Hey guys
I have a projector Epson EH-TW5400, and two play:5's, and two play:1's.
I am looking to buy the sonos Beam, and use it as the center, and use the two play:1's to create a 5.0 surroundsound setup.
The projector will be in the back of the room, and the beam will be in the front of the room. The projector does not support HDMI ARC. I was considering to use the Optoma WHD200 Wireless HDMI system to connect the projector and Beam wirelessly, but since my projector doesn't support HDMI-ARC this doesn't seem to be possible.
Alternatively, would it be possible to connect my Chromecast, AppleTV and PS4 to a hometheater receiver, using HDMI-IN, and then using HDMI-OUT from the reciever to send the audio/video signal to two differen't sources, being the Beam, and the projector, or how would I do this ideally?
I was thinking with the Beam on the market, there should surely be a way to do this, but I'm probably overlooking the obvious. - I'm not interested in buying a different setup, but I'm willing to pay whatever it costs, to make the Beam + play:1's work together with my projector, to create 5.0 surroundsound.
Any help is much appreciated :-)
Best regards
Mark
Sonos Beam - Projector 5.1 surround sound
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Correct, your projector doesn't have a way to send an hdmi signal, hdmi arc to the beam. All it has it the mini jack, which would only give you stereo, not 5.0.
You have the right idea regarding using a receiver, but you really don't need a full receiver to accomplish that strategy. I would look into getting an hdmi matrix device, something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Prosumer-Toslink-Extraction-Headphone/dp/B01LVZVO70/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1529498404&sr=1-4&keywords=hdmi+matrix+4x2&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011
You may still want to use this in combination with the wireless hdmi to get hdmi to the projector without having to wire it all up.
Although it does have hdmi arc capabilities, I don't think it would be very useful in this setup. You can't really use it for controlling the projector or anything, and the description says that there are no audio capabilities in ARC with this device (not too surprising). You are probably just as well off using the toslink connection to the beam.
You do have to be concerned about codecs. The beam (and playbar/playbase) does not take DTS or Atmos (in this scenarios), it takes DD 5.1 so you need to make sure chromecast, ps4, and appletv will output audio in those formats. I really should know this, but don't have those devices myself and haven't kept track.
Lastly, if you're not too concerned about cost, and will likely need to use a toslink connection, you may want to consider getting a playbar instead of the beam. You'll get a better sound out of that, although beam may be plenty good enough to you. The beam still has an advantage of smaller size, built in voice assistant, and airplay 2 compatibility if those things are important to you...there are other ways of getting those features though.
You have the right idea regarding using a receiver, but you really don't need a full receiver to accomplish that strategy. I would look into getting an hdmi matrix device, something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/ViewHD-Prosumer-Toslink-Extraction-Headphone/dp/B01LVZVO70/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1529498404&sr=1-4&keywords=hdmi+matrix+4x2&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011
You may still want to use this in combination with the wireless hdmi to get hdmi to the projector without having to wire it all up.
Although it does have hdmi arc capabilities, I don't think it would be very useful in this setup. You can't really use it for controlling the projector or anything, and the description says that there are no audio capabilities in ARC with this device (not too surprising). You are probably just as well off using the toslink connection to the beam.
You do have to be concerned about codecs. The beam (and playbar/playbase) does not take DTS or Atmos (in this scenarios), it takes DD 5.1 so you need to make sure chromecast, ps4, and appletv will output audio in those formats. I really should know this, but don't have those devices myself and haven't kept track.
Lastly, if you're not too concerned about cost, and will likely need to use a toslink connection, you may want to consider getting a playbar instead of the beam. You'll get a better sound out of that, although beam may be plenty good enough to you. The beam still has an advantage of smaller size, built in voice assistant, and airplay 2 compatibility if those things are important to you...there are other ways of getting those features though.
Thank you for a very detailed answer, i found it very helpful, although I must admit it's a little bit more complicated than what I've setup before.
How would I use that device to get it all working whilst it being wireless?
Would i plug all the HDMI sources into it, being the PS4, Chromecast and AppleTV, and then extract the audio via HDMI output A and send it wirelessly to the beam - and then via the output B send the video to the projector?
How would I use that device to get it all working whilst it being wireless?
Would i plug all the HDMI sources into it, being the PS4, Chromecast and AppleTV, and then extract the audio via HDMI output A and send it wirelessly to the beam - and then via the output B send the video to the projector?
Yea, I'd say connecting projectors and soundbars together is almost always going to be complicated. It's a common question on here and it never really cones out simple.
I was actually thinking that you'd place your HDMI sources (PS4, Chromecast, and AppleTV) in the front of the room near the Beam...along with the HDMI matrix device. Send Output A, or more likely the toslink optical aduio output to the beam, and then via output B wirelessly send the video to the projector.
I don't think your plan would work. Pretty sure you can't send wireless HDMI ARC to the beam, which is what the beam needs, particularly after passing through an HDMI matrix. I haven't seen a wirless optical audio solution, but I suppose you could send a signal from the matrix in hdmi wirelessly, then have a 3rd device that converts it to optical for the beam on that side. That's even more complicated though.
I was actually thinking that you'd place your HDMI sources (PS4, Chromecast, and AppleTV) in the front of the room near the Beam...along with the HDMI matrix device. Send Output A, or more likely the toslink optical aduio output to the beam, and then via output B wirelessly send the video to the projector.
I don't think your plan would work. Pretty sure you can't send wireless HDMI ARC to the beam, which is what the beam needs, particularly after passing through an HDMI matrix. I haven't seen a wirless optical audio solution, but I suppose you could send a signal from the matrix in hdmi wirelessly, then have a 3rd device that converts it to optical for the beam on that side. That's even more complicated though.
Danny
+1I’m having a problem using my Chromecast with my beam - beam is installed on hdmi-arc and Chromecast is installed on hdmi #3 on my Vizio tv. After install I can’t cast Netflix to the tv. Any clues?
Was chromecast previously installed through the hdmi-arc? Do you uave tv on and set to hdmi 3?
+1Yes, Chromecast was moved to hdmi #3 and the Beam is hooked up to the hdmi-arc. When I try to cast Netflix or YouTube to my tv it switches to hdmi #3 and the tv shows a printed screen shot and nothing streams.
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