Does this TV output 5.1?
Discussion
Hi all,
Does my old man's TV output 5.1 from the optical out?
It's a Panasonic TX-P50ST60B, here:
http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/viera-televis...
And this is the spec from the user manual:
He's bought a Sonos PlayBar and I think he'll have to take the optical out from the Sky HD box to get true 5.1, but I'm not 100% sure.
Thanks!
Does my old man's TV output 5.1 from the optical out?
It's a Panasonic TX-P50ST60B, here:
http://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/viera-televis...
And this is the spec from the user manual:
He's bought a Sonos PlayBar and I think he'll have to take the optical out from the Sky HD box to get true 5.1, but I'm not 100% sure.
Thanks!
Rosscow said:
Cheers guys, optical out from the SkyHD box it is!
Will have to get an optical splitter when he buys his new Bluray player though.
Which, if my understanding is correct, still won't help with the Soundbar unless he's getting a Samsung blu-ray to downscale from DTS to DD5.1. No point passing DTS to the Sonos....Will have to get an optical splitter when he buys his new Bluray player though.
Rosscow said:
Do you mean with regard the BR player?
Hmmm... They only output in DTS and not in DD? Is this for every BluRay?
Obviously depends what audio options exist on the disc you're playing in it! If it has DD option (quite a few BRs do and you can of course play DVDs perfectly) then the Sonos will be fine. However, most current Blu-ray Discs output DTS or DTS-HD which the Sonos can't playHmmm... They only output in DTS and not in DD? Is this for every BluRay?
And Sonos have recently confirmed they will not be implementing DTS support.
Lots of very unhappy customers and frankly very disappointing.
Lots of very unhappy customers and frankly very disappointing.
Sonos said:
Plays all sources plugged in to your HD TV: satellite boxes, Blu-Ray players, and video game consoles. If it's connected to your HD TV, PLAYBAR will play it.
Utter lies!Edited by Laplace on Wednesday 26th February 02:33
Laplace said:
And Sonos have recently confirmed they will not be implementing DTS support.
Lots of very unhappy customers and frankly very disappointing.
I've worked in A/V retail for nearly 30 years, and one of the most perplexing things in that time is the rise in popularity of the "Soundbar" If you connect all your sources directly to a TV via HDMI and then connect your Sonos Playbar optically to the TV it works perfectly!Lots of very unhappy customers and frankly very disappointing.
Sonos said:
Plays all sources plugged in to your HD TV: satellite boxes, Blu-Ray players, and video game consoles. If it's connected to your HD TV, PLAYBAR will play it.
Utter lies!Edited by Laplace on Wednesday 26th February 02:33
All this talk of DTS support is utter tosh! IMO, People buy "Soundbars" for one big reason, WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) people dont want the clutter of a full 5.1/7.1 speaker array cluttering up the Lounge, So they have to compromise, and that's what a Soundbar is, a compromise!
I've listened to all of the high end soundbars all the ones with DTS support and psuedo 7.1 processing some costing well into four figures
and not one of them give you the sound quality of basic home cinema system, but that's understood by most.
What a soundbar is, is a TV sound improver, nothing more nothing less!
Now back to the Playbar, compare the sound quality of a Playbar and Sub wired as I suggested with say a Yamaha YSP4300 first of all the Sonos is more expensive £1200 against £1000, but I bet 95% of people would tell you that they sound very similar, and most people would be happy with either, but factor in all the other things that Sonos offer then it wins everytime!
But then when you get bored with the sound of either, with the Yamaha you're stuck, but with the Playbar you can add a pair of Play 1s and you've got a very discrete Surround system, now I hasten to add that it would never match the same spent on a dedicated Home Cinema System, but it's a very good way of getting very effective sound....
Remember Soundbars are compromises.
Edited by tdm34 on Wednesday 26th February 10:18
tdm34 said:
I've worked in A/V retail for nearly 30 years, and one of the most perplexing things in that time is the rise in popularity of the "Soundbar" If you connect all your sources directly to a TV via HDMI and then connect your Sonos Playbar optically to the TV it works perfectly!
All this talk of DTS support is utter tosh! IMO, People buy "Soundbars" for one big reason, WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) people dont want the clutter of a full 5.1/7.1 speaker array cluttering up the Lounge, So they have to compromise, and that's what a Soundbar is, a compromise!
I've listened to all of the high end soundbars all the ones with DTS support and psuedo 7.1 processing some costing well into four figures
and not one of them give you the sound quality of basic home cinema system, but that's understood by most.
What a soundbar is, is a TV sound improver, nothing more nothing less!
Now back to the Playbar, compare the sound quality of a Playbar and Sub wired as I suggested with say a Yamaha YSP4300 first of all the Sonos is more expensive £1200 against £1000, but I bet 95% of people would tell you that they sound very similar, and most people would be happy with either, but factor in all the other things that Sonos offer then it wins everytime!
But then when you get bored with the sound of either, with the Yamaha you're stuck, but with the Playbar you can add a pair of Play 1s and you've got a very discrete Surround system, now I hasten to add that it would never match the same spent on a dedicated Home Cinema System, but it's a very good way of getting very effective sound....
Remember Soundbars are compromises.
