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MartinAsh1978
Scholar

NOW TV Boost, no 5.1

Hi, 

 

I've just started the trial of NOW TV Boost on the NOW TV stick. HD is being recognised but the Boost settings are not recognising 5.1 even though I have that set in the audio settings. 

 

I have tried signing out and switching off the stick but nothing works. 

 

Anyone got any ideas? 

 

20191124_185531.jpg

20191124_185502.jpg

 

Any help would be much appreciated, cheers. 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi all. For 5.1 to work the NowTV boost settings must be set to either DolbyD+ or DolbyD+/DTS all other settings result in Stereo only. Sonos Beam does not work with DolbyD+ so will not output 5.1 with a NowTV box or stick. Hopefully a future firmware update will let the DolbyD setting work which would then work with Sonos Beam. 

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40 REPLIES 40
MartinAsh1978
Scholar

@commanda6 thanks for the info, I will try that and let you know.

 

@schnapps the PS4 works perfectly, beautiful 5.1 🙂 

MartinAsh1978
Scholar

@commanda6  - I tried those options and the stick started to report 5.1 on the settings. However, I didn't get any sound out of the movies but my guess is this is a failing of my setup rather than the stick as I have had the same issues with some Blu-rays. Not sure why I don't get the same issue on the PS4 though.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @MartinAsh1978 

 

Strangely enough, i have been doing some sound testing with the Boost Pass on my Living Room Panasonic 4K TV (ARC) and Maxell Soundbase system also ARC compatible.

 

I found if i set my NowTV box to either DD Plus or DD Plus & DTS the NowTV Box reported that it was 5.1 surround sound, but i couldn't get any audio sound out of the Maxell Soundbase system.

 

When i set the audio mode on the NowTV box to either DD, DD & DTS or Auto the NowTV box was reporting stereo and i was getting sound out of the Maxell sound system.

 

Tried the same test over Digital optical where i was getting the same results.

 

In my particular setup i think the issue is with my Maxell Sound Base causing the conflict being a 2.1 system and i am not sure if it's Dolby Digital Plus certified.

 

Where if i use use my NowTV box on the Pioneer AV Receiver in the Cinema Room i get glorious DD Plus in 5.1.

 

Not a biggie for me where i have just left the Living Room system in DD and it's playing in stereo 2.1 which i am guessing it is the limitation of  my budget Maxell soundbase unit only having two front firing speakers and a separate base driver.

 

All my serious Movie watching is done in the back Cinema Room anyway, where i can now use my NowTV Cinema & Boost Pass in 1080p HD & DD Plus 😀.

 

Where in the past i only watched Netflix & Amazon content in the back Cinema Room.

 

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Hi all. For 5.1 to work the NowTV boost settings must be set to either DolbyD+ or DolbyD+/DTS all other settings result in Stereo only. Sonos Beam does not work with DolbyD+ so will not output 5.1 with a NowTV box or stick. Hopefully a future firmware update will let the DolbyD setting work which would then work with Sonos Beam. 

MartinAsh1978
Scholar

@Anonymous User - Thanks for the clarification, I thought that may be the case. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Well I have a Sonos Playbar, sub and Play 1s and on my Now TV Apps on my Samsung TV and also on my PS4 all I needed to do was to click on My Account and on the green Settings next to the Boost icon and change it to surround sound and it works perfectly.

The Sonos app shows 5.1 audio.

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User @Anonymous User @MartinAsh1978 @schnapps @commanda6 

 

There is something of a disconnect here.

 

The Sticks definitely require DD+; on plain DD, they still report, and behave, as Stereo.

 

But my Samsung TV won’t do DD+, just plain DD, and yet the app on it gives full 5.1 over DD.

 

This contradicts the NowTV Help for Samsung TVs, though the entry there for LG TVs says that DD is sufficient for 5.1

 

Now we have the PS4 being described as working OK into the Sonos Beam, which won’t do DD+.

 

So it looks like the apps are working over DD, but the Sticks are only working over DD+.

 

Or something. With the Samsung set for plain DD, I definitely don’t get 5.1 from a Stick set for DD+ on it (or indeed, set to anything) but I do get 5.1 from the app on the Samsung.

 

I’ve learned more than I ever wanted to know about Bitstream versus PCM, Dolby this and Dolby that, DTS in all its flavours, HD Audio, and so on, and I think I have most of it straight now, but the above still needs explaining, and the NowTV Help needs correcting accordingly.

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I was disappointed to learn I don't get 5.1 either. 

 

I too have a NowTV Stick and a Roku 4K Stick and I connect them to a Samsung TV with ARC.

 

The TV's won't respond to DD+ set on the stick at all. No sound.

 

Is this ever going to change? So DD is supported?

 

 

RoyB
Legend

@Anonymous User 

 

Use the NowTV app on the Samsung TV, with the TV set to DD.

 

Any device that can handle DD+  can bust it down to DD when it detects a DD-only environment. It appears that the NowTV App on the Samsung does this,

 

But the Sticks can’t detect DD, so don’t bust DD+ down to it; and if you set them for DD, the NowTV app determines that only stereo is in use.

 

The obvious fix is for the NowTV app on the Sticks to use the inbuilt capability of DD+ to bust the signal down to DD when the DD option is detected in the Roku settings instead of treating this as stereo.

 

It then doesn’t matter at all that the Stick can’t actually test its environment, if this is true. It certainly acts as if it can.

 

 

 

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thank you 

 

Tried the Samsung app and it does work fine with 5.1 as you say. Pleased to have a fix. 

I hope they update the sticks as I much prefer using them. Stream quality is 7831 so looks like all working as expected.