Psychopasta's Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[Psychopasta]

I guess I could put the screen in front...that's a thought. It would reduce the throw of the projector by about 2'. I'll have a play with that once I get back on the project.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Get a bigger acoustically transparent screen and stick the front speakers behind it while you're at it.

Do note though that you have to make sure the shorter throw distance will work well for the screen size you want/get (unless you can move the PJ further away to match)...

_Man_

 

[JWC1969]

I guess I could put the screen in front...that's a thought. It would reduce the throw of the projector by about 2'. I'll have a play with that once I get back on the project.

Psycho, stay strong with your plan! HT Forum upgrade comments are like hitting a crack pipe! While I agree that an AVR with a load of passive speakers and a sub or two is the ultimate (that's my rig in the basement), there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with a nice Sonos Arc/Sub/pair of OneSLs system (which is my family room rig). Sounds better than fine and, better yet, really shines in the WAF department in terms of aesthetics and operability. Have fun and good luck!

 

[Wardog555]

Psycho, stay strong with your plan! HT Forum upgrade comments are like hitting a crack pipe! While I agree that an AVR with a load of passive speakers and a sub or two is the ultimate (that's my rig in the basement), there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with a nice Sonos Arc/Sub/pair of OneSLs system (which is my family room rig). Sounds better than fine and, better yet, really shines in the WAF department in terms of aesthetics and operability. Have fun and good luck!

This is all about maximum home theater experience isn't it? You know like replicating a cinema.

What your saying only means a average tv viewing with average audio.

Just making sure people are aware of their options and not just compromise the crap out of it for their personal preference rubbish. Ohh wait you have already done this.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I'd agree the Sonos solution would probably be a good compromise for WAF in a livingroom space, but for such a dedicated HT room where you're gonna put in this kind of effort and also going w/ a good PJ setup, I'd think a bigger and better audio setup to match would make more sense... but ultimately, this is all about your (and your family's) entertainment goals, not mine or anyone else's, so...



_Man_

 

[Psychopasta]

It’s ok guys I’m a big boy

I do appreciate that there’s a lot more that I can do (or spend) on the audio front but really I’m happy. I’ve done the whole separates thing to, and it does call to me.

@JWC1969 is spot-on with my calculation between spend, quality and usability.

 

[Wardog555]

Big boys like big toys! We love big sound and big screens!

Enjoy regardless of what you do.

You can upgrade one part at a time if needed aswel!

 

[DFurr]

Big boys like big toys! We love big sound and big screens!

Enjoy regardless of what you do.

You can upgrade one part at a time if needed aswel!

If you have room, the bigger the better. I've never heard a large HT with active speakers that replicated a commercial theatre. Speaker size and amp power (passive) makes a huge difference.
If you don't believe me, come to southern California and I'll show you.

 

[Psychopasta]

I’m sure you’re right @DFurr! I’m in SoCal too, Rancho Santa Fe. Once I’m finished we can have the battle of the theater rooms!

 

[JohnRice]

I’m sure you’re right @DFurr! I’m in SoCal too, Rancho Santa Fe. Once I’m finished we can have the battle of the theater rooms!

Dude, you have no idea what you’re competing with.

 

[Psychopasta]

On, I’m pretty sure I’ll come second…

 

[John Sparks]

That red is what my walls, ceiling and carpet is in my home theater. Flat back is used for the screen wall. Half ways up all the other walls are dark gray.

Show Off Your System! The HTF Theaters Thread

My Cinemascope home cinema was built as an extension to the rear of an 1865 Victorian Villa in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand. I named it the “State” in remembrance to the art deco State theatre which once proudly stood at the entrance to the Village of Devonport . My cinema was built at the...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[Psychopasta]

Hey guys I have hit a snag and need help.

I have an OREI eARC 4K 60Hz Audio Extractor to split the output from the Apple TV to a projector stream and an soundbar stream. But, the Arc is not recognizing the EARC signal and is therefore not picking up sound.

From the Apple TV settings I can use Airplay to cast to the Sonos speakers fine. But the issue is getting the eArc signal into the Sonos Arc. Any ideas, or recommendation for a device that does work?

- Mark

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Try getting that (extracted) audio signal into something else much simpler first to make sure the extraction is working at all. Have you made sure the extraction (in the way you have set up) actually works (w/ a simpler setup apart from the Sonos)? OR maybe you just don't have anything simpler or just something else to verify that the extraction is working at all?

BTW, when I first read this last post, it really confused me w/ all the mentions of eARC and Arc. I kept wondering if you were referring to the ARC (or eARC) technology used via HDMI (that could otherwise be a culprit), LOL.

Had to doublecheck back a bit to be sure you didn't mean that at all w/ any of those names mentioned (even though your audio extractor is supposed to support eARC/ARC).

Might be good to not use the eARC and Arc names at least for this part of the Q&A/discussion so there's no unnecessary confusion. I would think just saying OREI (HDMI) audio extractor and Sonos should suffice... unless you're really trying to make use of eARC/ARC feature/technology.

Anyway, are you also testing all this w/ or w/out that HDMI switcher you originally intended to use (between the ATV4K and audio extractor)? That could potentially cause a problem.

