It took me a bit, but I finally figured out how to get full surround (5.1) sound on broadcast channels (either live or recorded) using my Roku Express 4K+ with the Tablo app. Under (Roku) Settings->Audio->Digital Output Format, change Auto to Custom, Dolby Digital Plus. So far, so good for those channels.
However, none of the streaming channels are giving me surround sound and certainly some of the shows that are being streamed did have surround sound when they were originally broadcast. Has anyone gotten surround sound from a Tablo streaming channel?
My Tablo is a 4th generation one.
Glad you figured at least something out. I have Tablo 4th gen on my LG C2 and for the life of can’t figure out how to get anything but PCM from broadcast and streaming channels. Seems very strange. Would appreciate hearing from any LG users if you are experiencing the same.
I know this is over a month old, but I just saw it.
The issue with surround and streaming is fairly easy to comprehend but hard to fix. Surround sound (Dolby) can’t be interrupted and restarted smoothly to deal with commercials being inserted. A few of the top streaming providers do provide surround sound with ad-supported material, often by sticking all of the ads up front so they don’t need to interrupt the program.
I think Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple+ are about the only ones currently doing that. As more of the big players start moving toward ad-supported video, we may see ad-supported surround-sound streams becoming more popular.
But why not on the broadcast, over the air channels using Tablo? Pluto TV has no problem streaming Dolby Digital + 5.1, nor does Plex, or Sling Freestream, Tubi, or many others I use.
Maybe to save bandwidth? (I don’t know, just throwing it out there.)