ARC / eARC connectivity

[Nostromo]

I originally planned to connect my 4K Blu-ray player and Sky Q box via HDMI into the soundbar and then take the HDMI-out to the TV. Since both the TV and soundbar have eARC functionality, I assumed that this would work. But the installer, who is coming into do the job next week, insists that ARC and eARC will only work if the audio emitting devices are connected directly to the TV and will not work if we 'go through' the soundbar as I proposed.

I found that hard to believe and request clarification from these forums

 

[lovinthehd]

What soundbar? What does the manual say?

 

[Grandzoltar]

Audio return channel and enhanced audio return channel is to send audio back to the sound bar from your tv. If you intend to use apps directly on your tv ARC and EARC will come into play.
Since your Blu-ray player and sky q box are connected to the hdmi in on the sound bar arc and earc won’t matter for you. The hdmi out from the sound bar will send the video to the tv leaving the audio being produced by the sound bar therefore no need to return the audio.

Unless you run out of inputs on your soundbar the things you plug into the tv may use the arc feature not just apps.

 

[lovinthehd]

Think I might have seen that you want to use headphones connected to the tv and expect the audio for all sources to be available that way?

 

[Nostromo]

Think I might have seen that you want to use headphones connected to the tv and expect the audio for all sources to be available that way?

True, but I have had to compromise. There is a traditional AV Receiver in another room and this has a headphone jack. Therefore, everything is going through the receiver there and connection a headphone transmitter to it should silence external audio irrespective of the source. I'll have to stick to that room for late night movies or music.

What soundbar? What does the manual say?

In the lounge though, I am going to have a LG OLED 65" C9 television and Samsung HW Q90R soundbar. both have the eARC facility according to the manuals.

The issue is that I am 64 years old and set in my ways . I am very used to an AV receiver acting an the main 'controller' of a Home Cinema and expect a soundbar to be able to do the same. I have never liked the TV taking over that role and odd as it may seem, prefer having individual remotes for various devices. Having one remote controlling two (or more) devices always gets me muddled when in a hurry.

This is an excerpt from an article that I came across last night (after posting this thread):

Can you use ARC?
Check the HDMI connections on the back of your TV, sound bar, or receiver. If the HDMI port has ARC, it should be marked as such. Both your TV and the sound bar/receiver must have ARC for it to work.
Setup
Most HDMI cables should work with ARC. Plug one end of the HDMI cable into the ARC-capable HDMI input in your TV and the other into the ARC-capable output on your sound bar or receiver.
There are basically two main ways to connect a system using ARC. For our purposes, we'll assume you have: a TV, a receiver or sound bar, a Blu-ray player and a game console (Xbox/PS4).
Setup 1: Connect the Blu-ray player and game console to the TV, then connect a single HDMI cable from the TV to the sound bar. The TV becomes the central hub of your entertainment system.
This setup lets you use your TV's remote to switch between the Blu-ray player and game console sources, and in most cases, you can use your TV's remote to control the volume.
The potential downside of this setup is you might not be able to get 5.1 surround sound. This is more of an issue if you are using a receiver instead of a sound bar. We'll discuss this more in the next section.
Setup 2: Connect the Blu-ray player and game console to the receiver/sound bar, then a single cable from the receiver/sound bar to the TV. Some budget sound bars might not have enough HDMI inputs for all your sources, in which case you'll have to use Setup 1.
In this setup, your receiver/sound bar is the central hub of the entertainment system. You will switch between your sources and adjust the volume using your receiver/sound bar's remote. You'll only use your TV's remote to turn the TV on, and access any apps built into the TV.
Out of these two, I certainly prefer Setup 2; I am used to the traditional method of using the AV Receiver (and therefore the soundbar nowadays) as the ‘central control’ of my Home Cinema set-up and don’t like the idea of having to go through the TV for everything unless I have no choice. But this article suggests that I do have a choice and I request you to please think about it.
Also, I would rather have separate remote controls for each unit than let a single remote control two or more devices. I have found that there is less room for accidental changes of setting that way.

Of the two options mentioned there, I certainly prefer Setup 2.

 

[lovinthehd]

I see that the soundbar indeed has two hdmi inputs and an ARC capable output and your tv has an ARC capable input (#2). Seems you have a source selector to use, that has the choices of hdmi input as well as ARC for audio originating in your tv. What do you think won't work? What app/audio are you sourcing from the tv directly? Or will it only be bluray and Sky box for sources?

 

[Nostromo]

I see that the soundbar indeed has two hdmi inputs and an ARC capable output and your tv has an ARC capable input (#2). Seems you have a source selector to use, that has the choices of hdmi input as well as ARC for audio originating in your tv. What do you think won't work? What app/audio are you sourcing from the tv directly? Or will it only be bluray and Sky box for sources?

I personally did NOT think that ARC/eARC would not work if used through the soundbar; it was the AV installer's opinion but I think he is wrong.

I plan to use the Panasonic UB820 4K blu-ray player and the Sky Q main box to plug into the soundbar's HDMI inputs with the HDMI out from the bar going into the TV's ARC enabled HDMI input.

The third device is a Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport which simply plugs into the optical input of the soundbar.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well, one way to find out is to hook it up and watch some stuff