Clarification about ARC

[parambir]

I am not sure is this is the right forum for this question. Admin is requested to move this to the correct forum if deemed so.

My present setup has Yamaha Rx v671 with 7.1 setup. I have acquired Minix U1 which is yet to be delivered. I do not have an HD TV but I have homed on to one. Due to budget constraints I have found and 50 inch SMART TV (unbranded) for about 34K. It has 2 HDMI ports but does not mention ARC on any of it. Now my doubt is that when I play HD movies with 5.1/7.1 audio through an external HDD connected to my Minix will I get sound in home theatre and video in TV without ARC in TV? Is ARC required in TV or the Yamaha Receiver itself is capable of taking video and audio from HDMI port and drop audio and send video on HDMI out to TV? Or is it a function in Minix that I will have to configure? Sorry for the mundane doubt but I need help on this before I finally decide to pick up this TV.
Thanks in advance...

 

[zimbly]

While ARC is convenient to have, as it reduces the number of cables required, a point to note is that TV with ARC may not send 5.1 to the receiver depends on the TV config. Most TVs send the 5.1 signal as 2 channel.
Simpler way to circumvent this issue is use the Yamaha as the hub for all sources(connect Minix to HDMI in) and run the HDMI out to the TV. The Yamaha will send the audio to the speaker set up as required and the video to the TV.

Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk

 

[Audiodoc]

The hdmi out of the minix will go to hdmi in of yamaha and hdmi out of yamaha with go to hdmi on TV.

This way you can get all supported format from 2 channel to Dolby digital HD and DTS HD master audio if the minix supports it. Unfortunately the minix doesn't support all formats yet the minix 8h plus does.

ARC which is usually in the form of an optical out cable helps in two ways. One if you want digital audio out when you are playing using a pen drive attached to smart TV as it can Bitstream DD and DTS if the TV is certified.

Second if your TV has inbuilt wifi and you want to Bitstream audio to your reciever.

Third if you don't have a reciever then the optical out can be connected to a DAC and at least work in stereo mode.

 

[parambir]

Thanks a lot guys for inputs. I exactly intend to connect my system as under. Minix U1 to yamaha via hdmi and tv to receiver via hdmi out. I am sure minix U1 will support all formats.
I guess I will have to enable passthrough in minix U1.

Thanks once again.

 

[Audiodoc]

I am sure the U1 doesn't support all formats. It is better in most video parameters like 4k 60fps support but is on the back seat with respect to gaming and DTS MA support as of now. May be it gets firmware updates in the future. Possibly it has done so for the pass through but not for decoding.

 

[parambir]

That will be helpful. My prime usage is for hd movies with 7.1 audio and music with 5.1 ch. Atleast as of now. But who knows the future. I am sure being the latest release couple of firmware updates will follow and minix is quite reliable in terms of regular updates.

 

[Audiodoc]

I had purchased the costlier minix because of its audio features as I have a large collection of blurays on my NAS. The improvements of the U1 with respect to video 4k at 60fps hdmi 2.0 10 bit color will give me miniscule benifits as my 4k collection is almost non existent. At that time the U1 was not supportting both decoding as well as pass through though it supports pass through now after a firmware upgrade. Now the only plus points of the costlier minix are decoding and a better graphics processor.

 

[parambir]

I found U1 about $10 cheaper than x8-h plus