@Toffe some great answers from melvimbe and pirate in the replies already, I think with those you should have your answers, but let me know if you have any other questions.
Great discussion going on here. I think I’ve got the lost is worked out, but it isn’t clear to me what one needs to have a Blu-ray with DTS play audio? Assuming the tv has eARC and hooked up correctly to Sonos ARC, what would one do to get the best (or any?) audio from a DTS only disc? I don’t think 5.1 PCM would work, correct?
@skraddah, DTS isn’t a supported format on the Sonos Arc, so if the sources are in DTS only, you’d need another device to convert that DTS audio into something like Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD. Your Blu-ray player might be able to do this. Otherwise, you may have to set it to a Stereo PCM output and the Arc will upmix that audio to give you something that sounds better than standard Stereo PCM.
@Toffe some great answers from melvimbe and pirate in the replies already, I think with those you should have your answers, but let me know if you have any other questions.
Great discussion going on here. I think I’ve got the lost is worked out, but it isn’t clear to me what one needs to have a Blu-ray with DTS play audio? Assuming the tv has eARC and hooked up correctly to Sonos ARC, what would one do to get the best (or any?) audio from a DTS only disc? I don’t think 5.1 PCM would work, correct?
@skraddah, DTS isn’t a supported format on the Sonos Arc, so if the sources are in DTS only, you’d need another device to convert that DTS audio into something like Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD. Your Blu-ray player might be able to do this. Otherwise, you may have to set it to a Stereo PCM output and the Arc will upmix that audio to give you something that sounds better than standard Stereo PCM.
got it. Thanks. So Sonos Arc can read 2 channel PCM but not 5.1. So in my case I would just have plex covert DTS to a Dolby Format for the best possible sound.
Well the other question is coming up is will the Sonos Arc really receive the HDMI direct like those soundbars …. there seems to be inconsistent answers. It would take someone plugging and HDMI direct into a Beam to see if really will or not.
But assuming then it doesn’t work - a lot of switches already will extract HDMI ARC so just a matter of time before you can get a switch to do the eARC to the Sonos Arc (mouthful there).
The example Switch had 4 inputs and 2 ouputs (of which one currently can be ARC …. just need updated version that will also do eARC)…. at about $50 a lot cheaper then replacing TV.
A lot of hypotheticals right now - I’m sure a lot of creative solutions coming to get eARC ability for people on many things not just Sonos. So a TV not having eARC shouldn’t be the biggest concern.
I spent a lot of time looking a few months ago and could not find any HDMI switches that would *generate* ARC output (use-case is a projector that doesn’t support ARC). Many HDMI switches will *accept* ARC input from one off their output ports (since ARC goes backward compared to normal input/output designations) and send that audio as the audio channel of normal HDMI and/or send the ARC channel back to active inputs (say a receiver). But none of the normal ones I found would create ARC from a normal HDMI audio input which is what the Beam requires when you don’t have a TV that will generate the ARC signal. The Beam won’t play audio from a normal HDMI signal - as others have noted it acts as a source device that outputs video and consumes audio over ARC only from what I tested.
I did find exactly one device that would generate an ARC signal either from a normal HDMI signal or from an optical input: https://www.sct.com.tw/ARC01.html The key is the embed functionality (as extract is common). There is no US distributor so I had to order direct from the manufacturer. The device works as advertised with my Beam. My original goal was to get HDMI-CEC working; I have not succeeded at that yet - but it may have to do with other issues in the HDMI switches I have connected. I haven’t diagnosed those yet to see if HDMI-CEC + ARC is viable for the beam with a non-ARC projector.
The ARC01 doesn’t support eHDMI; but I assume a similar device with eARC support would be required to use the Sonos Arc with a non-ARC TV/projector. It also doesn’t look like this functionality is common or widely-sought after given the lack of support in normal HDMI switches. It is too bad Sonos is sticking with a pure-eARC/ARC strategy unless they are willing to also produce useful converters. Love the speakers but dancing around limitations like ARC, lack of DTS support, etc is unfortunate when comparing to other options at this price point.
I can’t even describe how happy I am to have found this post as I too have been looking far and wide after a device able to embed the audio extracted back to ARC on HDMI input to be pushed back to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI output. Finally something useful!
