I have a Vero4k+ hooked up with my Philips 55PUS6561/12 Android Smart TV through HDMI. Everything works great. I use my TV’s remote to control the Vero. Here is a link with the specifications of the TV.
I would like to purchase a Soundbar to use both with my Vero and with my TV (when kids watch Netflix or Youtube.
Now here are my questions:
My TV doesn’t support all the new Audio Codecs. Should I pay attention to something while choosing, to make sure that the Soundbar will cover this aspect? I am thinking on a budget solution with a subwoofer, anything else that I should consider?
What is the best way to connect all 3 devices together in order to make sure that both Vero and my TV are able to use the new addition? This TV seems to have only ARC and no eARC. I would also like to continue to use just one remote.
Any soundbar that supports ARC should get you what you want. If you just leave everything as it is and plug in an ARC enabled soundbar then it should stay working the same way except with the audio then comes out of the soundbar. Now as a matter of my own opinion since you said budget I would suggest to NOT buy one with a subwoofer as your money would be better focused on one that has better dialog and a full midrange than one that shifted some of cost to a speaker that has zero chance of reproducing anything close to a powerful impact that a sub is suppose to bring you. Subs that are worth listening to/feeling are relatively large and cost money. The best that can be done on the lowest end is to drone out in a narrow low end band so every low frequency sounds pretty much the same. As for which soundbar to go for I would suggest to find a store that demo’s them and trust your ears.
The following how-to can also be used for a point of reference for many audio related questions…
Thanks. I went through the wiki but I wanted to be sure before actually purchasing something. My wife wants something cinema like and the budget is around 400$/€ ±50 depending on what deal I can find on the local market. So from a connectivity point of view anything marked Dolby Atmos with HDMI arc/EAR should be ok?
ARC can’t do Atmos but rather just stereo PCM, AC3, and DTS. Basically the same as toslink. A soundbar with eARC can do more formats but you would need a new TV to actually be able to use that enhanced connection. If you plugged your Vero into the sound bar itself you can gain access to passing the newer sound formats but that wouldn’t get you access to that from any apps running on the TV itself. Not all soundbars have additional HDMI inputs though so that is something you may want to pay attention to. I don’t think I would factor Atmos support into a soundbar purchase myself. Unless a “soundbar” is a bastardised name for a center channel speaker with an built-in AVR and attachments for surround and height speakers I don’t think your going to gain much from spacial audio support.
Considering that I also have small kids, cables around the house are out of the question.
Here is the background of the the whole story.
We were visiting some friends and my wife heard Transformers from Disney+ on a cheaper & smaller Philips TV on a 2.1 Sony incomplete system (initially it was a 5.1 but they are missing some speakers). The bass and the depth of the sound was cinema like and my wife said that she would like that too. As Wife Aproval Factor is always very important, I started digging.
I went to the Soundbar route as it seemed the best option (to avoid cables around the house).
So basically there are two options:
I get something that has HDMI eARC IN (from Vero) and HDMI OUT (to the TV, to transmit the Video from the VERO) and any app from the TV would use the internal speakers.
I get anything else, connect the HDMI ARC from TV to the soundbar and hope for the best.
ARC, ie Audio Return Channel, means that it allows audio to transmit in both directions between a display and a CEC Amplifier device. ARC doesn’t have anything to do with other connected devices. So in your case you would have either your Vero plugged into your TV and the TV would just send the audio out from its HDMI connection to the soundbar, or else if your soundbar had HDMI inputs you could plug the Vero into the soundbar and the soundbar would play the audio from the Vero and pass along the video to the TV while at the same time if your playing audio from your TV this same HDMI connection can send audio from the TV to the soundbar. The hat trick is ARC allowing the audio to flow either direction depending on source and allowing automatic control and source switching via the regular CEC stuff (ARC is an extension of CEC) while only needing a single cable from each device plugged in (ignoring power cables obviously).
I can’t advise you on a specific recommend, but physics are physics and I think you will find that if you do some listening at a store that allows it I think you’ll find a good three channel soundbar with a bit larger drivers is going to sound better than one at the same price point with a sub included. At least on the more modest end of the price scale.