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MarkyMarkFunkyBunch
Contributor I
May 7, 2020

Arc/Atmos - TV support for passthrough from Apple 4k?

  • May 7, 2020
  • 129 replies
  • 32420 views

 I’m a little confused. I have an Apple 4K going into a TV that’s older than a few years. Will the Atmos sound from the TV be pushed through the TV via the eARC/eHDMI connection even though Atmos isn’t native to the TV itself?

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    jshakes
    Lyricist II
    June 11, 2020

    I’m in the same boat.

    My TV has ARC (No eARC) but I only watch things on my Apple TV 4K.

    Currently using the Beam, have preordered the Sonos Arc for Atmos, but now nervous this setup won’t work.

    Let me know if someone tests this setup.

    Smartdrive
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    My TV has ARC (No eARC) but I only watch things on my Apple TV 4K.

    Currently using the Beam, have preordered the Sonos Arc for Atmos, but now nervous this setup won’t work.

    This depends on your TV if it can passthrough the Apple TV 4K Atmos signal to your ARC port. For me that’s a no (Samsung Q900R) - all I get is DD 5.1.

    jshakes
    Lyricist II
    June 11, 2020

    My TV has ARC (No eARC) but I only watch things on my Apple TV 4K.

    Currently using the Beam, have preordered the Sonos Arc for Atmos, but now nervous this setup won’t work.

    This depends on your TV if it can passthrough the Apple TV 4K Atmos signal to your ARC port. For me that’s a no (Samsung Q900R) - all I get is DD 5.1.

     

     

    Do all eARC TVs pass it through?

    Or is that also a TV by TV basis?

    If it is, what spec item should I look for as I’m probably going to be on the market for a relatively inexpensive compatible 55”...

     

    dmcc
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020


    It was a given eARC would pass through.  The question at hand is will regular ARC pass through from ATV 4k. 

     

    Many claimed that since the Arc was not Multi-Channel LPCM capable, the Apple TV 4k would downgrade to stereo, eARC or no eArc.  Turns out it wasn’t true in most cases.  

     

    I have this problem. ATV → LG C9 → ARC

    Atmos works perfectly, but DD5.1 now arrives at the ARC in a 2.0 format as the ARC cannot yet process LPCM beyond 2 channels.

    Snelfie
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    This does seem like a strange oversight. I had planned to use the following chain of devices: Apple TV 4K —> LG OLED TV (eARC) —> Sonos Arc. With the lack of support for LPCM, will that cause this setup not to work with Atmos?  Anyone know if the 2020 LG OLED TVs can downmix the Apple TV audio to something the Sonos Arc can accept, while keeping the Atmos track?

    You will be fine if you have eARC.  The Apple TV will pass the Atmos to the Arc just fine, if using eARC.  Consider yourself lucky - for many people (myself included), our TV’s without eARC will not be able to send an ATMOS signal to the Arc because Apple TV does not use DD+ as a container, and thus what they do send is too large to send through the legacy HDMI arc connections.

    Assuming the LG TV can pass through the LPCM audio through the eARC HDMI port, how would the Sonos Arc play the Atmos audio track if LPCM is not supported?

    I asked this question to LG and got the following answer:
     

    I have a 2020 LG Nanocell TV. Does Sonos Arc accept LPCM? If not then AppleTV 4K will not play Dolby Atmos. I have been informed through other forums that the LG Apple TV app on 2020 TV’s will be updated to stream Atmos at some point this year.

     



    Good afternoon Graham, 

    Thank you for your email. 

    I have had a look into this for you and I can see that your TV should pass this as long as the external sound system you are using supports both Dolby Atmos and LPCM. As the soundbar is not our model, I would not be able to advise on this so I would recommend that you contact Sonos to advise further on this. There are no settings that are needed to be changed on the TV side of things as this should just pass through. 
     

     
    jshakes
    Lyricist II
    June 11, 2020

    It would be helpful if a Sonos employee could clear this up from their end for us.

    zlinuk
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 11, 2020

    I have,

    ATV → LG CX → ARC

    I am getting Atmos

    I am getting DD 5.1

    BrewsterNJ
    Contributor I
    June 11, 2020

    I have a 2017 LG C7 with an HDMI ARC connection.  I am also getting Atmos thorough Apple TV via Disney Plus, Netflix and Prime on listed Atomos content as well as DD 5.1 on non Atmos content. 

    Snelfie
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    I have,

    ATV → LG CX → ARC

    I am getting Atmos

    I am getting DD 5.1

    What TV Sounds settings do you have? I’ve got HDMI input set to PCM. If HDMI input set to Bitstream it will only play DD 5.1 not Atmos. 
     

    zlinuk
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 11, 2020

    I have,

    ATV → LG CX → ARC

    I am getting Atmos

    I am getting DD 5.1

    What TV Sounds settings do you have? I’ve got HDMI input set to PCM. If HDMI input set to Bitstream it will only play DD 5.1 not Atmos. 
     

    HDMI Input is set to bitstream

    Digital sound out is set to Passthrough

    If that doesn’t do it I would double check the settings on the Apple TV

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