Hi guys. Haven't been on here for a while as my system has been working fine for years. But...I've taken the plunge and started to upgrade to 4K. Here is my system at the moment:
Screens:
Samsung UE55MU6470 TV (just upgraded from a Pioneer 436XDE..14 years service)
BenQ W1070 projector (1080P)
AVR:
Marantz NR1504 AVR (NR1506 in the post for 4K HDCP2.2)
Sources:
Xbox One X (just upgraded from Xbox One)
The current setup is:
Xbox --> AVR --> HDMI 1080p splitter -->> TV
......................................................-->> Projector
This all works fine. The splitter only does 1080P max. My old TV was only 720P so I've had my Xbox set to 720P. The same 720P signal appears on the TV and the projector, although I only have 1 turned on. The AVR handles all of the sound from the XBOX. The old TV was not a smart TV so it was just used as a screen.
The new setup. The Samsung TV has all the sources I need eg Netflix, Steamlink, Plex etc. I used to use the xbox for all of this but now I don't have to. Obviously this is no good for feeding the projector though. The xbox can still feed both through the AVR, I've currently got it set to 1080P mode.
So here's the problem and what I want to do:
1. Use the Xbox in 4K mode.
2. Have this running through the AVR
3. Split the signal as before
4. Downscale one of the outputs to 1080P for the projector
5. Use an ARC link from the TV to the AVR (via the splitter/ scaler)
6. Must support HDCP2.2 for 4K netflix when I'm using the Xbox as a source
7. Must support HDR10 for future projector upgrade to 4K
I've been looking at previous threads and on Amazon etc but I can't find a suitable splitter/scaler in my budget of <£100 ideally around the £50 mark would be ideal.
I realise there is a much much simpler solution to simply use SPDIF optical from the TV to the AVR but there is a reason I would like to use ARC. The old TV didn't have any speakers, so the AVR did all of the sound. The new TV does have speakers. Currently, if I remove the splitter and projector from the setup, and just have the TV plugged straight into the HDMI out of the AVR, the TV recognises when the AVR is turned on and when it is not. It will output sound from its own speakers until I turn the AVR on, then it mutes itself and sends the audio to the AVR automatically. I really like this function. One of the reasons I upgraded was to save on power usage, my old plasma TV used between 300-400W, Xbox around 100W and AVR 50W. I use solar charged batteries in my house at night and this 600W was the minimum power consumption to watch Netflix. Now the new TV can do all of this for just over 100W so I get a lot more battery power.
Obviously when I'm having a "proper" night in, the power consumption is not a factor, but my wife uses the TV during the day a lot and that extra power use affects the battery charge times, electricity usage, bills etc so its great to be able to use a lot less power than before.
I plan to upgrade the BenQ W1070 to the W1700 4K projector in time, but right now I can't afford it, hence why I would like to be able to downscale one of the outputs. If this just cannot be done at this price point, I would be happy with just splitting and keeping ARC for now, and I'll keep the Xbox on 4K mode and switch it myself to 1080P mode when I'm using the projector which is normally only at weekends.
I did consider upgrading the AVR to one with 2 HDMI outputs, but I like the small size of the 15xx series and I don't think even the better 16xx models have 2 HDMI outputs so I went with a small upgrade to the NR1506 to get 4K functionality.
Another thing I've considered is that if I'm only using 4K on the TV for now, it is effectively its own source (apart from xbox games) so I don't really need the Xbox in 4K mode for most things and I could leave it in 1080P mode for now which should feed both TV and projector successfully...as long as I can crack the ARC splitter issue...It would be nice to have it in 4K mode for games though.
And yet another thing I considered is that I still have my old xbox one. I could use this as a single source just for the projector for now, and use SPDIF to feed sound to the AVR, instead of HDMI as before. This would mean having 2 xboxes, but I've got the space and only one would be on at any time...not the ideal solution though I'd like a neat setup. Also, I'd have to keep swapping the controller pads over between them and the old xbox is not as powerful for games.
I've also thought about taking the AVR out of the XBOX chain. So splitting the HDMI signal at the xbox output, then feeding projector and TV (on a separate HDMI input, keeping the ARC link to AVR). Possibly I could extract the dolby signal and send it to the AVR somewhere in this chain (at the splitter??) This should give me AVR sound for TV and projector, there could be a latency/lip sync issue there though I'd have to try it.
Dolby HD would be a nice to have but I can't have my system loud (terraced house) so I doubt I'd ever notice the difference between AC3 and anything higher.
My projector does not have 4K and I doubt supports HDCP2.2. This could be a problem. I don't want 4K being changed to 1080P because of this.
SO..I've written a lot. I realise there are multiple ways to do this. I've done a few drawings to try and work everything out.. what do you guys think?