_Man_

 

[Psychopasta]

I thought just the same thing. I'm going to refer to just 'the Sonos' to mean Sonos Arc sound bar

On reflection, I do not think the Orei is splitting out what I need. I was hoping it would be the equivalent of the eArc output from a TV. I've ordered an HDFury Arcana from Amazon to try out, I can return it if that's not the problem.

Yes I have removed the HDMI splitter so the signal path is just ATV -> OREI unit, then one output to the projector (works fine), the other to the Sonos. But the Sonos just doesn't detect anything. I'll get the Arcana Sunday. I'm kicking myself for not just prototyping this on the kitchen table a month ago

BTW, the specific error message I get is from the Sonos app. When I try to connect the Sonos to the 'TV', I get a message 'HDMI ARC not detected'. I have ensured the cable is plugged in!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... do you maybe need to turn off eARC/ARc on the Sonos? IF that's on (and you really don't need it), that might be causing a problem (even though it probably shouldn't... in an ideal/bug-free world/implementation, LOL).

IF you can, turn it off on the OREI extractor too. Afterall, you're just (going to be) using a PJ that doesn't have eARC/ARC nor "smart" streaming apps or the like. There's no real reason to keep eARC/ARC enabled.

_Man_

 

[Psychopasta]

OK guys, I fixed it.

As part of the work, I removed the OREI from the signal chain, and it never got put back in again. I'm sure it was working perfectly the whole time and wasn't a problem. But I can't be sure of that, as it's no longer part of the system.

Two happy accidents got everything as it should be.

When we laid the HDMI cable run from the closet to the projector, we actually ran two cables just in case one didn't work or failed in service. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that these were unidirectional, and one was installed the wrong way round. Smacked forehead number 1.

Then, I realized that the projector does have an eARC output, so I could use that to drive the Sonos without the OREI. Having one cable the wrong way round suddenly made sense! I knew I did it that way for a reason.

Last, I realized that when you mount a projector from the ceiling, it is upside down, so the HDMI connector 'on the left' becomes the HDMI connector on the right. Once cables were connected to the correct ports, all was well.

I now have a fully working system! Pix to follow once I've tidied up

- Mark

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Having one cable the wrong way round suddenly made sense! I knew I did it that way for a reason.

LOL! Well, as long as it ends up getting you what you could use/want anyway... Like they say, sometimes it's "better to be lucky than good", LOL...



_Man_

 

[Psychopasta]

I only have one remaining issue with my system. I get no sound on the Sonos system if I set the projector to use eARC. If I use plain old boring ARC, I can get Dolby Digital 5.1 as reported by the Sonos app when I watch Rings of Power. AFAIK this is as good as ARC gets.

When I switch the projector audio to use eARC instead, everything appears to work, no error messages anywhere, but I get no sound out of the Sonos. I tried reconnecting the Sonos to the TV system, this appears to work but still no sound.

Does anyone have any ideas which switching the eARC should lose the sound? The projector is at the latest release of its firmware, as is everything else.

- Mark

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

So eARC isn't working even when you connect the Sonos directly to a regular eARC-capable TV presumably w/ good, not particularly long, HDMI cable?

FWIW, most of us don't use/rely on (e)ARC at all -- there's usually no such need when using something like an ATV4K (or standalone disc player) for source and something else (other than the display) to switch inputs.

Also, even if your Sonos work fine using eARC direct to a TV (as it probably should), the setup you're actually attempting might be excessively complex and might push up against (or exceed) the spec limits of the tech, eg. you're doing what sounds like rather (too?) long (and maybe too complex?) relays w/ HDMI eARC for which it's probably not really designed (or the various actual hardware/devices not implemented well enough) to handle.

NOTE: eARC is an HDMI 2.1 (or higher) feature. I googled, but not too clear what cable length limit there is to maintain eARC signal integrity. I suggest you try running tests to verify the Sonos (and whatever else) works properly w/ eARC using shorter/normal cable lengths in direct connections first... and then add greater lengths and/or complexity a step at a time (and isolate any issue/bottleneck).


One other thing. What audio format were you trying? Seems like Sonos has iffy/lacking support for DTS formats -- this rting review mentions some firmware/software update (early this year) that added some DTS support, but perhaps crucially, not DTS-HD MA (nor DTS:X):

Sonos Arc Review

The Sonos Arc is the manufacturer's flagship soundbar released in 2020. It's a smart soundbar with built-in voice assistant capabilities designed for easy integr...

www.rtings.com

I'm not sure how common DTS-HD MA is for streaming (as I never paid attention to that), so maybe that won't end up mattering, but I imagine it can be a pain for disc playback to possibly need to change settings to accommodate (so you can still get Dolby Atmos when that's available for instance). OTOH, maybe that Sonos update also enables it to just use the DTS core that's included w/ DTS-HD MA (and DTS:X), which would ideally address this potential issue.

Also, not sure if the Sonos via eARC, or maybe eARC in general, can properly handle the Dolby Atmos variant that the ATV4K pumps out -- that's another tricky thing about streaming devices, particularly Apple's support for Dolby Atmos.


Like I said, most of us don't use (e)ARC nor would want to rely on it, heh...

_Man_