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

D

Received my Arcana yesterday. Set it up just now. Works great.

2019 Nvidia Shield Pro → Arcana → Arc & BenQ HT3550 PJ

I can get DD+ Atmos via streaming apps, and TrueHD Atmos in some of my BR rips via Emby. Sounds like I had hoped it would. 

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

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
Airgetlam

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

Bruce
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
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
E
Userlevel 3
Badge +5

@DuranDoranMartell 

I am from Sydney, Australia. The beta Arcana arrived 3 days after shipment. Did not need to pay any taxes. 

B
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I’ve found that zip ties and a label maker have become essential materials in my setups lately.  

Cable management has NEVER been my strong suit. Worse, those few times I actually DO take the time and effort to actually make things nice and clean, inevitably I completely end up ripping it all back out a couple of months later because I changed equipment. So, it all just gets hidden away behind the TV and we do. not. speak. about. it. ;-) 

 

Lol.  when  I got my current TV installed over the fireplace, I let Best Buy do the install.  At the time all my sources, power supply, playbar, ethernet switch, etc were sitting on the mantel.  The installers though it best to connect one line to the TV, then zip tie to existing lines.  The result was that I had a bundle of cables, about as thick as my wrist, with around 10 zip ties holding different sets of wires together.  Took me quite some time to get cut those ties, without cutting wires, when I wanted to change things.  Big mess.

 

But some Arcana news:

HDfury confirms they start shipping tomorrow.    User manual will be available online as will current firmware.

 

Only one know issue at the time, as the CEC/ARC functionality on some Vizio TVs isn’t working.  This DOES NOT mean you can’t use Arcana with your Vizio TV, @Airgetlam.  It means that CEC controls between Arc and TV won’t work, so you won’t be able to use the TV remote to control volume via CEC control (use direct IR) or use voice commands to turn on/off the TV.   The ARC part of this essentially means you won’t be able to use your TV internal smart apps.

 

the Hell of being at the forefront of technology ! 

Welcome to the “Rats Nest Club” ! my wife hates all the wires and struggles if things don’t come on first time using our harmony Elite

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I’m in the US as well, but not expecting a 1 day shipping.  I’ll give it around a week before I start asking questions.  I don’t know if HD Fury sent out beta product with expedited shipping, but I just don’t thinking shipping is going consistently be that fast from Taiwan to the US.

Not sure. Will find out shortly! 

 

@Highfalutintodd, will you be keeping your beat Arcana or selling it, since you’ll have the production model coming as well?

I will be selling one of them. Only one Arc so no need for two Arcanas. 

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

I’m in the US as well, but not expecting a 1 day shipping.  I’ll give it around a week before I start asking questions.  I don’t know if HD Fury sent out beta product with expedited shipping, but I just don’t thinking shipping is going consistently be that fast from Taiwan to the US.

 

@Highfalutintodd, will you be keeping your beat Arcana or selling it, since you’ll have the production model coming as well?

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I don't use Discord so this thread has become my primary source of information about this product.

If you don't mind I would like to ask a few novice questions for those of you who are better informed.

1- For those of you who already received an early review copy, can you tell me about that process of receiving it? How long did it take to get it in the post? What country are you in and how much tariffs did you pay?

 

I’m in the U.S. Got it within 1 business day and didn’t get hit with any duties / tariffs / taxes. 

 

2- it wasn't clear to me if the Arcana needs a separate power supply, or if can it draw power from the signal source (or say the tv's usb port). If it needs external power is there an on/off switch? What happens if you turn it off or unplug it- will signal still travel across?

 

Yes, Arcana requires an external USB-C power supply that is included with the device. There is no on/off switch - it’s either plugged in or not. If unplugged, you lose all signal. It will not pass video without power (I assume the same for audio but haven’t actually been playing anything while I unplugged it so would have to test to be sure). 

 

3- I only need to link in my Xbox One X, no other devices. So if I run the X1X out to Arcana, and then the Arcana out to Sonos ARC and TV, will my TV remote still control the Sonos volume, or will i need to control the volume with the Sonos app? It's not clear to me from the product description whether this feature has been enabled.

