Need a little help/clarification with setup of soundbar and earc

[campnowhere]

I plan on getting the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1.4 Channel 600W Dolby Atmos Soundbar so I can enjoy Dolby atmos and other hi-res audio.

What I have:

TV: P series quantum x P75QX-H1

Input devices:
Xbox series x
Cable dvr
4K blu ray player
Fire stick 4K
Nvidia shield pro 2019
Wii with hdmi adapter
Roofull 4K hdmi switcher

I have all my devices except my Xbox series x connected to my roofull hdmi switcher which plugs into input 2 of my tv. I have my Xbox series x connected to hdmi input 3 of my tv which is the 120hz 2.1 hdmi port.

Now I am not too familiar with earc and how it works exactly. Do I have to connect all my devices to the sound bar then connect the sound bar back to my tv via the sound bar hdmi out port and tv earc port?

Or can I just have everything plugged into my tv but run an hdmi cable from my tv’s earc port to my sound bars hdmi input?

My only issue is if I have to have everything connected to my sound bar is that I don’t believe the sound bar I want to get(or many sound bars I see) have 120hz 2.1 pass through which is what my Xbox series x uses.

 

[outoftheknow]

Or can I just have everything plugged into my tv but run an hdmi cable from my tv’s earc port to my sound bars hdmi input?

Nearly - all plugged into TV and an HDMI between a TV eARC capable HDMI socket and the soundbar eARC capable HDMI output. Not an input - those are for audio and video going the “correct” way in an HDMI cable.

My only issue is if I have to have everything connected to my sound bar is that I don’t believe the sound bar I want to get(or many sound bars I see) have 120hz 2.1 pass through which is what my Xbox series x uses.

If you connect all to the soundbar HDMI inputs then yes you will limit the video features to whatever the soundbar HDMI HDMI inputs and outputs can handle. Audio however will be as good as it gets.

Connect to the TV with HDMI sockets that support the high end video features like 4K/120 and VRR and the audio features may be downgraded depending on the TV audio capabilities between HDMI input and ARC out. If only ARC then best ATMOS will be lossy DD+. If eARC on TV and soundbar you should still get full fat ATMOS as long as you set all the settings correctly.

Until all HDMI sockets involved are 2.1 you need choose the audio and video you want if you only have ARC.

even with eARC on TV and soundbar, going via the TV MAY introduce a delay with audio lagging behind the video. If that happens and the TV settings are “passthrough” (no interfering with the audio) there are no lip synch audio settings that will fix the delay. Then you may choose to accept lesser video and no audio delay connected direct to the soundbar.

 

[campnowhere]

Thanks for the reply. Also the soundbar only has arc output. My tv had earc as well as Dolby atmos and Dolby vision.

I was doing really some searching and something like the SHARC eARC Audio Converter seems like it could work. It seems like I would take the earc from the tv and send it to the sharc then from the sharc to the hdmi input of the soundbar. My concern though is that since the earc output of the tv would be used how would I connect the soundbar arc output back to the tv so that the devices connected to the soundbar would have their video shown on the tv?

 

[outoftheknow]

Also the soundbar only has arc output. My tv had earc as well as Dolby atmos and Dolby vision.

So if the soundbar is ATMOS capable and full fat ATMOS sound from all your devices is “a must”, connect all devices to the soundbar and not have the high end video features. Or as you do now connect all to TV and get all video features but “only” DD+ lossy ATMOS.

There are some devices around to variously “split” an HDMI output into video and audio so you can deliver the almost full featured video to the TV and the full featured audio to the soundbar - however I’m not sure they will pass the 2.1 video features either.

The SHARC eARC Audio Converter looks interesting.

My concern though is that since the earc output of the tv would be used how would I connect the soundbar arc output back to the tv so that the devices connected to the soundbar would have their video shown on the tv?

If I understand your planned setup correctly this isn’t a concern. Your video (and audio) devices will all be connected to the TV HDMI inputs. Full video features displayed on the TV and audio passing to the TV eARC. The SHARC is connected to the eARC socket on the TV and takes the eARC audio - it then changes that audio stream from being on the eARC pins in the cable to being on the normal audio pins. The HDMI cable from the SHARC to the soundbar input therefore has the full audio from the TV eARC. The soundbar sees that as an audio only input and away it goes.

