Atmos from Netflix & Amazon through OLED ARC is possible

[JKane]

I have a 2017 LG OLED TV, a Marantz SR7012 and an Outlaw 5000 running a 7.2.4 Atmos setup. I read in a lot of places that Atmos through ARC was not possible but after trying a few 4K cables I was able to do it flawlessly. I tried 3 cables that claimed to carry 4K signals, one of them was fiber but they all failed. The fiber was able to pass the Atmos signal but it was very choppy and unusable. The distance is pretty far to the tv from the receiver, 30 feet. So I noticed a new fiber cable on Amazon by Ruipro that said HDMI 2.0b version. I said “ what is this? I have not heard of 2.0b. It said it was able to pass up to 32 channels through ARC, so I decided to give it a shot as a last ditched effort. I hooked it up and it works perfect for Atmos on Netflix and Amazon. It reads Atmos on my receiver now. Before I was getting DD+ on the Atmos movies. I’m sure it’s lossy but the Atmos movies sound way better than when it was DD+. Is there a big difference between the two? The 4K picture from my DVD player does not drop out sometimes like it did before with this new cable either. So, I guess what I was told forever is true, good cables really do make a difference! I just wanted to post this in case anyone else with a similar setup was frustrated by trying to do this and thought it couldn’t be done.

 

[lovinthehd]

To my understanding DD+ can carry Atmos via ARC. You can't go any higher up (to lossless) via ARC currently, tho understand in the future it will be supported by various gear via HDMI 2.1(eARC I believe). I think many do get Atmos with DD+ with a variety of hdmi ARC connections, the one advantage over optical currently is my understanding.

 

[JKane]

To my understanding DD+ can carry Atmos via ARC. You can't go any higher up (to lossless) via ARC currently, tho understand in the future it will be supported by various gear via HDMI 2.1(eARC I believe). I think many do get Atmos with DD+ with a variety of hdmi ARC connections, the one advantage over optical currently is my understanding.

Yes I thought the same thing that DD+ would carry the Atmos metadata to the receiver and it would sound the same. But when I go back and forth between DD+ and Atmos, the Atmos sounds noticeably better. The receiver knows the difference because it is displaying on the front which one it is as I switch between them. So there must be some difference between the two, I’m just not knowledgeable enough to know. Does anyone have an answer about this?

 

[lovinthehd]

Yes I thought the same thing that DD+ would carry the Atmos metadata to the receiver and it would sound the same. But when I go back and forth between DD+ and Atmos, the Atmos sounds noticeably better. The receiver knows the difference because it is displaying on the front which one it is as I switch between them. So there must be some difference between the two, I’m just not knowledgeable enough to know. Does anyone have an answer about this?

My understanding is that DD+ is still the format, just that it can be accompanied by the Atmos metadata....I'd think Atmos is just how your device is displaying the info, not that you're getting a lossless Dolby Atmos (TrueHD) stream....

 

[JKane]

My understanding is that DD+ is still the format, just that it can be accompanied by the Atmos metadata....I'd think Atmos is just how your device is displaying the info, not that you're getting a lossless Dolby Atmos (TrueHD) stream....

Im sure it’s not lossless Atmos but there must be some difference because my receiver knows the difference between the two and when it reads Atmos it just sounds way better.

 

[lovinthehd]

Im sure it’s not lossless Atmos but there must be some difference because my receiver knows the difference between the two and when it reads Atmos it just sounds way better.

I'd think it just doesn't have a display that says DD+ Atmos....so you get one or the other depending if the Atmos metadata is present....

 

[snakeeyes]

I'd think it just doesn't have a display that says DD+ Atmos....so you get one or the other depending if the Atmos metadata is present....

So you need an Apple TV 4K or Xbox S or a new OLED LG TV to pull off Atmos over DD+ on select Netflix titles and the one Jack Ryan series on Prime. Netflix requires the 4K membership level. YMMV.

Edit: Full list on Netflix.com of compatibility.

 

[JKane]

So you need an Apple TV 4K or Roku Ultra or Xbox S or a new OLED LG TV to pull off Atmos over DD+ on select Netflix titles and the one Jack Ryan series on Prime. Netflix requires the 4K membership level. YMMV.

Edit: Full list on Netflix.com of compatibility.

Yes, I am using an LG Oled tv to do this. There was a bunch of settings I had to change in order to get the Atmos out of ARC. Before I did the changes the best I could get was DD +. With my other hdmi cables it could pass that through fine. But when I changed the settings to output Atmos through the ARC the cables I had could not handle it and one was a fiber optic hdmi. They kept popping and cutting out. So I bought this new cable and it can pass the Atmos signal through fine. So that tells me something must be different between the two audio streams that pass through the ARC right?

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep one has DD+ alone, the other is DD+ with Atmos metadata. Not possible to get any more with current ARC technology.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I’m dumb. Why not skip ARC and just use the AVR?

 

[lovinthehd]

I’m dumb. Why not skip ARC and just use the AVR?

Cuz he's using tv based apps rather than a dedicated streaming device?

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Cuz he's using tv based apps rather than a dedicated streaming device?

Duh! See I missed that. I’d use them from my BD player or ATV or whatever and skip ARC.

 

[lovinthehd]

Duh! See I missed that. I’d use them from my BD player or ATV or whatever and skip ARC.

Yep didn't like ARC let alone the limits of tv based apps after a while so just use my tv as monitor these days.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Yep didn't like ARC let alone the limits of tv based apps after a while so just use my tv as monitor these days.

Me too exactly. Tv apps are pretty smooth these days but I’m not giving up lossless with some convoluted step down. It does work for some obviously. Just not my thing. $hit, I still use a plasma for my theater...lol

 

[lovinthehd]

Me too exactly. Tv apps are pretty smooth these days but I’m not giving up lossless with some convoluted step down. It does work for some obviously. Just not my thing. $hit, I still use a plasma for my theater...lol

I think a fair number around here still have plasma (I just picked up a second recently).

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I think a fair number around here still have plasma (I just picked up a second recently).

I do love mine but I’m definitely excited about oled. I’ll be waiting awhile though. That’s fine, I’ve been enjoying Atmos and that will definitely keep me busy, likely for longer!

 

[JKane]

Duh! See I missed that. I’d use them from my BD player or ATV or whatever and skip ARC.

Can you get Atmos out of your DVD player running the Netflix and Amazon apps? I have a Sony 700 4k player, I think I tried it but it didn't work.

 

[JKane]

I do love mine but I’m definitely excited about oled. I’ll be waiting awhile though. That’s fine, I’ve been enjoying Atmos and that will definitely keep me busy, likely for longer!

I still have my Panasonic plasma also! It's 10 years old and still works great. It definitely does not look as good a my OLED tv, it's only 720 but I still like it. I'm doing a remodel on my garage and it's going in there when it's done for when I work on my cars and other projects!

 

[snakeeyes]

Can you get Atmos out of your DVD player running the Netflix and Amazon apps? I have a Sony 700 4k player, I think I tried it but it didn't work.

It is not supported for Netflix or Prime. It’s unknown if the new Sony coming out in May will or not.

Atmos Blu-ray and UHD discs will work assuming your AVR can decode.

 

[JKane]

It is not supported for Netflix or Prime. It’s unknown if the new Sony coming out in May will or not.

Atmos Blu-ray and UHD discs will work assuming your AVR can decode.

My DVD player will play 4k blu-ray dics and my AVR decodes the Atmos no problem. I just had a problem with streaming Atmos and now I got it to work with the TV apps and my receiver through ARC.