Don't have eARC? Get Atmos w/ HD Fury "Arcana" - Pre-orders now LIVE!

Show first post
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

220 replies

melvimbe

Apologies, for my lack of technical knowledge.

I have a Samsung 55” Q9FN with only ARC (not E-ARC)  ,  Sonos Arc/Sub/Surrounds ,  Sky Q with UHD and with Disney Plus  and Sony UBP - X700 4K UHD Blu Ray Player.

I can get DD+ Atmos from Sky Q films/programmes (if they are in Atmos) but not through the Disney Plus App or through the 4K Blu-ray.  Will the HD Fury Arcana help me getting more Atmos Content from  Disney Plus and the 4K Blu-ray ?

Many Thanks.

 

It will definitely help for the 4K blu-ray.  That will be using TrueHD for atmos audio, which requires eARC that your TV can’t handle.  Regarding Disney+, that’s hard to say.  You should be able to get that now given that it uses DD+ the same your Sky Q. If your TV passes thorugh DD+ for SkyQ, not sure why it does not for Disney+.  Perhaps your Sky Q boxes doesn’t allow for DD+ Atmos on apps or something like that?  

 

I did see something sort of similar with my setup, which is also an Samsung ARC TV. I was getting DD+ Atmos for Amazon Prime, but not for netflix or disney +.  That was the case on internal apps and for fire TV cube.  I then got an Nvidia Shield and I am getting DD+ atmos on everything now.  I don’t know if Nvidia Shield is just better, or if the Fire TV and internal apps where just set to not play atmos before I installed Sonos Arc, and never adjusted properly.  I considered reinstalling the apps, but I haven’t really bothered sine I like Nvidia Shield better anyway.

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

@Highfalutintodd  Thanks for the explanation. This is one of the reasons why I avoid ATV4K discussions for the most part.  Everything else regarding audio is rather complicated, but ATV4K takes it to another level.

Tell me about it. I’ve learned more about Dolby MAT in the last few months than I’d ever want to and I STILL don’t think I fully grok it. And the only reason I dug into it as much as I did was a stubborn insistence on learning WHY OH WHY Plex wouldn’t / couldn’t pass TrueHD/Atmos from the Apple TV (because as nice as I’m sure it is, I really don’t feel like buying an Nvidia Shield for this one purpose). From there, I just kept following it down the rabbit hole and I’m still waiting for someone to go, nope, sorry kid, you’ve got it all wrong, here’s how it REALLY works. 

But until that day comes, I think my explanation is accurate. Or, in the immortal words of Douglas Adams, I’ll choose to believe that it’s “definitively inaccurate” until otherwise proven wrong. ;-) 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
melvimbe

II’m betting that Arcana and like products may have a fairly long life considering that 1) TVs tend to be major purchases that aren’t replaced that often, 2) TV manufacturers don’t seem to be super concerned about the audio features of their TVs or being diligent about making sure that features like eARC are implemented correctly, and 3) other soundbar manufacturers are surely looking at the success of the Sonos Arc (now backordered two months out!) and may come out with one cable solutions of their own. 

 

I don’t know.  These are valid points, however, it’s not really a situation that we haven’t seen before. Technically, back when audio was essentially just 5.1, TVs had optical connections to handle passing through audio.  Yet the majority if AVRs and soundbars did not use that optical connection, instead they wanted you to use their equipment for HDMI switching and pass through the video.  Yes, they have add more functionality, but they can sell you a new AVR/soundbar every time audio or video standards change. Playbar was an exception, and part of the reason it stayed on the market for 7 years.  Not sure anything else stayed on the market for that long.  

Anyway, I don’t know that other companies are going to start limiting their AVR and soundbars so that they can’t be used as a switch or pass through video.  Yes, it can become a bottle neck for your video, but they are happy to sell you the latest AVR that isn’t a bottleneck.  Even if Sonos sales are great, people will look at HDMI inputs as advantage.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see a audio equipment and TVs be more component like with a HDMI switch/processing device component in the middle, just not sure it’s going to go that way.

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Wow that’s not something I come across when buying the Arc and researching it. 90% of my movies are in DTSHD master Audio format which I prefer over Dolby true HD. It’s bad enough having to buy an Arcana but now I got to get another player capable of down sampling my Audio to get sound! 

Your research lead you to something as niche as Arcana but didn’t surface the fact that the Arc doesn’t support DTS? I’m honestly a little surprised at that and I’m truly sorry you were caught unawares. I read a dozen reviews before I bought my Arc and every one of them mentioned lack of DTS support as a con of the Arc (and Sonos in general). 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Quick question is Arcana with the current update works great and sounds awesome. The only thing I find is on the Apple 4K TV the Netflixs, Prime Apps and Apples Movies purchased are all UHD but only in 5.1 sound. But the Disney+ App plays lots of Atmos True HD within it’s movies etc. Disney+ sounds great!!

