Illustration by William Joel / The Verge
Nearly a year ago, YouTube TV announced plans to add 5.1 surround sound support for its streaming TV package. When we spoke to YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan earlier this year on The Vergecast about new features rolling out for the platform, he told us it would arrive soon. Now, it’s here for more devices, including the most recent Chromecast with Google TV.
The company announced that, in addition to previously existing surround sound support on traditional Chromecasts and TVs made by Vizio, LG, or Samsung, the immersive audio experience is rolling out to Google TV, Android TV, and Roku.
According to a support page for YouTube TV, if you have a compatible hardware setup and the program you’re watching is available with 5.1 audio, it should turn on automatically. If you’re watching something and you’re not sure if it’s coming through, one way to check is to open up the correctly named “Stats for nerds” window to see if you can find AC-3/EAC-3 under the codecs section, which indicates you’re on the correct feed.
If you’re hoping to get a few extra channels but stream your YouTube TV subscription package on another device, like Fire TV, Apple TV, PlayStation, or Xbox, the last update in March said YouTube is “still working internally and with partners” to enable the feature on those platforms.
This just in ─────────────⚪️
We know you’ve been waiting, and it’s *finally* ready. 5.1 Audio is rolling out this week across Google TV, Android TV, and Roku devices.
— YouTube TV (@YouTubeTV) June 7, 2022