I’m just curious on how it works for you and how you’ve hooked it all up as I’m not completely satisfied with the information found in the data sheet. The sheet states that you can achieve ARC signal on the device’s HDMI input by connecting the optical/coaxial out of your tv on the device’s output side. And then of course connecting the Arc or Beam to the device’s HDMI input would push back the audio signal to the soundbar. But, to gain higher audio quality one would ideally like to split a high quality HDMI signal and feed one to the projector for video and the other to the ARC01. So, as you have tried the device, is it really able to extract audio from a full HDMI signal, connected on the output side, and embed it as ARC on the input side, enabling dd+ for example?
If this is how you have it set up, can I also ask what kind of splitter you use for the source? Curious if it is sufficient to stack the ARC01 after a simple HDMI 1:2 splitter or if one should go for the HDfury AVR-key. Or something like that.
Thank you for obviously being a google guru!
@Ryan S
What is the recomended distance between the Arc and the TV, I read different statements. The website states 10cm, I've read 15cm on this forum.
Also, would 45cm of the ground (on top of cabinet and under TV be too low for the Sonos Arc?
I have dreamt of a home theatre system for years. I had saved up and was ready. My local audio dealer had always recommended one brand, and I thought that was what he was going to sell me. Instead, he said that a Sonos PlayBar with a subwoofer would be best for my use.
When I got the units home, I set it up, and the audio was not being passed correctly. I have a Dish receiver and a Sony XBR TV. I ended up pay for their techs to come out and look, and they determined that the TV KDL-40XBR was not transmitting the audio to the Sonos. I ended up buying a new Sony XBR55-A8G that was not in my planned budget.
The techs installed the new TV and a new Optical Cable, just to be sure. I thought everything was going to be perfect. Nope, there is a Lip Sync issue. I made the adjustments via the app. It still was noticeable. I started reading the forums, and it appears that Sony and LG both suffer the same result from Sonos products. Now, I have my wife asking me why I would buy something that does not work right.
I saw the announcement for the Sonos ARC coming out soon, and I said to my wife that maybe I could sell the Sonos PlayBar that is only 90 days or so old and get the ARC that will work correctly. I went into the forums today, and it seems that the Beam that uses ARC technology doesn’t work much better.
Bottom line, Sonos is selling a product that it has direct knowledge that it is not compatible with certain significant brands of TV. Shouldn’t they be advertising this? Aren’t they deceiving the public? I am a senior citizen and on a pension. Should that matter. What about my daughter when she was in University. Money is tight for many people. Is Sonos taking advantage of us? Should there be a Class Action suit against Sonos? I hate being this way. I like their concept, but they lied by omission, and their dealer, in this case, is just as guilty. Is this a question for the state attorney general?
@Ryan S
What is the recomended distance between the Arc and the TV, I read different statements. The website states 10cm, I've read 15cm on this forum.
Also, would 45cm of the ground (on top of cabinet and under TV be too low for the Sonos Arc?
@Rck010, from our product guide which will be going up closer to the launch of Arc:
Place on a credenza:
• Place horizontally on a stable and level surface at least 2" (50mm) away from the TV.
• Leave 5.5" (140mm) of open space around the sides and above Arc.
Trueplay tuning for the Arc is also designed to include height adjustment, which will help make sure that your sound is optimized for the placement.
@RFGroup, sorry to hear about that trouble! We’ve found that if there’s a lip sync issue, it’s often because either some audio processing that the TV is applying to the audio before sending it to the attached audio device, or the TV is using most of its resources on processing the high definition video that it sends the audio after handing that work, which can be noticeably slow. Usually this will be an issue for just about any soundbar connected with the TV, as the Sonos device is playing the audio as soon as it gets there. To fix this, there are some suggestions here: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3336
If there’s no way to prevent the TV from adding a delay, you can look into wiring your speaker directly to the source, or use an HDMI switch with an audio output for Sonos. Some of these TV manufacturers have put out updates that help with the lip sync issues, but not for all of the TVs.
