1 Sonos Arc, 2 TVs

  • 18 December 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 298 views
J
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In my living room, I have two TVs mounted next to each other (because football). And I have a Sonos Arc as my soundbar. One TV has an HDMI 2.1 eArc port that supports Sony Atmos, the other TV is older and only has an optical sound output. And then my Arc, of course, just has one input for sound.

I often have a football game playing on each TV, and would like to switch between which TV is outputting sound with just the push of a button a remote.

Is there a way I can accomplish this setup with my current TVs and my Arc soundbar with it's single HDMI input? Or even if I had 2 TVs that have an audio port that is 2.1 HDMI, is it possible to make that work (I'm not sure that there are HDMI switch boxes that support eArc tech)?

2 replies

buzz

A relatively straightforward approach would be to direct the second TV’s audio to a SONOS Line-In and then select this Line-In as the audio source for ARC. This will not quite be the one “button approach” that you are looking for. You’ll need to use a SONOS controller, there will be a nagging “Are you sure” prompt, and the primary TV may not react well to this. Plus, there will be some minor delays while the TV and ARC react to this — the play might be over before the switchover is complete.

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After some consideration: change the approach a bit. Split the source to the old TV and connect this to the main TV as a second input. Now you can use the TV, or potentially a cable box remote, for your “one button” input selector. This may not be a perfect solution because the TV may introduce some input switching delay as it works through video/audio format detection and HDCP.

You can test the waters by simply connecting the second input to the primary TV and work through the switching details.

J
Badge

A relatively straightforward approach would be to direct the second TV’s audio to a SONOS Line-In and then select this Line-In as the audio source for ARC. This will not quite be the one “button approach” that you are looking for. You’ll need to use a SONOS controller, there will be a nagging “Are you sure” prompt, and the primary TV may not react well to this. Plus, there will be some minor delays while the TV and ARC react to this — the play might be over before the switchover is complete.

—

After some consideration: change the approach a bit. Split the source to the old TV and connect this to the main TV as a second input. Now you can use the TV, or potentially a cable box remote, for your “one button” input selector. This may not be a perfect solution because the TV may introduce some input switching delay as it works through video/audio format detection and HDCP.

You can test the waters by simply connecting the second input to the primary TV and work through the switching details.

 

I hadn't thought about a Sonos line-in device, that might be my best option! Unfortunately a little bit more money to spend yet, but I like it. 

As far as splitting the source, I've kind of already done that. I have a Fire Stuck and an XBox that I use as sources, and they each have a splitter that takes them to both TV's. Then my newer TV is a smart TV, and I generally use the apps on it. But I think you have a point, simply "flip-flopping" the inputs for each TV so that the source I want to hear is on the TV that is connected to my Arc. Definitely the cheaper option.

Thank you!

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