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manu1361
Contributor I
September 30, 2022
Answered

Connecting Beam gen2 to BenQ projector via ARC

Hello there, need a little help finishing my setup.

My setup includes:

Sonos Beam gen2

BenQ tk700sti eARC supported 4K projector

 

I read a few articles online and follow the troubleshooting steps but nothing help.

Running out of idea and would need some help.

 

I went as simple as I could and ran an HDMI cable from the HDMI 2 slot of the projector to the Beam but the speaker won’t detect it for some reason ?

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Airgetlam
AirgetlamAnswer
October 1, 2022

I’d guess there is a manufacturing fault in that cable. Based on those specs printed on it, I’d expect it should have worked….so I wouldn’t blame the installer except for not testing after installation. I was just lucky, just because it didn’t match the look of the Sonos cable. 
 

Don’t overspend on HDMI, they’re digital, but you’d be looking for any HDMI 2.1 (high speed) type cable. I tend to use Belkins, bought from Blue Jeans cable, sometimes direct, some times through Amazon. Don’t get pulled in by the Monster Cable hype ;)

Bruce
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John B
September 30, 2022

That may well be helpful Bruce. Maybe whatever I have vaguely remembered doesn't apply with a projector that has an HDMI ARC output, which I think is still fairly rare. Or maybe it's needed for CEC, which may not be on a projector.

This could be a complete red herring.

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    September 30, 2022

    ARC is a subset of CEC, I believe. So if the projector has ARC, it has CEC. And yes, I agree, I think there are very few projectors that have ARC. Took me 10 minutes this morning when I first read the OP to confirm that this device does, and that it’s on HDMI 2. Thank god it was on the first page of the sales data, having to hunt for the website was painful enough. 

    But you’re absolutely correct, this might be a red herring. 

    Bruce
    John B
    September 30, 2022

    But you’re absolutely correct, this might be a red herring. 

    Lol. Nevertheless, another BenQ projector, the W2700 has HDMI-ARC output but is not CEC enabled. 

    https://www.benq.eu/en-lv/support/downloads-faq/faq/product/application/projector-faq-k-00086.html

     

    John B
    September 30, 2022

    And there is a suggestion in this thread that the Beam has to be set up on a CEC enabled device, although that is in the context of using an Arcana device.

     

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    September 30, 2022

    Well, hell. Ignore me completely, then :)

    Good references. 

    Bruce
    John B
    September 30, 2022

    Are there any additional HDMI settings beyond “Raw”? What are the EDID choices?

    But I think this is first thing to check. 

    manu1361Author
    Contributor I
    October 1, 2022

    Couple of comments, which may or may not be helpful. 
     

    1. The HDMI cable in your picture doesn’t seem to be the one supplied by Sonos. Which raises the question of what level of HDMI compliance it is. It’s, at least in my mind, a 50/50 chance it isn’t fully HDMI 2.1 compliant, which implies full throughput and speed of data transmission concerns. Double check the type of cable it is. And, whichever cable you’re testing with, try reseating it at both ends to ensure full contact. 
       
    2. YouTube doesn’t transmit in a 5.1 compliant stream, only stereo. You’d be better off using a DVD/Blue-ray player attached to HDMI 1. . Or, if those are ‘internal apps’, pick one other than YouTube, for testing purposes. 

     

    Thank you for all the answers, really appreciate the help!

    Sometimes the most simple things are the ones we look over sadly

    I could not get myself to believe until late night that the HDMI cable would be the problem. After all, I had all of this installed by a professional company who charged me almost 200 usd for the installation itself how could they make such a silly mistake especially since I specified the speaker Arc setup.

    Turns out the cable was at fault….  I moved the speaker below the projector and tried connecting with the cable that is delivered in the box. 10 seconds later, voila, beautiful and crisp sound at last.

    Now I guess I will have to run a new 10m HDMI cord in my ceiling…unless there is an adapter I can use with the current cable ? Otherwise could someone point me to an HDMI cable that supports Arc?

    To answer some of the  other questions on the thread.

    Here are the settings available in the projector (which all work perfect with the Sonos cable)

    HDMI EDID: Standard - Enhanced

    Audio return: LCPM - Raw - Raw +

    I will be using Enhanced and Raw + I guess? not very familiar with what the differences are.

    Airgetlam
    AirgetlamAnswer
    October 1, 2022

    I’d guess there is a manufacturing fault in that cable. Based on those specs printed on it, I’d expect it should have worked….so I wouldn’t blame the installer except for not testing after installation. I was just lucky, just because it didn’t match the look of the Sonos cable. 
     

    Don’t overspend on HDMI, they’re digital, but you’d be looking for any HDMI 2.1 (high speed) type cable. I tend to use Belkins, bought from Blue Jeans cable, sometimes direct, some times through Amazon. Don’t get pulled in by the Monster Cable hype ;)

    Bruce
      buzz
      buzz
      Grand Maestro
      October 2, 2022

      ARC is a subset of CEC, I believe. So if the projector has ARC, it has CEC.

      Pin 13 of an HDMI-CEC connection carries the CEC data and this pin is wired in common with all HDMI sockets on each piece of equipment. Essentially there is a ‘network’ running on the CEC pin. It’s a very slow network running at about 480bps. This “common” aspect can cause trouble if there is a rogue device in use. I’m not sure if CEC was part of the original HDMI spec, but I’ve seen discussions about CEC dated in 2004. Some devices are so nasty that the best approach is to disable CEC for that device. If there is no option for this or the option does not work, there are small little adapters that will physically disconnect pin 13. Some TV’s might require this if disabling CEC also disables ARC.

      “ARC” is a second audio path to allow a target device, such as a TV, to send audio back to the originating device. This is what allows TV Apps to send audio to the SONOS Arc or an A/V receiver. Since HDMI-ARC audio uses a separate set of pins on the connector, the HDMI chipsets at both ends of the connection must correctly manage the audio data. This is why we must use an HDMI-ARC port for the SONOS Arc or use an external manager, such as the ARCANA, if the TV does not support ARC.

      I agree: Blue Jeans is a decent cable source.

      manu1361Author
      Contributor I
      October 4, 2022

      So here is an update. Got a hold of a few more HDMI cables and did some testing. Here are the results:

      Total tested 5 hdmi cables

      Sonos HDMI - connection successful

      Generic HDMI 1.5m - connection successful

      Generic HDMI 2m - connection successful

      Generic HDMI 10m - connection unsuccessful

      Generic HDMI 10m - connection unsuccessful 

       

      The cables and brands were all similar which leads me to believe that the issue is the length. Somehow Arc doest not get transported over the 10 meter cables?

      Has anyone encountered this issue? If so, what kind of solution have you found? 

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