Let’s face it: TV speakers are not any good. You probably have had to turn your TV’s volume up to 40 or 50 to really be able to hear it in a larger room and, if you’ve mounted the TV, you might be blocking some of the sound from coming out the best that it can. TV speakers aren’t meant to be amazing, as most people aren’t going to buy a TV based on how good it sounds.
You worry about the picture, the resolution, the display technologies and the speakers are an afterthought. It’s why the soundbar business even exists, because plenty of people have realized how poor their speakers sound. Many TVs made in the past 20 years have multiple HDMI ports, allowing you to plug in external devices like gaming consoles, Blu-ray players, and soundbars. But only one of those HDMI ports is meant for audio.
What is ARC?
It makes sense to get more out of this
Your TV doesn’t have to have an HDMI ARC or eARC port. But it is the main way to get a good audio connection with another device.
You may see on your TV in the HDMI ports, one of them says HDMI ARC.ARC stands for Audio Return Channel. This is a port that’s meant to be used for an HDMI cable to connect an audio device to the TV. By connecting an HDMI cable to an audio device like speakers, a soundbar, or anything that can emit sound, and then plugging the other end into the TV, you’re creating a connection between the two devices.
Many soundbars and speakers can use Bluetooth, but you aren’t going to get the same connection and transmission through the speaker as you do if they are directly connected. It’s similar in terms of how Ethernet speeds are generally higher than Wi-Fi speeds because of its direct connection.
The HDMI ARC protocol came to TVs in 2009 and has been used ever since, with speakers, soundbars, and AV receivers being built with those ports as well. It works much better than the previous method of plugging in a coaxial cable from the TV to the receiver’s audio port. HDMI ARC uses any kind of HDMI cable, so you don’t have to go out and find a specific one that works with your audio.
Why this can affect your TV’s sound
Make things easy on yourself
First off, if you are connecting a soundbar to your TV, you’re going to want to simplify the process of controlling the TV and the soundbar. If you choose an HDMI cable with HDMI CEC built in, this allows the devices to communicate with one another more than just through their audio connection. Basically, if you have one with HDMI CEC, you can use one remote to control both your TV and your soundbar.
HDMI ARC, at the end of the day, is all about making your life a little easier. It is used to reduce the number of cables needed, as you can plug an HDMI cable from the TV directly into the soundbar, creating a two-way connection between the devices. This helps ensure that any sound from the TV instead comes out of the soundbar or speaker. In almost every scenario, a soundbar has more speakers than those built into the TV. This means that your audio experience is going to improve.
What’s an eARC HDMI port?
It’s a specific bonus for your TV
You may notice that your TV has an HDMI eARC port rather than an ARC port. This means your TV is newer and offers compatibility with a more up-to-date technology. eARC is an Enhanced Audio Return Channel, which came around in 2017 once HDMI 2.1 was announced.
The difference between ARC and eARC is that eARC can handle higher-quality audio than ARC can. That two-way network has more bandwidth and is faster, allowing for better audio to reach your speaker. eARC can deliver up to 32 channels of audio, giving you a broader range of options.
In order for eARC to work, the device that you’re plugging the other end of the HDMI cable into also needs to have an eARC port. You can’t plug one end into eARC and the other into ARC. The same goes for an ARC port into a regular HDMI port. You don’t actually need a newer HDMI cable even to work with eARC, but you might have better results if you have a newer one.
Make sure you’re using the right port
People are used to plugging things into their TV’s HDMI ports. But, there may be one that is labeled ARC, which is meant to be utilized by your soundbar or audio receiver. This is a dedicated port that can connect the two devices with an HDMI cable in order to deliver direct audio. If your TV has an eARC port, it can handle more enhanced audio. If you have a soundbar, you likely are plugging it into your HDMI ARC port and should continue doing so.
