Introducing myself and a question about my new soundbar. (1 Viewer)

[Paul Gallagher]

Hi Paul here. First time on this forum having just bought a LG Sj3 2.1 soundbar. The only connections it has is the optical, USB and 3.5 jack. So no hdmi.

What I learnt over the past couple of days is that a soundbar cannot play DTS or Atmos if only using an optical cable. Yet it says that this soundbar supports DTS. Or am I incorrect there.

Also, I watched a Dolby atmos demo on you tube and the sounds were coming from all directions even behind me etc. Now if HDMI can only give these sounds why am I hearing all this surround sound. Thanks for reading and hope to get some clarification as new to all this.

 

[Todd Erwin]

First of all, welcome to the Forum!

The soundbar appears that it is capable of decoding the legacy (or lossy) Dolby Digital and DTS audio formats, then "folds" them down to stereo. Back in the DVD days, before HDMI, the only way to get a Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack to a receiver was by using an optical or coax cable from the DVD player to the receiver. The lossless audio formats, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, and DTS:X cannot be sent over optical, but the Blu-ray player usually transmits the legacy form instead. In most cases, though, a soundbar like this one is usually connected to the TV via optical, and most TVs only output Dolby Digital over optical if you are watching TV from an antenna, nearly everything else is sent as PCM stereo to the soundbar.

Any Dolby Atmos demo you find on YouTube is useless - YouTube only streams in stereo. The soundbar has several sound modes, including a surround simulator that LG refers to as Cinema (Sound Field eXtension default). These surround simulators work to varying degrees based on room acoustics, how the listener perceives the sound, and the algorithm used. The soundbar is taking that stereo stream from YouTube and processing it through the surround simulator.

 

[John Dirk]

Welcome! @Todd Erwin has already done an excellent job of explaining what soundbars are truly capable of and the concept of perceived sound. Sadly some of the marketing around soundbars is totally misleading. None can produce true surround sound as intended by content providers because that is heavily dependent on speaker placement, an area where soundbars inherently have no flexibility.

If your room and budget allow, you would do much better with discrete speakers and an A/V receiver. Even a moderately priced setup would produce results superior to any soundbar. In cases where this is either undesirable or not possible, soundbars can be a decent compromise as long as you understand their limitations.

 

[JohnRice]

Just to add, the fact that your were getting such good surround sound from a YouTube video shows that the soundbar can actually do a pretty good job, even if it can't accept an HD or Atmos signal. As has already been said, the marketing around soundbars gets pretty absurd. So, you can use a regular Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack, depending on how you connect it (refer back to Todd's explanation) but not HD or "immersive" like Atmos.

Just connect it and enjoy it.

 

[Paul Gallagher]

Thank guys for the replies. So it's a Stereo soundbar with cinema, Asc, and standard mode as well as night mode which are features to enhance the sound etc. Ok well I was impressed with what I was hearing, If you tubes demos are not good than can only imagine what more expensive set ups must sound like.

Discreet speakers and an AV receiver, can they be purchased in addition to my soundbar and if so how would I connect them to the soundbar. Would they need to be LG as well to match the soundbar.

I upgraded Netflix from HD to Ultra HD as well thinking that I was going to get the Atmos sound effect that I'd listened to in the You Tube demos. I'd seen a video where someone had done this.

"What do I need to stream with Dolby Atmos audio?

• A Dolby Atmos-capable audio system.
  
  
• A plan that supports streaming in Ultra HD. You can check which plan you’re currently on at Netflix
  
  
• A Netflix-capable device with Dolby Atmos support
  
  
• Streaming quality set to High or Auto."
  Seems like I'm unable to. Is that because my soundbar is not Atmos Capable. I'm bit confused there. Even though Netflix still sounds good, the sound effects are not like the demos. Our Samsung TV must be at least 12 years old so not sure if modern TVs make a difference to the audio. Cheers

 

[JohnRice]

Discreet speakers and an AV receiver, can they be purchased in addition to my soundbar and if so how would I connect them to the soundbar. Would they need to be LG as well to match the soundbar.

That would be instead of your soundbar. It's a one or the other thing. No middle ground. Those can be any brand you want.

 

[John Dirk]

upgraded Netflix from HD to Ultra HD as well thinking that I was going to get the Atmos sound effect that I'd listened to in the You Tube demos. I'd seen a video where someone had done this.

"What do I need to stream with Dolby Atmos audio?

True Atmos is all about speaker placement. For the height effects channels the speakers should ideally be in or on your ceiling. Some soundbars and floor-standing speakers claim to support Atmos by using speakers aimed at the ceiling with the thought being they will bounce the sound back to your ears. Dolby does endorse this type of setup but you will not get optimal results this way. Same for soundbars.

Netflix and other streaming platforms do support Atmos but only the Dolby Digital based "lossy" variety and usually with only two [not the recommended four] discrete overhead channels. With the limited Atmos-enabled content they offer, I personally did not consider it worth an upgrade to that plan.

A good Dolby Atmos [or DTS:X] setup can represent a significant investment and you don't necessarily need Atmos for great sound. Unless your room and budget allows for a setup with discrete height channels placed in the ceiling I wouldn't really bother. Here's some reading material if you're interested.

https://www.dolby.com/us/en/speaker-setup-guides/index.html

 

[Todd Erwin]

Netflix and other streaming platforms do support Atmos but only the Dolby Digital based "lossy" variety and usually with only two [not the recommended four] discrete overhead channels. With the limited Atmos-enabled content they offer, I personally did not consider it worth an upgrade to that plan.

My real problem with Netflix offering Dolby Atmos is the lack of wide hardware support. In the realm of streaming devices, the only one they support is Apple TV 4K. Both Roku and Fire 4K devices will stream 4K video, but only provide 5.1 Dolby Digital Plus audio.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Discreet speakers and an AV receiver, can they be purchased in addition to my soundbar and if so how would I connect them to the soundbar. Would they need to be LG as well to match the soundbar.

That would be instead of your soundbar. It's a one or the other thing. No middle ground. Those can be any brand you want.

@Paul Gallagher - You may want to give this article a read, Beginner's Guide to Home Theater, to get a better idea of what all is involved equipment-wise. Some of the equipment may need to be updated, as I wrote the article almost a year ago. Also, ignore the bickering comments that follow the article, right @JohnRice?

 

[JohnRice]

@Paul GallagherAlso, ignore the bickering comments that follow the article, right @JohnRice?

You made me nervous for a moment, fearing I'd contributed something bad. It seems I managed to control myself for the most part.

 

[JohnRice]

Netflix and other streaming platforms do support Atmos but only the Dolby Digital based "lossy" variety and usually with only two [not the recommended four] discrete overhead channels. With the limited Atmos-enabled content they offer, I personally did not consider it worth an upgrade to that plan.

I still haven't incorporated the full 7.1.4 potential on my main room. Only a minimal 7.1.2 at the moment, so I wasn't aware that NetFlix Atmos didn't incorporate four overhead speakers. It seems that defies what Atmos actually is.

 

[Todd Erwin]

You made me nervous for a moment, fearing I'd contributed something bad. It seems I managed to control myself for the most part.

Sorry if I alarmed you. You were one of the sane, more reasoning commentators on that thread, possibly eventually bringing some civility.

 

[John Dirk]

I still haven't incorporated the full 7.1.4 potential on my main room. Only a minimal 7.1.2 at the moment, so I wasn't aware that NetFlix Atmos didn't incorporate four overhead speakers. It seems that defies what Atmos actually is.

Hold the presses. I hadn't tested this in about a year so I upgraded my plan today to make sure I wasn't passing on incorrect information. Turns out maybe I was.
I just fired up Another Life and it appears to be full-on Atmos, albeit the [lossy] Dolby Digital Plus variety. That said, Atmos support is still quite limited hardware wise as @Todd Erwin pointed out earlier in this thread. In my case I'm using a Windows 10 HTPC and letting Windows do the decoding for this test. This is not something I plan to maintain as I generally prefer my Marantz AV7702 handle decoding and the available content still fails to justify the added cost for me.

 

[Paul Gallagher]

Thank you for the links I've taken a read through them. Quite a lot of information to digest, A little bit more knowledgeable than I was a few days ago.

One equestion though. I notice that there are movies that are Dolby Pro logic, DTS, Dolby Atmos, DTS X etc. Now if the soundbar that I purchased is 2.1 stereo but DTS, does that mean that movies that are DTS would sound better as in the surround sound as apposed to Dolby Pro logic, Atmos, DTX S etc. Or does the soundbar have a default sound. Would one format sound better than the other if that makes any sense. Thanks

 

[Todd Erwin]

Thank you for the links I've taken a read through them. Quite a lot of information to digest, A little bit more knowledgeable than I was a few days ago.

One equestion though. I notice that there are movies that are Dolby Pro logic, DTS, Dolby Atmos, DTS X etc. Now if the soundbar that I purchased is 2.1 stereo but DTS, does that mean that movies that are DTS would sound better as in the surround sound as apposed to Dolby Pro logic, Atmos, DTX S etc. Or does the soundbar have a default sound. Would one format sound better than the other if that makes any sense. Thanks

Play around with the various sound modes on your soundbar until you find one you like. Sound is very subjective.