Forum Discussion

Obelix27's avatar
Obelix27
Streaming Star
6 years ago
Solved

Netflix outputs 2.0 instead of Dolby Digital (not DD+) on Streaming Stick+

I use an HDMI switch with an SPDIF optical audio extractor to get the audio from the HDMI to my old surround amp which handles DD and DTS (not HD). This works well in surround sound with everything e...
Dolby
  • RokuTannerD's avatar
    RokuTannerD
    6 years ago

    Obelix27 

    Hi there, 

    Thanks for the question here. Netflix provides Dolby Digital+ format audio for their content via their channel on Roku. They do not provide standard Dolby Digital 5.1 format. You'll want to use the 'Auto' setting in Settings>Audio mode in order for your device to automatically detect your TV/A/V receiver's capabilities and pass through the corresponding audio format where available. Your models of Roku devices cannot alter (or transcode) the audio format from Dolby Digital+ format to Dolby Digital 5.1—they will simply pass the supported audio format through to your TV or A/V receiver. (By contrast, the Plex channel uses different functionality to transcode audio in your Plex media server, then delivers the transcoded audio to your Roku device, allowing it to pass standard Dolby Digital 5.1 audio through to your TV/A/V receiver.) 

    If your TV or A/V receiver isn't capable of playing Dolby Digital+ audio formats (as detected by the 'Auto' settings in Settings>Audio>Audio mode, you would only receive Stereo audio from the Netflix channel. 

    I hope that helps clarify. 

     

    Thanks,

    Tanner

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    2 years ago
    Obelix27 wrote:

    Does anyone know if the latest Roku 4k streaming stick will transcode Netflix DD+ to 5.1 so that I can get 5.1 sound via an HDMI -> Optical Toslink audio extractor?

    No, the Streaming Stick does not decode DD+ to DD. The only Roku player that does that is the Ultra 480x. The original Ultra 4640 would also do it, but none of the Ultras after that until the 4800. 

jd47's avatar
jd47
Channel Surfer
4 years ago

I have Onkyo TXNR-696 and Roku Streaming Stick 4K plugged into HDMI on back of AVR.  At first it only produced 2.0 audio. Then I did a Factory Reset of the Roku (while plugged into the new AVR). I think this option was down in the Settings menu. After the apps reloaded, Netflix, Disney+, and HBOmax were all producing Dolby Atmos audio. Sound is now excellent. I hope this works for you.

Obelix27's avatar
Obelix27
Streaming Star
2 years ago

Does anyone know if the latest Roku 4k streaming stick will transcode Netflix DD+ to 5.1 so that I can get 5.1 sound via an HDMI -> Optical Toslink audio extractor? The old stick I have doesn't do this (hence this thread was started some years ago).

  • HomeTechie's avatar
    HomeTechie
    Reel Rookie
    2 years ago

    I don't know for sure but I sincerely doubt it.  This is the reason I switched 2 years ago to the Roku ultra.  It does this but in the end I just ended up using hdmi splitter to get dd+ audio to my old receiver for audio surround only (since it's only 1080p video) while the other hdmi split 4k goes to my TV. 

    Works great. 

    I tried to extract the audio before from hdmi to toslink but it was still trying to put dd+ over toslink and it work sometimes getting dd+ over toslink the bandwidth of 1.6mbps of dd+ was to much for toslink as that theoretically only handles up to 1mbps so it kept chopping out the audio. 

    So because of that I don't think the 5.1 extractor idea will work unless it's s very well proven extractor because getting 5.1 from dd+ I believe is very tricky. 

  • Obelix27's avatar
    Obelix27
    Streaming Star
    2 years ago

    I see the Roku ultra is unavailable on Roku's website but is still available on Amazon for £100. So you think the ultra will transcode Netflix (Prime etc.) from 4k DD+ to 4k 5.1? The 5.1 will then be extracted from the Roku's HDMI via an audio extractor to an old 5.1 processor (via Toslink) and get 5.1 sound?

     

    It sounds like your receiver does DD+ so you have no need to go to the old 5.1 surely?

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    2 years ago
    Obelix27 wrote:

    Does anyone know if the latest Roku 4k streaming stick will transcode Netflix DD+ to 5.1 so that I can get 5.1 sound via an HDMI -> Optical Toslink audio extractor?

    No, the Streaming Stick does not decode DD+ to DD. The only Roku player that does that is the Ultra 480x. The original Ultra 4640 would also do it, but none of the Ultras after that until the 4800. 

  • Obelix27's avatar
    Obelix27
    Streaming Star
    2 years ago

    Thank you... I don't suppose you know if one of the current Fire Sticks converts DD+ to DD?

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    2 years ago

    I have no knowledge of the Fire TV devices. Don't care for the Amazon-centric user interface. I believe the Nvidia Shield will do it, but since mine are all connected to AVRs that support most all audio codecs, I don't use any of those settings.