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Apple TV 4K: How to Stream Audio From Your TV's Inputs to HomePod (eARC)
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I was never not able to control the sound on the switch with the remote, but I'm glad it's resolved for you
I’ve had the gen 2 4K for almost three weeks now and the ARC function is working and seems stable, except once where the HomePods needed to be restarted. The audio sync is occasionally slightly rubbery but appears to settle fairly quickly. Finally I don’t have to listen on the tv speakers or go all the way with the vintage stereo that has at least one faulty driver I can’t replace. Being able to use a non stereo mode also seems to result in clearer speech as the stereo mixdown appears to muddy some audio. My 2015 Sony 4K just has one plain HDMI/ARC port and I’m amazed the whole palava works.
Can someone who has earc enabled with the new Apple TV see if they are having the same issues as me.
I have the LG oled CX
on the tv I’ve set it to arc and then enabled earc. And in output changed it to “passthrough’ as recommended by apple. For input it’s left at “bitstream’.
when I watch a YouTube video with the inbuilt tv app, the video starts and then 2 secs later the sound starts. it syncs fine but why the delay?
in any case that’s not the main issue…
i watch music videos on the Apple TV via the music app and here is the issue. Each time the screen changes resolution (when the video minimises and goes full screen with match frame rate on) the music stops and then in the playback timeline it goes back 1 second and then forward 1 sec. this is a real pain.
very often during this the image goes low bitrate as well for a second
now when I disable earc i have no issues with sound and picture when I watch music videos
why would enabling earc cause an issue with sound on the Apple TV given the homepods are connected to it. It’s like the Apple TV is sending sound to the TV and the TV is saying “why are you sending audio to me” and sending it back and this is causing the confusion hence the delay
I have the LG oled CX
on the tv I’ve set it to arc and then enabled earc. And in output changed it to “passthrough’ as recommended by apple. For input it’s left at “bitstream’.
when I watch a YouTube video with the inbuilt tv app, the video starts and then 2 secs later the sound starts. it syncs fine but why the delay?
in any case that’s not the main issue…
i watch music videos on the Apple TV via the music app and here is the issue. Each time the screen changes resolution (when the video minimises and goes full screen with match frame rate on) the music stops and then in the playback timeline it goes back 1 second and then forward 1 sec. this is a real pain.
very often during this the image goes low bitrate as well for a second
now when I disable earc i have no issues with sound and picture when I watch music videos
why would enabling earc cause an issue with sound on the Apple TV given the homepods are connected to it. It’s like the Apple TV is sending sound to the TV and the TV is saying “why are you sending audio to me” and sending it back and this is causing the confusion hence the delay
Does not work for me. What do I need to enable on my Philips OLED TV? Any help more than welcome.
Step 1: Ensure a HDMI cable is plugged into your 2nd Gen Apple TV 4K and your ARC/eARC HDMI port on the back of your TV. This is very important as if it is just a standard HDMI port, it will not work.
Step 2: Have your OG Homepod(s) set as your default audio from your 2nd Gen Apple TV 4K.
Step 3: Turn on ARC/eARC.
Did all this.Didn't work. When I got home I will attach files of a message I get. And if anyone knows what settings to enable in TV menu?
I would like my Bluray player to play sound to Homepods via earc.
That would be really cool! I’ve seen nothing about this though so unlikely I guess?
Have you enabled the external audio setting on the tv? That’s the trickiest part, trawling through the settings as it’s unlikely to be in a logical place or even have wording that makes it clear ARC is being enabled. It’s possible the term ARC isn’t even included in the setting option.Did all this.Didn't work. When I got home I will attach files of a message I get. And if anyone knows what settings to enable in TV menu?
I would like my Bluray player to play sound to Homepods via earc.
Hi, can’t manage to get audio to both my tv speakers and hp, how did you manage to do it?
Basically 2 easy ways. 1) go to settings audio and select temporary audio output, select both 2) long press display button on apple remote or iPhone remote app, select audio icon on bottom of panel, select both outputs
This used to work tolerably well two years ago, and broke a year ago.Since then I could occasionally get it to work for a while, then it would break again.
I think it's very clear that (like so much around HomePod) Apple just does not care about this use case (or ANY use case that isn't called "Apple Music"), so you can try to force it to work but it'll probably break again with an OS update, and even when it works, every week or so the HomePod will randomly forget that it's supposed to be connected to the aTV.
I bought an LG soundbar and am so much happier -- it actually works the way a consumer electronics device should! meaning I set it up and then it just works correctly from that point on; no babying it every week with some new stupid issue and weirdness, or random disconnection, like the HomePod.
Sounds like fake news. Absolutely works fine for me. Either set the stereo pair of HomePods as default and add tv speakers under temporary output or go to side panel by long pressing display button on remote and click audio on bottom add them there. If that does not work your problem is your tv cause it works great
Try calibrating audio. Turn off Audi processing on tv, use calibrate. Works great
Seriously, dude? You do realize that I worked for Apple in the QuickTime group for 10 years?
If I say that HomePod behaved that way for me, it DID behave that way for me.
The complaint was not that this mode DOES NOT work, it's that it DOES NOT PERSIST. Randomly (anywhere from a day to a week) the HomePod will forget that it is connected to the aTV and has to be reconnected. This is not acceptable. My LG soundbar (and in particular its three wireless speakers) for example, does not constantly forget that it is connected to my TV and have to be reconnected.
Perhaps you'd like to follow with some useful advice as to how I can get a HomePod to STAY connected to any device (iPhone, iPad, Mac, I don't care) indefinitely rather than forgetting the connection after a few minutes to hours of no playback?
All I’m hearing is I can’t get it to work, and I used to work for apple, emphasis on past tense. And yet it still works great, so what does a former apple employee not know about how to use it?
Or to paraphrase, seriously dude ? Do you know I’ve been using it successfully for years and still am? I’d check interference or crappy wifi. You know too many devices, ham radio, etc.
I’m sure used to work means something to you, all I hear is not successful. Maybe it’s how it was phrased. Kindof. I can’t get it to work, so no one can be smarter than me
I used to work for Apple in the QuickTime group for 10 years is a weird flex for your complaints to be more valid than others to be fair.
Hi MauiPa,
thanks for your suggestion.
Tried both ’easy’ ways w/o success. In the Apple TV audio settings, where I have the HP pair as default, if I select the temporary audio output I am presented with tv speaker and HP pair, however when I select the tv speaker the hp pair gets deselected and the return channel options gets disactivated…
any other hints?
thanks
Since the latest updates to the ATV and HPs, the ARC function is working reliably again on my 2015 Sony 4K. Who knows what will happen next time. After the previous update, ARC kept failing after switching the screen off.
It means that if I'm reporting that it doesn't work, my complaint probably does not come from a trivial place of "I can't figure out the basics".
It means that "if the setup works for you, that's great. But it doesn't change the validity of MY complaints".
It means that "if you don't have my complaints, then maybe you don't UNDERSTAND my complaints". I never complained about the sync between HP and the TV speakers; that has always worked fine with that very clever little scheme involving all three of aTV, iPhone and HP working together (although the UI to get to it is definitely sub-optimal!)
My complaints are about the HP constantly forgetting that it is connected to the TV/aTV -- something that I notice you never addressed, though you were quick to condescend to me by telling me to use Calibrate.
I realize that I am reviving a rather old thread, but I thought this was an appropriate place for my question. I have a Samsung Q90R TV set that recently firmware updated to work with eARC. I also have a second generation, Apple 4K and two brand new second generation HomePods. The Apple TV box is connected through the eARC port on the TV with a certified 2.1 HDMI cable.
My question is when I go to the sound expert settings on the Samsung TV, while watching cable TV the following happens. If I turn the eARC option to auto the HomePods turn off, and the TV speakers play. If I switch back to turning off eARC the sound immediately switches back to the HomePods. Is this normal behavior? if I hook up a component to the TV that is eARC or lossless audio compatible like a new high end Blu-ray player will the HomePod work with the eARC setting set to auto?
My question is when I go to the sound expert settings on the Samsung TV, while watching cable TV the following happens. If I turn the eARC option to auto the HomePods turn off, and the TV speakers play. If I switch back to turning off eARC the sound immediately switches back to the HomePods. Is this normal behavior? if I hook up a component to the TV that is eARC or lossless audio compatible like a new high end Blu-ray player will the HomePod work with the eARC setting set to auto?
This does not sound like normal behaviour. Have you tried to first turn on eArc in your TV set and only then enable it on the ATV? The eArc setting on ATV tries out some things and then you need to confirm everything is working fine.
From then on, every sound coming from your TV (or peripherals) should play through the HomePods, even if the ATV is turned off.
I've tried that several times over the three or four days. I worked, almost continuously, to get the HomePods working with eARC set to auto on the Samsung TV. In my opinion at this point if there is abnormal behavior, it's on the part of the Samsung firmware update, I've been reading several articles about various Samsung models for the years 2020 to 2023 and they all have different problems related to connecting to HomePods. I talked on the phone to a senior Apple technician for four hours and talked to Samsung technicians twice allowing the technicians to take over control of the TV. I've reset to factory settings, the TV, the Apple TV 4K Ver.2 , and reinstalled the HomePods Ver.2 several times. I even reset my iPhone to make sure it was not a problem with the Home app on the phone.
Do you have a similar set up? Do you have a Samsung TV with port three being eARC? Do you have Apple TV 4K and at least one HomePod that you use for the TVs sound?
If that's the case are you successful in turning eARC to auto in the audio settings and the HomePod works and it doesn't revert to the TV speakers?
Also, do you have any other component that is capable of lossless audio and an eARC connection connected to one of the other HDMI ports on the TV?