Bottom line, Sonos is selling a product that it has direct knowledge that it is not compatible with certain significant brands of TV. Shouldn’t they be advertising this? Aren’t they deceiving the public? I am a senior citizen and on a pension. Should that matter. What about my daughter when she was in University. Money is tight for many people. Is Sonos taking advantage of us? Should there be a Class Action suit against Sonos? I hate being this way. I like their concept, but they lied by omission, and their dealer, in this case, is just as guilty. Is this a question for the state attorney general?
I sympathize with your frustration, but I’m not exactly sure why you are blaming Sonos for this. Sonos is following standards and processing audio signals it receives from the TV immediately. It can’t account for any delays in the TV. Your saying that Sonos should test with every TV and tell you which TVs are not following the standards properly? What happens when the TV brand resolves the issue through an upgrade? Is Sonos responsible for telling you that as well? Why wouldn’t it be the TV maker’s responsibility for informing you of issues with their products?
I noticed you have another thread here, RFGroup. Let’s continue the discussion on that thread if you have any other questions.
@Ryan S
What is the recomended distance between the Arc and the TV, I read different statements. The website states 10cm, I've read 15cm on this forum.
Also, would 45cm of the ground (on top of cabinet and under TV be too low for the Sonos Arc?
@Rck010, from our product guide which will be going up closer to the launch of Arc:
Place on a credenza:
• Place horizontally on a stable and level surface at least 2" (50mm) away from the TV.
• Leave 5.5" (140mm) of open space around the sides and above Arc.
Trueplay tuning for the Arc is also designed to include height adjustment, which will help make sure that your sound is optimized for the placement.
@RFGroup, sorry to hear about that trouble! We’ve found that if there’s a lip sync issue, it’s often because either some audio processing that the TV is applying to the audio before sending it to the attached audio device, or the TV is using most of its resources on processing the high definition video that it sends the audio after handing that work, which can be noticeably slow. Usually this will be an issue for just about any soundbar connected with the TV, as the Sonos device is playing the audio as soon as it gets there. To fix this, there are some suggestions here: https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3336
If there’s no way to prevent the TV from adding a delay, you can look into wiring your speaker directly to the source, or use an HDMI switch with an audio output for Sonos. Some of these TV manufacturers have put out updates that help with the lip sync issues, but not for all of the TVs.
@Ryan S Thanks for your answer!
I read credenza there, does that apply to wall mounting also?
I am still on the fence of either wall mounting the Arc (about 10cm below the TV) or putting in on top of the credenza (43 cm tall), about 20cm from the bottom of the TV.
@Rck010, as far as wall mounting, you’ll want to keep 5.5" (140mm) space (minimum) between the TV and your Arc. You may want to try it out on the credenza and see how you like it, if you decide to wall mount it after, you can always drill some holes.
@Rck010, as far as wall mounting, you’ll want to keep 5.5" (140mm) space (minimum) between the TV and your Arc. You may want to try it out on the credenza and see how you like it, if you decide to wall mount it after, you can always drill some holes.
Well, not exactly as I need to make a cable conduit for it in our brick wall (don’t want to see any cables in sight).
Reason I’m asking twice, is because the webpage for the Sonos Arc mount states a distance of 10cm, a little confusing to be honest.
I’ll have the team check that out, but the 140mm I quoted should be the most accurate for minimum distance with best performance. The 10cm may be a minimum for fit, but I’ll see if I can get that tracked down.
I’ll have the team check that out, but the 140mm I quoted should be the most accurate for minimum best performance. The 10cm may be a minimum for fit, but I’ll see if I can get that tracked down.
That would be great, if you could let me know.
10cm works for me on the wall, 14cm will be a challenge. But I prefer mounting for a cleaner look.. First world problems :)
Hi everyone, I will be replacing my Beam with the Arc in our family room. I have the Beam power cord fished through the wall adjacent to the fire place and I am hoping the Arc uses the same power cord so I don’t have to run that through the wall again? Thanks!
Similar question, can I repurpose the power cord from my Playbar or do I need to run a new cable?
Thanks!
don't know if this was already answered. apologies if had. can the arc device provide Atmos while using an apple 4k tv if running thru and ARC only HDMI in port or does it have to be eARC. heard something about the apple device only allowing high band with to give ATMOS. or does the standard ARC work around this somehow.. I hope..
