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I bought a new Samsung smart tv and would like to play music on my 5.1 sound system. Right now I just watch 5.1 content movies using the setup, but I'd like to be able to do the same with music as well. All the music apps I have found use only stereo speakers.

Are there any music apps which have 5.1 content?

shan.phreak
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    Without saying specifically what exact TV brand and model you have, the country you bought it and in what store you bought it, it may be impossible to determine the possibility to answer to your question. Your TV may be limited to stereo sound only. Over HDMI, it could probably send 5.1 audio signals, but you would be better off using a DVD player for that. – Ismael Miguel Aug 27 '15 at 12:59
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    I have a Samsung smart tv, and i have plugged in a 5.1 sound system with the TV. So i can play 5.1 content movies using this setup. But i want to do the same for music, if there is any 5.1 music out there. – shan.phreak Aug 28 '15 at 19:10
  • You can find 5.1 music by googling it, then playing it off an external drive or NAS, but it's usually by small artists and honestly there's not a lot of good stuff out there. Soundcloud however supports 5.1 and has some nice content – Jonathan Feb 23 '16 at 03:05

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You can find 5.1 music by googling it, then playing it off an external drive or NAS (Network Attached Storage), but it's usually by small artists and honestly there's not a lot of good stuff out there to my knowledge

Soundcloud however supports 5.1 and has some nice content

Netflix supports 5.1 so in the end credits of many movies you get the 5.1 soundtrack. See Where do 5.1 (surround sound) soundtracks end up? for info about soundtracks.

YouTube claims to support 5.1 but does not seem to in my experience for Firefox, Chrome, Hyper, Safari, or Edge, to my knowledge, unless upmixed, as of their move to HTML5 after Flash see https://superuser.com/questions/1044094/5-1-surround-sound-videos-via-firefox-chromeyoutubehtml5-on-windows-10-plays If you want to see if your browser can play 5.1, start here: https://www.axel-hahn.de/demos/html5-audio/tester-audio-formats.php?lang=en

Windows Media, VLC and iTunes all support 5.1 audio output, but usually that means you have to use a WMA or AC3 file. For a test file see http://www.lynnemusic.com/surround/www_lynnemusic_com_surround_test.ac3

Your receiver can upsample stereo to 5.1 and honestly that sounds pretty darn good for most music. See your receiver's manual for information on how to do this.

Community
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Jonathan
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I use Plex, which is an amazing app for SmartTVs. I have 3 Samsung SmartTVs, and I can access my entire music and movie catalog from all of them. Essentially, Plex allows you to make your own Netflix in your house, and can even be set up to share your library with friends. I have my entire music and movie collection sitting on one Windows computer (using a pair of 4GB external HDs). All you need is one PC (to act as the server) and as many SmartTVs as you want.

I don't have a full 5.1 system, only a soundbar, but I know it can support 5.1 audio.

Johnny Bones
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