Arc dilemma (1 Viewer)

[severett20]

Hi all. I’m in the process of assembling my new surround sound system & i’m a tad mistified about Arc & was hoping someone could clear it up for me. My system consists of a Pioneer VSX-832 receiver with a Q Acoustics 3050 cinema speaker pack. Other than the TV, my plan was also to connect to the receiver a PS4, Blu Ray player & turntable. I originally thought “great, only one HDMI to the TV, the rest go to the receiver”, but I’ve been reading online about potential problems with Arc only playing sound through two speakers when the source is something other than the TV, such as my PS4. If this is the case what are my options.
Many thanks

 

[JohnRice]

I think you're misunderstanding what ARC is for. Audio Return Channel (ARC) is ONLY for sending audio to the receiver from sources that originate in the TV, such as streaming apps and the TV tuner, without having to connect an extra digital optical cable. It's not used for the components you mentioned, since they should be connected directly to the receiver and don't use ARC.

The two channel mix-down comes when you connect your components directly to the TV, instead of the receiver (that's not how it all is supposed to be connected) and then use ARC to pass the audio back to the receiver.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Just to add to John's comments, ARC can sometimes act flaky when attempting to get it to work properly for the audio return from the display to the receiver. John mentioned using a toslink digital optical cable as an alternative -- I just wanted to point out that is a very stable and easy to implement alternative to ARC if you do not have any issues running the additional cable. You will not lose any audio quality and the cable is very inexpensive. I had some issues trying to get ARC to work between my Vizio 4K display and Denon AVR for the display's built-in apps. Instead of wasting a lot of time troubleshooting, I simply used an extra optical cable I had laying around for that audio connection -- problem solved.

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, I used to discourage people from using ARC, because it's so twitchy, but I've found that often they are so gadget obsessed that they'll spend weeks trying to get it to work properly, rather than just using an optical cable. I receive TV by broadcast, so I need to get audio from the TV on every system, and I don't even bother with ARC. I just use an optical cable.

 

[severett20]

So at present my sky box runs to HDMI1 as the box is placed elsewhere in the room, & the Receiver runs to HDMI2 (arc connection). Am I then right in thinking that if I want surround sound with standard tv broadcast I’m best to run an optical cable between the sky box & the receiver?

 

[JohnRice]

So at present my sky box runs to HDMI1 as the box is placed elsewhere in the room, & the Receiver runs to HDMI2 (arc connection). Am I then right in thinking that if I want surround sound with standard tv broadcast I’m best to run an optical cable between the sky box & the receiver?

If the Sky box is connected to the TV, not the receiver, with most TVs you will not get true surround, no matter what else you do. Period. To set full surround, you MUST connect the Sky box directly to the receiver, either by hdmi, or with a digital audio output (if it has one) directly from the box to the receiver. This is another downside to ARC. So many people think "cool, I'll just connect my (whatever) to the TV instead of the receiver. When you do that (with most TVs) you get 2 channel audio. Period.

The caveat is if you happen to have one of the few TVs that can actually pass through 5.1 surround, but we need the specific model number to find that out. Odds are against it/

 

[JohnRice]

I want surround sound with standard tv broadcast I’m best to run an optical cable between the sky box & the receiver?

to clarify, yes that should do it. But why not just run hdmi directly to the receiver instead? Optical digital has a fairly short maximum run length. How long would the cable need to be?

 

[severett20]

The thing is that I won’t always want to use surround sound with the tv, the sky box only has one HDMI port so would running the HDMI to the tv & an optical cable to the receiver give me the option of sound from either the tv or receiver?

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah, that makes sense. I always turn on the receiver, but I forget not everyone wants to. So, you can split the hdmi from the Sky box and run it to both the TV and the receiver, or you can run it only to the TV, and also run optical from the box to the receiver, like you're planning. It's kind of six of one or half dozen of another. What you're planning to do is the cheapest, but might involve a little more switching inputs around on the TV. I'd probably go that way instead of splitting the hdmi, which just adds more components, cables and opportunity for something to go wrong.

