DTS over ARC? (1 Viewer)

[gaspy]

Hello,

first of all, sorry if this has been asked previously, I did not find any thread with my exact problem.

I have a new Sony 42W650A TV and an older LG HT system.

The HT system does not work with HDMI 1.4 so I have to use optical and when I play movies via USB/DLNA, only Dolby Surround is outputted on all speakers, DTS is converted to stereo I think.

My question is - if I buy a new HT system, one with HDMI 1.4 ARC support, will I be able to output DTS sound from TV to it via ARC? If so, what's the cheapest Sony system you'd recommend?

Thank you.

 

[schan1269]

A real system. If you buy a real system, you never run into issues.Onkyo hts3500. At least.

 

[gaspy]

Thanks for the suggestion. The Onkyo is surprisingly inexpensive.
So, does DTS work over ARC?

 

[Jason Charlton]

Thanks for the suggestion. The Onkyo is surprisingly inexpensive.
So, does DTS work over ARC?

More often than not, even ARC doesn't work over ARC...

ARC is not the panacea many people think it is. It's marketed as a way for you to use your TV as the "hub" of your system and connect all of your devices to your TV via HDMI then use the HDMI ARC port to connect to a budget HTiB system and you magically have surround sound for everything.

What they don't tell you is:
- If you have devices from different manufacturers it is very unlikely to work
- Even if you have devices from the same manufacturer, it may not work
- Even if it does work, it may not always preserve the sound format - lossy DD and DTS presumably will work, but any advanced codecs (like the lossless formats of Blu-ray WON'T work, and your TV is just as likely to dumb it down to 2.0 stereo before output).
- It still doesn't change the fact that TVs were NEVER designed or intended to serve as the hub of a home theater system. They are ill-equipped to handle the responsibilities of an Audio/Video Receiver (AVR).

If you get a home theater system like the one Sam suggested, however, then you don't even need to worry about ARC. It doesn't come into play, because you will instead connect all your devices to the AVR instead, and AVR's ARE designed for this very purpose.

The Onkyo Sam linked to is one of the least expensive options out there. It's main drawback is that is uses a passive subwoofer - that is, the subwoofer is powered by the receiver itself, rather than plugging into the wall separately (active subwoofer). Passive subwoofers are not great performers, and you can't add an active subwoofer to the receiver in this system - so you're stuck with passive unless you replace the AVR.

The Onkyo 5500 is the next model up the line and it does include an active subwoofer, but is a bigger investment. You can look into getting a refurbished 5500 from Accessories for Less (an authorized reseller of refurbs, and a vendor that many users here have used with positive results) for under $300.

 

[gaspy]

Thanks, Jason, and Sam. I think I'll need to rethink my setup