Much needed, especially if you are using a projector…..

Sonos should push for this considering they put us in this situation to begin with .

Maybe partner with HDFury and sell it as an accessory.  They may sell tons of Arcs :)

I agree with that! I bought my Arc having no idea whatsoever as to whether or not I’d be able to get Atmos out of my Apple TV. I ended up taking the plunge despite the risk and, lo and behold, no Atmos. If I could have KNOWN up front that I could definitely get Atmos from my ATV or external device(s) with an add-on like this, I would have thrown it into the cart in a heartbeat. 

Yup!, ordered mine a few hrs ago. 

I was tempted by this, but by the time I add postage and tax I am at $250 Canadian. So I am going to hold off and see if Vizio update their firmware as my TV is a 2019 model. I get Atmos from USB’s plugged into the TV (DD+) so it can do it. It passes DD+ from my Roku but not atmos. So it’s almost there, if they chose (ha!) to do it. 

I am curious how it works for those of you that get it. 

I wouldn’t hold my breath on this if I were you, @britishwonderings. I think you’ve got to have an HDMI 2.0b port for a firmware update to be even possible and I have no idea if the 2019 Vizios have that port. They made a big deal out of starting to support HDMI 2.1 / eARC with the 2020 models that aren’t even out yet, so I’m doubtful that they’ll retroactively add functionality. But I could be wrong. 

I get Atmos from the Netflix and Plex (demos only) apps on my 2018 Vizio model and the TV even recognizes it and displays a special Atmos badge so it certainly is aware of the format. It’s just not fully supported with external devices (or even their own built-in apps). 

For me, this was a no-brainer given how much I’ve already put into my Arc system. A couple hundred bucks to get Atmos / True HD out of all my external devices? Sign me up!  

The cost certainly eats into my 30% off but does future proof a Sony OLED from 2019 without eARC and only 2 high speed HDMI ports. 
 

it’s a great display and the Arcana and a switch will help keep the sound up to speed with the picture.  

@Highfalutintodd How are you getting Atmos from Netflix on your 2018 Vizio? Is it the built in app or through another device? I have a 2018 P-Series and I am not getting Atmos from Netflix (only regular DD+) from either the built in app or from my Apple TV 4K. I do get it from the built in Prime Video, Plex and Vudu apps where supported.

So glad I found the Arcana!  I still love my Q9FN’s picture but want to take advantage of full Atmos on my Arc. Arcana promises just that :)  ...and for a lot less than trying to upgrade my 75” display with a newer one. Thanks HDFury!!  https://hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

Really interested in this, not only to get the Atmos capability but to also help with the terrible lip sync from Sky Q that it claims to fix!

Quick question though - do I need to buy a HDMI switch too?  I can’t work it out...my inputs are as follows: Sky Q (UHD/Atmos), PS4, Apple TV.  As you can see, only one of those inputs supports Atmos and also happens to be the only one with lip sync issues.  Can I just plug the Sky Q into the Arcana and the other 2 into the TV like I would have done previously?

Thanks!

I have Sonos Arc connected to HDMI ARC on my TV and I just use Netflix and Amazon Prime videos from TV apps, will Arcana help to get Dolby Atmos from TV? If yes, how?

No, the Arcana is only for external players.

thanks, would you know how will connection work if I purchase shield and arcana?

Yes, Any external sources that has atmos will work no matter the age of your tv-set.

As of now you would need switch as the stuff plugged into tv would have no connection to soundbar. Just a cheap switch of amazon will do. 
 

There was talk, if they received 800 orders +, that they would look at adding “superpowers” that may include ARC  from TV providing audio to Sonos Arc via Arcana - then you would not need a switch if TV had ARC HDMI port

That actually isn’t 100% true.  The current feature set does have the ability to play audio from built in apps (or sources connected to the TV directly) via the TVs ARC port, but it is a feature they hoping to add when the product ships or soon after.  Even if the feature is not added though, there are existing products that can extract audio from the TV via the ARC port, and essentially recirculate it to the ARCANA and then the Sonos Arc.

The best way to illustrate this is on the Arcana product page under the ‘Getting Started’ table, they have several diagrams that illustrate the different configurations you could use Arcana in, two of which allow for built-in TV apps without Arcana getting the feature added directly.

The only way I’ve been able to get Atmos on my 2018 Vizio (E70-F3) is via the built-in Netflix and Plex apps. Disney+ and Prime Video don’t seem to output Atmos for me on this set using the built-in apps (though it feels like they should) and the Apple TV+ app isn't available on Vizio yet. I don’t use Vudu so can’t comment on that one (although I should have tried it to rent a movie this past weekend). 

Super weirdly, my TV and the Arc both THINK I’m getting Atmos out of my Apple TV 4K sometimes - even on things that are DEFINITELY NOT Atmos. Very, very odd.  

Perhaps the best ‘features’ of the Arcana is that it completely removes a TVs audio capabilities from your setup.  Even if your TV currently works for with the Sonos Arc and the TV sources you have now, you will not need to hope everything works fine when you add additional source to your setup.  There should be quite solid information available on what sources and streaming apps work with Arcana/Arc.  I suspect it won’t be long before there are more users of Arcana than any specific TV model.  I also believe from what I’ve seen that if there is an issue with a source and Arcana, HD Fury is much more likely to address the issue than any TV manufacturer.

Oh, I am hour one pre-orderer for Arcana and I’ll be MORE than happy to take my TV out of the audio loop here. But got to deal with it the way it is for the next couple of months. 

Hi - sorry for the really basic question but I want to check before I bite the bullet on a pre-order and I get lost when talking about all these things!

I have the Sky Q/Arc lip sync issue where the video is ahead of the audio (so audio delay doesn’t help me).  This can be resolved by plugging the Sky Q direct into the Arc via optical but then I lose the DD+ signal.  Will the Arcana help with this issue?  Does the Arcana essentially enable me to directly plug into the Arc via HDMI but also into the TV?

Re: lip sync - yes. From the Arcana product FAQ:

Can Arcana solves lip sync issue from eARC TV to SONOS ARC?

Yes! There is one thing people tend to forget, so far there is absolutely no TV that we know of that will modify its own internal EDID based on what CDS it can read from the connected eARC RX. It simply downmixes or re-encodes (with delay) the incoming audio according to what eARC RX can handle. This is why when connected to an eARC TV, the SONOS Arc can have serious lip sync issues. All that will be fixed with Arcana.

Re: connections - Basically. It’s more complicated than this, but you can think of it as a splitter that’s taking the  signal from an external source or switch, sending the video to the TV then sending the audio via eARC to the Sonos Arc. It will make the Arc think it’s plugged into an eARC TV and takes your TV’s audio capabilities out of the equation. 

Would this still work with a SONOS Arc and a TV that only does 1080p?

-JR

Absolutely. The TV’s sound capabilities are completely out of the equation at this point. Arcana is sending (via eARC) audio directly to the Sonos Arc via one HDMI connection and is sending video to your TV via a completely separate connection. So you can use whatever TV you want and still get full range audio from your external HDMI devices. 

Pre-ordered!

-JR