Samsung HW-N950, TV (eARC) and Nvidia Shield 2017 - what should I upgrade for Dolby Vision and Atmos playback?

[eXelium]

Hi All,

As the post title says, I am situation when I have a trio of devices where nothing works at its best when playing content from NAS (mostly using Kodi Android).

1. Sony Bravia TV with Dolby Vision and eARC
2. Samsung HW-N950 soundbar. No eARC, unknown if it will pass through Dolby Vision to the TV. Plays all sound formats though. Side note not enough bass in listening spot would down firing subwoofer work better?
3. Nvidia Shield 2017. No Dolby Vision support. All audio formats play fine though.

My thoughts (from cheapest)
1. Nvidia Shield 2019 (will Dolby Vision reach TV?)
2. JBL Bar 9.1 - eARC, room calibration, different subwoofer construction (downfiring)
3. Samsung HW-Q950A - eARC, couple iterations newer, room calibration, sidefiring subwoofer as on N950.

I went into topics for both of those soundbars and in specific conditions eARC breaks? Is it when playing from PC or a console?

What can I do? Or what would you do to enjoy content with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and potentially other HD audio formats?

 

[WiteWulf]

Hi there, I just bought the Samsung HW-N950 from a forum user and am having problems with Dolby Vision passthrough from an Nvidia Shield 2019 (the tube version). I'd read that the 950 did DV passthrough following a firmware update and I've updated the bar but still no dice.

I won't hijack your thread (I'll make a more detailed post elsewhere), but just thought I'd let you know this.

 

[eXelium]

Hi there, I just bought the Samsung HW-N950 from a forum user and am having problems with Dolby Vision passthrough from an Nvidia Shield 2019 (the tube version). I'd read that the 950 did DV passthrough following a firmware update and I've updated the bar but still no dice.

I won't hijack your thread (I'll make a more detailed post elsewhere), but just thought I'd let you know this.

Can HDMI cable make difference?

 

[eXelium]

Hi there, I just bought the Samsung HW-N950 from a forum user and am having problems with Dolby Vision passthrough from an Nvidia Shield 2019 (the tube version). I'd read that the 950 did DV passthrough following a firmware update and I've updated the bar but still no dice.

I won't hijack your thread (I'll make a more detailed post elsewhere), but just thought I'd let you know this.

Either way ordered a used Shield 2019 and will update this thread when I perform tests. Won't loose much if I resale it or sell my Shield 2017.

 

[WiteWulf]

I’ve got a couple of 48gb/s hdmi cables coming from Amazon tomorrow so will likewise update with results.

 

[WiteWulf]

The new cables sorted it. So, to confirm: for my set up DV passthrough from 2019 Shield, through HW-N950 to LG B8 definitely works with 48Gb/s "ultra high speed" cables, but did not work with some old cables I had lying around, although each cable did work properly when connecting the Shield directly to the TV (properly in this case means 2160p at 60Hz with HDR10 and Dolby Vision)

 

[jprezbin]

Hi All,

As the post title says, I am situation when I have a trio of devices where nothing works at its best when playing content from NAS (mostly using Kodi Android).

1. Sony Bravia TV with Dolby Vision and eARC
2. Samsung HW-N950 soundbar. No eARC, unknown if it will pass through Dolby Vision to the TV. Plays all sound formats though. Side note not enough bass in listening spot would down firing subwoofer work better?
3. Nvidia Shield 2017. No Dolby Vision support. All audio formats play fine though.

My thoughts (from cheapest)
1. Nvidia Shield 2019 (will Dolby Vision reach TV?)
2. JBL Bar 9.1 - eARC, room calibration, different subwoofer construction (downfiring)
3. Samsung HW-Q950A - eARC, couple iterations newer, room calibration, sidefiring subwoofer as on N950.

I went into topics for both of those soundbars and in specific conditions eARC breaks? Is it when playing from PC or a console?

What can I do? Or what would you do to enjoy content with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and potentially other HD audio formats?

I have LG OLED CX (or C anything is great from 9 up) with LG SN11RG which is a great setup. The samsung hw-q950a is the best atmos bar option right now.

 

[eXelium]

I can confirm that HW-N950 and Shield 2019 work together and Dolby Vision reaches the TV.
When I first connected shield (through N950) it automatically displayed a prompt to enable Dolby Vision.

Shame that official Kodi doesn't play DV though. Have to use custom build (same for Kodi run straight from the TV).

 

[WiteWulf]

Hey @eXelium, how are you getting on with the Shield and HW-N950 now? I've been having audio drop-out problems since replacing the cables and getting Dolby Vision working. Only thing that fixed it is turning DV off again

Dolby Vision Passthrough Woes - Nvidia Shield->HW-N950->LG B8

Equipment: LG OLED55B8 Samsung HW-N950 Nvidia Shield 2019 (tube model) All devices on latest available firmware Setup: B8 [HDMI2 (ARC)] -> N950 [HDMI Out (TV-ARC)] Shield -> N950 [HDMI 1] Problem: When connected in the above configuration the N950 does not appear to be passing through Dolby...

www.avforums.com

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/397608/inconsistent-sounddropouts-to-soundbar/3207508/

 

[eXelium]

Hey @eXelium, how are you getting on with the Shield and HW-N950 now? I've been having audio drop-out problems since replacing the cables and getting Dolby Vision working. Only thing that fixed it is turning DV off again

Dolby Vision Passthrough Woes - Nvidia Shield->HW-N950->LG B8

Equipment: LG OLED55B8 Samsung HW-N950 Nvidia Shield 2019 (tube model) All devices on latest available firmware Setup: B8 [HDMI2 (ARC)] -> N950 [HDMI Out (TV-ARC)] Shield -> N950 [HDMI 1] Problem: When connected in the above configuration the N950 does not appear to be passing through Dolby...

www.avforums.com

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/397608/inconsistent-sounddropouts-to-soundbar/3207508/

To be honest I didn't have much time to play a lot of content. No dropouts for me for couple of different movies/series that I tried. I am battling a little bit of AV sync issue. Seems that video is displayed sooner than audio (maybe it's dependent on what A/V codecs are being used?). But again I didn't have much time to experiment and feel.

 

[whiteswan]

I have a 2015 Shield Pro with 500 gig hard drive along with Samsung Q900 (950) Soundbar.

It will pass Dolby Atmos / DTS X Sound to the Samsung Soundbar using Plex - I had read the 2015 Shield would not do Atmos (and it wont from the inbuilt apps I believe) - I was surprised and it is working fantastically well - especially 4K Films from my PC upstairs.

No stuttering at all.

Dave