Exactly. If someone is arced about DTS they won't be buying a Sonos Soundbar. If someone wants a neat convenient solution which is fairly expensive for the sound they get then Sonos is a winner. These people won't care if it decodes a DTS soundtrack or notAll this talk of DTS support is utter tosh! IMO, People buy "Soundbars" for one big reason, WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) people dont want the clutter of a full 5.1/7.1 speaker array cluttering up the Lounge, So they have to compromise, and that's what a Soundbar is, a compromise!
I've listened to all of the high end soundbars all the ones with DTS support and psuedo 7.1 processing some costing well into four figures
and not one of them give you the sound quality of basic home cinema system, but that's understood by most.
What a soundbar is, is a TV sound improver, nothing more nothing less!
Now back to the Playbar, compare the sound quality of a Playbar and Sub wired as I suggested with say a Yamaha YSP4300 first of all the Sonos is more expensive £1200 against £1000, but I bet 95% of people would tell you that they sound very similar, and most people would be happy with either, but factor in all the other things that Sonos offer then it wins everytime!
But then when you get bored with the sound of either, with the Yamaha you're stuck, but with the Playbar you can add a pair of Play 1s and you've got a very discrete Surround system, now I hasten to add that it would never match the same spent on a dedicated Home Cinema System, but it's a very good way of getting very effective sound....
Remember Soundbars are compromises.
Edited by tdm34 on Wednesday 26th February 10:18
talkssense said:
Exactly. If someone is arced about DTS they won't be buying a Sonos Soundbar. If someone wants a neat convenient solution which is fairly expensive for the sound they get then Sonos is a winner. These people won't care if it decodes a DTS soundtrack or not
There appears to be a lot of people who apparently do care about DTS yet have bought a Playbar, so go figure. I don't fully understand it myself. I guess it's such a basic specification that even very cheap soundbars can support, Playbar users would expect their shiny new soundbar to also support, as a matter of course.I think there's maybe a slight problem with how it's marketed. It promotes itself as being able to handle 5.1 and consumers have possibly, in error, assumed DTS and DD would come under that umbrella of "5.1".
I can understand the frustrations of those who have a tv which can pass through DD (Sonys mainly) and have invested in a couple of Play:1 or 3 for the rears. These users are pretty much the only users who will experience 5.1 with a Playbar (if connected as Sonos intended) until they attempt to play a DTS encoded blu-ray and they get a PCM output from the tv into the Playbar which then spits out its faux 5.1.
If you do wish to watch DTS encoded blu-rays these players can convert DTS to DD on the fly: Samsung BD-F6500, Samsung BD-F5900, and Samsung BD-F5700. You will still need a tv which passes through DD or you can bypass the tv.
The Sammy blu-ray players and skybox optical out to a splitter seems like the best work around.
As others have said though, if folk are that bothered about 5.1, then why buy a Playbar/Soundbar.
I take my issue with how it's marketed and that Sonos took a year to decide whether to implement DTS support or not. They then said "we could if we wanted to, but we're not".
Laplace said:
talkssense said:
Exactly. If someone is arced about DTS they won't be buying a Sonos Soundbar. If someone wants a neat convenient solution which is fairly expensive for the sound they get then Sonos is a winner. These people won't care if it decodes a DTS soundtrack or not
If you do wish to watch DTS encoded blu-rays these players can convert DTS to DD on the fly: Samsung BD-F6500, Samsung BD-F5900, and Samsung BD-F5700. You will still need a tv which passes through DD or you can bypass the tv. The Sammy blu-ray players and skybox optical out to a splitter seems like the best work around.
As others have said though, if folk are that bothered about 5.1, then why buy a Playbar/Soundbar.
In fairness the old man isn't bothered - it's only me being told to 'come round and set my new speaker thing up' that has picked up on the lack of 5.1 support via the TV optical out!
OP, you might want to investigate an all-in-one player/amplifier/speaker solution from someone like Panasonic or Samsung.
For about £250 you get a slightly oversized Blu-ray player and some speakers which (depending on the design) would only be marginally more obtrusive than a soundbar yet would be much less of the compromise that tdm34 is dead right about.
I've just installed a 3.1 Panasonic system for a TV in one of our "minor" rooms and it gives a massive uplift in sonic performance and yet is practically invisible (relatively small L&R & dialogue speakers in the TV stand, all gloss black so they blend in) and the sub tucked away out of sight. No visible cable runs but much better sonic result than a soundbar, and of course full support for ALL audio formats.
As they add only about £80 onto the price of the very decent Blu-ray spinner they're based on I think they're a steal.
For about £250 you get a slightly oversized Blu-ray player and some speakers which (depending on the design) would only be marginally more obtrusive than a soundbar yet would be much less of the compromise that tdm34 is dead right about.
I've just installed a 3.1 Panasonic system for a TV in one of our "minor" rooms and it gives a massive uplift in sonic performance and yet is practically invisible (relatively small L&R & dialogue speakers in the TV stand, all gloss black so they blend in) and the sub tucked away out of sight. No visible cable runs but much better sonic result than a soundbar, and of course full support for ALL audio formats.
As they add only about £80 onto the price of the very decent Blu-ray spinner they're based on I think they're a steal.
k about it outputting true 5.1 or not, that's just me being anal 
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