Xbox Series X with pass through on Sony HT-ST5000

Saxo Appeal

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Hi guys,

Ok quick question if anyone can help....

At present I have my Apple TV, Xbox One X plugged into the back of the Sony HT-ST5000 Soundbar, then a single HDMI cable goes direct to the ARC input on the back of the Panasonic GZ950 65" TV

Am I still ok to do this with the new Series X and get the best picture/sound, or do I need to route the HDMI from the back of the Series X straight to the back of the TV in the 2.1 (2.0b) HDMI input? Cant remember actually if that's the ARC input or not..

Thanks :)
 
A quick google suggests it supports 4K pass thru.

“All are HDCP 2.2 ready for your various 4K sources (UHD player, Xbox One X, Amazon Fire 4K) but need to be configured before being paired. Select Enhanced over Standard, in order to support 4K 60p and 4:4:4 (or incrementally lower) video settings.”

The question to ask yourself, is what supports more of the video features on offer by the Xbox? The TV or the soundbar.

ie, if your TV supports 4K@120hz, your soundbar Seemingly doesn’t, so at that point you’d need to weigh up your options.

Probably wait for someone else to confirm what I’ve written is also true 😂
 
Hi Vini,

No my TV does not support full 2.1, so will not have the 120hz :(

Its only 2.0b
 
A lot of ‘next gen’ is gonna be suck it and see. 95% of folks won’t know what they’re missing/won’t miss it. I’m sure!

(by that I mean, if you don’t ‘see’ 4k@120, you’ll not know about it kinda thing)
 
Just wondering if anyone could help with connections, and the forthcoming Panasonic JZ1500 which has 2 x 2.1 HDMI slots (1x eARC)

First presumption: If I connect the Xbox Series X straight into my Sony soundbar, then eARC output to Hue Sync Box, and then into the eARC input on new 2.1 TV then it should all work as now the TV is full 2.1, this giving me ALLM.?

Second presumption: Or as I read somewhere on here, if I connect the Xbox Series X into the Hue Sync Box, then straight into the 2nd 2.1 Input on the TV (which isn’t eARC), then have an HDMI cable connecting from the TV eARC to the eARC on Soundbar...would that then allow all my devices play audio out from the sound bar (as pictured)

At the moment due to my TV not having full 2.1 the Xbox Series X ALLM is greyed out, because the TV isn’t full 2.1, as discussed in another thread.

38365524-B8B3-4BE3-94CB-5501D27A6466.png
 
ALLM is only beneficial if you use your Xbox as a Blu-ray player, otherwise you can just leave Game mode on permanently anyway. Ironically my Panasonic FZ802 which also lacks ALLM, the Game mode bizarrely does auto-switch with the PS5 despite my Panasonic TV not supporting ALLM. The PS5 works pretty well as a 4K Blu-ray player too.

I am also eyeing up the JZ1500 down the road too. I know you mention ALLM, but the main benefit will be 4K 120hz VRR, and it’s my understanding the Xbox will need to go direct to the TV to benefit from this.

So my thinking is Series X to TV HDMI1, and Soundbar/Receiver to TV ARC HDMI2. I am left in a tight spot then with my PS5 which also supports 120hz, with VRR also due in an update. (Technically an LG range OLED with an additional 2x HDMI 2.1 ports would solve this problem. But LG...)

I think I’ll just have to sacrifice those features on PS5 as it’s purely a box for exclusives, and I imagine the few games that push for 120fps will probably be multiplatform stuff, which I’d just play on Series X anyway.

Edit: I should read more carefully. I see your soundbar supports eARC, my Yamaha YSP2700 is just regular ARC. I know eARC allows passthrough of lossless audio, as for other HDMI 2.1 features such as 120hz and VRR. I am not sure on that front. I’d be keen to know the answer too as an audio upgrade may be on the cards further down the line.
 
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Yes we use the Series X as our 4K UHD player, and I would like to reap the full benefits of 2.1 with ALLM and VRR (120hz). So my thinking was wire it up as per above picture but question is:
Would I still have the Audio coming from the Xbox Series X coming from the sound bar, even though it’s wired direct to TV 2.1 (non eARC) ?

From what I gather speaking to a Sony Rep on YouTube, he states as long as all connections are fluently supported, then it should all work... hmmm

My head is done in actually with ‘will I or won’t I’ waiting for the new Panasonic JZ or just pushing the button now on an LG 65 C1....urghh
 
I have the same soundbar (but a Sony TV and a Series S so not totally identical setup). I put the xbox into the TV and run the eArc to the soundbar. It passes Atmos and DTS signals to the soundbar, but I am sure the soundbar isn't having any effect on picture quality. The ST5000 can pass through Dolby Vision (as I used to have it wired differently) so it "shouldn't" impact the xbox video output but I do recall the TV not switching into Game mode when I had a previous console (PS4) into the soundbar then that into the TV.
 
I didn’t know you could run an HDMI from the TV eARC solely just to take the audio from everything plugged into the other TV HDMI’s to the sound-bar / speakers.

The way I have it set up just now is 3 x HDMI’s go into the Soundbar (Nintendo, Xbox Series X and SkyQ), then output eARC on Sound bar goes into the input of the Hue Sync, then from the Hue Sync output to the input eARC of the TV

BE25FBD1-5207-439C-8061-789F83278CE9.jpeg
 
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Yeah, the whole point of HDMI ARC is to passthrough audio from the TV, not just the TV’s internal apps but also including external devices connected to any of the TV’s HDMI inputs.

The perk of eARC is supposed to be the benefit of lossless audio passthrough. It’s however the other HDMI 2.1 features that I ‘suspect’ you may need to have the Series X connected direct to the TV for. Unless someone else can chime in and clarify if 120hz and VRR passthrough would be possible through an eARC compatible receiver/soundbar?

I’m not a fan of the Xbox’s 4K Blu-ray playback and would recommend a standalone player. I use the Panasonic UB420 which is a great little machine and much quieter, I find the image quality between this and the PS5 much closer. Though of course neither of the Xbox or PS5 consoles support HDR10+ or Dolby Vision for 4K Blu-ray playback.
 

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