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jonathanmoore
Contributor I
May 7, 2020
Question

Sonos Arc (Dolby Atmos) with 4K Projector vs. TV

I have been waiting to upgrade my old Gen 1 Play:5s, and when the new products were launched yesterday I used my upgrade 30% off discount to preorder a pair of Sonos Fives and the Arc Surround Set.  Our home has a theater room that I have been waiting to build out, and now the time has come.

 

Originally I had thought about installing a 4k projector since we have enough room for it, however I’m unsure how the eARC connections and Dolby Atmos would work in this type of a setup.  It seems like I would have to buy some type of receiver to handle all of my inputs and ideally output eARC to Sonos and a video signal to the projector—not sure if this type of a setup exists.

 

It seem like the easier route would be to go with a TV with eARC support like the LG C9 where everything can connect to the TV and the Dolby Atmos audio goes to Sonos.

 

Does anyone have recommendations on the best setup to take advantage of Dolby Atmos with Sonos Arc?

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      Dafrapster
      Lyricist III
      July 8, 2020

      HD Fury is now taking preorders for a product that will give eArc abilities to projector setups!

      https://www.hdfury.com/product/4k-arcana-18gbps/

      ericktexas
      Lyricist I
      July 9, 2020

      I have a new optoma 4k projector and I was unable to make it work with Sonos Arc.

       

      I have a Sony blu-ray player (this is my source system), in the back of the player I have two HDMI outputs (one audio/video, and one audio only), both can be used simultaneously.

       

      The HDMI audio/video goes to my projector (works fine).

       

      The HDMI audio goes to ARC. For some reason it doesn't recognize this as an audio source, and doesn't play any audio. 
       

      To make sure this setup works, I tried connecting the HDMI audio cable to my TV as an input (it doesn't have video, just audio), but it works.


      The issue is with the Sonos ARC... it won't let me setup the Sonos ARC (using the app) because it expects an audio return channel signal from TV (which I don't have).

      So, what I did was to set the Sonos ARC with my tv directly using audio return channel and it works.

      Then, I unplugged the TV and go back to my original setup (notice this time the Sonos Arc is succesfuly setup in the app), however it won't play audio. Now, if I use the optical cable to hdmi adaptor from blu ray player to the sonos arc it works, but i don't want to use optical.

      Why sonos arc doesn't support HDMI audio only? Why does it has to come through a eARC source only?

      Andromos
      Lyricist I
      July 13, 2020

      My assumption is that it has to be (or Sonos wants it to be) eARC because it’s a sort of data protocol that negotiates playback in order to be synced with the video. I could be wrong. However yeah, very few TV’s out there support Atmos over eARC. So it’s rather misleading for Sonos to say it supports Atmos, when this is only true if your TV has eARC with support for Atmos. I have a late 2018 model and it only has regular ARC with Dolby surround as the highest compatible so a real bummer!

      I hope the HDFury device works out. Personally I don’t like the idea of sending the signal through a switch then through the HDFury, and then finally the TV, is there signal degradation or quality loss? But I think it will be fine.

      Sonos seemed to favor simplicity but just adding a output or two on the soundbar would have really helped avoid all these compatibility issues.

      Bodwin123
      Lyricist I
      July 21, 2020

      Hi all,

      Thought I’d share how I’m getting on with my new Arc and trying to get it working with a projector (optima uhd40).  I’ve had some success albeit a little messy.

      Sony Bly-ray player (ubx700) HDMI AV out to projector for visuals. Secondary HDMI Audio our to HDMI input on Sony TV (KD 55S).

      HDMI ARC out from telly to Sonos Arc.

      Seems to work and sync is fine.

      Main issue is telly has to be on and it annoyingly has graphics on it saying video is output on one channel and video on another.  Screensaver doesn’t help as it cuts audio.

      Also, no atmos but will save that faff for another time / telly upgrade / HD Fury Arcana.

      Good luck!

       

       

       

       

       

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