HomePod AirPlay for Apple TV?

[thefredelement]

Does anyone know if a HomePod can be connected to an Apple TV? I use them with my AirPods and it's great but it's not AirPlay, it's just bluetooth - I think.

I would like to get a HomePod when it's released b/c we really love music and always playing it through our TV or laptops in our Living Room/Dining Room area, so it makes for us, I was researching Soundbars for our living room TV but though it'd be great if we could just the Home Pod in place of one, with all those microphones and speakers I wonder if using two in a room would give us some nice surround sound?

Or is it not possible from what knowledge is available?

 

[AustinIllini]

It sounds like HomePod supports a Stereo pair, but I doubt the current offering can get you anywhere close to a proper 5.1 surround system, let alone something higher.

 

[thefredelement]

It sounds like HomePod supports a Stereo pair, but I doubt the current offering can get you anywhere close to a proper 5.1 surround system, let alone something higher.

We're not looking for the best or anything even truly surround, our TV has virtual surround and we can take it or leave it, we're just looking for a bit better voice tones and clarity - they get a little muddied up. I just haven't seen that I can actually pair an Apple TV to one or a set of Apple HomePods and am unsure if I missed something or not.

 

[AustinIllini]

We're not looking for the best or anything even truly surround, our TV has virtual surround and we can take it or leave it, we're just looking for a bit better voice tones and clarity - they get a little muddied up. I just haven't seen that I can actually pair an Apple TV to one or a set of Apple HomePods and am unsure if I missed something or not.

Right, it looks like Apple is not interested in doing that. Add to that, there's no HDMI or even Optical ports

 

[JeffPerrin]

DI was researching Soundbars for our living room TV but though it'd be great if we could just the Home Pod in place of one, with all those microphones and speakers I wonder if using two in a room would give us some nice surround sound?

You can get an actual surround system for the price of that second HomePod!

 

[thefredelement]

You can get an actual surround system for the price of that second HomePod!

You make a great point! - We just really liked the idea of having this all in one that could double for the TV but you're right, for the price we can probably get everything we want cheaper.

 

[twinlight]

I would be surprised if it doesn't work as an airplay output from the ATV. But since there was no talk about continuity features or anything about a smarter Siri I wouldn't count on any nice usage scenarios. Like telling Siri to blast some tunes on the speaker or telling Homepod to launch a movie. So you have to find that slippery remote and talk into that instead..

 

[erasr]

I asked this myself elsewhere. Apparently you can't use them as TV speakers.

I'm also now looking for a good soundbar but would have loved to use HomePods as an all in one system (Tv/music etc).

Nearly settled on the Sonos Playbase or Bose SoundTouch 300. They will also play music excellently.

 

[MontTrain]

I can't see why it wouldn't be able to be an AirPlay output for Apple TV. ATV can already see compatible speakers and output to them. Obviously you won't be able to play TV or Xbox on it but ATV would work

 

[Gsmaniac]

I too hope that HomePod can do this. Would be an immediate buy from me.

 

[576316]

If you're looking for a decent TV speaker, I've used a Bose Soundlink mini with my TV for a couple years now and it works perfectly. It's an 1000% increase of sound quality over the built in speakers, and it's very small that you don't have to worry about where to put it. Only issue is that it's controlled separately and you have to remember to keep it charged.

I don't think it's far fetched to believe HomePod might have some sort of AirPlay connectivity in regards to Apple TV, but Apple aren't really pitching it as a TV speaker so that could be asking too much. Though, as others have said, they did advertise the ability to pair two of them together for true stereo, which might hint towards TV functionality. Though Tim did also say that the HomePod was designed to deliver believable and accurate stereo audio (360?) by itself.

 

[Applestock]

If you have an AppleTV, any airplay speaker (including HomePod) can be used to output the audio from your AppleTV. I bought a Libratone diva heavily discounted on Amazon last year exactly for this purpose, and it works seamlessly. The main limitation is that only the AppleTV (or any apple device) will be able to output to it, so if you want to use a different input like a cable TV box or a PlayStation, those won’t work without a wired connection, which HomePod doesn’t seem to have.

And the wireless audio/video syncing over airplay is flawless.

 

[gw0gvq]

Can you transfer the audio from two homepods connected in stereo to an Apple TV to another HomePod on the same same network in a different room and back afterward again.