I’m not sure where you read that the previous version supported eARC. I didn’t read that from his post. Just ARC. theres a difference between ARC and eARC.
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Apple TV 4K: How to Stream Audio From Your TV's Inputs to HomePod (eARC)
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No, ARC=Audio Return Channel. That is send audio BACK from the tv to a device capable of outputing sound. The previous aTVs could only send sound to the TV. The new one can accept sound from the TV and output to Homepods.
No Idea if a Tivo supports eArc, I did not hear you mention AppleTV at all. so here is a generous re-interpretation of your question. If your TV supports eARC and your Tivo supports eArc and your Tivo supports Airplay 2, you can probably get the HomePods to play though the Tivo. Many newer TVs now support Airplay 2, so you could use your Tivo to connect to your TV and connect your TV to the HomePods or other Airplay 2 speakers. If your Tivo and TV do not support Airplay 2, then no.
Ie a receiver, a device capable of outputting sound. Therefore the previous version supported ARC. Not eARC. ARC. My 4K Gen 1 outputted sound to my A/V receiver. (And no it wasn’t directly connected to the receiver. It was connected to the TV. It was returning audio back to the receiver to play on that device)
That's not entirely true. The ATV4kv1 wouldn't send Dolby Atmos over a regular ARC connection (and it's a little inaccurate to be putting the (e) in front of ARC - they're not equally supported). It turns out, even with the ATV4k1, you needed the bandwidth of an eARC port. (which is likely why mine has been providing Atmos since I got my new TV and Sonos Arc). If you have an eARC port it would work. Maybe some of the other ARC connections are higher performing and worked regardless. As I said, the manufacturers have been inconsistent with complying with the HDMI specs in their implementations.
References:
Apple TV 4K, Sonos Arc and Dolby Atmos - Apple Community
Play audio in Dolby Atmos or surround sound on your Apple TV - Apple Support
Learn which audio formats are supported on Apple TV and the setup you need to play sound in the highest quality.
Per that support article, the ATV needs more bandwidth than a regular ARC connection for the high bandwidth Dolby Atmos signal it sends.
Should be able to use both, I do. There is an audio synch tool in AppleTV. It works on the Samsung TVs I have seen, but there is weird echoing on the LG (but its an LG, so that might explain everything). Also you need to turn off any audio enhancements coming from TV, because they add delays themselves
OK, that is new to me, I was not aware Apple TV supported Arc. It is not working on mine. I have the HDMI cable through the Arc port of the TV. Its not my cable so I am not sure if the cable supports ARC, I will check. Please illuminate me!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).
That's not entirely true. The ATV4kv1 wouldn't send Dolby Atmos over a regular ARC connection (and it's a little inaccurate to be putting the (e) in front of ARC - they're not equally supported). It turns out, even with the ATV4k1, you needed the bandwidth of an eARC port. (which is likely why mine has been providing Atmos since I got my new TV and Sonos Arc). If you have an eARC port it would work. Maybe some of the other ARC connections are higher performing and worked regardless. As I said, the manufacturers have been inconsistent with complying with the HDMI specs in their implementations.
References:
Apple TV 4K, Sonos Arc and Dolby Atmos - Apple Community
discussions.apple.com
Play audio in Dolby Atmos or surround sound on your Apple TV - Apple Support
Learn which audio formats are supported on Apple TV and the setup you need to play sound in the highest quality.support.apple.com
Per that support article, the ATV needs more bandwidth than a regular ARC connection for the high bandwidth Dolby Atmos signal it sends.
I was using (e)ARC just as a shorthand understanding there is a difference. I am just trying to make sure everyone understands that ARC or eARC support is not required on most devices to use with a TV. Sorry, I could have been more clear.
But, to be clear, the 1gen aTV 4K does NOT support ARC or eARC.
Simple question, which device is connected to the ARC port on your TV? Your aTV or your receiver? That is the ARC device.
Once my Apple TV arrives today I will see how this works (though my TV only has ARC and not eARC) and report back.
Nope, the article states that it was a feature only for the Gen 2 ATV4k. It could be part of the feature set of eARC that allows them to do this. We'd need someone from Apple to publish how they're taking control of the eARC audio channel (that typically the TV does).
Ahhhh okay, you’re right. My receiver is connected to my ARC port. Okay, you are right. My bad!!
Yep, and that's where we disagree. Apple's infamous for not stating all of the specs that are supported.
Edit - as ARC was included in the HDMI 1.4 spec, do you really think companies need to rhyme off all of the features included in their HDMI 2.0 devices?
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Day 1 I was ready to buy these speakers to replace the sound bar, that was the sweet spot to motivate me to buy....
I take it this will also work with a Blu-ray player? (Not sure why it wasn’t mentioned, but also not sure why it wouldn’t work.)
If so, this is outstanding. Not being able to output sound from my Blu-ray player was the major downside of using homepods as home theater speakers for me. No longer.
Now I have a great reason to buy the new atv.
If so, this is outstanding. Not being able to output sound from my Blu-ray player was the major downside of using homepods as home theater speakers for me. No longer.
Now I have a great reason to buy the new atv.
?? I don’t have any of these issues at all! Are you sure you turned on home theater audio mode in atv settings after you updated to 14.5? It’s not automatic, you have to turn it on manually, I found out.
Just to be clear - if your tv has an inbuilt tuner and youre watching broadcast tv - even tho youre not using the atv directly, you can still send audio to homepods? So watching a film on a network channel and can use homepods for sound?
If thats the case it solves several problems for me…
If thats the case it solves several problems for me…
Thank you for this. I'm still confused on the whole HomePod experience in relation to the Home App and why the Homepod would disconnect, play random music, or just make the audio go away suddenly. I guess what I don't understand is why would the Homepod depend on an internet connection for Airplay to work. Shouldn't it work like a bluetooth device, where if a phone senses another apple device that would make the connection? There's really nothing on the Home Pod other than the speaker and the volume level which you control on your phone so why would it need an internet connection?
Also, I use the older generation 4K but is there a way to connect the Homepod to something like a Blu Ray Player or just use it as your main speaker for everything or does it need to be tied directly to apple devices.
Also, I use the older generation 4K but is there a way to connect the Homepod to something like a Blu Ray Player or just use it as your main speaker for everything or does it need to be tied directly to apple devices.
I use Homepods everyday. This is huge if it passes audio from anything like a Nintendo Switch to the Homepods. Not sure how it would account for delay though. Afaik the ATV delays it's video ever so slightly to sync with the audio no?
btw, almost skipped this because of title. I think it would have been more eye catching to scream, 'play audio from your PS5 etc thru your ATV to your Homepod.' But maybe that's just me.
btw, almost skipped this because of title. I think it would have been more eye catching to scream, 'play audio from your PS5 etc thru your ATV to your Homepod.' But maybe that's just me.
Well ****, now I want a pair of Homepods to connect to my TV.
How convenient of Apple to discontinue them.
How convenient of Apple to discontinue them.
What is frustrating and confusing is if Apple had these features from the get-go and advertised them so people actually knew maybe Homepod wouldn't have failed. I never bought one because I was going to exclusively use it as speakers for my AppleTV but they didn't integrate it as they do with other Apple products made it the same as any other soundbar or speaker array with no benefits. Now they add all the features I wanted at the beginning and with the bundle services it made sense for me to now subscribe to Apple Music. So I now own it along with their One service and I have to admit I use them a lot and really love them. Glad they are continuing to support them and I do believe there is something else in the Homepod category future that will go along with Homepod mini and having to support Homepod mini and any new products I do think they will support the Homepod for a long time even though it is now discontinued.
I use my HomePod as my default speaker for my Apple TV. I dont have any disconnection problems, but what some users experience is that if they want to use the physical HomePod volume controls on top of the home pod, they can accidentally trigger music to play. it can be clunky, but I just gave up on using the touch panel to control volume (if I happened to be near it).
In theory yes you should be correct in that assumption, however the HomePod is a Siri device, and relies on internet for some of that function. the HomePod does function without internet as my default speaker for my Apple TV, but since the Apple TV is a streaming device, the content without internet is very limited to begin with.
If I understand you correctly, what you're asking is actually what this article is about. The short answer is yes, there is, but only with the newest Apple TV4K that was just released. it supports an audio return channel apparently (this is awesome) and that means you can pipe audio to your tv and then to your Apple TV, and finally your HomePod. This means I could finally have xbox audio on my HomePod, (however I have doubts about latency for gaming).
Maybe this might help.
If your television has Arc or eArc you can direct the sound from your television to the AppleTV which then uses the signal and puts it through the Homepods. What is connected to your television doesn't matter they use consoles as an example but it'd apply to your TiVo as well as any bluray or DVD player.
I'm gonna try this with my Bluray player, I was a little disheartened that I wasn't going to be able to enjoy my Homepods with my Bluray player but now it seems I can.
I actually just sold my Sonos beam to utilize my two original HomePods as a stereo setup. The HomePods sound soooo much better than the Sonos which I used for several years. Really night and day difference. The Sonos has horrible issues projecting speech. I could never hear what the characters were saying. HomePod changed everything for me. Bye subtitles!