Just be sure you are running the optical cable from the Sky box to the receiver, not the TV to the receiver. If you run it through the TV first, you won't get surround, not matter what. You haven't actually specified that the Sky box has an optical output. for your plan to work, it has to have some sort of digital audio output.

 

[severett20]

I’ve already checked & it will support optical cable so I think that is my plan. Just when I thought I’d finished running cables! Thanks for your help.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The thing is that I won’t always want to use surround sound with the tv, the sky box only has one HDMI port so would running the HDMI to the tv & an optical cable to the receiver give me the option of sound from either the tv or receiver?

Why will you not want to always use your surround sound with the TV? I never use the speakers built into my display in my main home theater. My cable box has a single HDMI output, and that is connected to my AVR, same as all my other components.

If you are concerned about the added complication of needing to turn on both the display and receiver in order to watch TV, the simple solution is a single universal remote control to handle turning everything on and switching to the proper inputs automatically. Such a universal remote does not need to be expensive -- I am using a Harmony 650 remote to control 8 devices, and the unit costs about $40 on Amazon. Programming the remote is pretty simple via a PC application, and once programmed all I need to do is press the button marked "Watch TV" to watch cable, "Watch a Movie" to use my Sony UHD player, "Watch Apple TV" to use my streaming box, etc. The remote keeps track of which devices are on and off, and which inputs each is set to. It's so simple to use once configured that my technically-challenged wife can pick up the remote and watch whatever she's interested in, and all my OEM remotes are packed away.

 

[JohnRice]

I agree with you Scott. Even with a regular universal remote like I use, it just means pushing two buttons instead of one. I just always put everything back to TV before I shut it off. A lot simpler than switching outputs on different components and using different volume controls, as far as I'm concerned, but I've stopped trying to make that argument.

 

[severett20]

The reason is because I’ve 3 & 6 year old daughters who could find trouble in an empty room. They can quite happily turn on the TV, select Netflix & amuse themselves for half an hour, throw some more tech in there for little fingers to play with & there could be trouble.

 

[xx Brian xx]

Run the HDMI from the Skybox to the receiver, then go in the receiver and make sure you have pass through set to the same input as the Skybox. Pass through will allow the audio and video signal to pass through to the TV when the receiver is turned off. This will allow you to watch and listen through the TV when you want. If you turn on the receiver, it will take over the audio.

If you go the way of Harmony remote just make one activity for watching TV and one for watching TV w/surround.

 

[JohnRice]

Yeah... hdmi passthrough... Now I feel stupid. That's a valid solution.

 

[severett20]

Thanks for all your help chaps.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yeah... hdmi passthrough... Now I feel stupid. That's a valid solution.

Yes, an excellent suggestion. I didn't think of it because I don't use the feature, even though it's present on my Denon AVR.

 

[severett20]

Daft question but how do you set pass through up? I can’t find anything in the receivers menu. “An idiots guide to” would be much appreciated.

 

[JohnRice]

OK, to set up hdmi pass through, you'll have to change a couple things, but it'll make it easier from then on, because you'll never have to change the input on the TV, no matter what you're playing.

I looked up your User Manual, and it's on p51. Then, you connect the Sky box directly to the receiver and skip the optical cable entirely. Going by the instructions on p51, you select the hdmi input the Sky box is connected to as the "hdmi standby through" (that's what Pioneer calls it, I guess) then when the receiver is in is turned off, it passes that input through to the TV. Note: you have to be sure "hdmi CEC" is turned off.

Once that's set up, if the receiver is turned off, you just turn on the TV when you just want to use it. If you turn on the receiver, it takes over the audio without having to change anything else, and it should cut off the sound to the TV automatically. The upside to this vs what you have set up now is you never have to change the input on the TV, regardless of if the sound is coming from it or the receiver. Once it's set up, it's much simpler.

With this setup, you don't use ARC either.

 

[severett20]

Great, and I assume this setup still gives me full surround sound?