Hi everyone, I will be replacing my Beam with the Arc in our family room. I have the Beam power cord fished through the wall adjacent to the fire place and I am hoping the Arc uses the same power cord so I don’t have to run that through the wall again? Thanks!
Similar question, can I repurpose the power cord from my Playbar or do I need to run a new cable?
Thanks!
@dssss and @lovetractor, the Playbar uses a different power cable than the Beam and Arc, but the Beam power cable I believe is the same one. The connection looks to be the same but I’ll check with the team on the rating and will let you know if it’s different in some meaningful way.
don't know if this was already answered. apologies if had. can the arc device provide Atmos while using an apple 4k tv if running thru and ARC only HDMI in port or does it have to be eARC. heard something about the apple device only allowing high band with to give ATMOS. or does the standard ARC work around this somehow.. I hope..
There’s a lot of discussion on that topic in this thread and a few others. Short answer, is depending on the TV’s capabilities you’ll get a compressed version over Dolby Digital Plus which has Atmos support. Apple claims that they use Dolby MAT for Atmos, which requires eARC. But some TVs will convert that audio into Dolby Digital Plus, including Atmos.
I’m pretty much in the same situation as Guinans, except for an older Pioneer KURO TV and I was thinking about setting my Oppo player and my Apple TV the same way...
To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.
Why Sonos, why???
Well I hooked my Oppo to the TV ARC and selected HDMI/Arc input on the Oppo and it seems to be picking up audio from the TV (can alter the volume via the Oppo).
Will test out the secondary AudioHDMI out when my Arc comes by connecting it to this and let you know if it works - looks promising! ie. Oppo will sit between the TV and Arc.
It looks like I might be able to use the Oppo as a mini switcher and HDMI audio splitter but will test it out.
Well the other question is coming up is will the Sonos Arc really receive the HDMI direct like those soundbars …. there seems to be inconsistent answers. It would take someone plugging and HDMI direct into a Beam to see if really will or not.
But assuming then it doesn’t work - a lot of switches already will extract HDMI ARC so just a matter of time before you can get a switch to do the eARC to the Sonos Arc (mouthful there).
The example Switch had 4 inputs and 2 ouputs (of which one currently can be ARC …. just need updated version that will also do eARC)…. at about $50 a lot cheaper then replacing TV.
A lot of hypotheticals right now - I’m sure a lot of creative solutions coming to get eARC ability for people on many things not just Sonos. So a TV not having eARC shouldn’t be the biggest concern.
I spent a lot of time looking a few months ago and could not find any HDMI switches that would *generate* ARC output (use-case is a projector that doesn’t support ARC). Many HDMI switches will *accept* ARC input from one off their output ports (since ARC goes backward compared to normal input/output designations) and send that audio as the audio channel of normal HDMI and/or send the ARC channel back to active inputs (say a receiver). But none of the normal ones I found would create ARC from a normal HDMI audio input which is what the Beam requires when you don’t have a TV that will generate the ARC signal. The Beam won’t play audio from a normal HDMI signal - as others have noted it acts as a source device that outputs video and consumes audio over ARC only from what I tested.
I did find exactly one device that would generate an ARC signal either from a normal HDMI signal or from an optical input: https://www.sct.com.tw/ARC01.html The key is the embed functionality (as extract is common). There is no US distributor so I had to order direct from the manufacturer. The device works as advertised with my Beam. My original goal was to get HDMI-CEC working; I have not succeeded at that yet - but it may have to do with other issues in the HDMI switches I have connected. I haven’t diagnosed those yet to see if HDMI-CEC + ARC is viable for the beam with a non-ARC projector.
The ARC01 doesn’t support eHDMI; but I assume a similar device with eARC support would be required to use the Sonos Arc with a non-ARC TV/projector. It also doesn’t look like this functionality is common or widely-sought after given the lack of support in normal HDMI switches. It is too bad Sonos is sticking with a pure-eARC/ARC strategy unless they are willing to also produce useful converters. Love the speakers but dancing around limitations like ARC, lack of DTS support, etc is unfortunate when comparing to other options at this price point.
