eARC for audio with TCL Tv and Pioneer AV?

[Ekona]

Can someone just run a sanity check by me please?

I have a Pioneer VSX 934, an Xbox Series X and a PC. I currently run them both to the AVR and then onto a Samsung TV, no issues at all. However I'm about to buy a TCL C845K which has the fancier features of VRR, 120hz etc which I'd like to use, but the AVR is only HDMI 2.0 which doesn't support that stuff at 4K. If I'm right, can I do the following:

- Connect Xbox and PC to the TCL TV in the non-eARC ports
- Connect the AVR to the TV eARC port
- Then somewhere in the TV settings send the audio to the AVR?

This was I feel like it's the best of all worlds, as I can keep the HD audio from Xbox and PC but utilise the screen goodness of the TV. Else it's the old fashioned optical cable method which leaves me with boggo 5.1 audio.


Thanks!

[stevoknevo]

If your AVR is HDMI ARC and not eARC then I believe the TV will only transfer compressed 5.1 to the AVR (so no better than optical)
Both TV and AVR would need to be eARC compliant to transmit uncompressed codecs (that's my understanding of it)

[Ekona]

Good point, and one I hadn't actually checked. Looks like the 934 is ARC only so that puts the kybosh on that! Thanks for that, very quickly sorted albeit not the solution I was actually after.

Might put up with boggo 5.1 for a bit until I can justify a new AVR then.

[stevoknevo]

You could use a 1 in 2 out HDMI splitter, the ones that do 120hz 4K aren't cheap though.

(I use one that strips the HDMI audio to optical to connect an Xbox Series X to a legacy AVR with no HDMI - works well, still retains 4K/60 HDR into the TV and was £25ish, but the ones capable of 120hz pass through seem to be £80+ from a brief search)

[Ekona]

Interesting thought, trouble is I'd want to get the audio from both Xbox and PC so that would need two splitters. That's a great shout though, thanks!

[Timothy Bucktu]

Your Pioneer VSX 934 does do 4k/HDR/Dolby vision pass through. So you have a choice. Either leave stuff connected to the reciever and enjoy all the HD audio streams, but not 120hz or VRR. Or connect stuff to the TV and enjoy 120hz/VRR but only up to DTS audio out to the amp.

[Ekona]

Manged to get the TCL ordered last night for a bargain £1309 from £1500 via Black Friday and Blue Light Card and cc cashback, arriving Tuesday so I'll have a play with a couple of set ups and see how I get on. Haven't ordered the splitter yet as I thought I'd see if I can live with either basic setup first, fingers crossed but I feel this may get more expensive yet...

[Ekona]

TV arrived on Tuesday, fired it up and there was a lovely stuck green pixel right in the middle of the screen, grrr! Tried freeing it up but no joy, but I spoke to a guy at Hughes (where I bought it from) and they're sending a replacement out on Monday to swap over. Really good service, can't complain about that at all. TV is a serious upgrade over my previous Samsung UE7000 too, as you'd expect: Picture quality is incredible for the money.

Anyway, the sound. Works fine, DTS not a problem at all via the AVR and ARC, however clearly my ears are better than I thought as I can notice a drop over the DTS MA I was able to get. Long story short the sale of the old TV + the sale of the VSX 934 + £100 means I can buy the VSX 935, which is fully HDMI 2.1 compatible and means I can have the setup the TV (and me!) deserve. Thanks to everyone for your input and advice, I always forget how expensive this "just a quick upgrade" can be in the end...!