FAAAARK. I ordered the new remote for my existing ATV, and because it is preparing to ship already I can't change it.
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Apple TV 4K: How to Stream Audio From Your TV's Inputs to HomePod (eARC)
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Now that they have added eARC to the new ATV 4k ..they should give you the option of 2 or 4 homepods for Dolby Atmos. Apple has a patent on this already. 2 homepods sound great..4 homepods would be amazing!
Yes, I believe that ARC was supported. At least I was able to drive my old Onkyo receiver volume with the Apple TV 4K Gen 1. However I cannot make this work with the latest Apple TV (which I just received).
Anyone had any luck getting Atmos to work from a Series X. I’ve seen a few say they have and others say they can’t. I have an LG G1 so it’s capable with pass through. Cheers
So - apologies I am a novice in this area...
I have a new Apple TV 4K (2021) and a 4k TV with ARC (not eARC). At the moment I have a stereo pair of HomePod Minis and can use them for Apple TV audio. If I buy a pair of original full-size HomePods will I be able to get audio from the native TV, and Sky box as well...? That would be awesome. The Sky box would be coming into the TV via a separate HDMI port and then sound out again via the ARC HDMI to the Apple TV??
I have a new Apple TV 4K (2021) and a 4k TV with ARC (not eARC). At the moment I have a stereo pair of HomePod Minis and can use them for Apple TV audio. If I buy a pair of original full-size HomePods will I be able to get audio from the native TV, and Sky box as well...? That would be awesome. The Sky box would be coming into the TV via a separate HDMI port and then sound out again via the ARC HDMI to the Apple TV??
That's actually HDMI-CEC, rather than ARC. HDMI-CEC, which stands for "Consumer Equipment Control" usually gets vendor-specific names like AnyNet (Samsung) or SimpLink (LG), but it's all the same thing — it refers to the ability to control power and volume over HDMI.
ARC is "Audio Return Channel" which is a feature that allows audio to travel back from your TV to your Apple TV over the same HDMI cable. This wasn't supported on the 2017 Apple TV 4K, as there was basically no purpose for it — it wasn't until tvOS 14.2 that you could set a HomePod as the default audio output; prior to that, the audio come in over ARC wouldn't have realistically had anywhere to go — at least not by default.
Yes, ARC is fully supported by the new Apple TV 4K, so that will work just fine. All that eARC does is give you way more bandwidth for things like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and multichannel uncompressed PCM, however ARC will pass compressed multi-channel formats like Dolby Digital 5.1 just fine.
You'll still get Dolby Atmos from your Apple TV to your HomePods, however, as that has nothing to do with ARC — that comes directly from the Apple TV. The Sky box, however, will be limited to basically Dolby Digital 5.1 and basic DTS formats.
Normally yes — I've done that many times over the years — but with the way things are going these days with Apple Stores, you might want to check with your local Apple Store just to make sure they're accepting returns.
According to the Apple Store app they do. Started a return for it, and will bring it to my local store once it arrives.
How do I control the volume??
Here my setup:
LG NANO 90 TV
Apple TV 4K 2nd gen
2 Apple HomePods
Nintendo Switch
Everything hooked up and I am getting audio from the Switch on the HomePods. But it’s loud AF. I can’t control the volume with the Apple remote. The LG remote just shows a red blink when I try to control volume with it (no effect).
So how do I make the Switch not so loud in this setup?
Here my setup:
LG NANO 90 TV
Apple TV 4K 2nd gen
2 Apple HomePods
Nintendo Switch
Everything hooked up and I am getting audio from the Switch on the HomePods. But it’s loud AF. I can’t control the volume with the Apple remote. The LG remote just shows a red blink when I try to control volume with it (no effect).
So how do I make the Switch not so loud in this setup?
Minor update on this:
14.6 on everything seems to have added a “fix” for the codec issue where it makes that loud noise when switching to the PS5. It still does it, but only for a fraction of a second and then starts working properly with no need to stuff around to get it to recognise the codec change.
Pausing in movies etc has the audio continue for 2 seconds which is very annoying. No idea why a game console needing super low latency on the audio can get through instantly, but video still has the 2 second buffer issue (that I thought went away with AirPlay 2).
No I didn't make this up. That feature is NOT supported by the mini. Plenty of articles out there verifying that only the HomePod supports it.
It comes straight from the horse's mouth, in fact... See https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207117
It's also telling that Apple is actually linking directly to the "Buy HomePod" page in that support article. Seems like a not-so-subtle attempt to try and clear out the existing stock... It's also pretty clear white hasn't been a very popular colour... 😂
Now, as to why the HomePod mini isn't supported is anybody's guess. It's obvious that the HomePod mini can't handle Apple's new Home Theatre Audio mode, since the audio features aren't nearly as sophisticated as the full-sized HomePod, but that shouldn't preclude them from simply working as default speakers for those who don't care about Dolby Atmos or surround sound. Maybe Apple just doesn't want to confuse people by offering a substandard experience, or maybe there's some other reason why the HomePod mini can't be set up as a default audio destination, which is understandably required to support ARC/eARC.
Can a different remote control the volume on the homepods via earc or do you have to use the new Siri remote?
Can confirm that this feature is as seamless and lag-free as expected. No switching needed, it will always play the current TV input through the HomePods. No discernible lag on the Switch at all.
How to do this sort of depends on your configuration, but the short answer is yes.
Generally, if a port supports eARC, it also supports HDMI-CEC and can pass volume and other controls across from another device, but of course not all TVs are designed for this. However, I can actually use the remote for my LG CX to fully control my Apple TV 4K — the d-pad on the LG remote can be used to navigate all of the Apple TV menus, and of course by extension the volume control works just fine too. This all happens over the HDMI connection between the TV and the Apple TV 4K. So, volume controls also work when viewing other sources, whether that's native webOS TV apps or an HDMI input from a DVD player or PS4.
Note that you might need to switch HDMI-CEC on in order to enable this. Different brands call it by different names (i.e. Anynet on Samsung, Simplink on LG, Bravia Sync on Sony), and not all support the full range of HDMI-CEC controls, but it's still the same protocol either way.
However, even if you don't have full HDMI-CEC support on your TV that allows for this kind of control, you can still pair any IR remote with your Apple TV 4K and use that to control the volume and other functions. This is done under the Remotes and Devices section in the Apple TV's Settings app. Unlike the Siri Remote, you'll need line of sight to the Apple TV as it runs over IR, but it otherwise works quite well, and you can even use it in tandem with the Siri Remote as well.
I can raise or lower the volume of the Switch with either the Apple TV remote or my TV’s remote, even with the Apple TV off.
Does the ATV allow you to a) use both tv speakers and homepods b) change the volume of both independently?
No. When you set your HomePods as the Default Audio Output, they replace the normal HDMI audio output channel. They effectively become the main (and only) speakers.
That said, you can do this if you're using the HomePod, HomePod mini, or any other AirPlay 2 compatible speaker as a simple AirPlay output — except that these don't work with ARC/eARC, so you'll only be able to do this with content played on the Apple TV. In that sense, it's not really any different than what's already been available on the Apple TV for the past couple of years.