Cheers, Si
Screens:
Samsung UE55MU6470 TV (just upgraded from a Pioneer 436XDE..14 years service)
BenQ W1070 projector (1080P)
AVR:
Marantz NR1504 AVR (NR1506 in the post for 4K HDCP2.2)
Sources:
Xbox One X (just upgraded from Xbox One)
The current setup is:
Xbox --> AVR --> HDMI 1080p splitter -->> TV
......................................................-->> Projector
This all works fine. The splitter only does 1080P max. My old TV was only 720P so I've had my Xbox set to 720P. The same 720P signal appears on the TV and the projector, although I only have 1 turned on. The AVR handles all of the sound from the XBOX. The old TV was not a smart TV so it was just used as a screen.
The new setup. The Samsung TV has all the sources I need eg Netflix, Steamlink, Plex etc. I used to use the xbox for all of this but now I don't have to. Obviously this is no good for feeding the projector though. The xbox can still feed both through the AVR, I've currently got it set to 1080P mode.
So here's the problem and what I want to do:
1. Use the Xbox in 4K mode.
2. Have this running through the AVR
3. Split the signal as before
4. Downscale one of the outputs to 1080P for the projector
5. Use an ARC link from the TV to the AVR (via the splitter/ scaler)
6. Must support HDCP2.2 for 4K netflix when I'm using the Xbox as a source
7. Must support HDR10 for future projector upgrade to 4K
I've been looking at previous threads and on Amazon etc but I can't find a suitable splitter/scaler in my budget of <£100 ideally around the £50 mark would be ideal.
I realise there is a much much simpler solution to simply use SPDIF optical from the TV to the AVR but there is a reason I would like to use ARC. The old TV didn't have any speakers, so the AVR did all of the sound. The new TV does have speakers. Currently, if I remove the splitter and projector from the setup, and just have the TV plugged straight into the HDMI out of the AVR, the TV recognises when the AVR is turned on and when it is not. It will output sound from its own speakers until I turn the AVR on, then it mutes itself and sends the audio to the AVR automatically. I really like this function. One of the reasons I upgraded was to save on power usage, my old plasma TV used between 300-400W, Xbox around 100W and AVR 50W. I use solar charged batteries in my house at night and this 600W was the minimum power consumption to watch Netflix. Now the new TV can do all of this for just over 100W so I get a lot more battery power.
Obviously when I'm having a "proper" night in, the power consumption is not a factor, but my wife uses the TV during the day a lot and that extra power use affects the battery charge times, electricity usage, bills etc so its great to be able to use a lot less power than before.
I plan to upgrade the BenQ W1070 to the W1700 4K projector in time, but right now I can't afford it, hence why I would like to be able to downscale one of the outputs. If this just cannot be done at this price point, I would be happy with just splitting and keeping ARC for now, and I'll keep the Xbox on 4K mode and switch it myself to 1080P mode when I'm using the projector which is normally only at weekends.
I did consider upgrading the AVR to one with 2 HDMI outputs, but I like the small size of the 15xx series and I don't think even the better 16xx models have 2 HDMI outputs so I went with a small upgrade to the NR1506 to get 4K functionality.
Another thing I've considered is that if I'm only using 4K on the TV for now, it is effectively its own source (apart from xbox games) so I don't really need the Xbox in 4K mode for most things and I could leave it in 1080P mode for now which should feed both TV and projector successfully...as long as I can crack the ARC splitter issue...It would be nice to have it in 4K mode for games though.
And yet another thing I considered is that I still have my old xbox one. I could use this as a single source just for the projector for now, and use SPDIF to feed sound to the AVR, instead of HDMI as before. This would mean having 2 xboxes, but I've got the space and only one would be on at any time...not the ideal solution though I'd like a neat setup. Also, I'd have to keep swapping the controller pads over between them and the old xbox is not as powerful for games.
I've also thought about taking the AVR out of the XBOX chain. So splitting the HDMI signal at the xbox output, then feeding projector and TV (on a separate HDMI input, keeping the ARC link to AVR). Possibly I could extract the dolby signal and send it to the AVR somewhere in this chain (at the splitter??) This should give me AVR sound for TV and projector, there could be a latency/lip sync issue there though I'd have to try it.
Dolby HD would be a nice to have but I can't have my system loud (terraced house) so I doubt I'd ever notice the difference between AC3 and anything higher.
My projector does not have 4K and I doubt supports HDCP2.2. This could be a problem. I don't want 4K being changed to 1080P because of this.
SO..I've written a lot. I realise there are multiple ways to do this. I've done a few drawings to try and work everything out.. what do you guys think?
Cheers, Si