HDMI to tv or AV receiver

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gti
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Gti

Gti

Gti

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I'm not quite understanding what the point of connecting a pc or other device to an AV receiver then to a tv is?
I can understand if the tv doesn't have enough HDMI ports but if it does then what's the problem with just connecting the receiver via ARC? Would I be missing out on some sort of feature?
The receiver I'm looking at does everything except HDR at 4k. My plan is to use the AV receiver as part of a 5.1 setup and hook that straight to the tv with ARC. That way
 
ARC doesn’t support any HD audio options such DTS-HD, Dolby TrueHD and Atmos. Apparently some TVs do but they are few and far between to my knowledge and I don’t think it’s part of the ARC standard.
 
if you hook up a 4k tv via optical to a older amp will you get dolby digital or dts from the likes of Amazon prime and netflix 4k ? I'm sure i get dolby digital via optical out with my 1080p lg using amazon prime , in similar situation i don't want to buy a new amp for dolby atmos 6 speakers is enough
 
Whether the TV is 1080p or 4K doesn’t make any difference to the sound it outputs. So long as the TV supports the audio standard you want to use then you’ll be fine. Atmos won’t work via optical and you will need extra speakers for Atmos.
 
As others have hinted, the TV works okay as a HDMI switch, but the catch is that it only operates on a lowest common denominator basis.

There was a time when any HDMI source sound would be reduced to basic stereo. Thankfully things have improved a little. It's now reasonably common to find plenty of sets that will pass DD5.1 from a source to the ARC or Optical output. Some will pass DTS, but only in stereo.

Support for better multichannel audio formats relies on new technologies. eARC is enhanced Audio Return Channel. The catch though is that both the TV and the AV Receiver need to be compatible with the feature.

The bottom line depends on each persons requirements.

For someone with a TV that passes DD5.1, and where their audio source signals are either stereo or DD5.1 at maximum, then connecting via the TV is ample.

Someone else playing movies with HD audio, or with an older TV that just does stereo sound from its HDMI sources, would want those sources connecting to the Receiver first.

Connecting via the receiver doesn't necessarily mean that the receiver has to be on all the time. HDMI Standby Pass-through allows picture and sound to travel through the receiver to the TV even though the receiver is in standby mode.
 
Something I can't wrap my head around still... If my source is plugged into the tv, shouldn't the tv then just tell the receiver what sound it should play? Why the hell does the receiver have to be passed all the video information that has nothing to do with it?
 
The TV isn’t telling the receiver what sound to play - it’s passing the sound data to the receiver by ARC. Due to the limitations of ARC, only certain sound formats can be passed to the receiver.
 
But why? Why does it have to do that just to play bloody sound.
I'm looking at 5.1 systems and I can't find any for a reasonable price that supports all the formats I want because of this. I need 4k HDR, preferably dolby vision, and DTS as well as Dolby. This last part seems to be the kicker, receivers seem to only support dolby OR dts.
 
You’ve completely lost me. If your source is plugged into the TV then how do you expect the receiver to receive the sound?

I’ve got a receiver from 16 years ago that wasn’t expensive. It supports Dolby Digital and DTS. Maybe the format just isn’t listed?
 
So my pc is hooked to the tv telling it the sound and video information for the game I'm playing. The tv displays the picture with the video information, then it should tell the receiver with the 5.1 setup the sound it should play. Why does the receiver in this part of the chain need to know the video information? it's a device to play sound the through the speakers?
Sorry for being dense. I've spent the last 2 weeks researching what tv to buy and now I'm doing the same with the sound system and it's driving me up the wall.
 
Gti said:
But why? Why does it have to do that just to play bloody sound.
I'm looking at 5.1 systems and I can't find any for a reasonable price that supports all the formats I want because of this. I need 4k HDR, preferably dolby vision, and DTS as well as Dolby. This last part seems to be the kicker, receivers seem to only support dolby OR dts.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, this is typically a licensing issue not a technical one. More people want Dolby than DTS, so lots of manufacturers don't bother paying for a DTS license.
 
What happens when the format isn't supported? Does it revert to 2 channel stereo? Does it refuse to play?
 
Gti said:
If that's the case why do I need a receiver that supports those formats on the ARC for it to work?
The TV I've bought is an LG B8 https://www.lg.com/uk/tvs/lg-OLED55B8PLA
The sound systems I'm looking at are https://www.richersounds.com/tv-home-cinema/home-cinema-packages/pioneer-vsx933-elac-cinema-5-1.html
https://www.richersounds.com/onkyo-atmos-5-1-2-package-system-inc-speakers-excluding-dvd-player.html
Click to expand...

You’ve got it the wrong way round. The ARC needs to support the formats and, as has been noted, the ARC standard isn’t particularly great for supported audio formats.

I’m not sure what happens if the audio format isn’t supported. I reckon that no sound would play if ARC doesn’t support the format.
 
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