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Dan24438

Audiophyte
I am in need of some advice. I am attempting to build a surround sound system in my new home. Back in the late 90s and early 00s i was really into home audio but haven't really been keeping up. So this is what i am trying to do.

I have a Samsung TV (UN82NU8000FXZA) which i drive with a custom built PC. I have no cable TV, no DVD/Blu ray. I only stream and watch movies via my library on google/play. Currently i have a 2.1 system plugged into my computer but it is severely lacking (it is a fairly nice system, just not designed to fill a large room with decent audio). What i would like to do is be able to run a HDMI cable from the wall behind the TV, up to the attic and back down an interior wall. I want to do this so i can build a custom enclosure and store the PC inside. My hope is to have nothing under the tv (it is wall mounted) with the center channel mounted below and two front speakers on the side. I am trying to make this as clean as possible.

Now where i really need help is how do i connect my PC to a receiver. I spoke with a guy a best buy (please do not mock me i live on the southern border and it is the only place local i could think of to ask) who told me i could simply connect a HDMI cable to my ARC plug and (I have verified my TV does in fact support arc) and run it to the receiver. Looking into this idea i discovered ARC may or may not support Dolby surround sound. Can anyone verify if ARC will support a 5.1 system? If not does anyone have any suggestions on how to accomplish this? I would like the receiver to be on in the same enclosure with the PC which means if i did ARC it would require another 50 ft cable to run from the TV to the receiver (which i'm OK installing if i'm sure this is the best route and it will accomplish what i'm trying to do).

The computer is running a AMD 8320 8 core processor (it is older i know but has worked like a champ for me) with 8gbs of ram and a 1080ti video card. The audio is currently run through the onboard (mother board is a ASUS M5A78L)

I am planning to run speaker wire in a similar manner to eliminate all signs of wires but this isn't a big deal, just labor intensive.

Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Dan24438

Audiophyte
I am willing to build another computer if this is what i need to do (twist my arm and i can tell me wife we need it for the surround sound hehe)
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
It's more tv specific as to what audio it will pass out, my old Samsung tv will only pass out 2.0 ch from on-board apps or other sources plugged into the tv,; the tv may pass along lossy codecs Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 (or Dolby Digital Plus or DD+ from streaming apps, and can also pass along metadata for Atmos). I'd simply connect hdmi from pc to the receiver and then from receiver to tv for best audio possibilities. ARC currently does not support lossless codecs (Dolby True HD or DTS HD-MA) audio (....yet, HDMI 2.1/eARC is on the horizon). What audio codecs does your library usually have?
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Yeah, definitely build another PC, :wink:
Agree with HD. I’d run from PC to AVR to tv. As he said, arc(which is a horrible pain in the ass) does support 5.1 but it’s lossy, and as far as I’ve seen just causes problems.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yeah ARC isn't famous for playing nice among different brands due the lax "standards" of HDMI CEC.
 
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Leemix

Audioholic General
50 feet HDMI is a long run, might need optical hdmi cable or active hdmi cable for that, those might not support ARC. I dont know much about long hdmi runs but you need to check before buying/installing as normal hdmi cables are not really made for long runs.

Edit: also to chime in on ARC, a lot of people have problems with it and many dont even try. It might work one day and not the next.

If you have reciever and PC close to each other and dont use the TVs own apps you dont need ARC, just connect to PC to the reciever then reciever to TV.


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Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Yup, another vote for bypassing ARC. I never use it due to all the problems I've seen reported on it.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Yup, another vote for bypassing ARC. I never use it due to all the problems I've seen reported on it.
Same here. Never even tried it since I have no good reason to. If I want NF I can use my dish receiver or my PS3, which also does Vudu and a bunch of other streamers. Wish you could still get displays with NO speakers like some plasmas were. Apps on my tv? They still seem a little clunky. Last time I check anyway.
 
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Dan24438

Audiophyte
50 feet HDMI is a long run, might need optical hdmi cable or active hdmi cable for that, those might not support ARC. I dont know much about long hdmi runs but you need to check before buying/installing as normal hdmi cables are not really made for long runs.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Yeah from what I've read in order to run 50 ft or longer i'll need to use an active HDMI cable or get a repeater. I've already tried just using a high quality 50ft HDMI cable and it worked great for 10 minutes then the picture went out. So i'll try a repeater next, i was having a hard time finding an active cable that long.

If you have reciever and PC close to each other and dont use the TVs own apps you dont need ARC, just connect to PC to the reciever then reciever to TV.
So how do i connect my pc to the receiver? Can i just use the HDMI cable from the video card and run it to the receiver then run another HDMI cable from the receiver to the tv?
 
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Leemix

Audioholic General
Yeah from what I've read in order to run 50 ft or longer i'll need to use an active HDMI cable or get a repeater. I've already tried just using a high quality 50ft HDMI cable and it worked great for 10 minutes then the picture went out. So i'll try a repeater next, i was having a hard time finding an active cable that long.



So how do i connect my pc to the receiver? Can i just use the HDMI cable from the video card and run it to the receiver then run another HDMI cable from the receiver to the tv?
Thats the usual way yes. You might need to configure the htpc to send sound through hdmi if its not already.


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