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

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Airgetlam

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

Bruce
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I experienced a few signal drops last night while playing Xbox. The screen went blank momentarily. Probably either a loose connection or power supply issue.

So far this has only happened while gaming. 

Presently my TV is feeding power to the Arcana. I will see if the issue persists and if so switch to an outlet. 

This could be a real problem for Arcana. Anyone else have this issue?

N

What have those of you in the UK ended up paying in taxes when your Arcana is delivered? 

I am waiting for confirmation from UPS, but if my understanding of the rules is correct it will be UK VAT at 20% of cost, including postage charges, plus maybe a few £ of additional import duty.  I’ll post back when I hear.

I was surprised that it was delivered without my being charged at that point.  I think UPS were surprised too, because they telephoned me a couple of days after delivery saying that they were holding the item awaiting payment of duties!

 

Cheers John,

Be interested to know what the final total payment is. Did you buy direct from HD Fury?

B
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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...


I was in that boat! I saw people on AVS forum talking about it and thought, that sounds interesting so I enquired on their site and got an immediate reply, this prompted more questions which again got fast reply so I put an order in for the Arcana. I then started thinking about a switch but the minefield of cheap options made me wonder and I decided that I didn’t want to get the Arcana and then have issues with a switch so again I checked with HD Fury and again they were very helpful. I now have a vertex 2 up and running ready for the arrival of the Arcana. Yes they are expensive but they are way more then just a simple switch and the support is first class. 

J

@DuranDoranMartell . Regarding everything showing as Atmos in the app.  Have you refreshed the ‘now playing’ screen or About My System screen?  The latter certainly needs a refresh to show what is currently coming through.  Don’t know about ‘now playing’ screen.

 

D
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@DuranDoranMartell . Regarding everything showing as Atmos in the app.  Have you refreshed the ‘now playing’ screen or About My System screen?  The latter certainly needs a refresh to show what is currently coming through.  Don’t know about ‘now playing’ screen.

 

The now playing screen updates in real time when I change inputs so I don't think that is a solution. I think the XB1X is sending a constant Atmos signal regardless of the active app. There is no fault, just the reality of different devices talking to each other in different ways.

R
Userlevel 1

Really interested in this, not only to get the Atmos capability but to also help with the terrible lip sync from Sky Q that it claims to fix!

Quick question though - do I need to buy a HDMI switch too?  I can’t work it out...my inputs are as follows: Sky Q (UHD/Atmos), PS4, Apple TV.  As you can see, only one of those inputs supports Atmos and also happens to be the only one with lip sync issues.  Can I just plug the Sky Q into the Arcana and the other 2 into the TV like I would have done previously?

Thanks!

If you do end up getting an HDMI Switch, be sure to get a switch that can push 18 Gbps. Otherwise, you won’t get HDR10+ and you may be limiting your refresh rate depending on your source. Not to mention, it won’t have the bandwidth to push enough info to justify the Arcana.

Oooh thanks!

Any in particular you recommend? As inexpensive as possible ideally :)

Airgetlam

Have you communicated this issue to the HDFury folks, in their Discord channel? I suspect they’d be very interested in helping you figure out what’s going on. 

Bruce
melvimbe

If you do end up getting an HDMI Switch, be sure to get a switch that can push 18 Gbps. Otherwise, you won’t get HDR10+ and you may be limiting your refresh rate depending on your source. Not to mention, it won’t have the bandwidth to push enough info to justify the Arcana.

Oooh thanks!

Any in particular you recommend? As inexpensive as possible ideally :)

 

Lots of options out there.  Just look for something that meets your specs/requirements and has good reviews.  This looks like a good option.

Danny
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What have those of you in the UK ended up paying in taxes when your Arcana is delivered? 

Cost me £40

H
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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”.

There have been a couple of threads on this. I’d say most of us are in agreement that the now playing screen in the app could and should be much more descriptive than it currently is. At a minimum, I’d like for it to display whatever audio format is currently being displayed in the About My System screen. Such a simple thing but would be a nice touch. 

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

What have those of you in the UK ended up paying in taxes when your Arcana is delivered? 

I am waiting for confirmation from UPS, but if my understanding of the rules is correct it will be UK VAT at 20% of cost, including postage charges, plus maybe a few £ of additional import duty.  I’ll post back when I hear.

I was surprised that it was delivered without my being charged at that point.  I think UPS were surprised too, because they telephoned me a couple of days after delivery saying that they were holding the item awaiting payment of duties!

 

Cheers John,

Be interested to know what the final total payment is. Did you buy direct from HD Fury?

I did - I pre-ordered fairly early on.

J

What have those of you in the UK ended up paying in taxes when your Arcana is delivered? 

Cost me £40

That’s about what I am expecting.

Airgetlam

It may be a simple thing, it may not. It depends on the code. I’ve seen quite a few ‘simple’ suggestions that have not been implemented. I always have to assume it’s not because Sonos enjoys frustrating its users, but there are reasons that we don’t know, which could often be Code/path complexity. 

Bruce
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It’s off topic, but I got a Shield over the summer and have rather impressed with it.  I got it as I wanted a 2nd streamer for various reasons, heard good things about it, and wanted something that was streaming service agnostic.   Performance wise, it’s much better than FireTV or my other option Samsung’s internal apps. I pretty much use it 90% of the time now  Much more customizable.  Didn’t even consider Plex at the time, but set that up and been very happy with that. I use plex primarily as a music server, but now I’m considering building a video library as well.  