Why are the Netflixs(I have the UHD/top paid version), Primes and Apple Movies/most UHD only in 5.1 sound?  

Atmos content is still fairly limited. Netflix has a decent amount. Disney+, too, especially for Marvel / Star Wars stuff. Apple TV+ seems to be putting out most of its content in Atmos. But beyond that, you’re only going to get Dolby Digital 5.1 or Stereo 2.0 out of Apple TV and Arcana in my experience, depending on the content. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
melvimbe

Got my shipping notice.  Estimated deliver is Sept 21, so 6 days., to the US.  Was hoping to get it over the weekend, but I can live with that!

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

One other consideration is the product availability.  This is a smaller outfit and appears to be making the product in batches of 1000. 

Looks like they’ve upped that initial order quantity, @melvimbe. I just noticed that the Arcana product page now says this regarding shipping: 

 

Shipping of the first 1900 pre-ordered units is expected before October 1, 2020.
Shipping of pre-ordered units above 1900 is expected before November 1, 2020.

 

So looks like there’s plenty more opportunity to get in on that “first batch.” 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
Airgetlam

I’m tempted to bold that statement.... If the content itself is in Atmos…

 

 

Bruce
melvimbe

Good catch @Highfalutintodd.  Found that this was reaffirmed in the Discord channel. Sounds like they plan on shipping around mid September, but that’s not firm yet.

 

Nothing stated on why they are boosting the batch size.  I’m sure it’s to accommodate all pre-orders and distributor orders, as well as some for direct sale after it’s released.  Just curious if Sonos, installers, or some other source is interested in this, more than the other HD Fury products.

Danny
melvimbe

So HD Fury says they did 173 of the 1500 preorders today.  Slower in the first day as they ramp up the shipping process.  The expect to catch up tomorrow.  They are trying to ship them out in the order received.  

The current price is still at $185, but that should jump to to $199 on Sept 20.  Didn’t ask but I don’t think there will be much delay in shipping those orders out after preorders are done.

 

When your order ships, you’ll get a text from DHL, telling you when it should arrive and a link to make changes to shipping.  (Some are saying that got an email in their spam folder...I did not) You can waive signature requirement, provide instructions, reschedule to a later date, and even change the address. 

On Discord, there does seem to be a little confusion as some thought UPS was going to do the shipping.  Not sure about that. Also, may people are getting shipping dates as early as this Friday, even shipped to the US. Seems like you get it sooner if you live on the east or west coast for US.

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

 

I don’t doubt that at all. I wouldn’t be too surprised if they are selling more of their vertex2 and diva products that you can get as package with Arcana now than at their product launch.  I’m just wondering, being that many of the Arcana customers are not their typical customers, and likely never even heard of Arcana before, just how many doors are going to open for them.   

Right place right time. Find a void in the market and fill it. Doesn’t hurt that it’s directly in their wheelhouse. 

And they’re moving fast to take advantage of the opportunity. 

Got to hand it to them. I wasn’t familiar with them before this, but if Arcana does what it’s supposed to, they’ll have a fan (and a vocal supporter) in me for the foreseeable future. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I think I expressed myself badly. I just meant that if nobody preorders until they know whether the addional features will be included, the additional features will not be included, because the 800 target won't be hit.

My guess is that the “super powers” as HD Fury refers to them will get included with Arcana one way or the other. They’re only ~240 pre-orders away from the 800 mark and they’ve still got months to go before shipping. And since Arc is still backordered at Sonos (and Amazon and who knows where else), there’s still a bunch of customers who haven’t received their Arc yet. Which means a bunch of people who haven’t figured out they’re probably not going to get Atmos yet. Which means a bunch of people who don’t even know they’re going to need something like Arcana yet. So it’s early times. 

Plus, HD Fury said on their Discord channel that the “super powers” are a firmware update, not a hardware change. So even if it doesn’t get included in the units that go out the door, I bet that it will be available as an update not long after. I’d also bet that they’re further along on the coding than they’re officially letting on. In the end they seem like a bunch of tech nerds (in a GOOD way!) and I’ll bet they’re going to want the features in there anyway. 

My 2¢ at any rate. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

The thing that fascinates me is that I’ve not seen a single other company trying to jump in to this space. I’m delighted a HDFury did, and have my preorder, of course, but I wonder why we’ve not heard of any other potential options. It might be that these guys are just more agile than others, and capable of quickly filling this void, and maybe we’ll see others have a product in a year or two...

There was one other German company who claims to have something coming out, but details have been sparse. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
melvimbe

About 15 hours after the DHL notification, I got the email from HDFury with the shipping information.

