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If it’s like the current set up with the HomePod playing the audio from Apple TV expect frequent disconnections, the HomePod to instead play random music that was on your iPhone a few weeks ago, randomly switch off the AppleTV music, etc. with fiddling you can always get it to work. Just remember never use the HomePod for anything else or it will take another 5 minutes to get it reconnected. Usually it will only take 3.
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.
 
This is all very new to me, and I think I must be misunderstanding something. I have a stereo pair of original HomePods. If I follow the instructions here, would I be able to use the stereo pair of HomePods as speakers for a connected TiVo? Also, if that were to work, would the stereo pair of HomePods still function as "normal" when not being used as speakers for the TV, responding to Hey Siri, playing music, etc?
Yep!
 
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)
 
This is a huge deal for me, and I pre-ordered the new ATV before I even knew about it. Score! Here's hoping it works well without sync issues.
 
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I’m confused, if someone could help me out. Did the Apple TV 4K Gen 1 support ARC? if no, how was I able to get the audio from my Apple TV 4K Gen 1, which was connected to my 4K TV, to play on my A/V receiver which was also connected to my tv. (in case someone is confused, I did not have the Apple TV connected directly into the A/V receiver)
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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I’m confused, if someone could help me out. Did the Apple TV 4K Gen 1 support ARC? if no, how was I able to get the audio from my Apple TV 4K Gen 1, which was connected to my 4K TV, to play on my A/V receiver which was also connected to my tv. (in case someone is confused, I did not have the Apple TV connected directly into the A/V receiver)
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.
 
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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 for other HDMI devices.
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?
 
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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.
Ok gotcha! Thank you !
 
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 for other HDMI devices.
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.
 
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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?
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...)
 
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.

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.
 
Apple made such a horrible mess of their home strategy. They should have kept the HomePod until a successor was ready. Even if it takes some years. Because the current situation is just embarrassing.

They could even have taken action to drive up sales like lowering the price and adding new features such as this one. I’m sure this would convince some users to use dual Homepods for their TV’s. Spatial Audio could have been another boost.
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
 
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If it’s like the current set up with the HomePod playing the audio from Apple TV expect frequent disconnections, the HomePod to instead play random music that was on your iPhone a few weeks ago, randomly switch off the AppleTV music, etc. with fiddling you can always get it to work. Just remember never use the HomePod for anything else or it will take another 5 minutes to get it reconnected. Usually it will only take 3.
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?
 
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Is there any genuine technical reason why this shouldn't work with HomePod Mini, or was it just an attempt to upsell us to a product that no longer exists?
sounds like it works with mini and all other airplay 2 supported speakers. But that was not specifically mentioned
 
I’m confused, if someone could help me out. Did the Apple TV 4K Gen 1 support ARC? if no, how was I able to get the audio from my Apple TV 4K Gen 1, which was connected to my 4K TV, to play on my A/V receiver which was also connected to my tv. (in case someone is confused, I did not have the Apple TV connected directly into the A/V receiver)
umm, through the TV?
 
What an embarrassment coming from Apple. Introduce a well needed feature that only works with a discontinued product and is not supported by the existing HomePod Mini. WTF???
"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?????
 
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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. :confused:

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? 😞
 
"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?????

Maybe read the support instructions from Apple?

Use HDMI ARC or eARC with your Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) – Apple Support

What you need​

  • Apple TV 4K (2nd generation)
  • HomePod speakers*
  • A TV that supports HDMI ARC or eARC
*HomePod mini speakers aren't supported.
 
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.
Is sending the audio through HDMI the definition of ARC?
 
Apple made such a horrible mess of their home strategy. They should have kept the HomePod until a successor was ready. Even if it takes some years. Because the current situation is just embarrassing.

They could even have taken action to drive up sales like lowering the price and adding new features such as this one. I’m sure this would convince some users to use dual Homepods for their TV’s. Spatial Audio could have been another boost.
The HW itself is crippled. Without a line-in port, the box is useless for the most of the cases.
 
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