My TV doesn't pass 5.1 surround through HDMI ARC.

  • 22 November 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 1674 views

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Unfortunately, my Samsung TV does not pass 5.1 surround signals through the HDMI Arc, unless it’s from the TV’s native sound.

In other words, any signal from the Fire TV or the set-top box will be downgraded to PCM stereo.

 

Is there an easy fix for this? 

 

 


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4 replies

Some sort of external HDMI switch, such as the one discussed here?

Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Does the TV not pass through te signals or are they not in the right format? If they output DD+ it is possible your TV turns them in to stereo - my old Samsung did this with my Chromecast. What ar the sound settings on your Fire TV and settop box?

Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Does the TV not pass through te signals or are they not in the right format? If they output DD+ it is possible your TV turns them in to stereo - my old Samsung did this with my Chromecast. What ar the sound settings on your Fire TV and settop box?

Just like your old Samsung TV, my TV turns audio into stereo, unless it’s from it’s own Samsung app.

For example, when I watch with Samsung TV’s Netflix, it’s 5.1 output. But when I watch the same movie with Fire TV’s Netflix app, it’s just PCM stereo.

The problem is that not all of my favorite apps are available for Samsung TV - for example, Channels and Plex.

Userlevel 5
Badge +7

Two fixes

 

  1. Plug your audio source (dvd player, console etc) into the arc using the hdmi to optical adaptor.
  2. Buy a new TV with eARC support

Unfortunately its pretty much only 2019/2020 models where TV manufacturers started putting effort into proper audio pass through, TV’s made before that are pretty bad.