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Anonymous User
Not applicable

5.1 Audio output ??

Hi there ....

Having had a lengthy 'web chat' with one of The NOW help persons, they assured me that the Black Now box should output a 5.1 Dolby signal .... Which I was failing to get, so .... After several hours of fiddling with settings on both my AV amp & resetting the Now box a couple of times, I'm still not convinced a 5.1 output is happening.

Within the settings/audio menu I've tried both the 'auto detect' ..... Which did as it said & recognised the HDMI could carry DD and DTS .... And also manually set the audio at DD (along with all the other settings) but alas all that is being fed from the Now box appears to be stereo.

 

Has anyone out there managed to configure a 5.1 output & inform if I'm missing something really simple & stupid !

Thanks in advance for any info

Cheers

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User

 

NOW TV only supply stereo audio.  Hopefully 5.1 is something on their list for the future, especially moviesSmiley Happy

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173 REPLIES 173
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Prologic 2 creates seperate Rear channels from AAC 2.0... Prologic 1 creates 1 rear channel split to both rear speacker... 

All consoles can TRANSCODE... AAC to DDPL2 for optical Dolby Digital from AAC 2.0  

 

commanda6
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User Hi 

 

I believe you're half right where the Xbox one is concerned, based on what I've seen, (I have an Xbox one) it does appear that it can transcode AAC to Dolby Digital, but it does not allow surroundsound to be simulated, using Dolby pro Logic which means if you're dealing with stereo source you were only get Dolby stereo as of course there is a stereo variant of Dolby Digital.


I do not work for Now . I am simply a Now customer trying to help I am a Community Contributor This means that I know a lot about the service. But just like you I am still a customer. This means I cannot help you with issues that would involve looking into your account directly. A member of the now TV forum team or live chat will need to assist you with these issues.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@commanda6 wrote:

@Anonymous User Hi 

 

I believe you're half right where the Xbox one is concerned, based on what I've seen, (I have an Xbox one) it does appear that it can transcode AAC to Dolby Digital, but it does not allow surroundsound to be simulated, using Dolby pro Logic which means if you're dealing with stereo source you were only get Dolby stereo as of course there is a stereo variant of Dolby Digital.


They won't do it via HDMI. I know that as DD is Lower quality than PCM... So the consoles leave the AAC in PCM 2.0 with PLII mix coding... and wont downgrade the audio...

 

Ok...

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Just keep watching here, in time we should at least see 1080i and then who knows 4K ? 😊

 

http://help.nowtv.com/article/Streaming-Quality

Anonymous User
Not applicable

People have been pleading for higher quality encodes for the last 4 years.. yes, 4 years. Apparently that either isn't enough time to put higher bitrate encodes into place, or they literally have no interest in increasing the quality of their offering. I'd be happy to pay extra as well, so it isn't like Now Tv don't have an incentive either. 

SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

@Anonymous User wrote:

Apparently that either isn't enough time to put higher bitrate encodes into place, or they literally have no interest in increasing the quality of their offering....


I disagree. The 'bit-rate' (stream quality) of the on-demand movie service has steadily increased this year alone. Indeed it's currently over 4400kbps for the newly added movies. And as such the visual quality has improved.

 

The Martian looks great on my 65" LG television using its in-built NOW TV app.

commanda6
Legend 5
Legend 5

@SeeMoreDigital wrote:

@Anonymous User wrote:

Apparently that either isn't enough time to put higher bitrate encodes into place, or they literally have no interest in increasing the quality of their offering....


I disagree. The 'bit-rate' (stream quality) of the on-demand movie service has steadily increased this year alone. Indeed it's currently over 4400kbps for the newly added movies. And as such the visual quality has improved.

 


@SeeMoreDigital 4.865Mbps to be exact (4865Kbps) Smiley Wink  At least according to the stream quality indicator on my LG TV anyway.


I do not work for Now . I am simply a Now customer trying to help I am a Community Contributor This means that I know a lot about the service. But just like you I am still a customer. This means I cannot help you with issues that would involve looking into your account directly. A member of the now TV forum team or live chat will need to assist you with these issues.
SeeMoreDigital
Legend 5
Legend 5

@commanda6 wrote:

@SeeMoreDigital 4.865Mbps to be exact (4865Kbps) Smiley Wink  At least according to the stream quality indicator on my LG TV anyway.


Yep, the images via the NOW TV 'on-demand' movie service look very clean now. Better than Wuaki.tv (Rakuten) and TalkTalk TV (Blinkbox) services 😉

Anonymous User
Not applicable

I watch on a 49" Lg 4K tv and all my audio goes through my 7.1channel AV amp. The picture is ok and the sound is delivered through external stereo to all my speakers. It's not perfect, but for 9.99 it's decent. Sky aren't going to give you a deal on this when they'd rather you signed up to movies on their sky platform where you would see improvements in picture quality and sound. 

Where I feel let down is when I take out a weekly sports package for live football. I see a deterioration in picture and buffer there. But, overall, it's decent for the price imo 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User

 

Stuart, homie, you're dang right in your opinings.

 

The thing is that, as film aficianadoes, surely Now TV ought to offer an upgraded package for those wanting and even willing to shell out a few bob more for 1080p HD and 5:1 Dolby sound, no?