FREE TOOL
No sound, or no Atmos?
Most home cinema sound problems are a setting or a port, not a fault. Pick what you see and work down the list.
No sound at all
Sound comes from the TV, not the receiver or soundbar
The receiver shows PCM or Dolby Digital, not Dolby Atmos
Atmos from apps, but not from discs (or the reverse)
Sound drops out, crackles or the picture blinks
Lip sync is off
Tick the steps as you go; nothing is saved or sent. Still stuck? Ask the Advisor (the ✧ button) with your TV, receiver and source.
ARC and eARC, in one paragraph
ARC (audio return channel) lets a TV send sound back down an HDMI cable to a receiver or soundbar. Plain ARC carries stereo and compressed surround, including Dolby Digital Plus, which is how streaming services deliver Atmos. eARC (enhanced ARC, HDMI 2.1) has far more bandwidth: it adds lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio (the formats on Blu-ray and 4K discs, including their Atmos and DTS:X tracks) and multichannel PCM. If your discs reach the receiver through the TV, you need eARC on both ends.
What the receiver's display tells you
- Dolby Atmos (or TrueHD Atmos / DD+ Atmos): the Atmos track is arriving untouched.
- Dolby Digital Plus or TrueHD without Atmos: the title, app or plan has no Atmos, or the receiver is set to a mode that ignores it.
- PCM / Multi-channel PCM: something upstream decoded the sound. That can still sound excellent, but Atmos height information is lost along the way.
- PCM 2.0: stereo only: a setting somewhere asks for stereo, or plain ARC is carrying PCM from a TV app.
Read more
The Journal explains it at more length: why does my receiver say PCM?