am I missing a setting somewhere that I need to adjust? 

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated as its driving me nuts

[rawpowerocks]

I think I have just discovered what the issue is?

I just unplugged the Sonos Beam. Set the blu-ray 'Dolby D Compatible Output' setting to on. I now have the audio from my TV only. Press info on the blu-ray remote and it shows the audio as being DTS-HD Master Audio not Dolby Digital. So I thought the issue must be something to do with the blu-ray player. Then I had a quick look through the blu-ray players manual and it appears to get Dolby Digital you have to use the Digital Out Coaxial jack rather than it being sent through the hdmi

[merseyswine]

I had a very similar problem with my AG9 TV, soundbar and Blu-ray player. I found out (by reading the soundbar’s manual) that I had to connect the Blu-ray’s HDMI to the soundbar and the Soundbar to the TV via the eARC link. The Blu-ray picture is then passed through to the TV but the Blu-ray sound goes directly to the  soundbar. All other devices are connected directly to the TV’s HDMI inputs and the TV will pass the sound from them to the soundbar.

[rawpowerocks]

I cant hook it up like that with the Sonos Beam. On the blu-ray player it has 'HDMI Out', which is what I currently have connected to the hdmi arc on the TV. But it also has a 'Digital Out Coaxial' which has PCM/DTS/Dolby Digital written underneath it. I wonder if Dolby Digital is only outputted from the digital out coaxial not the hdmi? That would seem really odd to me for it to work like that but as it stands my TV is not registering Dolby Digital from the blu-ray player. So may be i am missing a setting within the TV settings?

[merseyswine]

Can’t you connect the “HDMI out” of the Blu-ray to one of the HDMIs on the Sonos, and then connect the Sonos’s eARC to the TV’s eARC port? I’m not familiar with how many HDMI ports you have on a Sonos arc soundbar but surely it has those two that I mentioned?

[rawpowerocks]

Unfortunately not. The Sonos Beam only has 1 HDMI socket. But I don't think the Sonos Beam is the problem. If I disconnect that totally so all I have in the chain is my Sony blu-ray player and Sony TV I still can't get the audio to be Dolby Digital

[rawpowerocks]

So just played around a little more and have discovered something. 

The blu-ray movie I have in the player at the moment has 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio as its primary audio output. Like I have noted above, the Sonos reports it as DTS and that it is not compatible. 

I unplug the Sonos. The blu-ray is then connected directly to the TV via hdmi and I put the 'Dolby D Compatible Out' option to on. So in theory the blu-ray player should be converting the DTS to Dolby for the output. But it doesn't. When I press info on the blu-ray remote it shows the audio as still being 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.

If I then actually choose a different audio setting from the movie's disc setting I can select English Audio Description 5.1 Dolby. I then press info on the remote and it shows the change and that it is now in Dolby. I re-connect the Sonos back up and this now also shows the change and that the audio is now in Dolby. 

So the issue seems to be with the Dolby D Compatible Out setting on the blu-ray player and that it is not actually converting the audio as it should be?

[rawpowerocks]

Last night I tried this with our other Sony blu-ray player and with both players the convert DTS to Dolby setting does not actually work. Why does this setting not work? Any ideas anyone?

[royabrown2]

@rawpowerocks 

Can we know what the model numbers of these BluRay players are, so we can read their manuals for clues?

Unlike the manuals that come with Sony Android TVs, Sony BluRay player manuals are often comprehensive and informative.

Also, can you please state the model number of the TV, and whether it supports eARC, or only ARC, and likewise for the Sonos Beam?

[royabrown2]

@rawpowerocks 

Also, above you said “Then I had a quick look through the blu-ray player’s manual and it appears to get Dolby Digital you have to use the Digital Out Coaxial jack rather than it being sent through the HDMI” and then later on “I wonder if Dolby Digital is only output from the digital out coaxial not the HDMI?” you were suddenly wondering about this, so did you forget, or go backwards, or start doubting the first assertion, or what?

A thing I know about Dolby Digital, though, is that Dolby Digital+ is, or should be, capable of being busted down to plain Dolby Digital, and maybe this is what they are talking about.

it might be a tall order for the BluRay player to decode and re-encode DTS on the fly.