I can’t even describe how happy I am to have found this post as I too have been looking far and wide after a device able to embed the audio extracted back to ARC on HDMI input to be pushed back to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI output. Finally something useful!
I’m just curious on how it works for you and how you’ve hooked it all up as I’m not completely satisfied with the information found in the data sheet. The sheet states that you can achieve ARC signal on the device’s HDMI input by connecting the optical/coaxial out of your tv on the device’s output side. And then of course connecting the Arc or Beam to the device’s HDMI input would push back the audio signal to the soundbar. But, to gain higher audio quality one would ideally like to split a high quality HDMI signal and feed one to the projector for video and the other to the ARC01. So, as you have tried the device, is it really able to extract audio from a full HDMI signal, connected on the output side, and embed it as ARC on the input side, enabling dd+ for example?
If this is how you have it set up, can I also ask what kind of splitter you use for the source? Curious if it is sufficient to stack the ARC01 after a simple HDMI 1:2 splitter or if one should go for the HDfury AVR-key. Or something like that.
Thank you for obviously being a google guru!
I found a site selling the ARC01 - but given i haven’t received my Arc yet, i’ll probably give it a try only in June.
https://www.globalmediapro.com/dp/A2LQ51/Globalmediapro-SHE-ARC01-HDMI-ARC-Audio-Return-Channel-Digital-Audio-Converter/
I’m pretty much in the same situation as Guinans, except for an older Pioneer KURO TV and I was thinking about setting my Oppo player and my Apple TV the same way...
To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.
Why Sonos, why???
Well I hooked my Oppo to the TV ARC and selected HDMI/Arc input on the Oppo and it seems to be picking up audio from the TV (can alter the volume via the Oppo).
Will test out the secondary AudioHDMI out when my Arc comes by connecting it to this and let you know if it works - looks promising! ie. Oppo will sit between the TV and Arc.
It looks like I might be able to use the Oppo as a mini switcher and HDMI audio splitter but will test it out.
I think the Oppo second audio only hdmi is 1.4 which is not enough bandwidth to carry Dolby atmos.
I’m pretty much in the same situation as Guinans, except for an older Pioneer KURO TV and I was thinking about setting my Oppo player and my Apple TV the same way...
To me, it’s a real shame the lacking of another input HDMI port and the choice to limit to an eArc the opportunity to take advantage of Dolby Atmos.
Why Sonos, why???
Well I hooked my Oppo to the TV ARC and selected HDMI/Arc input on the Oppo and it seems to be picking up audio from the TV (can alter the volume via the Oppo).
Will test out the secondary AudioHDMI out when my Arc comes by connecting it to this and let you know if it works - looks promising! ie. Oppo will sit between the TV and Arc.
It looks like I might be able to use the Oppo as a mini switcher and HDMI audio splitter but will test it out.
I think the Oppo second audio only hdmi is 1.4 which is not enough bandwidth to carry Dolby atmos.
Lot’s of places say HDMI 1.4 works with Atmos (but maybe compressed DD+ only) so will let you know.
Well the other question is coming up is will the Sonos Arc really receive the HDMI direct like those soundbars …. there seems to be inconsistent answers. It would take someone plugging and HDMI direct into a Beam to see if really will or not.
But assuming then it doesn’t work - a lot of switches already will extract HDMI ARC so just a matter of time before you can get a switch to do the eARC to the Sonos Arc (mouthful there).
The example Switch had 4 inputs and 2 ouputs (of which one currently can be ARC …. just need updated version that will also do eARC)…. at about $50 a lot cheaper then replacing TV.
A lot of hypotheticals right now - I’m sure a lot of creative solutions coming to get eARC ability for people on many things not just Sonos. So a TV not having eARC shouldn’t be the biggest concern.
I spent a lot of time looking a few months ago and could not find any HDMI switches that would *generate* ARC output (use-case is a projector that doesn’t support ARC). Many HDMI switches will *accept* ARC input from one off their output ports (since ARC goes backward compared to normal input/output designations) and send that audio as the audio channel of normal HDMI and/or send the ARC channel back to active inputs (say a receiver). But none of the normal ones I found would create ARC from a normal HDMI audio input which is what the Beam requires when you don’t have a TV that will generate the ARC signal. The Beam won’t play audio from a normal HDMI signal - as others have noted it acts as a source device that outputs video and consumes audio over ARC only from what I tested.
