[Consultant]

One oddity I recently discovered is that dialog on all live channels (Sling, Locast) is in stereo with no audio produced from the center channel (and this is with my Yamaha receiver the audo signal is Dolby Digital+ Surround.) All movies streamed from Netflix, HBO Max, etc, the dialog correctly comes out the center channel. When I had Xfinity, I had the opposite problem. Too much of the dialog on live TV (if not all of it) came out only the center channel. While technically maybe that's the correct way to do it, it sounds much better if a small portion of the dialog (for like news, etc) is also sent to the left and right speakers - at least that's my personal preference if having a slightly wider sound field for the dialog on live TV.

See for yourself, play something on Sling like the News and you'll see the center channel is basically silent.

 

[241705]

Aren't the live channels from Sling still only in stereo?

 

[jwort93]

Aren't the live channels from Sling still only in stereo?

Correct, with the exception of AT&T TV, none of the OTT streaming live TV providers have 5.1 audio. Regular on-demand streaming services do for the most part though.

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[241705]

Despite the fact that the signal is stereo, the TS4K is probably causing the OP's receiver to show a "Dolby Digital 5.1" signal because....I don't know why but that's what the TS4K does.

 

[dbpaddler]

Aren't the live channels from Sling still only in stereo?

Locast is stereo only as well. Low quality pic and low quality sound.

I would think you'd have to use a dsp based surround setting to get some dialog out of the center channel for non surround sources.

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[Consultant]

Go figure, after I started a separate thread, Google is better at searching forums than the forum site's own search and I found this thread. (My thread with full details is here -> No 5.1 for Hulu, Sling and maybe others? Android TV)

But I just want to chime in here too. I'm no dummy, I know A/V Tech. Essentially the TS4K has a very peculiar behavior in that (at least with my newer Yamaha mid-range receiver) if on the TS4K you go into settings and manually turn on all the surround modes and reboot, you get "Dolby Digital+" surround indicated from 2-channel sources and you can tell because only the front and left speakers have sound. This is the case with all live TV streaming and with Hulu including Hulu on demand movies, etc. I am embarrassed it took me quite a while for me to notice (mainly because I watch the news mostly and stream Netflix, HBOMax, Amazon Prime the rest of the time - those latter 3 apps all properly stream 5.1 surround and the news I care less about the sound quality/format.)

What I think some people out there don't realize is many of these receivers like mine will "upscale" so to speak a 2-channel source to a "fake" surround and the indicator on the receiver is that it is in a surround sound mode. This is typically called something like DTS Neo 6 Cinema, or just "Dolby Surround" and a lot of people mistake it for true surround. You can tell as you will hear a tiny bit of the dialogue coming out your REAR speakers! If you put the TS4K surround settings back into manual and turn on all the surround modes and reboot, the receiver will typically show "Dolby Digital+" surround and will not attempt to splice the 2-channel into 5-channel audio, hence the center speaker is silent.

I'm actually now going to go ahead and fork out $150 for an Nvidia Shield from Amazon and see if it streams everything correctly. I would like to have live sports and Hulu on demand in true surround, not fake surround.

 

[dbpaddler]

I have a 3.1 channel mini amp that does dolby digital, and my beta unit in surround mode does muffled dialog, pretty much no center channel. Yet the same sources on my regular one on my Marantz sounds pretty much phenomenal with every service I've thrown at it. Pretty much Netflix, prime, hbo Max, CW and OTA through Channels DVR.

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[Consultant]

I have a 3.1 channel mini amp that does dolby digital, and my beta unit in surround mode does muffled dialog, pretty much no center channel. Yet the same sources on my regular one on my Marantz sounds pretty much phenomenal with every service I've thrown at it. Pretty much Netflix, prime, hbo Max, CW and OTA through Channels DVR.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

LOL, you probably much mentioned all but the services that have the issue. Try YouTube TV (you can get a 5-day trial) or Hulu content. Netflix, Prime, HBO Max all stream in true 5.1.

 

[dbpaddler]

LOL, you probably much mentioned all but the services that have the issue. Try YouTube TV (you can get a 5-day trial) or Hulu content. Netflix, Prime, HBO Max all stream in true 5.1.

Read in another thread that the Shield has its own host of issues including audio issues. So if it might be in a similar boat, then maybe it's an android app issue not doing something right and not the device's fault.