Plex HD Audio - XBox One S

toynlet

Established Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
60
Reaction score
3
Points
17
Hi there....just wondering if anyone can provide some clarification.

I have the Plex app installed, have an XBox One S with latest updates and have a soundbar capable of decoding HD Audio.

When I try to play a movie with a HD audio soundtrack (by selecting the correct audio track through the Plex app) the soundbar only shows the audio as either DTS or Dolby Digital (as selected in the audio settings of the XBox One S).

I'm not missing anything here am I? The Plex app doesn't yet have the ability to pass through HD audio does it?

Thanks!
Steve
 
Your soundbar is decoding the audio that is being sent to it from your XBOneS. It took me a long time to figure this out, but I finally found a workaround to the problem you're having, although not the best workaround.

I'm assuming your soundbar is a 5.1 soundbar, and you want the audio to be directly carried to the soundbar without the generic DTS or DD decoding. So, in your XBOneS settings, scroll down to Display & Sound. Go over to Audio Output. Under HDMI Audio, select "5.1 Uncompressed" (or 7.1 or whatever your soundbar is). This will send a direct audio codec, from whatever is encoded into the source material, to your sound bar.

If you use the "Bitstream" option, you are using a false bitsream. Essentially, the XBOneS has it's own set of sounds when navigating menus, etc. It has to take all sounds from source materials(Plex, Netflix, Amazon), menu nav, snapped apps, Live Chat, combine all these sounds into one soundtrack, then "bitstreams" the new soundtrack out in whichever format you choose (either DTS or DD). This is not a true bitstream, obviously.

The true bitstream is to select an uncompressed option. The downside is your soundbar, or in my case, my AVR, will display either PCM or whatever your sound systems version of PCM is.

For Blu-Ray playback, go down to the main settings option that says Disc & Blu-Ray. Select Blu-Ray tile, and scroll down to the option that says "Let my receiver decode audio". CHECK THAT BOX. Now, when you watch an actual Blu-Ray or 4k movie, your receiver will decode actual audio codec on the disk (Atmos, DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD, etc.) This option ONLY works for physical disk media.

The Blu-Ray playback option will only work if you connect in the following order:
XBOneS->AVR->TV
AND your AVR supports those audio codecs (and 4k60 HDR passthrough, if needed), OR:
XBOneS->TV(ARC)->AVR
AND your TV support ARC and passthrough of those codecs (many do not)

This is everything I have found through my many months of trial and error through setting up my XBOneS, AVR, and Vizio P55-C1. I finally have everything setup the way it is needed for proper audio decoding, visual decoding, and performance. Now I just need some height speakers to expand my current system into Atmos territory haha
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom