HDMI Switch for ARC


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Does anybody recommend a decent HDMI switch that can pass Dolby Atmos through to the ARC. 

I have a bluray player that converts DTS to Dolby Digital and ideally would want HDMI cable from that to run into ARC along with a second one from TV (for my Atmos and DD5.1 sources)

That way I don't need to keep manually swapping Arc HDMI input everytime I watch a DTS movie

Thanks in advance


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There are none, but there may be one coming:  https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/hd-fury-is-working-on-an-earc-solution-for-sonos-arc-full-audio-atmos-from-any-hdmi-sources-6842652

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There are none, but there may be one coming:  https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/hd-fury-is-working-on-an-earc-solution-for-sonos-arc-full-audio-atmos-from-any-hdmi-sources-6842652

Hi

Thats not what I am after as I have eArc from TV into Sonos Arc. My issue is when watching DTS movies I need to swap over the HDMI cable going into Arc from the TV to one fron the Oppo player (that converts DTS to DD5.1).

I therefore need a switch that I can plug into the Arc and attach 2 HDMI sources to.....one from the TV and one from the Oppo

@BW_falkirk what you’re proposing will not work, and I don’t think it’s necessary.    The Sonos Arc will only accept audio from an ARC or eARC connection, not through normal audio on an HDMI cable.  The HDMI port on the Arc is technically an output, not an input, getting audio from Audio Return Channels only.  So you can’t connect your Oppo player directly to the Arc as your suggesting, not without the dongle jgatie mentioned.

 

However, you should not need to do anything like this.  Your Oppo should connect to the TV through any HDMI port that isn’t labeled eARC.  The TV should take in the video to display and pass the audio through it’s eARC port to the Sonos Arc. The TV should send audio to Arc regardless of the source, or it another words, it should do all the switching for you.  There are some older ARC TVs that can’t do pass through, but I’d be surprised if an eARC TV doesn’t do this.

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@BW_falkirk what you’re proposing will not work, and I don’t think it’s necessary.    The Sonos Arc will only accept audio from an ARC or eARC connection, not through normal audio on an HDMI cable.  The HDMI port on the Arc is technically an output, not an input, getting audio from Audio Return Channels only.  So you can’t connect your Oppo player directly to the Arc as your suggesting, not without the dongle jgatie mentioned.

 

However, you should not need to do anything like this.  Your Oppo should connect to the TV through any HDMI port that isn’t labeled eARC.  The TV should take in the video to display and pass the audio through it’s eARC port to the Sonos Arc. The TV should send audio to Arc regardless of the source, or it another words, it should do all the switching for you.  There are some older ARC TVs that can’t do pass through, but I’d be surprised if an eARC TV doesn’t do this.

Hi

It does work connecting directly to the Arc from the Oppo. I do this the now to watch DTS movies and no issues in getting DD5.1 through the Arc this way

I'm just concerned that constant swapping of the HDMI cables could damage the Arc HDMI port and therefore wondered if there was a recommendation for a permanent switch connection thst passes Dolby Atmos

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@BW_falkirk what you’re proposing will not work, and I don’t think it’s necessary.    The Sonos Arc will only accept audio from an ARC or eARC connection, not through normal audio on an HDMI cable.  The HDMI port on the Arc is technically an output, not an input, getting audio from Audio Return Channels only.  So you can’t connect your Oppo player directly to the Arc as your suggesting, not without the dongle jgatie mentioned.

 

However, you should not need to do anything like this.  Your Oppo should connect to the TV through any HDMI port that isn’t labeled eARC.  The TV should take in the video to display and pass the audio through it’s eARC port to the Sonos Arc. The TV should send audio to Arc regardless of the source, or it another words, it should do all the switching for you.  There are some older ARC TVs that can’t do pass through, but I’d be surprised if an eARC TV doesn’t do this.

Just to caveat my below response the Oppo only converts through the Optical output and not through HDMI. Anything through HDMI will pass directly to TV the source material (DTS). The tv then tries to pass the DTS to the Sonos Arc as it cannot decode DTS 

Just to caveat my below response the Oppo only converts through the Optical output and not through HDMI. Anything through HDMI will pass directly to TV the source material (DTS). The tv then tries to pass the DTS to the Sonos Arc as it cannot decode DTS 

 

Ok, that makes more sense.  Had not realized you were using the optical dongle.

 

So your two ‘paths’ for audio would be….TV smart apps → TV eARC → switch → Sonos Arc...and Oppo optical output → optical dongle to HDMI ARC → switch → Sonos Arc.   I don’t think this is possible, as you technically have two HDMI inputs (TV and Oppo via optical) going to a single HDMI output (Sonos Arc)….which is not what an HDMI switch does.  From a video standpoint, that’s an HDMI splitter, but splitter’s aren’t going to have an audio only switch in place for the audio return channel content.  Maybe there is such a device, but I’ve never heard of it.  There may also be a different way of getting this accomplished, but I don’t know what that is.

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Just to caveat my below response the Oppo only converts through the Optical output and not through HDMI. Anything through HDMI will pass directly to TV the source material (DTS). The tv then tries to pass the DTS to the Sonos Arc as it cannot decode DTS 

 

Ok, that makes more sense.  Had not realized you were using the optical dongle.

 

So your two ‘paths’ for audio would be….TV smart apps → TV eARC → switch → Sonos Arc...and Oppo optical output → optical dongle to HDMI ARC → switch → Sonos Arc.   I don’t think this is possible, as you technically have two HDMI inputs (TV and Oppo via optical) going to a single HDMI output (Sonos Arc)….which is not what an HDMI switch does.  From a video standpoint, that’s an HDMI splitter, but splitter’s aren’t going to have an audio only switch in place for the audio return channel content.  Maybe there is such a device, but I’ve never heard of it.  There may also be a different way of getting this accomplished, but I don’t know what that is.

Hi. That is what a switch does....takes 2 HDMI sources and combines into one. You can then toggle between them to select which one is "servicing" the ARC at any one time.

A splitter does the opposite and takes one source and sends to multiple outputs.

Its definitely possible and there are products out there that allow this but I'm asking if anyone has experience or recommendations of HDMI switches that pass Atmos effectively. Hd Fury do some but pricey hence my request

Hi. That is what a switch does....takes 2 HDMI sources and combines into one. You can then toggle between them to select which one is "servicing" the ARC at any one time.

A splitter does the opposite and takes one source and sends to multiple outputs.

Its definitely possible and there are products out there that allow this but I'm asking if anyone has experience or recommendations of HDMI switches that pass Atmos effectively. Hd Fury do some but pricey hence my request

 

Not to be argumentative, but what you’re looking for is a something that switches between the ARC/eARC, Audio Return Channel for two differences sources, which flows in the opposite direction from normal HDMI traffic.  In terms of normal traffic, the device you want has one input (the Sonos Arc) and two outputs (the TV and Oppo...via optical conversion)..remembering that ARC/eARC audio flows backwards.  That is a splitter.  A switch take multiple inputs to one output.  Of course this splitter, has some switching functionality to it since it’s needs to be able to switch which audio return channel to send back to the Sonos Arc.  I’ve never seen that device. 

I don’t think HDFury’s devices can do this either, as I don’t think they can switch between  audio return channels, but I haven’t looked too much for that feature.  There might be a different way to do this, but I don’t know what it is.  Perhaps a device that can covert the eARC from the TV and the optical singal to normal HDMI, with a normal HDMI switch...then convert normal HDMI to eARC using HDFury’s new dongle.

I have this that I use with SkyQ/Blueray, it has ARC function on it, hope it will work with SONOS Arc as I am about to purchase, I use this as I have LGOLED wall mounted and only use single HDMI to TV in the wall, currently have switcher with Optical to SONOS Playbar (which died last night hence new ARC). 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075G9HH6F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4K HDMI Switch, Portta 4-Port HDMI Switcher Box v2.0 with Remote Control Audio Optical TOSLINK Out Supports Ultra HD 3D 4K@60Hz 4:4:4 HDCP2.2 ARC HDR for PS4 PRO/Xbox One and More (4 In 1 Out)

Actually, I see an issue - currently use the TOSLINK on this to my Playbar, need the single output to TV for picture so either I will need ARC from TV to SONOS or I use the TOSLINK converter that comes with the SONOS.

Did anyone find a solution for this ? I have a projector and TV that I want to connect to Sonos Arc. Currently I have to manually unplug and plug in the source I would be using. 

Before I ordered Arc, Sonos support told me I could connect TV on HDMI and projector on optical. This way, Sonos Arc picks the active source and when both are active chooses the HDMI. However, I received my Arc yesterday and noticed it doesn’t have an optical input at all. Sonos support is clueless.

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Well, they where kind of right. You can use both, just not at the same time, because the Arc (like the Beam) utilizes the HDMI (the only connection) also for optical. They should have mentioned this if you stated your use case to them.

Indeed I did mention my usecase, twice, and that was their response. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have said “When both inputs were active, HDMI gets priority. If not, Arc chooses the active input automatically.” If they were conveying about single HDMI interface, there would never be a “both inputs were active” scenario.

Their first response was “Sorry you cannot use both TV and projector on HDMI. However, if you can connect one of them on optical, then you can connect both”. 

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Must have read the Samsung booklet then....