Soundbar & DTS Decoding Question

[Skiddley]

I'm sure this is a basic question for many of you, but I've not found a conclusive answer.

I have a new (2016) Panasonic TV, (DX-750B).

I stream movies over DLNA from a local server. The only downside is that the TV cannot play DTS\DTS-HD tracks natively, so I end up re-encoding audio to AC3 on the media server, and play those tracks from the MKVs.

As the sound is flat from the TV speakers, I was looking at buying a soundbar. If the TV doesn't support DTS itself, is it still possible to pass-through the DTS track to the soundbar over the HDMI-ARC port for the bar to decode?

I wasn't sure if the soundbar would only receive the audio channel selected during playback, and as the TV hides any tracks it cannot play, this would prevent the soundbar from playing these despite the fact I'd get a DTS compatible one.

Cheers.

 

[Vertigo]

The TV should pass the bitstream through to the soundbar unchanged so it'll receive and decode the DTS stream regardless.

 

[nicknack35]

You have a 2016 tv that does not play DTS audio i thought all new TV'S supported DTS my Samsung H6400 does and thats a 2014 model. If not why not use PLEX instead of DLNA thats what i use i use Rasplex with a RPI3 and that plays everything and decodes the Audio to if your tv doesn't support DTS

 

[Skiddley]

The TV should pass the bitstream through to the soundbar unchanged so it'll receive and decode the DTS stream regardless.

Thanks - it's the *should* that I'm trying to clarify