 

Yes, I did to.  I’m not all that concerned about that though.

Danny
M
Userlevel 1
Badge

It would be nice if Sonos App can display Dolby Atmos “TrueHD” or “MAT” instead of the generic Dolby Atmos.  It is able to distinguish Dolby Atmos (DD+) in “About my system”.

J

If you crave Full Fat Atmos without getting a new TV even though you have to pay the extra tax it is still way cheaper and it works.

I have mine connected and it sounds awesome!!

Agreed. And I would think it worth it just for fixing lip sync. 

D
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Have you contacted HDFury?

I downloaded the latest firmware update (v. 23 Sept) and it seems to be working correctly now. I will see if it happens again and contact them if it does.

Seems like Discord is the best way to contact them but I don't use Discord.

melvimbe

Received my Arcana tonight!  Only time to play with it a little bit, but so far, it’s working as advertised.  Currently have xbox one s setup at the source.  Watching a blueray (Godzilla) and getting TrueHD atmos on the Arc.  No sync issues.  Samsung TV with ARC only.  The sound quality is excellent!

I did briefly test the ARC audio between the TV Arcana, to see if it would send audio from TVs internal apps to the Arc that way.  It did send audio, but I was not able to get DD+ atmos for some reason.  Didn’t spend much time on that and I suspect I have a setting wrong for this or something of that nature.  

 

I haven't setup my HDMI switch/matrix. so have not tested my Shield or FireTV yet.  

Danny
melvimbe

Anyone know of any Arcana for sale anywhere? Pre orders from HD Fury are backed up to December. 

 

Website says Nov 25th or earlier.  If history is any sign, it will likely be earlier.  I believe when they made their first batch of product, they reserve some to give to a few distributers, which is hdfury.eu, monoprice (amazon.com), and I don’t know who else).  Those two don’t seem to have any out either.  Possible that monoprice has not put it out yet?  Don’t know.  

 

I would go head ahead an put in your order direct from hd fury, as I doubt you’ll get it faster elsewhere.

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I’ve heard others say that TrueHD is noticeably better than DD+ in general.  I don’t really know if that’s psychosomatic or if it’s actually better.  The other aspect of this, particularly when atmos gets thrown in, is that you quickly get into the territory where the rooms acoustic characteristics plays a very large role.  Trueplay helps with this a lot, but when you’re counting on audio reflecting off walls and ceilings, you’re going to have rooms where it sounds great and others where you can’t hear much difference between TrueHD atoms and DD 5.1.

For me, I do notice some difference with atmos audio coming through, but not as much as I originally thought.  I am overall happy with it, and like the improvement over the playbar, for sure.  

Yeah, that’s why I’m not getting too worked up about it all. On paper, I’m sure TrueHD blows DD and DD+ out of the water in terms of sheer specs. In reality, though, I’m willing to bet it won't matter all that much. If you’ve got a serious (and seriously expensive) home theater system that can wring every bit of sound out of it, I’m sure TrueHD is amazing. For the rest of us, even “plain old” Dolby Digital is still really damn good. 

I still think most people don’t understand just how damn good all of these audio codecs are these days. Dolby and DTS and others have been working on these compression algorithms and making psychoacoustic magic for decades now and they’ve gotten ridiculously good at it. 

Plus, there are so many variables at play. Even if there’s a subtle difference like the TrueHD mix simply being a little LOUDER than a Dolby Digital Plus mix for the same movie, it could cause a person to perceive that the TrueHD mix is better (or vice versa).   

But, again, I’ll be happy to be surprised. Maybe TrueHD will blow me out of the water. Regardless, I’ve got really, really good sound quality that’s making me quite happy. ;-) 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
melvimbe

Thanks. 
When you placed your order did you request the ‘low value, less tax, no packaging’ invoice or the ‘real value, normal tax’?

 

I request the no packaging, I think, but it was shipped in package.  However, I didn’t have taxes/custom to deal with in the US.

Danny
J

Thanks. 
When you placed your order did you request the ‘low value, less tax, no packaging’ invoice or the ‘real value, normal tax’?

Real value. I didn’t feel comfortable doing otherwise. 

J
Badge

Pre-ordered!

 

-JR

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

 

 

 

Given how quickly time seems to be passing these days, september 15 will be here before I can blink and turn around twice! ;-) 


Is it September 15 yet?

Getting damn close. ;-)

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
calebwojcik
Badge

@MartyPig - I bought this 5 to 1 HDMI Switcher and it is working well with my Sonos Arc + LG C7 + Apple TV 4K, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Sony Blu-Ray Player. No 3.5 audio in though.

https://amzn.to/3qbwoky

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings