Can't use Dolby Atmos for Home Theater with headset base station connected (Elite 800X and...

Hi bladerunnin,

Thank you for posting on the Xbox Forums.

The reason you need to unplug the base station if you want to use Dolby Atmos for Home Theater is in the way the Dolby Atmos sound format is processed within the Xbox and Dolby Digital 7.1 in the A50's and DTS 7.1 in the TB 800X respectively.

The Dolby Atmos sound format for Home Theater on any platform is processed in the device itself through HDMI, in this case the Xbox's operating system and software. The Xbox will decode the audio in a bitstream format through HDMI for Dolby Atmos HT. The
headset base stations (not the Xbox) process and decode the audio formats and then send the data to the Xbox in bitstream through optical. Since everything is processed through the base stations for the headsets, simply turning off the headset won't remove
the base station as a device that is hooked up and recognized by the console, at least while the audio settings in the Xbox are still set for Optical audio: Bitstream out. That may be why you are getting the message that Dolby Atmos is only supported over
HDMI.

Under Speaker audio in the Audio output settings of the Xbox, try turning off Optical audio while leaving HDMI audio on Bitstream out, then under Bitstream format select Dolby Atmos for HT. When wanting to use the headsets, turn off HDMI audio and then put
Optical audio on Bitstream out, then under the format choose Dolby Digital (Astro A50) or DTS Surround (TB Elite 800X). If you have tried that but still can't enable Dolby Atmos while you have everything plugged in, then just disconnect the optical cable but
leave the USB plugged in, which is what charges the headset, not the optical cable.

Hi bladerunnin,

Thank you for posting on the Xbox Forums.

The reason you need to unplug the base station if you want to use Dolby Atmos for Home Theater is in the way the Dolby Atmos sound format is processed within the Xbox and Dolby Digital 7.1 in the A50's and DTS 7.1 in the TB 800X respectively.

The Dolby Atmos sound format for Home Theater on any platform is processed in the device itself through HDMI, in this case the Xbox's operating system and software. The Xbox will decode the audio in a bitstream format through HDMI for Dolby Atmos HT. The
headset base stations (not the Xbox) process and decode the audio formats and then send the data to the Xbox in bitstream through optical. Since everything is processed through the base stations for the headsets, simply turning off the headset won't remove
the base station as a device that is hooked up and recognized by the console, at least while the audio settings in the Xbox are still set for Optical audio: Bitstream out. That may be why you are getting the message that Dolby Atmos is only supported over
HDMI.

Under Speaker audio in the Audio output settings of the Xbox, try turning off Optical audio while leaving HDMI audio on Bitstream out, then under Bitstream format select Dolby Atmos for HT. When wanting to use the headsets, turn off HDMI audio and then put
Optical audio on Bitstream out, then under the format choose Dolby Digital (Astro A50) or DTS Surround (TB Elite 800X). If you have tried that but still can't enable Dolby Atmos while you have everything plugged in, then just disconnect the optical cable but
leave the USB plugged in, which is what charges the headset, not the optical cable.

I can confirm the same issue happens to me. But if i use atmos on a windows 10 PC and can seamlessly switch between Atoms for headphones and the receiver without issues. That tells me that this is clearly possibly to do on the xbox one. Just a simiple matter
of cutting off the option connect when you choose.

Under Speaker audio in the Audio output settings of the Xbox, try turning off Optical audio while leaving HDMI audio on Bitstream out, then under Bitstream format select Dolby Atmos for HT. When wanting to use the headsets, turn off HDMI audio and then put
Optical audio on Bitstream out, then under the format choose Dolby Digital (Astro A50) or DTS Surround (TB Elite 800X).

Hey Diego,

Thanks a lot for the prompt reply. I appreciate you taking time to explain how the audio signal is processed by the various devices in my chain. I just got home and was able to try your suggestions...

It doesn't work.

Once the base station is connected to the Xbox via USB, Dolby Atmos is automatically disabled and cannot be re-enabled no matter what settings I apply. My Audio Output settings are:

- HDMI Audio -> Bitstream Out

- Optical Audio -> Off

- Bitstream Format ->Any attempt to select Dolby Atmos yields the message "For Dolby Atmos for Home Theater, you need to be using HDMI. Dolby Atmos for HT only supports HDMI devices. Try unplugging any headsets or optical headset base stations." and both
DTS and Dolby Digital are selectable.

In other words, turning Optical Audio to OFF does not make the Xbox ignore the base station...so Atmos is still not useable.

Your suggestion makes perfect logical sense and that is exactly how it should work. But the Xbox doesn't seem to behave logically in this instance.

Do you have any other advice?

Hey Aswitch,

I took Diego's advice and posted this issue to the Xbox Insiders requests thread for this week. Please head over there to lend your voice to the cause. Upvote or add comment to my post to potentially have it noticed by developers and added to future dashboard
updates. Thanks a lot.

[Mod Removed - Against Guidelines Rule # 21]

Hi bladerunnin,

Thank you for the update and letting us know that it didn't work. I was hoping it would work but it seems the Xbox is designed to detect and prioritize USB audio devices when connected over the HDMI audio devices available. I think this is because the option
we are turning off in the audio settings is the optical data transfer and not necessarily the data being transferred via USB, and there is no way to separate the charging aspect from the data transfer aspect of the USB cable. So while the USB is plugged in,
the headset charges, but the data transfer still occurs while the headset charges and there just seems to be no way to separate the two and turn off the data transfer only via USB.

I'm not sure if the same error would occur on a Windows 10 PC; for example if you have both your HT connected via HDMI to the PC and the base station connected via USB (optical cables not required on PC), then trying to select Dolby Atmos options in the
Windows audio output settings.

My best suggestion would be to present this idea to the formal Xbox Requests site: https://www.reddit.com/r/XboxInsiders/wiki/xboxrequests

From there you can post any idea you may have that you would like to see on Xbox and the Xbox Insider devs will look through the comments that are open every week and choose the top 3 ideas every week. I think this would be a good feature although I'm not
sure how it would be implemented. Either way I highly suggest posting this idea over there and hopefully get some feedback from others.