I did find exactly one device that would generate an ARC signal either from a normal HDMI signal or from an optical input: https://www.sct.com.tw/ARC01.html The key is the embed functionality (as extract is common). There is no US distributor so I had to order direct from the manufacturer. The device works as advertised with my Beam. My original goal was to get HDMI-CEC working; I have not succeeded at that yet - but it may have to do with other issues in the HDMI switches I have connected. I haven’t diagnosed those yet to see if HDMI-CEC + ARC is viable for the beam with a non-ARC projector.
The ARC01 doesn’t support eHDMI; but I assume a similar device with eARC support would be required to use the Sonos Arc with a non-ARC TV/projector. It also doesn’t look like this functionality is common or widely-sought after given the lack of support in normal HDMI switches. It is too bad Sonos is sticking with a pure-eARC/ARC strategy unless they are willing to also produce useful converters. Love the speakers but dancing around limitations like ARC, lack of DTS support, etc is unfortunate when comparing to other options at this price point.
I can’t even describe how happy I am to have found this post as I too have been looking far and wide after a device able to embed the audio extracted back to ARC on HDMI input to be pushed back to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI output. Finally something useful!
I’m just curious on how it works for you and how you’ve hooked it all up as I’m not completely satisfied with the information found in the data sheet. The sheet states that you can achieve ARC signal on the device’s HDMI input by connecting the optical/coaxial out of your tv on the device’s output side. And then of course connecting the Arc or Beam to the device’s HDMI input would push back the audio signal to the soundbar. But, to gain higher audio quality one would ideally like to split a high quality HDMI signal and feed one to the projector for video and the other to the ARC01. So, as you have tried the device, is it really able to extract audio from a full HDMI signal, connected on the output side, and embed it as ARC on the input side, enabling dd+ for example?
If this is how you have it set up, can I also ask what kind of splitter you use for the source? Curious if it is sufficient to stack the ARC01 after a simple HDMI 1:2 splitter or if one should go for the HDfury AVR-key. Or something like that.
Thank you for obviously being a google guru!
I found a site selling the ARC01 - but given i haven’t received my Arc yet, i’ll probably give it a try only in June.
https://www.globalmediapro.com/dp/A2LQ51/Globalmediapro-SHE-ARC01-HDMI-ARC-Audio-Return-Channel-Digital-Audio-Converter/
Interesting; can be ordered directly now. That’s high international shipping to US though. Manufacturer sold it to me for $42 + $40 shipping a few months back. Had to e-mail them then send back a purchase request form via e-mail. The device definitely won’t do eARC; just ARC. I wrote to them and mentioned likely interest in such a device.
…
I can’t even describe how happy I am to have found this post as I too have been looking far and wide after a device able to embed the audio extracted back to ARC on HDMI input to be pushed back to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI output. Finally something useful!
I’m just curious on how it works for you and how you’ve hooked it all up as I’m not completely satisfied with the information found in the data sheet. The sheet states that you can achieve ARC signal on the device’s HDMI input by connecting the optical/coaxial out of your tv on the device’s output side. And then of course connecting the Arc or Beam to the device’s HDMI input would push back the audio signal to the soundbar. But, to gain higher audio quality one would ideally like to split a high quality HDMI signal and feed one to the projector for video and the other to the ARC01. So, as you have tried the device, is it really able to extract audio from a full HDMI signal, connected on the output side, and embed it as ARC on the input side, enabling dd+ for example?
If this is how you have it set up, can I also ask what kind of splitter you use for the source? Curious if it is sufficient to stack the ARC01 after a simple HDMI 1:2 splitter or if one should go for the HDfury AVR-key. Or something like that.
Thank you for obviously being a google guru!
Trying to remember exact details since I don’t have access to the equipment right now...
