# No 5.1 Surround From FIOS STB > Sony Receiver > LG TV



## ODog4523 (Jan 6, 2009)

Morning everyone, hope you all are healthy and safe! What better time to make some home theater updates right?

We just set up our LG C9 last night, coming from a Sony STR DN1040 and Verizon VMS1100 STB. I'm using high speed HDMI cable between the three devices and have ARC and HDMI control enabled everywhere I can find. I know ARC is working since we're getting good 5.1 audio through the receiver when using the Netflix app on the TV.

When playing from the STB though we're just getting stereo. No 5.1 surround. Any ideas what I could be missing?


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## Kal Rubinson (Aug 3, 2006)

Have you checked the setup in the STB? You might be able to select between PCM (stereo) and DolbyDigital (mch).


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## ODog4523 (Jan 6, 2009)

Kal Rubinson said:


> Have you checked the setup in the STB? You might be able to select between PCM (stereo) and DolbyDigital (mch).


Yes, the STB is set to surround.


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## ODog4523 (Jan 6, 2009)

Stumbled onto a couple things whilst tinkering this weekend:

1. When the reciever is powered off in standby so the signal is just passing through from the STB to the TV, the TV shows Dolby sound. Of course at this point audio is only playing through the TV speakers. When the reciever is powered on, audio comes through the reciever speakers, but it not 5.1 (as originally stated), and the TV then shows PCM sound on its info display.

2. By playing with the sound field adjustment on the reciever remote, I am able to get what sounds like 5.1 discrete channels of audio from the STB, though the reciever doesn't indicate Dolby. Its display shows MULTI ST. Likewise, the TV still shows PCM.

3. When going through one of the streaming apps on the TV, the reciever isn't showing Dolby sound, even though we're getting the proper 5.1 effect.

Now I'm wondering if because the streaming examples I've been testing with have been Atmos, and this Sony reciever pre-dates that tech, maybe it's just downscaling to 5.1 which is why I get the effect but don't get that satisfying "Dolby Digital" icon on the status display. I'll have to test with an older Dolby Digital or DTS Blu Ray next.


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## mhmercer (Jul 30, 2018)

ODog4523 said:


> Morning everyone, hope you all are healthy and safe! What better time to make some home theater updates right?
> 
> We just set up our LG C9 last night, coming from a Sony STR DN1040 and Verizon VMS1100 STB. I'm using high speed HDMI cable between the three devices and have ARC and HDMI control enabled everywhere I can find. I know ARC is working since we're getting good 5.1 audio through the receiver when using the Netflix app on the TV.
> 
> When playing from the STB though we're just getting stereo. No 5.1 surround. Any ideas what I could be missing?


What you have discovered is a correctable flaw in the C9's firmware. LG claims that a June, 2020 update will allow up to 7.1 channel audio instead of the stereo that you see now.
I assume that you are either using apps on the LG, or are using eARC to connect to your C9 to the STR DN1040, viz: Verizon VMS1100 STB-->LG C9-->Sony STR DN1040. You could get around this problem by using the connection path: Verizon VMS1100 STB-->Sony STR DN1040-->LG C9.


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## RLouis (Jan 20, 2010)

Try connecting the Coax digital out or Optical digital out from the STB to your DN1040 and make sure the correct digital INPUT port is assigned in the DN1040 when STB is selected as the source


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## mhmercer (Jul 30, 2018)

RLouis said:


> Try connecting the Coax digital out or Optical digital out from the STB to your DN1040 and make sure the correct digital INPUT port is assigned in the DN1040 when STB is selected as the source


Optical out works fine, up to 5 channel audio; no LFE used, as I recall.


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## ODog4523 (Jan 6, 2009)

mhmercer said:


> What you have discovered is a correctable flaw in the C9's firmware. LG claims that a June, 2020 update will allow up to 7.1 channel audio instead of the stereo that you see now.
> I assume that you are either using apps on the LG, or are using eARC to connect to your C9 to the STR DN1040, viz: Verizon VMS1100 STB-->LG C9-->Sony STR DN1040. You could get around this problem by using the connection path: Verizon VMS1100 STB-->Sony STR DN1040-->LG C9.
> 
> Actually the path has been VMS1100 > DN1040 > C9 from the start. eARC is enabled to connect the TV to the receiver (though maybe the receiver pre-dates the "e" in "eARC"?), and yes, this is with the TV's apps, as well as the STB.





RLouis said:


> Try connecting the Coax digital out or Optical digital out from the STB to your DN1040 and make sure the correct digital INPUT port is assigned in the DN1040 when STB is selected as the source


I did try that with coax. Didn't seem to yield any fruit though. Don't have optical cable handy at the moment.


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