Polar opposite of our experience. We connected our Homepods to our ATV the day the software update came out and it has worked 100% flawlessly ever since. Never disconnected once, even after software updates.
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Apple TV 4K: How to Stream Audio From Your TV's Inputs to HomePod (eARC)
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its listed as a beta feature. I bet it'll come out of beta when they announce HomePod v2
This would be cool if there was a way to use this with AirPods, so you could listen to anything on your TV on your headphones. (Though I imagine being eARC you'd have to flip inputs to see the UI to pair the headphones in the first place... so I'm not sure it would be easy to figure out how to do)
Yes - ARC was supported in HDMI 1.4 (the ATV4kv1 actually had HDMI 2.0b support I believe?). I've been using that myself - it's how I get Dolby Atmos on my Sonos Arc currently.
eARC is new in HDMI 2.1 - it adds additional features and bandwidth, allowing for higher quality sound as well as uncompressed audio to be sent to your receiver or soundbar (provided they support it).
It's very interesting what Apple's doing. Effectively hijacking control of the eARC audio channel - that all eARC audio will be passed back to the AppleTV from other HDMI devices. (the default behaviour would be that other devices also need to support HDMI 2.1 eARC or at least ARC (as there's backwards capability) for the TV to be able to separate the audio channel. It's effectively an audio passthrough in the TV - it isn't altering the signal.
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Your receiver supports arc and is plugged into the ARC channel, so all other inputs can route through your TV to the receiver (Which is what your ATV was doing.) This new setup enables the Apple TV to be the ARC receiver and send audio out to homepods if connected to the ARC HDMI channel.
Doesn’t the article make it sound like ARC is brand new to the Apple TV though? Or is it just me ? The way I read it is that both ARC and eARC are brand new to the Apple TV 4 K Gen 2 when in reality, just eARC is?
Wait, what? Is it possible to get other hdmi inputs on the tv that an Apple TV is connected to, to play their audio via a stereo HomePod pair with a gen 1 4K Apple TV? How? This is what I wanted.
Heh, it's ok. Journalists make LOTS of mistakes.
Yes, the prior ATV4k supported ARC (how do you think all of us have been using the Sonos Arc currently? For the most part, only newer TV's with HDMI 2.1 ports will have eARC support - but a lot of the manufacturers have been playing "fast and loose" with compliance to the HDMI specs. You could have HDMI 2.0 ports with eARC support and HDMI 2.1 ports WITHOUT eARC support (which, obviously, should NOT happen).
People need to be careful and confirm what their TVs support when making their purchases. (it shouldn't be that complicated...)This is incorrect. The previous aTVs did not support (e)ARC. In the default configuration, the aTV would send the audio signal to your TV. if your TV supported (e)ARC and you had a compatible soundbar (or receiver) the sound would routed to the soundbar/receiver. The aTV didn't care.
What I am reading, the newest aTV supports acting as an (e)ARC receiver. You plug the aTV in the (e)ARC port on your TV. Now the TV will route the sound from any of the inputs to the aTV, which will then send the sound output to the HomePods. (Previously only sound from aTV could be redirected to HomePods.)
Pretty cool feature. I don't have any Homepods (prefer my Sonos ARC), but that eliminates one of the limitations of using Homepods with a TV. Unless you were a 100% aTV users, you still needed separate speakers for any other video device.
Partially true. I suspect they had supply problems with continuing to manufacture new HomePods (not sure if they even were still being manufactured). The expansion of features does imply strongly that a new HomePod is on the way. (or more dismally, that this is for Airplay speakers n general). this feature does not seem to rule out other Airplay 2 compatible speakers
or can you say replacement was delayed due to chip shortage, or can this also be used with Airplay 2 speakers in general?
Nope. See my previous post. Prior ATVs did not support ARC, all they did is send the audio through the HDMI cable. Your TV and Sonos ARC were all that was needed to support ARC.Heh, it's ok. Journalists make LOTS of mistakes.
Weird. That never happens, must be something with your setup. Have the correct OS updates? How is your wifi, crowded? Do you have radio interference? Seriously, this never happens at all, so what is wrong with your setup?
sounds like it works with mini and all other airplay 2 supported speakers. But that was not specifically mentioned
"not supported by the existing HomePod Mini." did you make this up WTF?
No where in the article does it say anything about Airplay 2 speakers or HomePod Minis (oversight?). Seeing the HomePods connect using Airplay 2, why would any other setup not work, WTF?????
No, only the Gen 2 model can do what you’re asking.
Strange... we have better sound and now a way to get audio from other TV sources to the HomePod. Hmmm.. Maybe if they had taken this kind of interest before they discontinued it.. Actually, they could have put one input on the thing at the beginning.
That is my lament about the HomePod. Would it have killed Apple to include a physical analog & Toslink input on the back right above the power cord? 😞
Maybe read the support instructions from Apple?
Use HDMI ARC or eARC with your Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) – Apple Support
The HW itself is crippled. Without a line-in port, the box is useless for the most of the cases.