Question about HDMI eARC and Sonos Beam / Arc

You would connect the LG’s eARC port directly to the SONOS ARC or you could use the dongle that you had been using with PLAYBAR. If you use the eARC connection higher quality audio formats are available that cannot be sent over the optical connection.

A TV’s ARC or eARC connection has a two way audio connection. This allows a TV to send audio from TV Apps back to an A/V system. A regular HDMI connection is a one way path from an external source to the TV.

Yes, the Sonos Arc/Beam can connect to the TV’s HDMI-ARC/eARC port which is usually HDMI-2 on most LG TV’s and you can then use HDMI-1, 3 and 4 for other connected devices (Apple TV etc.), but if you need more ports, just add an HDMI switch device to any of those other TV HDMI ports.

Of course you could also connect the Arc/Beam to the TV’s optical port too using the Optical-to-HDMI adapter that is supplied with the Arc/Beam.

Here’s a ‘quick’ overview chart showing the differences between each of the TV ports:

eARC and ARC are both created by electronics that generally are in the TV set (although Feintech and HD Fury have external versions). 

Any HDMI input on the TV set sends their signal through the processor inside, which then sends the audio signal back out on different pins in the HDMI cable that is connected to the port labeled eARC or ARC, so any HDMI input connected to the TV will cause the audio output to that port. Note, if you have an analog input on the TV, it usually won’t convert that signal to ARC.

Yes, reducing your HDMI ports by one to connect the Sonos can be problematic, TV manufacturers tend to not understand many of us use every available port, and then some. Fortunately, there are simple HDMI switches that can be used for input, so all is not lost. 
 

Edit: Ken beat me ;)

Thanks for the explanation everyone I get it now.

Luckily I have a free HDMI port on the TV so I will move my Apple TV to HDMI 4 and use the HDMI 2/ARC port for an Arc / Beam upgrade.

I have another LG C1 in another room using a Playbar with a dodgy optical port but all HDMI ports are being used so if I switch over I will have to use that optical adapter

You do have a valid point: for many people the standard of four HDMI ports on a TV does not seem to be enough. Most people have a cable box and a soundbar, which only leaves two free connections, easily filled by the PS5 and Nvidia Shield in my case..

My set up requires only one HDMI Port on the TV, although an HDFury Arcana partly explains that.  I have a Sky Stream box, a Fire TV and a Blu-Ray player connected to an HDMI switch, which connects to the Arcana, which sends one HDMI cable to port 2 (HDMI/ARC) on the TV and another cable (as eARC} to the Sonos Arc.

Two reasons for this set up:

1. My 2016 LG TV doesn’t do Atmos
2. The TV introduced an audio lag resulting in lip sync issues.  (And bat striking ball issues!).  By-passing the TV with the audio cures this.

In effect, my LG TV is now just a monitor.  All the grunt is done by external devices.

@Ken_Griffiths 

This might be a separate topic but I see you are using a Harmony Hub with your LG / Sonos setup.

I am using a Harmony Elite remote with my C1 and prior to the new C1 I used it with an OLED65E6P.

I had it setup with the E6P where when I would hit the vol up/down/mute on the Harmony it would control the Playbar AND send a signal to the LG TV where I would see the fixed Vol+/- or mute icon.

Now it controls the Playbar but there are no visual indicators on the LG TV.  If I use the remote that came with the LG, I get both.  I remember there was a trick to getting the Harmony to do both but I don’t recall what that is whether it be a setting on the Harmony or a setting on Universal Control on the TV.

Any idea what I am talking about?  Thanks!

@Ken_Griffiths 

Yeah, I’m not sure.  I disabled CEC on all inputs and I don’t get the +/-/mute indicators on any input (PS5, Apple TV & cable box).

I got it to work so long ago I wish I could remember how.

I tried setting up an activity on the Harmony where it would send the vol command to the Playbar AND LG TV and that worked but the lowest delay I can have between sending commands is one second so that is pretty laggy.

In the end it’s not a deal-breaker but I should probably wait until I swap out the Playbar for a Beam/Arc before I try solving this issue.