- AppleTV + Blu-Ray player + Beam → HDMI 4x1 switch inputs (I think one specific input receives ARC back but I don’t recall for sure on my switch)
- HDMI switch output → ARC01 HDMI input
- HDMI switch optical extract (output) → ARC01 optical input
- ARC01 HDMI output → Projector HDMI input
The result is that HDMI audio from the active input to the switch is extracted as optical audio; sent to the ARC01 where it is injected as ARC returned back to the HDMI switch which is passed to the Beam over HDMI while the video signal goes on to the non-ARC projector.
Prior to this setup I was feeding the optical audio extracted from the HDMI switch to the Beam optical audio to HDMI converter. My purpose in adding the ARC01 was to feed true HDMI to the Beam to try and get CEC volume control working. That part is WIP - not sure if the devices are failing to negotiate as the ARC01 should pass the CEC stuff along - I still need to debug that.
I had also contacted HDFury about their features and gotten their confirmation that they don’t support any ARC injection (much less eARC) currently.
No fancy HDMI switch required here - just one that will extract HDMI audio and send it to optical - but limited utility for Sonos Arc (beyond HDMI CEC) if optical->HDMI works anyway and we don’t have eARC support yet.
…
I can’t even describe how happy I am to have found this post as I too have been looking far and wide after a device able to embed the audio extracted back to ARC on HDMI input to be pushed back to the Sonos Arc’s HDMI output. Finally something useful!
I’m just curious on how it works for you and how you’ve hooked it all up as I’m not completely satisfied with the information found in the data sheet. The sheet states that you can achieve ARC signal on the device’s HDMI input by connecting the optical/coaxial out of your tv on the device’s output side. And then of course connecting the Arc or Beam to the device’s HDMI input would push back the audio signal to the soundbar. But, to gain higher audio quality one would ideally like to split a high quality HDMI signal and feed one to the projector for video and the other to the ARC01. So, as you have tried the device, is it really able to extract audio from a full HDMI signal, connected on the output side, and embed it as ARC on the input side, enabling dd+ for example?
If this is how you have it set up, can I also ask what kind of splitter you use for the source? Curious if it is sufficient to stack the ARC01 after a simple HDMI 1:2 splitter or if one should go for the HDfury AVR-key. Or something like that.
Thank you for obviously being a google guru!
Trying to remember exact details since I don’t have access to the equipment right now...
- AppleTV + Blu-Ray player + Beam → HDMI 4x1 switch inputs (I think one specific input receives ARC back but I don’t recall for sure on my switch)
- HDMI switch output → ARC01 HDMI input
- HDMI switch optical extract (output) → ARC01 optical input
- ARC01 HDMI output → Projector HDMI input
The result is that HDMI audio from the active input to the switch is extracted as optical audio; sent to the ARC01 where it is injected as ARC returned back to the HDMI switch which is passed to the Beam over HDMI while the video signal goes on to the non-ARC projector.
Prior to this setup I was feeding the optical audio extracted from the HDMI switch to the Beam optical audio to HDMI converter. My purpose in adding the ARC01 was to feed true HDMI to the Beam to try and get CEC volume control working. That part is WIP - not sure if the devices are failing to negotiate as the ARC01 should pass the CEC stuff along - I still need to debug that.
I had also contacted HDFury about their features and gotten their confirmation that they don’t support any ARC injection (much less eARC) currently.
No fancy HDMI switch required here - just one that will extract HDMI audio and send it to optical - but limited utility for Sonos Arc (beyond HDMI CEC) if optical->HDMI works anyway and we don’t have eARC support yet.
Thank you for clearing this out for me! I understand now what you meant to do with CEC and that theres actually no gain in audio signal quality with this encoder. I should probably just stick with the included optical/HDMI adapter as there’s still going to be a bottleneck of optical in the user case above.
I’m going to watch the internet like a hawk for someone inventing an eARC-adapter giving devices such as the Arc both input and output HDMI though. Maybe one day it’ll happen!
Wow, I thought @JeffDs had found THE solution. But looking at the datasheet (had not checked that before) and the explanation above, this will not do what I am looking for with my non-ARC projector or for people with older TVs.
As @egrunden said, there really is no benefit over an optical connection in this case, since Sonos already provides an optical to HDMI converter.
So that means back to square one: there are currently no known devices that can take the full HDMI audio signal and return ARC, except of course for (e)ARC capable TVs...
