Will this setup work?

[Jstanlis]

On my prior non-4k TV, before I cut the cord and had multiple video sources, I put them all into a closet with a AV receiver. The AV receiver managed which HDMI was the active source, and shot the signal through an HDMI to Cat5 extender over to the TV. Well, that extender wasn’t 4k capable, and the receiver wasn’t either. When I got my new Samsung UN55NU6950F TV I wanted to upgrade the system to 4k.

So that TV is on one wall, with an Nvidia Shield behind it and a Yamaha ATS-1080 below it. My goal is to utilize two in-ceiling surround sound speakers, and a subwoofer. My hope is to use a new (to me) Pioneer VSX-90 receiver to power these, and a second zone outside, but NOT a center speaker.

So here is my “plan”:
I’ll use a 1-4 HDMI splitter (not switch). The input on that splitter will be the Shield, and the outputs will be:
1. TV HDMI in
2. Soundbar in
3. The new 4k compatible HDMI extender via cat5

That extender will connect to the Pioneer receiver, using one of the ARC compatible HDMI inputs.

That receiver is connected via good old fashioned speaker wire to the surround sound speakers and the subwoofer, as well as to the zone 2 speakers outside.

Does this sound like it will work?

Are there any issues with not having ‘front’ speakers connected to the Receiver?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Otto Plyot]

How long is your cable run?

4k HDR can be really finicky with its cable connections. Ideally, you want to have a direct connection, source to sink, with no extenders, adapters, wall plates, etc in-between. 1080 is very forgiving, 4k HDR not so much.

The general rule of thumb is if your cable run is under 20' or so, then a Premium High Speed HDMI cable (passive), with the QR label, should work. If your run is over 20', then the recommendation is a hybrid fiber cable from someone like Ruipro (Ruipro4k). Those are active cables so you'll need a power source, ideally the sink (tv) for it to work. You can use a voltage inserter in some cases but you can't, or shouldn't, daisy chain them together.

 

[BMXTRIX]

So, I think you may run into some significant audio issues.

Audio is always taken down to the lowest common denominator because of EDID. That is, if the TV doesn't allow for Atmos, then you won't get Atmos.

Likewise, you mention a Pioneer VSX-80, but no idea on how you plan to connect that to things, you didn't mention it.

Keep in mind that 4K and 4K/HDR are NOT the same thing. 18Gb/s HDMI is the full HDMI 2.0 specification and very few HDMI extenders support that. Some advertised units are very clear that they DO support 18Gb/s HDMI, so that's what you want to buy.

So, I'm not sure what your setup will actually be and what you are trying to accomplish. At a very basic level, secondary zones have a major issue because zone 2 often requires you to make an analog connection between the source and the receiver and this is often NOT clearly laid out in the specifications for the product. When zone 2 does allow HDMI, it often requires the source to be downconverted to stereo and requires the main zone to play the same thing as the secondary zone.

All that said, you didn't indicate that the receiver would be connected to anything.

I'm not sure what the Yamaha under the TV is for if you are using a surround sound receiver, you should use a proper center channel, or drop the Yamaha altogether and ghost the center.

There's a lot going on here, and even without discussing the headaches of 18Gb/s HDMI 4K, you have a lot which isn't completely clear.