5.1 setup expert knowledge required

Question

I'm wondering how to solve my challenge.

The setup is:

Apple 4kTV HDMI to Optoma UHD380x optical out with HDMI converter to SONOS BEAM (Sonos beam paired with 2 play one and SUB)

I guess the reason why I get STEREO PCM as listed input is that the conversion through the Optoma beamer or the conversion from the Optoma optical out to beam HDMI in port.

Would there be a solution to get both the image onto my OPTOMA and the sound to my BEAM with 5.1 instead of Stereo PCM?!

thank you so much!

I guess the Optoma is the issue because the SPDIF only supports - SPDIF Out (2 channels PCM).

beamer: https://www.projectors.co.uk/optoma-uhd380x-projector/

Is there something like an HDMI splitter so that I directly after the Apple 4K tv split the audio from video into two HDMI cables; one going to the beamer and one to the Sonos Beam?

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Best answer by Airgetlam 18 May 2021, 18:55

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Airgetlam · Accepted Answer

Ah, that’s more challenging. Finding a splitter that can take a regular HDMI input and create a HDMI ARC output is more rare. I’m not overly familiar with many of those….the only one I know of (not that there might not be others) is the HDFury Arcana device, which has the necessary electronics to create a ARC signal from a standard HDMI signal. That’s generally the province of the TV electronics. And I’m not sure how that would work for a Beam, since it creates an eARC signal. I think that’s backwards compatible to ARC, but I’m not 100% sure, it would be worth asking the folks at HDFury about that.

It’s also why I suggested the more prosaic optical output device. There’s tons of those, and they’d be much cheaper, and you wouldn’t lose any signal fidelity due to the fact that optical can only handle Dolby Digtal anyway, since the Beam isn’t capable of higher audio formats.

Airgetlam · Answer

I’d put a splitter in between the AppleTV and the Optoma, rather than after it. Not sure what your “HDMI converter” is in this case, but ideally, an HDMI splitter could send the video to the Optoma, and pull off an optical output in full Dolby Digital and send that to the Sonos converter, which would play the Dolby Digital signal. Ah… perhaps your HDMI converter is the Sonos converter, that makes sense.

So, yea. Put a HDMI switch with an optical audio out on it in between the Apple TV and the projector, and pull the audio out before it hits the projector. That way, you’ll get the full surround affect.

I’m not familiar with the Optoma specifically, so you may want to double check the Apple TV’s audio output to ensure it’s sending out a Dolby Digital (and not Dolby Digital Plus, or Dolby Atmos, or “Best availalable, lock it down to DD only) signal. It might be that the issue isn’t so much with the processing of the audio signal in the Optoma, but in what the Apple TV is sending out. Worth looking at, at least, before spending $50 or whatever on a HDMI switch.

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