HDMI ARC

[drmotorsport]

I've had to buy a new TV and went for a fancy smart LG OLED with a bunch of HDMI ports and optical out as alternative option. I have a Denon receiver that is only intermittantly receiving sound input from the new TV onboard apps (Youtube, Netflix etc) via optical which is unimpressive. I've gone with optical out as the HDMI ARC from TV to Denon does nothing soundwise, but my question is does ARC only work if the source is external to the TV? ARC works ok from my ancient dumb Sky+ box to the TV and back to the Denon...

[Griffith4ever]

No - My ARC works fine from my LG TV to my Denon AVR. The source is the TV itself. Its built in tuner, or, its built in apps like Youtube. Audio works fine. I rely on it.

It may be you have to tell your TV to route its own audio out via arc. I have to on my LG.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 18th November 13:34

[indigochim]

On my TV, not an LG, ARC is only on certain HDMI port(s) and it isn't enabled on the one designated HDMI1. Could it be you need to check if it's the port you're using has return?

[Griffith4ever]

indigochim said:

On my TV, not an LG, ARC is only on certain HDMI port(s) and it isn't enabled on the one designated HDMI1. Could it be you need to check if it's the port you're using has return?

hes got the pic but no sound so he's got the right one.

[mmm-five]

My Cambridge Audio Soundbase is connected via HDMI ARC (has Toslink too, but ARC seems to work better), but ARC is only available via HDMI 2 on my LG CX65 and I sometimes have to change the TV's audio selection to HDMI manually.

HDMI 1 is connected to my Virgin video source.



Don't know what OS your's is on, but mine has to have PCM chosen as the HDMI audio option (passthrough & auto don't work) in Additional Settings > Sound > Advanced menu...

Edited by mmm-five on Monday 18th November 15:16

[drmotorsport]

Griffith4ever said:

No - My ARC works fine from my LG TV to my Denon AVR. The source is the TV itself. Its built in tuner, or, its built in apps like Youtube. Audio works fine. I rely on it.

It may be you have to tell your TV to route its own audio out via arc. I have to on my LG.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 18th November 13:34

OK interesting thanks. I'm deffo plugged into to the only HDMI socket labelled as eARC and my Denon amp also claims to support eARC and I would prefer to use HDMI rather than faffing around switching between HDMI (ARC) and Optical outputs on the TV (not that the optical seems reliable anyway!) I'm currently wondering if the HDMI cable itself is not quite up to the job, telling the TV to output audio via HDMI just leads to silence with a TV based app, just seems nuts that ARC works just fine with Sky box via the Denon.

[indigochim]

Griffith4ever said:

indigochim said:

On my TV, not an LG, ARC is only on certain HDMI port(s) and it isn't enabled on the one designated HDMI1. Could it be you need to check if it's the port you're using has return?

hes got the pic but no sound so he's got the right one.

Arc is Audio Return Chanel so nothing to do with the picture. It's audio from the TV to the amp so you would get input to the TV from other devices connected to the amp and they look and sound fine but only if you're connected to the HDMI port that has ARC (and it may need enabling in a menu) will you get sound from the TV over the amp.

[indigochim]

drmotorsport said:

OK interesting thanks. I'm deffo plugged into to the only HDMI socket labelled as eARC and my Denon amp also claims to support eARC and I would prefer to use HDMI rather than faffing around switching between HDMI (ARC) and Optical outputs on the TV (not that the optical seems reliable anyway!) I'm currently wondering if the HDMI cable itself is not quite up to the job, telling the TV to output audio via HDMI just leads to silence with a TV based app, just seems nuts that ARC works just fine with Sky box via the Denon.

From your sky box, unless that's plugged into your TV directly you won't be using ARC. Sky, DVD Games consoles will all output from the HDMI ports and you are inputting them into your amp however your amp is outputting to the TV so ARC is a 2 way communication between the TV and the amp. On my Amp I think to watch TV with sound from the amp rather than the TV speakers I have an input called TV that I need to switch to.

This pic may explain it

Edited by indigochim on Monday 18th November 15:21

[drmotorsport]

indigochim said:

From your sky box, unless that's plugged into your TV directly you won't be using ARC. Sky, DVD Games consoles will all output from the HDMI ports and you are inputting them into your amp however your amp is outputting to the TV so ARC is a 2 way communication between the TV and the amp. On my Amp I think to watch TV with sound from the amp rather than the TV speakers I have an input called TV that I need to switch to.

This pic may explain it

Edited by indigochim on Monday 18th November 15:21

Ah yes fair point, my Sky box is plugged into the amp and then the amp outputs just the video component to TV, so audio gets dealt with at the amp on the first hop and doesnt need to return back from the TV anyway.

[Griffith4ever]

indigochim said:

Arc is Audio Return Chanel so nothing to do with the picture. It's audio from the TV to the amp so you would get input to the TV from other devices connected to the amp and they look and sound fine but only if you're connected to the HDMI port that has ARC (and it may need enabling in a menu) will you get sound from the TV over the amp.

Good point. My mistake.

Sounds like the OP, as above, needs to check the audio format. Mine is set to "auto" I think. I'm away from home right now. I know I don't use PCM though.

[clockworks]

I had problems with ARC and a current model Denon AVR.
I had a couple of devices plugged into a new Samsung TV, and often got no sound back to the AVR.
Tried everything I could think of.

Gave up, and connected the devices via the AVR, and connected the TV to the amp's "monitor out" hdmi. TV audio goes via optical to the amp.
Only issue is, optical doesn't do Atmos, so I don't bother with the TV's Netflix etc. apps, using the Nvidia Shield instead.

Edited by clockworks on Monday 18th November 17:47

[richhead]

I had a similar problem when i replaced my tv, it seems older hdmi cables cant do arc, i got a new one and all good. I think it has to be a 2.1 cable, for the price or a new cable, maybe worth a shot.

[SS2.]

ARC seems a bit hit and miss when trying to pair components from different manufacturers.

I had a Panasonic OLED TV where ARC worked faultlessly with a Pioneer AVR.

Changed the TV to a Samsung and could never get the ARC to work with the same amp.

[drmotorsport]

Problem solved! I'm still really annoyed it's taken me so many hours of fiddling with AV devices, cables and settings though. Anyway some googling found an AV forum with someone else who had a Denon amp with no ARC output from TV, which confirmed a nagging doubt i've had for a few days, how does the OUTPUT connector on the Denon know that it's also an input for ARC, magic? Turns out the 'TV Audio' input was hidden in my Denon settings and just enabling that got David Attenborough shouting at me in Dolby Digital Surround. Now to find a way of levelling the sources better...