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

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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!
J
Userlevel 1
Badge +3

Thanks Josh but which format?

It is in the “Readmefirst” txt file in the firmware download.  It says “

Please refer to usermanual: www.hdfury.com/docs/HDfuryArcana.pdf

1. Copy the arcanafw.bin file on the root of a FAT32 formatted USB stick.
2. Make sure Arcana is powered ON and insert the USB stick into the USB update port.
3. Arcana will prompt for update, confirm yes by clicking the rotary switch selector.
4. Once completed, Arcana will prompt to power cycle the unit.
5. Remove the USB stick and power cycle Arcana (remove/reconnect USB power cable)
6. Wait 15sec for the OLED to come back ON. Once completed, cycle infopages to display the FW version info page and confirm it have updated correctly.
7. All Done ! Congratz !

S
Badge

I have Sonos Arc connected to HDMI ARC on my TV and I just use Netflix and Amazon Prime videos from TV apps, will Arcana help to get Dolby Atmos from TV? If yes, how?

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

No, the Arcana is only for external players.

S
Badge

No, the Arcana is only for external players.

thanks, would you know how will connection work if I purchase shield and arcana?

D

Josh all good and did finally update. Will wait to see if switching/cycling through my 3 inputs works consistent ongoing. 
Note on the USB after reformatted to Fat32 you have to get rid of the 2 text files and have only the BIN file presented to update. Strange it could not find the file with the two text files. 

S
Userlevel 1

No, the Arcana is only for external players.

thanks, would you know how will connection work if I purchase shield and arcana?

Yes, Any external sources that has atmos will work no matter the age of your tv-set.

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.

vestaviascott
Badge +2

Just purchased last night expecting backorder until mid December (according to website order page). Just got the DHL tracking update the Fury unit will arrive here in Bham on Wednesday! So, if the backorder notice gives anyone pause, apparently they are underselling it.

E
Userlevel 3
Badge +5

Attached Arcana and worked great for Cable, Apple4KTV and Oppo UHD 203. Sounded awesome/great.

Came back on later and the Oppo will not show on the screen anymore or play. Other two options of viewing work fine still. 

Trying to update the Arcana with the unzipped BIN file but Update OLED screen shows, No Update found on the USB. Go back to Menu. Not sure what I am doing wrong.

Feel real close to getting this working right but cannot get the Arcana to recognize the BIN updates.

Any help appreciated.

 

Try other thumb drives. Make sure FAT32 formatted. Also, smaller capacity ones tend to work better. 

R
Userlevel 1
Badge +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!

As of now you would need switch as the stuff plugged into tv would have no connection to soundbar. Just a cheap switch of amazon will do. 
 

There was talk, if they received 800 orders +, that they would look at adding “superpowers” that may include ARC  from TV providing audio to Sonos Arc via Arcana - then you would not need a switch if TV had ARC HDMI port

D
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

The latest I’ve heard is shipment for preorders is still September 15th, moved up from October 1st.  HDFury did send out beta units to a handful of testers last week, with many of them already arrived at the testers, so I would not expecting shipping to take too long on these.

Where do you get this information?

I am not doubting you, I just don't know where people are getting updates. 

melvimbe

No, the Arcana is only for external players.

 

That actually isn’t 100% true.  The current feature set does have the ability to play audio from built in apps (or sources connected to the TV directly) via the TVs ARC port, but it is a feature they hoping to add when the product ships or soon after.  Even if the feature is not added though, there are existing products that can extract audio from the TV via the ARC port, and essentially recirculate it to the ARCANA and then the Sonos Arc.

The best way to illustrate this is on the Arcana product page under the ‘Getting Started’ table, they have several diagrams that illustrate the different configurations you could use Arcana in, two of which allow for built-in TV apps without Arcana getting the feature added directly.

 

Danny
melvimbe

HD Fury has a discord channel where they were answer question and give out tidbits of information like this.

There is a link to get setup on their channel somewhere around here if you’re interested.  A different thread I believe.

 

Also regarding beta testers for Arcana, they are not under and NDAs are allowed and even encouraged to share their results in the discord channel.  A bit different from Sonos, although it’s obviously a much different situation.  They only have need a dozen or so testers really. I haven’t looked too closely, but haven’t seen any reported bugs.

 

@Highfalutintodd, are you one of the beta testers?

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

 

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

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!
N

Which site did you order from?

H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Joined their Discord yesterday. Now I see where all the information on here was coming from! They are really transparent and helpful. Had a question answered by HDFury themselves within a few hours.

 

Also regarding beta testers for Arcana, they are not under and NDAs are allowed and even encouraged to share their results in the discord channel.  A bit different from Sonos, although it’s obviously a much different situation.  They only have need a dozen or so testers really. I haven’t looked too closely, but haven’t seen any reported bugs.

 

@Highfalutintodd, are you one of the beta testers?

I am, indeed! My Arcana beta unit arrived on Tuesday and have been testing it since. 

The good news is that it does what it says on the tin - it lets you get Atmos from external sources. 

The only issues so far (that I’ve seen) have been regarding CEC control and, to be honest, I don’t particularly understand the intricacies of what all’s happening. What I CAN say is that HD Fury has been ridiculously responsive to concerns and have already pushed out no fewer than 5 firmware updates to correct issues in the last three days. For example, I was having an issue with the Apple TV remote not controlling the Arc volume, but a firmware update later all is well. 

I’d say we’re in the “fine tuning” stage in that it absolutely works as intended, but CEC is such a mish-mash of poorly implemented functionality across various devices that HD Fury is having to see how Arcana works in the real world with a variety of equipment and adjust accordingly.

 

Regarding the CEC mess, can you confirm whether the commands from the Arc itself to turn the TV on/off work?

Yes! Using an Apple TV, I can confirm that the Apple TV remote can and does turn the TV on and off. 

 

 

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
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