Question about my setup (1 Viewer)

[Manjaro]

So I have had the same home theatre system for years now and wanted to upgrade. I have a 5.1 channel Klipsch system that still sounds great for me and an old Yamaha AVR. I just upgraded the Yamaha to the RX-V385BL for the 4k passthrough. I didn't know what ARC was until 2 days ago and my tv has the HDMI port for it, unfortunately my old avr didn't so I was forced to use fiber optical toslink cable anyway, which I have been using for years now..... I now understand that I don't need to use the optical cable with ARC but upon realizing this, I realized also that my AVR doesnt have ARC input so I got a new AVR yesterday, The RX-V385BL and I already had a new TV on the way. Also I have an xbox one x that I use for 4k video and gaming that I want to keep with the best picture and audio quality I can get. Do I use the AVR as the switch and plug the xbox into the AVR and use the eARC on the new tv to connect the AVR to the tv? Or do I plug the xbox into the tv and then the tv into the AVR using the eARC.

So I wanted some advice on how to properly set up this system to get the best out of it I can. Like What do I need to plug into what piece of equipment for ease of use and best setup

My new setup is:
TV- Vizio P65Q9-H1
AVR- Yamaha P65Q9-H1
Xbox one X
Klipsch 5.1 surround sound system
Oh and I got 2 ocean 48 audioquest HDMI cables that are eARC level 1 and can transfer 8k and 10k so I knew I would be covered with those 2 cables.

So for recap, I have TV AVR and xbox that I want to connect and be able to have everything coming out of the surround sound

Oh and PS I do want the tv apps like Netflix and prime to come out of the surround sound too when not using the xbox but just the tv apps.

Thanks for any help and input.

 

[chileboy]

I'm no ARC expert, but I would connect the TV's ARC HDMI port to HDMI-In on your AVR, and the Xbox to a second HDMI on the TV. In theory, that will give you the fastest and optimal video from the Xbox, since it's not passing through anything (i.e., your AVR) before hitting the screen. And if you add another HDMI device (like a Roku or something), connect that to the TV as well. So the TV acts as the device switcher.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I have not had much luck with ARC in my decades in home theater, but theoretically this is how it should be setup for the best possible audio:

TV - HDMI OUT from receiver to ARC-capable HDMI IN on TV

Xbox to any other HDMI IN on receiver

 

[chileboy]

I have not had much luck with ARC in my decades in home theater, but theoretically this is how it should be setup for the best possible audio:

TV - HDMI OUT from receiver to ARC-capable HDMI IN on TV

Xbox to any other HDMI IN on receiver

This makes more sense. I guess I had it backwards!

I was thinking that when it comes to gaming, it might be better to connect the Xbox directly to the TV, in order to prevent any possible video lag due to its passing through the receiver first. Although, maybe that's me thinking "old-school" and that isn't an issue anymore.

 

[JohnRice]

Mark, you could have a point. I don't game, so I don't know. There are plenty of gamers here, though. The issue with ARC is a lot of the time it's not really needed, and it does tend to be glitchy. In many cases, it's just simpler and more reliable to just use the optical connection. It's ONLY used for things that originate in the TV, like OTA broadcasts and apps in the TV. A lot of time people go to a lot of trouble setting up ARC who aren't even using it.

In my case, I only use it for OTA, and ARC has zero benefit with that, so I just use an optical cable.

 

[Martino]

You want to use the receiver as a hub, and the TV as more of a monitor only device. If you connect everything to the TV first and then go to the receiver, a lot of times the signal will be output as two channel only. The ARC connection will allow the TV to output sounds through the receiver, but is mostly used for TV menu clicks and alerts - and as noted above is not needed.

"Oh and PS I do want the tv apps like Netflix and prime to come out of the surround sound too when not using the xbox but just the tv apps."

You treat the TV as just another import source to your Receiver. So you would need an audio output from the TV to the receiver to use when you are watching native apps on your TV...

 

[chileboy]

If you connect everything to the TV first and then go to the receiver, a lot of times the signal will be output as two channel only.

A bit off-topic, but I was having this issue with my Roku, but apparently in the absence of transcoding, HDMI outputs default to the least-capable link in the chain. Since my older AVR didn't accept Dolby Digital Plus, which the Roku was trying to output, it falls back to two-channel. In my case, I solved it by sending the Roku to the HDMI-in on my Oppo Blu-ray, then out to the receiver. The Oppo is smart enough (I guess via its initial handshake) to transcode it to regular Dolby Digital, which my AVR accepts.