Question

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

J

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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34 replies

A

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-1155w-7-2-ch-with-dolby-atmos-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-compatible-a-v-home-theater-receiver-black/5761206.p?skuId=5761206
 

Would this receiver potentially work? I’m guessing no, but trying to find a creative way to make my current home theater setup work with an Arc (it really sucks how few options there are for people with projectors who want Sonos systems). 

A
Userlevel 1
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I don’t think so, I think it is because the way ARC or eARC outputs the sound. For reference what I did, which is really kludgy is take a Samsung TV I had that had eARC (tu8000) then ran a HDMI matrix splitter with two outputs. One to projector and one to Samsung, then Samsung eARC back to the Sonos Arc. It works for Atmos, but is messy.

 

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-1155w-7-2-ch-with-dolby-atmos-4k-ultra-hd-hdr-compatible-a-v-home-theater-receiver-black/5761206.p?skuId=5761206
 

Would this receiver potentially work? I’m guessing no, but trying to find a creative way to make my current home theater setup work with an Arc (it really sucks how few options there are for people with projectors who want Sonos systems). 

 

A

I don’t think so, I think it is because the way ARC or eARC outputs the sound. For reference what I did, which is really kludgy is take a Samsung TV I had that had eARC (tu8000) then ran a HDMI matrix splitter with two outputs. One to projector and one to Samsung, then Samsung eARC back to the Sonos Arc. It works for Atmos, but is messy.

Dang. That was my biggest fear. Thanks for the heads up. Here’s to hoping they have some kind of fix for this soon. Trying to determine what to do once I get a PS5 with my projector, currently using a playbar and some 1s for surrounds, might just have to look for something else.  

B

Is it possible to pass the video content through a projector and the audio through a tv connected to Sonos arc. I thought of using a hdmi matrix to use projector and tv as a video and an audio output respectively and 4K laptop as an input.

Airgetlam

Certainly worth a try. There’s no reason I can think of that the signal from the TV would be any different whether or not you had a projector attached. It’s not part of the equation, from the Sonos side of things. 

Bruce
D
Userlevel 2

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/

E

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?

A

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.

B

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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