I’m going to go pick one up today to try it out after all. I’ve got a buddy who speaks very highly of it and at this point I might as well have the ability to have the full audio quality from my ripped BDs. (Right? Right….? :no_mouth:)

Plus, I’ve been toying around with the idea of using it as a Plex server itself as supposedly it’s pretty capable. And that would get the Plex server off my daily driver iMac and onto something dedicated, so that could be good. We’ll see! 


Shield are very good bits of kit and seem to handle lots of formats without any wobbles

As you are beta testing the Arcana with our new favourite bit of kit (Sonos ARC) can you indicate how much difference there is between 5.1 and full fat True HD Atmos ? As that is why most of us without Earc TV’s will be wanting the Arcana. I have to echo your thoughts on the HD Fury guys they are fantastic at customer service which is one of the reasons why I took the plunge.

B
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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!!

D
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Everything was working fine until this evening.

Now I can’t get any audio from my TV apps. 

I can adjust the volume and my TV is showing that it is connected to external speakers, but the output is silent. Yesterday this was not a problem and I haven’t changed anything. I am very frustrated. 

I don’t really understand the menu on the Arcana so not sure how/if I can change settings. 

 

Airgetlam

Have you contacted HDFury?

Bruce
D
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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.

Don’t know where you are based but in the UK/EU Disney+ has turned off Atmos support for the time-being to reduce bandwidth and support home-working. 

I was getting Atmos on Disney+ via my TV’s Disney+ app when it first started, then a couple months ago it suddenly disappeared. I contacted customer support and they confirmed they took the feature off but suggested it could be restored soon. I would think they will offer it with the release of Mulan in September. 
Arcana should allow you to get Atmos from your Blu Ray player and video game console, if it does what it says on the box. That’s why I am purchasing it. 
Having said all that, really, Atmos isn’t that common a feature on films yet. Its mostly just available on TV shows. There hasn’t yet been, in my opinion, a “killer app” for Atmos yet. The film Extraction on Netflix has been the best test I’ve had of the Arc’s capability since I got it. 

H
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Shield are very good bits of kit and seem to handle lots of formats without any wobbles

 

So far I’m very impressed with the Shield’s capabilities… as a Plex server. I’ve had up to 7 direct HD streams running locally at once and it can easily handle at least 3 direct local 4K streams (and even a couple of HD streams at the same time!) as well. Would never have dreamed that I’d get Plex server performance that good from “just” a streaming box. 

The client side is more of a question. I don’t really like the interface (Apple TV guy here), the images looked really washed out until I found an obscure and poorly worded setting, and it doesn’t transcode DTS to Dolby Digital like Plex on Apple TV will without changing a setting (which then basically turns off TrueHD/Atmos output, which was the original reason I got the thing). 

So a mixed bag, but high marks for Plex server performance! 

 

As you are beta testing the Arcana with our new favourite bit of kit (Sonos ARC) can you indicate how much difference there is between 5.1 and full fat True HD Atmos ? As that is why most of us without Earc TV’s will be wanting the Arcana. I have to echo your thoughts on the HD Fury guys they are fantastic at customer service which is one of the reasons why I took the plunge.

Unfortunately, I haven’t done any critical A/B listening tests yet. I’ve been more focused on getting everything working and then I got distracted by moving my Plex server over to the Shield, and the kids are doing school from home so I can’t have it loud during the day, etc. etc. What I’ve heard so far, though, has sounded great. However, what I’ve heard from Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus has sounded great so far, too. In the little bit that I’ve heard so far, my ears can’t immediately tell a difference. Or certainly not a major one. When I do get around to critical listening tests, I’ll be surprised if I hear a difference that blows me out of the water. More than likely it will be an incremental improvement, but I’m happy to be proven wrong. 

Also, I’m not going to get myself too worked up over it. No one, hopefully, watches movies switching back and forth between sound formats so I’ll just be happy to choose the best available format and sit back and enjoy a movie or show knowing that I’ve got the best possible sound quality. YMMV, of course. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
J
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Would this still work with a SONOS Arc and a TV that only does 1080p?

-JR

 

H
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Would this still work with a SONOS Arc and a TV that only does 1080p?

-JR

 

Absolutely. The TV’s sound capabilities are completely out of the equation at this point. Arcana is sending (via eARC) audio directly to the Sonos Arc via one HDMI connection and is sending video to your TV via a completely separate connection. So you can use whatever TV you want and still get full range audio from your external HDMI devices. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
B
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Thank you for the quick reply.

I agree the DD+ sounds great anyway but i kind of secretly hoped that being able to put full fat Atmos from a 4k disc via my OPPO might have the edge somehow.

As you say the knowledge that you will have the best possible sound whatever the source and without having to buy a new TV (mine is LG B7) is a warm feeling.

Airgetlam

Yea, I’m not a fan of it either...but they don’t seem to have a presence here in this forum, just Sonos folks. 

Bruce
H
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Thank you for the quick reply.

I agree the DD+ sounds great anyway but i kind of secretly hoped that being able to put full fat Atmos from a 4k disc via my OPPO might have the edge somehow.

As you say the knowledge that you will have the best possible sound whatever the source and without having to buy a new TV (mine is LG B7) is a warm feeling.

Thanks to the Shield and my Plex collection, I’ve now got access to multiple pieces of the same content in TrueHD (with and without Atmos), Dolby Digital (transcoded from DTS), and Dolby Digital Plus / Atmos. I’ll see if I can start doing some critical listening tonight and will report back. 

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