From Sonos reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/h7z9gv/hd_fury_is_working_on_an_earc_solution_for_sonos/
HD Fury is working on an eARC solution for Sonos Arc - Full Audio & Atmos from any HDMI sources
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So, are there cheaper options for a 4k HDR Atmos-compatible HDMI switch that folks on this forum like, rather than buying something like the HDFury Integral2 or Vertex? I see those are only 2 input switches… ideally I’d have 3 or 4…and I really don’t need any of the matrix functionality…
Thoughts before I place an order for an Arcana?
e.g. the Monoprice Blackbird… is this a good HDMI switch option to pair with Arcana?
Short answer is, yes. It covers what most people will need from a switch.
The product handles 4K @ 60 Hz (Hz being frames per second). There are many TVS out now that can handle up to 120Hz, so using this switch would be a limiting factor. However, I don’t think there are many sources that cover 120 Hz right now. Mostly games as I understand it. That could change over time, and you might not get all that you can out of the TV. But, you’re only investing $60 in a switch. And who knows, content could jump to 8K or something else, skipping over 4K@120Hz for the most part.
The other concern I see, and this is a concern for all switches I think, is that you now have an additional remote for switching inputs only. If you a good universal remote, maybe not an issue, but something to deal with regardless.
There could be other things to think about, that I’m not aware of. Not an expert in this area by any means.
Also worth noting that a switch won’t be needed if Arcana gets it stretch goal features, you have an ARC capable TV, and only one source that requires eARC. In that scenario, you would wire your eARC requiring source to Arcana, and Arcana to TV. Other sources (like a FireTV stick or roku for example) would connect directly to TV. Your TV would send audio via ARC to Arcana, which will then send audio via eARC to the Sonos Arc. You could use your normal remote for switching inputs and never have to worry about switch specs.
Arcana sprints closer to reality. Preorders coming in about a week. Pre-order price point of approx. $100 (full price approx. $150). Sounds like they need to reach at least 400 orders to go into production.
To get on the list and see some more proof of concept videos, go to their Discord channel:
https://discord.com/channels/314050739771146241/570996082557976577/724788312967086120
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just plugged my new hdfury arcana eArc adapter in to my Apple TV, projector, and Sonos Arc. Worked straight out of the box delivering 4k HDR to the screen and Dolby Atmos to the Sonos Arc.
Amazing product. worth having regardless of your tv/projector set up just so you don’t have to mess around with settings.
Yes, HDFury has been very clear that their magic dongle will need a splitter - theirs or anyone’s. Since theirs seem to be quite pricey I’ve already been looking at other HDMI switch options that will be compatible with both Dolby Atmos as well as Dolby Vision. I’ll be very curious to see how well these types of switches work with this dongle when it’s out in the wild.
I agree that you have to be careful in your choice of splitters and swtiches, as they are not all the same. I was doing some looking around yesterday and realized that a lot of splitters will have one output as 4k, and the other as 1080p, and other subtle differences. That won’t be a problem for this, as I think the 1080p port will be find to send to the dongle, as video doesn’t matter, but it makes me want to make sure there’s no other concerns.
And if you have multiple HDMI sources, you’ll want to find a device that can be controlled from whatever universal remote you intend to use. I don’t want to have to switch source by the device itself, or use a cheap remote that I can only use for sources.
The other factor to consider is if you still intend to use your TVs smart apps, you’ll need to way to get that audio to your Arc. Not going to get into that aspect as it may just be confusing.
For all of this, I’m looking at the other HDFury products closely. The are expense, and probably overkill for what I need, but I like how active and reactive them seem to be in community forums and such, providing firmware updates, and generally looking to solve problems rather than throw out cheap products to make a buck.
This. As long as it’s not insanely expensive the dongle will be a no brainer for us early adopters. The need for it will generally go away as more eARC TVs come out but will prevent many of us from HAVING to upgrade TVs just for better sound. I do all of my viewing through Apple TV 4K and this seems like just the ticket to unlock the full audio potential of the Sonos Arc + Apple TV combination.
It’s the picture definition of a niche device, but sign me up for day one.
Honestly, depending on what sort of HDMI switch I get, I could see myself sticking with the dongle and switch even after getting eARC in a TV. It’s not technically necessary, but it will already be familiar and setup the way I want it in my system. Every home theatre setup needs to have a functionality of getting the video to display and audio to the speakers. For some setups, this is built into the AV receiver. For others (Sonos) is built into the TV. To me it makes sense to have this functionality done by a completely separate device, so you don’t need to replace the display or speakers whenever you want to upgrade your audio/video switching capabilities.
Not really that informative, but HD Fury posted videos of the product being manufactured in their discord channel. I don’t know what that says about when the product will be shipped out.
Arcana sprints closer to reality. Preorders coming in about a week. Pre-order price point of approx. $100 (full price approx. $150). Sounds like they need to reach at least 400 orders to go into production.
To get on the list and see some more proof of concept videos, go to their Discord channel:
https://discord.com/channels/314050739771146241/570996082557976577/724788312967086120
FYI, getting your name on the list means that you’ll get an email when it’s available for pre-order. If enough of ‘us’ are on that list, I’m sure we’ll get this thread updated with the link soon after it’s available. In other words subscribing to this thread should be good enough if you don’t want to join discord.
Also, I think the concept videos are available through the links below. They do not work for me while at work, so can’t say the links work for sure.
https://streamable.com/n7gih7
I’ve ordered mine.
This is the only practical way I can get Atmos out of my Arc without buying a new TV to replace my LG. No help from either Sonos or LG in this respect.
It’ll be great to finally hear what the Arc is capable of.
Just got to wait till October now (or whenever they start shipping).
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+1
Just pulled the trigger!
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I’ve ordered mine.
This is the only practical way I can get Atmos out of my Arc without buying a new TV to replace my LG. No help from either Sonos or LG in this respect.
It’ll be great to finally hear what the Arc is capable of.
Just got to wait till October now (or whenever they start shipping).
That and it checks a couple of more boxes for me. First is offcourse getting Atmos to the ARC, second is to force Dolby Vision to my HDR capable projector and third is ensuring I eliminate any sync issues. Hopefully they will hit their 800 order mark to implement CEC support as well, then all is perfect :-).
ARCANA CHANGES
Looks like the HDFury team is making some changes to the Arcana design to make it both simpler and more powerful (a good combo, IMO):
After some internal discussions, we came to some considerations that we quickly want to submit to your approval.. or not... this below suggestion should not delay anything more than a couple of days. (estimated max 4 days extra delay) Concretely, ARCANA can gain new super power... if you want to... For some extra $ (max 10) we can provide a video output to Arcana, which means that people who plan to use it with a single source that does have any audio out, won't need any splitter to do so and the device will work on its own as standalone, out of the box. But this is just a small part of the new super power that can be gained here... Others benefits that this could bring:
- Arcana would be able to allow DV content playback from HDMI source on HDR10 display
- Video output could be tweaked at will (downscaled, hdcp converted, chroma/color depth/color space modification etc...)
- HDR metadata could be tweaked in real time
- OSD info possible if wanted
tl:dr - They’re adding a video output to Arcana so it won’t require a separate splitter after all
Plus they’re saying that preorders will begin this week for the first 400 units and that they’re anticipating 2-3 months for production from the time they pull the trigger. They’re still gauging interest over on their support Discord channel (https://discord.gg/XWzPRRP) if you want to get your name on the notification list.
Great, thanks guys.
They are still just collecting names of people who want to be notified when you can official put in an official preorder. They are currently stating preorder page could be up and running as early as tomorrow or Wednesday. They are saying that those on the list will get first crack at preorder, but I’m not exactly sure what that means, how that would be enforced.
They are also hinting that there will a ‘surprise’ additional function announce before or when prorder opens. A few diagrams are given to hint at what that new function may be which people believe is additional ARC functionality. Specifically that the ARCANA HDMI output port that feeds the TV might be ARC enabled so that it can receive ARC audio from a TV (for when you’re using TV smart apps) that ARCANA can then pass on to the Sonos Arc. That would also mean that you could connect HDMI sources that have audio codecs/formats your TV can handle directly to the other TV HDMI inputs, allowing your TV to send that audio (and TV smart apps) to the ARCANA via HDMI ARC...and passed to the Sonos Arc. You would not need a HDMI switch for mutliple sources inf only one source requires eARC.
Some technical thoughts on that...that means the ARCANA has two potential sources of audio, either it’s HDMI source or the TV via ARC connection. It would need to have a switching capability in order to know what audio to pass to a Sonos Arc. That switch could be manual, meaning you’d have another item to control. The other option is that ARCANA could have an auto switch of some kind. It could be that if there is no audio from an HDMI source, use the ARC connection from TV, but that means you have to turn off HDMI sources. The other is that the HDMI output from ARCANA to the TV is video only….meaning that audio coming from the TV via ARC connection should always be displayed….since you will only get audio from there if the TV is playing smart apps or HDMI source not passing through ARCANA. If so, that would be pretty smart.
That would be a rather handy feature, although it is not confirm yet. It could be that the connection is just CEC control. Still useful, but not as much so.
What is confusing some is that there is also a diagram posted involving the Sharc , which can take an ARC signal from a TV and pass it out over normal HDMI audio. You could then pass it to an HDMI switch, passing it to ARCANA. You’ve essentially achieved what it looks like ARCANA was trying to illustrate above...getting TV smart apps to your Sonos Arc. It could be that HD Fury included to illustrate that you no longer need to spend $150 on a Sharc (or an HDMI switch that can do similar). Although perhaps there are beneifits to this ‘Sharc method’ as well, as you can now control that audio through the HDMI switch. If the switch is a matrix, you could send that audio to a second audio system...perhaps in the case where you have a system that supports DTS. Not sure that would apply to many people though.
As an aside...one thing that could become a factor later on in the future, is the whole ARCANA setup assumes there will never be any useful video content coming from a Sonos Arc. While it is just a screensaver now, there could be a point where Sonos generates useful video content to display on the TV, such as information on what’s currently playing. If something like that happens, ARCANA would ‘block’ whatever that content is. Perhaps this is something HD Fury could fix with firmware, but I doubt it. Such a feature could possibly be something ARCANA users just don’t use, or perhaps it’s would be something for ARCANA 2.0. All hypothetical right now.
They are quoting around $122 for Preorder and $159/$169 after that. The price is definitely good for what I need, especially my main source is Apple TV 4K.
The preorder page is up enforced with password that will fall off after 24hrs
Am I right in saying that people care about CEC so they can use TV remotes to control volume via HDMI not IR? Or is there a bigger reason?
That’s one of the reasons. CEC can also turn things on / off as you need them. E.g., if you turn your Blu-ray player on it can turn the TV on and turn it to the right input. As a Harmony user I’ve always needed to turn all that stuff off because CEC inevitably screws things up by trying to do what it thinks I want rather than just listening to the Harmony telling the equipment (via IR) exactly what I want it to do.
In my drastically simplified setup, I’m using CEC to control the Arc’s volume via the TV, but once I get the Arcana will obviously have to control the Arc directly (assuming HDFury doesn’t end up getting CEC to work with Arcana). But, for me the end result is the same - everything is controlled from my Harmony remote.
HDFury has opened it for everyone to pre-order. If you have Sonos Arc and TV w/o eArc, this device is a must. It will give you full Atmos TrueHD
https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/
Arcana + splitter should work for you. If you connect Arcana to the TV’s ARC output, you should be able to get sound from the TV.
I can’t help you with the tax estimate.
I’ll be interested in what you find out. There’s absolutely no mention of it handling ARC or eARC at all on their website.
I’ll be interested in what you find out. There’s absolutely no mention of it handling ARC or eARC at all on their website.
I’d be surprised if it works, and if it actually does, I’d be surprised if there isn’t significant lag, resulting in lip sync issues.
And since we’ll probably lose CEC volume control of the Arc by adding the matrix / Arcana, the Harmony can control the Arc’s volume via IR as well.
Off-topic for this thread but I’m trying to get my Arc controllable via IR with the Harmony Hub and can’t work it out. If you have a moment to look here I’d be very grateful.
I’ll take a look
Honestly, since it doesn’t mention ARC, I would put money on the fact it doesn’t handle it at all.
What kind of import tax/customs duty is typically charged for this sort of thing in the USA? Does the “low value” packaging option make a difference in the USA?
I had the same question and there was some discussion about this on the Discord support channel. The general consensus seemed to be that for orders under about $1000 then there’s really no import duty/tax charged by US Customs.
That having been said, I went with the “low value” option when placing my order just in case. ;-)
What kind of import tax/customs duty is typically charged for this sort of thing in the USA? Does the “low value” packaging option make a difference in the USA?
I had the same question and there was some discussion about this on the Discord support channel. The general consensus seemed to be that for orders under about $1000 then there’s really no import duty/tax charged by US Customs.
That having been said, I went with the “low value” option when placing my order just in case. ;-)
That’s my guess as well. I have not ordered much directly from out of the country, but have order furniture and some car audio equipment before, and don’t recall any duty or tax added. FYI, with HD Fury, I ordered the Arcana/Vertex 2 package, and am paying $24 in shipping.
You would need a splitter in addition to that switch, or a matrix. You have one HDMI output, but you need two...one to send to the video to the TV and one to send to the dongle and Arc.
Hrm - you have given me something new to think about here and making me realize I may be completely misunderstanding the connectivity here.
Let’s say that you’ve got three HDMI sources (an Apple TV, a Blu-ray player, and a Nintendo Switch since those are exactly what I’d want to hook up). You’re saying that I would need a “matrix” (like this: https://www.amazon.com/EZCOOTECH-HDMI-2-0-Matrix-4X2/dp/B083K39RHF?th=1) that has two HDMI outputs - one that goes to the TV for video and one that goes to the Magic Dongle for audio.
The Magic Dongle itself would have two INPUTS, one that would connect to the matrix, and the other for the Sonos Arc (since it technically has an OUTPUT). That way, the Magic Dongle is ONLY handling audio (basically acting as an eARC television as far as the upstream HDMI devices are concerned) and not having to do any video passthrough at all.
Is that how you're understanding how it would work?
If so, and if that’s correct, I was fundamentally misunderstanding the role of the “switch" and, to a lesser degree, the Magic Dongle. I was thinking that the Audio AND Video would come from the switch into the Magic Dongle which would then send Audio one direction (to the Sonos Arc) and Video another (to the TV).
But, given what HDFury said earlier about there being no “splitting” in the Magic Dongle, I guess that can’t be the case.
Damn, why’s this all got to be so freaking complicated? ;-)
https://www.stereo.net.au/news/hdfurys-4k-arcana-solves-compatibility-woes
demo: https://streamable.com/dltres I think this is the video refered to previosly, so there may be some hint to a feature not yet mentioned previously.
Also, do not buy via the link below. They are not authorized, and way overpriced.
https://www.ezyhd.com.au/shop/arcana-earc/
Buy here: https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/
per HD Fury posted on Discord last night ‘next week a new era will for Arcana no matter what’.
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