2. home-theater
  3. 160363-128813

Soundbar AND home theater - but only one HDMI ARC

 Help!  For my casual everyday tv-watching, I really don't want to use my whole HT, I just want my soundbar system to be in use.  However, this is NOT as easy as I thought, or am I missing something?
My tv's (Sony XBR-65X950G) HDMI ARC jack is going to my HT receiver.  So my Sony remote controls the HT receiver volume perfectly. 

However, now I cannot control my soundbar because it has to use the optical output from the tv and requires me to use my Harmony remote (wife hates it and I don't love it).
So, are people like me just out of luck?  I wish there were two ARC jacks on the tv!
So, again, if my HT receiver is using the HDMI ARC, is there no good way to also have a soundbar in the system and it operate the way it's intended? 
dtximages

Showing 2 responses by mahler123

mahler123
3,087 posts
 
Sound bars don’t have a lot of fidelity that can be lost.  Even if you had a 10% drop in fidelity using an HDMI splitter no one could perceive a difference.
fwiw I used an HDMI splitter several years ago in an HT system for a few weeks.  I had bought a new component that required HDMI and my AVR, which was several years old at that point, was one of the first to have HDMI inputs but only two, and this was the third component requiring HDMI.  I used a splitter and then purchased a newer receiver.  I really didn’t notice any issues while using the splitter with the older AVR
mahler123
3,087 posts
 
You are using a sound bar as your speakers.  Why are you worried about losing a little fidelity by Splitting the HDMI signal?
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