Bitstream vs. PCM? Low Dialogue Volume

[fabio78]

Setup

LG OLED ARC HDMI input connected to Samsung Harmon Kardon Surround Bar ARC input

Rogers Ignite TV Xi6-A HDMI connected  directly to LG TV

Apple TV HDMI connected  directly to LG TV

Sound issue with my Rogers Ignite TV Xi6-A. The default setting of Bitstream on my LG TV causes issues with hearing dialogue on my rogers ingite box, so i switched it to PCM and the sound is better but i have been reading that this is a lower quality sound option. is it better to directly connect my devices to the sound bar and disable arc/cec? if i keep it at bitstream, why is the dialogue sound very low?

[RogersAndy]

Hey @fabio78!

I personally haven't experienced this audio anomaly but perhaps other's in the community can speak to it.

When the sound is set to PCM are you noticing any quality change? There's technically shouldn't be as it's just a variation of where the audio is being 

decoded. It just comes down to receiver capability as to which is more optimal.

@RogersAndy 

[fabio78]

I notice the sound on pcm and on my ignite doesn’t sound as nice and and clear as it does on my other external device, Apple TV. The setup is exactly the same, sound is coming thru the arc input as well.

[57]

PCM is not actually lower quality, but it is two channel (stereo) instead of DD5.1.  In the case of using a sound bar, I doubt you'll hear any significant difference. Check out the following post on the topic:

https://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/30-57s-home-theatre-faqs/17870-faq-whats-available-dd5-1-a.html