Yes, this feature has been implemented and you should be able to do this just fine (with some caveats - Vizio TVs are being a pain re: CEC controls). 

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

2- it wasn't clear to me if the Arcana needs a separate power supply, or if can it draw power from the signal source (or say the tv's usb port). If it needs external power is there an on/off switch? What happens if you turn it off or unplug it- will signal still travel across?

 

Just asked on your behalf.  Arcana requires 5V2A, so if your TV can provide that, should be fine.  My understanding is that most TVs will.

3- I only need to link in my Xbox One X, no other devices. So if I run the X1X out to Arcana, and then the Arcana out to Sonos ARC and TV, will my TV remote still control the Sonos volume, or will i need to control the volume with the Sonos app? It's not clear to me from the product description whether this feature has been enabled.

This should still work, with the exception of Vizia TVs talked about already.  Your TV remote controls the Sonos Arc either by CEC commands, which Arcana will still pass through, or because it’s sending IR commands directly to the Arc, which will not be effected at all by adding Arcana.

 

Sorry, can’t answer the first question.

Danny
melvimbe

Thanks for the heads up Danny...but I’m not a huge fan of the whole *censored* CEC spec, which seems to have too much latitude in it that allows each device manufacturer to make enough modifications to mess it up, so I just use the Harmony software to control each device individually, without relying on CEC to carry the commands.

 

 

I know, but I just wanted it to be clear. Also knew that you prefer your ATV4K over internal apps, so none of this should matter for your setup.

Danny
Airgetlam

Thanks for the heads up Danny...but I’m not a huge fan of the whole *censored* CEC spec, which seems to have too much latitude in it that allows each device manufacturer to make enough modifications to mess it up, so I just use the Harmony software to control each device individually, without relying on CEC to carry the commands.

 

Bruce
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Only one know issue at the time, as the CEC/ARC functionality on some Vizio TVs isn’t working.  This DOES NOT mean you can’t use Arcana with your Vizio TV, @Airgetlam.  It means that CEC controls between Arc and TV won’t work, so you won’t be able to use the TV remote to control volume via CEC control (use direct IR) or use voice commands to turn on/off the TV.   The ARC part of this essentially means you won’t be able to use your TV internal smart apps.

As the owner of a Vizio E70-F3, I can confirm this. It isn’t that CEC DOESN’T work though Arcana (I was able to turn on / turn off / control volume via CEC with the Arcana attached), but rather that having CEC enabled seems to cause random video/audio blackouts (for me, at least). Ever since I disabled CEC on the TV and my sources, everything has been rock solid. But I already had a Harmony Hub to control everything so this hasn’t been an issue for me, personally, at all. 

FYI. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
D
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

I don't use Discord so this thread has become my primary source of information about this product.

If you don't mind I would like to ask a few novice questions for those of you who are better informed.

1- For those of you who already received an early review copy, can you tell me about that process of receiving it? How long did it take to get it in the post? What country are you in and how much tariffs did you pay?

2- it wasn't clear to me if the Arcana needs a separate power supply, or if can it draw power from the signal source (or say the tv's usb port). If it needs external power is there an on/off switch? What happens if you turn it off or unplug it- will signal still travel across?

3- I only need to link in my Xbox One X, no other devices. So if I run the X1X out to Arcana, and then the Arcana out to Sonos ARC and TV, will my TV remote still control the Sonos volume, or will i need to control the volume with the Sonos app? It's not clear to me from the product description whether this feature has been enabled.

Thanks for your help on this.

melvimbe

I’ve found that zip ties and a label maker have become essential materials in my setups lately.  

Cable management has NEVER been my strong suit. Worse, those few times I actually DO take the time and effort to actually make things nice and clean, inevitably I completely end up ripping it all back out a couple of months later because I changed equipment. So, it all just gets hidden away behind the TV and we do. not. speak. about. it. ;-) 

 

Lol.  when  I got my current TV installed over the fireplace, I let Best Buy do the install.  At the time all my sources, power supply, playbar, ethernet switch, etc were sitting on the mantel.  The installers though it best to connect one line to the TV, then zip tie to existing lines.  The result was that I had a bundle of cables, about as thick as my wrist, with around 10 zip ties holding different sets of wires together.  Took me quite some time to get cut those ties, without cutting wires, when I wanted to change things.  Big mess.

 

But some Arcana news:

HDfury confirms they start shipping tomorrow.    User manual will be available online as will current firmware.

 

Only one know issue at the time, as the CEC/ARC functionality on some Vizio TVs isn’t working.  This DOES NOT mean you can’t use Arcana with your Vizio TV, @Airgetlam.  It means that CEC controls between Arc and TV won’t work, so you won’t be able to use the TV remote to control volume via CEC control (use direct IR) or use voice commands to turn on/off the TV.   The ARC part of this essentially means you won’t be able to use your TV internal smart apps.

 

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

I’ve found that zip ties and a label maker have become essential materials in my setups lately.  

Cable management has NEVER been my strong suit. Worse, those few times I actually DO take the time and effort to actually make things nice and clean, inevitably I completely end up ripping it all back out a couple of months later because I changed equipment. So, it all just gets hidden away behind the TV and we do. not. speak. about. it. ;-) 

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

Very Nice.  I actually got Vertex 2 along with Arcana, and I’m not looking forward to getting it controlled by Harmony.  I know it will work, but you have to send an email to Harmony and such like that.

 

Ugh. That does not sound appealing. :-( 

 

 

I should add that it may not be that necessary, since  Vertex 2 has auto switching.  However, I’m not exactly sure how that will work if I intend to have two sources feeding two different sinks, as I think I likely will at times.

 

 

 

They are also in direct competition with these cheap switches, even though they don’t have anything directly comparable. If HDFury had a basic, no frills switch in the $50 - $75 range, I would have gotten it in a heartbeat just for the level of support. 

 

 

I would have as well, but HDFury is adamant that they don’t want to make the products other brands can make.  Personally, I think they should make the easy money and leverage the quality brand name they’ve developed.

 

One piece of irony that struck me over the weekend hooking everything up, however, is that I've now got an utter rat’s nest of HDMI cables behind and under the TV as opposed to the relatively clean setup I had before the Arcana and the HDMI switch. The Sonos product managers who specifically designed the Arc to be a simple, easy, single cable setup are going to lose their minds when they see these setups. ;-) 

I’ve found that zip ties and a label maker have become essential materials in my setups lately.  

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Very Nice.  I actually got Vertex 2 along with Arcana, and I’m not looking forward to getting it controlled by Harmony.  I know it will work, but you have to send an email to Harmony and such like that.

 

Ugh. That does not sound appealing. :-( 

 

What I find interesting is that HD Fury tends to have a different attitude with switches than they do with cables.  They generally have no comment on switches and say that any cheap one will do.  I suspect it has more to do with before Arcana, HDMI switches were not normally part of their customer’s setup.  Not really a point of failure.  Cables are, and they have surely had people with issues, blaming an HD fury product, when the cable was the issue.  I suspect they will start talking about recommend switches soon when people start reporting issues with what they suspect to be an Arcana issue.

 

They are also in direct competition with these cheap switches, even though they don’t have anything directly comparable. If HDFury had a basic, no frills switch in the $50 - $75 range, I would have gotten it in a heartbeat just for the level of support. 

And yes, I’m sure they’ve gone round the bend on cable issues as they seem very knowledgeable about them despite not being a cable company. I was fully intending to buy new cables to go with this new switch since I knew I just had a bunch of old HDMI cables lying around which is why I found myself very surprised when everything seemed to “just work” when I plugged in whatever old cables I had. 

 

I wasn’t trying to imply that your switch wasn’t high quality, as I actually think it is.  Price wise it’s actually double the price of what Amazon recommends, and it’s worth it I think.  You say you cheaped out, but you actually did not.  The reason I went with HD Fury’s vertex 2 is because I actually wanted a matrix instead of a switch and intend to use many of the features you can’t get  in other products.  If I did not need that, I would have gotten the same sort of switch you did.

Oh, I have no idea of the long-term quality of this switch. It could be complete garbage! ;-) But there were quite a few really good Amazon reviews FWIW so we'll see. 

But, if I get a couple of years out of it, I’ll be happy. It does exactly what I need - no more, no less - so if it keeps doing that I'll have nothing to complain about. My setup is now simple enough that something like the Vertex would be utter overkill so I’ll be okay. 

One piece of irony that struck me over the weekend hooking everything up, however, is that I've now got an utter rat’s nest of HDMI cables behind and under the TV as opposed to the relatively clean setup I had before the Arcana and the HDMI switch. The Sonos product managers who specifically designed the Arc to be a simple, easy, single cable setup are going to lose their minds when they see these setups. ;-) 

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

 

For the Harmony Hub, was the switch listed for easy setup or did you have to train Harmony to use it?

 

I plugged in ROOFULL and the model number and the Harmony added it no problem. Sees it as “ROOFULL AV Switch” and gives direct access to each of the five inputs (e.g., no cycling through - if you select input 3, it goes directly to input 3, which is nice). 

 

 

Very Nice.  I actually got Vertex 2 along with Arcana, and I’m not looking forward to getting it controlled by Harmony.  I know it will work, but you have to send an email to Harmony and such like that.

 

Also, I saw HD Fury’s comments regarding cables working fine on Discord.  I think the discussion of what cables work and don’t work (same with switches) gets over simplified a bit.  There really is two factors in picking a switch or cable to work in your setup.  The first is, is the product have the right specs for your needs.  18 gbps is great, however, if you don’t have any sources or TV/PJ that requires it, you don’t absolutely need it.  Is it a good idea to get it for future proofing?  Sure, as the cost difference usually isn’t that different, but if you already have cables/switches than nothing wrong with using what you got.

 

Yeah, I saw that too. I’ll test a little bit more but honestly I rolled my eyes a little when I saw the response. I get that HD Fury is super concerned about this stuff because it’s literally what they do, but for 99.98% of people (ESPECIALLY Sonos Arc customers who just want stuff to work), as long as it works it works. The Apple TV / Shield reports that it’s sending Dolby Vision, the TV reports that it's displaying in Dolby Vision, the Sonos app reports that’s it’s receiving Atmos - what’s the problem? If I didn’t have an Arcana telling me the MHz of the signal I wouldn’t know anything more than what my equipment is reporting, so I don’t feel like getting too wrapped around the axel about it. 

 

 

What I find interesting is that HD Fury tends to have a different attitude with switches than they do with cables.  They generally have no comment on switches and say that any cheap one will do.  I suspect it has more to do with before Arcana, HDMI switches were not normally part of their customer’s setup.  Not really a point of failure.  Cables are, and they have surely had people with issues, blaming an HD fury product, when the cable was the issue.  I suspect they will start talking about recommend switches soon when people start reporting issues with what they suspect to be an Arcana issue.

 

 

 

The other factor is product reliability.  There are lots of high quality brands out there and some that’s not so good.  Depending on your setup, the extra cost for the higher quality is usually worth it.  Again though, if what you have works for what you need in terms of specs, use what you got.

Normally I’m in complete agreement with you. I almost never regret spending MORE money to get something better. If I end up regretting a purchase it’s usually because I cheaped out. As for something like this, however, it either works or it doesn’t. And if it works it was a great value at the whopping $38 I paid for it. I’m sure HD Fury’s switches are wonderful, but they’re also 10x the price and massive overkill when all I need is to hook up three devices to an Arcana. I can re-buy this thing ten times over if it breaks - and I really kind of doubt it will. 

I wasn’t trying to imply that your switch wasn’t high quality, as I actually think it is.  Price wise it’s actually double the price of what Amazon recommends, and it’s worth it I think.  You say you cheaped out, but you actually did not.  The reason I went with HD Fury’s vertex 2 is because I actually wanted a matrix instead of a switch and intend to use many of the features you can’t get  in other products.  If I did not need that, I would have gotten the same sort of switch you did.

Danny
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

 

For the Harmony Hub, was the switch listed for easy setup or did you have to train Harmony to use it?

 

I plugged in ROOFULL and the model number and the Harmony added it no problem. Sees it as “ROOFULL AV Switch” and gives direct access to each of the five inputs (e.g., no cycling through - if you select input 3, it goes directly to input 3, which is nice). 

 

Also, I saw HD Fury’s comments regarding cables working fine on Discord.  I think the discussion of what cables work and don’t work (same with switches) gets over simplified a bit.  There really is two factors in picking a switch or cable to work in your setup.  The first is, is the product have the right specs for your needs.  18 gbps is great, however, if you don’t have any sources or TV/PJ that requires it, you don’t absolutely need it.  Is it a good idea to get it for future proofing?  Sure, as the cost difference usually isn’t that different, but if you already have cables/switches than nothing wrong with using what you got.

 

Yeah, I saw that too. I’ll test a little bit more but honestly I rolled my eyes a little when I saw the response. I get that HD Fury is super concerned about this stuff because it’s literally what they do, but for 99.98% of people (ESPECIALLY Sonos Arc customers who just want stuff to work), as long as it works it works. The Apple TV / Shield reports that it’s sending Dolby Vision, the TV reports that it's displaying in Dolby Vision, the Sonos app reports that’s it’s receiving Atmos - what’s the problem? If I didn’t have an Arcana telling me the MHz of the signal I wouldn’t know anything more than what my equipment is reporting, so I don’t feel like getting too wrapped around the axel about it. 

 

The other factor is product reliability.  There are lots of high quality brands out there and some that’s not so good.  Depending on your setup, the extra cost for the higher quality is usually worth it.  Again though, if what you have works for what you need in terms of specs, use what you got.

Normally I’m in complete agreement with you. I almost never regret spending MORE money to get something better. If I end up regretting a purchase it’s usually because I cheaped out. As for something like this, however, it either works or it doesn’t. And if it works it was a great value at the whopping $38 I paid for it. I’m sure HD Fury’s switches are wonderful, but they’re also 10x the price and massive overkill when all I need is to hook up three devices to an Arcana. I can re-buy this thing ten times over if it breaks - and I really kind of doubt it will. 

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

Can’t speak to the auto switching as I’m controlling it from a Harmony Hub (which works great here) but overall I’m very pleased. Will update here if I run into any issues But for the moment I can recommend.

FYI to all.

 

For the Harmony Hub, was the switch listed for easy setup or did you have to train Harmony to use it?

 

Also, I saw HD Fury’s comments regarding cables working fine on Discord.  I think the discussion of what cables work and don’t work (same with switches) gets over simplified a bit.  There really is two factors in picking a switch or cable to work in your setup.  The first is, is the product have the right specs for your needs.  18 gbps is great, however, if you don’t have any sources or TV/PJ that requires it, you don’t absolutely need it.  Is it a good idea to get it for future proofing?  Sure, as the cost difference usually isn’t that different, but if you already have cables/switches than nothing wrong with using what you got.

 

The other factor is product reliability.  There are lots of high quality brands out there and some that’s not so good.  Depending on your setup, the extra cost for the higher quality is usually worth it.  Again though, if what you have works for what you need in terms of specs, use what you got.

Danny
D
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

I am excited and curious to hear what Atmos sounds like at last.

So far I have only been able to hear Atmos on a handful of Netflix series, and I don't really think tv shows are the best showcase for state of the art audio technology. 

I am sitting on unwatched UHD blu rays of Blade Runner, 2001 and Gravity and cannot wait to see if Atmos is the real deal or just the emperor's new clothes.

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Just posted this over on the HD Fury Discord, FWIW: 

For anyone looking for a simple, inexpensive HDMI switch, I can confirm that this ROOFULL 5 port switch works beautifully with Arcana:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CF793HQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it so far from both an Apple TV and Nvidia Shield

Dolby Vision, HDR 10, Atmos, TrueHD, all confirmed.

And, interestingly, it doesn’t seem at all picky about cables. I just used whatever I had lying around to test it out and it all worked swimmingly.

Can’t speak to the auto switching as I’m controlling it from a Harmony Hub (which works great here) but overall I’m very pleased. Will update here if I run into any issues But for the moment I can recommend.

FYI to all.

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings