5.1 or Atmos on BT Sport Ultimate

[Cragz]

Hi all,

I asked a year ago and I’m hoping something‘s changed since!

I’m using BT Sport on the following 3 devices -

Nvidia Shield

Xbox One X

Windows 10 PC

… with the Shield being by far the most frequently used. It’s great watching everything in 4K HDR with the funky manager modes etc. but I’m still only getting 2.0 sound.

Am I doing something wrong, or has 5.1 (or Atmos) not yet made it to these devices?

Thanks!

Craig

[DarrenDev]

There are no plans to add BT Sport Ultimate to Windows 10, but the other 2 should be OK.

You should get 5.1 / Atmos from the Ultimate channel. It's not available on any of the other channels or content.

[Cragz]

Thanks Darren. I’m not getting it at all on my Shield, although Atmos is working perfectly in e.g. Netflix, Plex, Prime Video etc.

I have an ultimate subscription so the big events are working fine in 4K/HDR, just no Atmos (or indeed surround sound of any kind).

Can you suggest a way to resolve this? Would it be worth uninstalling & reinstalling the app? I can’t find anything in settings that might help.

[DarrenDev]

Reinstalling the app won't change anything.

Please launch the app with it set up as it normally would be, and then send me a DM with the BT ID you're logging into the app with.  I'll check our logs to see what it reported that it's capable of - you'll only be offered DD+ if the device reports that it's capable.

[DarrenDev]

I can see you starting BT Sport Ultimate 16 times on Saturday, across Fire Stick, Android TV, and Xbox.  The Xbox only requested stereo, but all the other playback sessions requested our multi-channel audio stream.

I can't say how many channels were inside the multi-channel audio stream for that match - it would normally be 5.1 for a non Atmos event, but there's a chance it could also have been 2.0 if that's all that was available.

Your devices are definitely set up OK from our perspective though - you're being served the multi-channel audio stream when available.

[Cragz]

Morning Darren, thanks for looking into this. I really appreciate it. 16 times - can you tell I was testing? 😄

Mind _blown_ though! The only thing that'd make sense here from my perspective is if it was BT Sport Ultimate served up in 2.0 and the Xbox was doing something naughty / clever with stereo into the rears.

I could have been absolutely certain it was _just_ crowd noise though.

I'll have to try again on an upcoming BTSU stream when games roll around again in future. Hopefully it'll all go well, but if it doesn't I might be back with some more information. Sorry and thanks in advance! 😄

Craig

[DarrenDev]

I've just discussed this with the wider team, and had it confirmed that events on Ultimate are always a minimum of 5.1 channels for the content, however ad breaks are always 2.0 channels.
When you mention that there's no surround on Fire TV / Android TV, is that based just on what you're hearing? Are you able to see what your receiver is receiving?

[Cragz]

Yeah it's just me leaning into the rears and hearing nothing.

Irritatingly the receiver's a Samsung Soundbar and literally only lights up with an Atmos signal, and as far as I can tell (having just searched etc.) there's no system-level tool / overlay that'll show Shield outputs across every app. Even the Fire Stick version (e.g. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/G/01/mobile-apps/dex/firetv/systemxray-multimedia._TTH_.png) doesn't help with audio channel info.

Even just using my ears though it's clear as day when there's rear speaker action. Via the Shield & Fire Stick they pass through 5.1 for e.g NowTV, iPlayer (when available), Netflix, Plex, GameStream etc. and there's never been an issue.

The plot thickens.

[AF1SHER]

Watching match tonight on ultimate, no atmos.

My sound bar comes up with the dolby atmos logo when it's using atmos. Works with films etc through different apps but not working for bt sports ultimate.