Avid Contributor I

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Arc, Projector, HDMI Matrix and Volume Control

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I’m sold on the Arc + One SL setup for my home theatre but I have an issue.

My projector is up high at the back of the room (obviously) so routing the devices at the front of the room into it is impractical.

So they’ll need to go into an HDMI matrix, 4 in, 2 out. Then one HDMI out to the projector, the other to the Arc. I don’t want to use Optical for audio due to its limitations.

Does anyone know if or how I’d be able to control volume in this setup? My display has no speakers or volume control, so I couldn’t use that in the way a TV normally would.

Would my only option be the Sonos app? That’s a bit clunky and slow for that moment you want to grab the remote and change the volume.

Does HomeKit and AirPlay compatibility mean that the playback status and volume would show on the lock screen of my iPhone whenever the Arc was playing audio?

Or are there any other options?

Thanks in advance

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melvimbeAnswer

I’m sure someone would have suggested this by now if possible, but just to confirm there’s no way I can use my existing 6in/2out AV Receiver with eARC (Sony STR-DN1080 7.2ch Home Theatre AV Receiver) in place of the proposed HDMI switcher and achieve what I originally wanted, right? For the same reason - it doesn’t mimic a TV’s ARC functionality?

Correct. Your AVR’s role in eARC is essentially the same as what the Sonos Arc is going, receiving audio from the TV via eARC.

Danny

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ratty

But if no one has ever made a device that can do this with the old sound bars and ARC, I’m not confident an eARC-compatible one is going to emerge :(

There wasn’t any motivation back then. Beam can only support DD5.1, and that’s deliverable over optical. Now there’s Atmos (via DD+ or TrueHD) which will struggle to get through most of the TVs in the wild.

T

tomwhitakerAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Ah, great point. Let’s see what happens then.

T

tomwhitakerAuthor

Avid Contributor I

I’m sure someone would have suggested this by now if possible, but just to confirm there’s no way I can use my existing 6in/2out AV Receiver with eARC (Sony STR-DN1080 7.2ch Home Theatre AV Receiver) in place of the proposed HDMI switcher and achieve what I originally wanted, right? For the same reason - it doesn’t mimic a TV’s ARC functionality?

melvimbeAnswer

I’m sure someone would have suggested this by now if possible, but just to confirm there’s no way I can use my existing 6in/2out AV Receiver with eARC (Sony STR-DN1080 7.2ch Home Theatre AV Receiver) in place of the proposed HDMI switcher and achieve what I originally wanted, right? For the same reason - it doesn’t mimic a TV’s ARC functionality?

Correct. Your AVR’s role in eARC is essentially the same as what the Sonos Arc is going, receiving audio from the TV via eARC.

Danny

T

tomwhitakerAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Well, tonight I’ve taken the plunge so I have until June 9th to decide this was a bad idea, I suppose! I toyed with getting a Beam-based setup but I’m assuming Arc, Sub and Ones will sound amazing even with “just” a 5.1 signal, and there’s not that much Atmos content out there, especially as I don’t play discs.

It’s going to hurt not being able to use it to its full extent, but means I can replace the Play 5 in my cinema room, and have a totally S2-compatible system.

My setup is PS4 (will be PS5), Nintendo Switch, Apple TV 4K (primarily using Infuse with content on my NAS, and Netflix). So I assume I set all these devices to output DD5.1 and that’s what I’ll get out, right? What would happen to DTS content? Or if I had a file encoded with 7.1, or Atmos? I assume as long as my devices are set to output 5.1, they’d do the conversion/downmixing and I wouldn't have any problems. Also, do we know what the Arc does with a 5.1 signal? I’m assuming it uses all the speakers, even those that fire upwards, just not with distinct audio?

This looks like it’ll do the job for audio extraction for now - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Switcher-Control-Optical-TOSLINK-Supports-4X1-HDMI-Switch-Audio-V2-0/dp/B075G9HH6F - with fingers crossed for the future?

Airgetlam

I don’t think the Nintendo Switch can generate a Dolby Digital signal, you may want to double check in the audio settings for the device.

DTS content will be silent, Sonos does not, and to our knowledge, will not be able to decode it.

Bruce

T

tomwhitakerAuthor

Avid Contributor I

Thanks. I will do.

Hmm, that’s annoying about DTS. I don’t currently pay attention to what audio sources I’m listening to though, as everything just works. Not sure how much of an issue this is...

Airgetlam

These days, it’s mostly blu ray discs. Dolby Digital is generally used on most streaming services, well, Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus, which the Arc will be able to interpret.

Bruce

B

Booster59

Contributor II

Hi all, I saw this device on youtube.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HD-Fury-4k-Integral-0686603105313/dp/B07HWLZFD7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=NMU2GA0ZF0B9&dchild=1&keywords=hdfury+integral+2&qid=1592216926&quartzVehicle=72-1783&replacementKeywords=hdfury+integral&sprefix=integral2+%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1

or

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HDFury-4K-Vertex-4K60-converter/dp/B077ZDLKSF/ref=sr_1_3?crid=NMU2GA0ZF0B9&dchild=1&keywords=hdfury+integral+2&qid=1592217377&quartzVehicle=72-1783&replacementKeywords=hdfury+integral&sprefix=integral2+%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-3

https://www.hdfury.com/product/vertex-4k60-444-600mhz/

It’s not cheap (circa £200) but I think(?) it might do the job(?). I’m in exactly the same position, am committed to a projector (not chosen yet; already have an Optoma but looking to upgrade) and was looking at Arc package with Sub and 2 x One SL’s. The issue for me was the same - how to get Atmos (or a decent surround sound) to my Arc. My main input will be Sky Q.