You wouldn’t have any video out of the soundbar? As you are now with all devices connected to the TV the HDMI cable from the TV eARC to the soundbar ARC HDMI sockets is only carrying audio from TV to soundbar.

if you want to plug a video and audio device to the soundbar as well with the SHARC connected as above, you can maybe connect an HDMI cable from the soundbar output (marked ARC and not in use) to another TV HDMI input. In theory at least that device audio will be dealt with by the soundbar and video will passthrough to the TV as normal. When using that device connected to the soundbar directly, the soundbar (audio) setting will be HMDIx in and not Din (which is audio on the (e)ARC channel). However I have read the FAQ and it says about this connect

“Can I connect AVR output to TV?
Depends on TV. Connecting AVR to TV creates a CEC loop which is traditionally not supported in a CEC network since only a single audio system is allowed. Some TV models allow this and some do not. In practice, expect not to be able to connect the AVR to your TV. All sources must connect directly to TV. In case more sources are needed you can purchase a simple $30 switch to handle non-2.1 sources but you should not expect to be able to use AVR for source switching.”

So maybe just stick with all devices connected to the TV.....

I see it does ATOMOS MAT and DD+ versions - again in theory that is the full fat ATMOS that eARC can send and lossy DD+ ATMOS that ARC can send. You should get full fat ATMOS from any device connected via the TV and SHARC when the SHARC is connected to the TV eARC HDMI and all device and TV audio settings allow that to get to the soundbar input.....

no guarantee from me though

 

[campnowhere]

Basically what I have now is 6 hdmi devices, 5 are connected to a 4K hdmi switcher and the last one is my Xbox series x which is connected directly to the tv. Only 3 of my 5 devices that go to my hdmi switcher are Dolby atmos and vision capable. My tv vizio P75QX-H1 has 4 hdmi inputs. 1 is earc, 1 is normal, and 2 are 120hz.



I have my hdmi switcher going into the normal hdmi input and my Xbox series x connects to one of the 120hz inputs.



When I get the soundbar I was thinking that I would hook my hdmi switcher to the input of the soundbar, connect my Xbox to my 120hz input of my tv, then connect the earc of my tv to the SHARC eARC Audio Converter and have the sharc connect to the input of my soundbar.



I guess where I get lost is that if I do it that way I don’t get how the image of my 5 devices that go through the hdmi switcher and into the soundbar would be displayed since the earc input of my tv would be used by the sharc. Unless I would just take the arc output of the soundbar and connect it to the input of the tv?



Ideally I’d like to have my 3 vision and atmos devices (nvidia shield, fire stick, 4K player) connected directly to the soundbar via the hdmi switcher instead of the sharc to get the best possible sound from them.



I’m sorry if I did a bad job explaining, this is my first try with earc/arc and I just want to make sure o have thing planned out properly before I invest in the soundbar.



I know I could just hook the Xbox to the soundbar and avoid all this confusion but then I’d lose out on the 120hz gaming.

 

[outoftheknow]

I guess where I get lost is that if I do it that way I don’t get how the image of my 5 devices that go through the hdmi switcher and into the soundbar would be displayed since the earc input of my tv would be used by the sharc.

As per my copy from their FAQ you most likely can’t connect that way. However it “might” work.

since the SHARC is taking eARC audio from your TV and passing it to the soundbar HDMI input, as long as your audio settings are correct on every device connected to the TV and on the TV itself, the audio reaching the soundbar should be the same quality as the devices connected to the TV have outputted. Connecting the devices to the soundbar will not provide better quality audio.

The SHARC for you adds only one thing compared with all devices connected to the TV and the soundbar being connected to the TV using the soundbar ARC HDMI. Lossless ATMOS.

If you think gaining lossless ATMOS from every device that can deliver it is worth the cost of the SHARC, buy it.

If you are ok with lossy ATMOS at best, leave it as you planned with all connected to the TV and soundbar connected by its ARC to TV eARC.


Usually the choice is one or the other and the only downside of connecting a device to the TV is the audio may lag the video and there is no adjustment for that. However that is a suck it and see result the same as whether you can connect the soundbar via ARC and SHARC at the same time