XBox One Audio Question

[ouchmyfacehurts]

So I just got one of these. I have three other blu ray players including a PS3 and none of them have the following problem... The audio isn't being encoded by my 5.1 receiver. It just comes through as PCM. Generally, I would think when the thing is set to bitstream, it would send it out as PCM to the receiver to decode the DTSHD, Dolby TrueHD, etc. but it does not. Bitstream actually seems to downgrade the audio to DTS or Dolby Digital.

Add to that, that unless it is a bluray, a game, or netflix, there is no way to get surround sound. The only way to kind of fudge the surround sound, is to go in to the audio preferences and change it from 5.1 to stereo. Then it lets my receive use Pro Logic II to mix to 5.1, which is fine for movies but a definite step down for something like Fallout 4.

Is there a way to unbastardize these audio settings?

[RJ MacReady]

Originally Posted by ouchmyfacehurts

Is there a way to unbastardize these audio settings?

Nope. The Xbox One outputs everything as 5.1 uncompressed (LPCM) over HDMI. It only bitstreams stereo via optical. Technically LPCM is no different from Dolby True HD or DTS-HD MA, it's just that the Xbox is doing the decoding rather than your receiver.

More here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=246011

A drawback I know of personally is that my receiver has certain listening modes that you can only use with native Dolby or DTS soundtrack (and not with PCM). So I use my PS4 for movie watching. The sound is still great for games on the Xbox though. Halo 5 sounds phenomenal.

[ouchmyfacehurts]

Originally Posted by RJ MacReady

Nope. The Xbox One outputs everything as 5.1 uncompressed (LPCM) over HDMI. It only bitstreams stereo via optical. Technically LPCM is no different from Dolby True HD or DTS-HD MA, it's just that the Xbox is doing the decoding rather than your receiver.

More here: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=246011

A drawback I know of personally is that my receiver has certain listening modes that you can only use with native Dolby or DTS soundtrack (and not with PCM). So I use my PS4 for movie watching. The sound is still great for games on the Xbox though. Halo 5 sounds phenomenal.

the issue i have basically boils down to things like HBO GO, HULU, NHL Gamecenter, etc not getting surround sound at all. they wind up just coming through the front two speakers.

[Derb]

Originally Posted by ouchmyfacehurts

the issue i have basically boils down to things like HBO GO, HULU, NHL Gamecenter, etc not getting surround sound at all. they wind up just coming through the front two speakers.

That's what most streaming services only offer.

[ouchmyfacehurts]

Originally Posted by Derb

That's what most streaming services only offer.

not true. my PS3 streams MLB and NHL in surround sound. also, i was still able to use prologic when using my roku3 to create a surround effect, or at least get speaking to come through my far-too-expensive center channel speaker.

[awongus]

So the takeaway from all this is that the PS3 is better than the Xbox 1?

[RJ MacReady]

All I know is that if you're outputting to your receiver via HDMI and you set your output to 5.1 (or 7.1, depending on your setup) uncompressed, if the game/blu-ray/app offers surround sound it should output it. The bitstream options really only apply if you're outputting audio via optical cable.