topic Re: No 5.1 surround sound on F1 in Sky Stream

No 5.1 surround sound on F1

TeamBeans — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 10:09:31 GMT

The F1 season is back. My first time watching on Stream after years of Sky+. I have found:

There is 5.1 surround sound on the channel for live broadcasts for new programmes, i.e. new coverage, and it works well.

There is not 5.1 surround sound on any of the catch-up or playlist items for the exact same programmes.

There is not 5.1 surround sound on the channel when they re-play any programme which was previously broadcast in surround sound. Past races, repeats of the coverage etc.

This is a huge step back from Sky+ which was always in surround sound for the coverage and anything you recorded to your box to catch up later.

Funnily enough, Sky don't mention this when they sell you Sky Stream. What's going on? Why aren't we always getting the surround sound we pay for?

(I'm referring to the 1080p channel, I don't have or need the UHD or Atmos package).

Re: No 5.1 surround sound on F1

mikealanr — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 12:06:48 GMT

Hi @TeamBeans

Given we are fellow subscribers we can't answer why. The best course of action would be to email Sky's viewer relations team who will investigate. Their email is viewerR@sky.uk.

However you aren't paying. On Stream you pay for Dolby Atmos which is part of the UHD addon. See: https://www.sky.com/help/articles/picture-and-sound-settings-sky-stream

MikeAlanR

Re: No 5.1 surround sound on F1

TeamBeans — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 14:29:28 GMT

I appreciate who the community consists of (which does include some Sky employees). I was posting to confirm that others see the same behaviour and I acknowledge I was not clear on that part. I had seen this previously but this was before the F1 season started so I can now see that the new, live broadcasts get 5.1 and the rest do not.

We do pay for it, because it's advertised as part of the service. It's just not an add-on.