Which device is the weak link in the equation? TV vs. Vizio Soundbar over HDMI-arc

[JM Aggie08]

I've recently upgraded to an Nvidia Shield Pro to act as a Plex client and for other various streaming. With my new high-powered device, I wanted to finally get into streaming 4K content from Plex...which of course compared to 1080p content, opened a whole new can of worms in terms of various audio and video codecs - especially with a 5-6 year old TV and soundbar

Audio streams seem to be the Achilles heel of my setup, with Atmos and other high-end codecs needing to be transcoded on my Plex server, which chokes out the entire system on a 90GB Remux mkv. I am not an audio person by any stretch but am trying to figure out which device I should look to replace in my current setup to enable the use of high-end audio codecs. Setup is as follows:

Nvidia Shield -> HDMI -> Sony Bravia -> HDMI-arc -> Vizio soundbar

Does the TV need to be able to process the high-end audio codecs, the sound bar, or both in this equation? I'm hoping this is fairly straightforward for those of you who know what you're doing haha.

Please let me know if any additional detail is needed.

 

[sdifox]

Are you using direct play and direct stream? The video transcoding is the heavy lifting.

 

[JM Aggie08]

I'm direct playing -- I now know specifically which audio codecs my setup can handle (DTS-HD-MA is the highest, no go for TrueHD or Atmos) and target content with those codecs or multiple audio streams. Transcoding is a non-starter -- my Plex server is running a 2011 i5 and also doubles as my NVR lol.

My question is more about what hardware I'd need to replace to leverage TrueHD or Atmos codecs. Since I have audio running from my Nvidia Shield, through the TV, to the soundbar via arc, I'm unsure as to which device, TV or Soundbar, would need to be compatible with TrueHD and Atmos.

 

[sdifox]

I'm direct playing -- I now know specifically which audio codecs my setup can handle (DTS-HD-MA is the highest, no go for TrueHD or Atmos) and target content with those codecs or multiple audio streams. Transcoding is a non-starter -- my Plex server is running a 2011 i5 and also doubles as my NVR lol.

My question is more about what hardware I'd need to replace to leverage TrueHD or Atmos codecs. Since I have audio running from my Nvidia Shield, through the TV, to the soundbar via arc, I'm unsure as to which device, TV or Soundbar, would need to be compatible with TrueHD and Atmos.

but is your shield the playback device? if so it should be able to convert those codec to stereo. so set it up to output stereo sound.

 

[JM Aggie08]

but is your shield the playback device? if so it should be able to convert those codec to stereo. so set it up to output stereo sound.

You're correct. However, every time I had a file with either of those codecs, I'd check the playback settings and Plex would be transcoding the whole file with the reason being 'device not compatible with TrueHD/Atmost'. I'm not sure if there is an incorrect setting on the Shield or Plex client on the Shield.

 

[sdifox]

You're correct. However, every time I had a file with either of those codecs, I'd check the playback settings and Plex would be transcoding the whole file with the reason being 'device not compatible with TrueHD/Atmost'. I'm not sure if there is an incorrect setting on the Shield or Plex client on the Shield.

did you try to play the file in shield directly through dlna?

AVR / Surround Audio Setup

AVR / Surround Audio Setup

www.nvidia.com