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Hi.
Has anyone got any experience or recommendations for baluns that will pass through Dolby 5.1 to Aura via the splitter loop?
I fitted Cat 6 Ethernet cable a few weeks ago and bought a couple of baluns so I could watch tv in kitchen at same time as lounge when my wife and I are in different rooms.
The ones I have work really well but it means I’m restricted to stereo only on the main tv in the lounge.
The lounge has Dolby Atmos amp and the kitchen feed goes into a 5.1 capable soundbar.
Thanks
JohnWilkinson – 16 mins ago »
Hi.
Has anyone got any experience or recommendations for baluns that will pass through Dolby 5.1 to Aura via the splitter loop?
I fitted Cat 6 Ethernet cable a few weeks ago and bought a couple of baluns so I could watch tv in kitchen at same time as lounge when my wife and I are in different rooms.
The ones I have work really well but it means I’m restricted to stereo only on the main tv in the lounge.
The lounge has Dolby Atmos amp and the kitchen feed goes into a 5.1 capable soundbar.
Thanks
The problem is the Kitchen TV is telling your AVR during the video handshake, it can only handle PCM stereo even though your amp is going to handle the audio.
I have a similar issue with Denon AVR 3 zone output. If I want 5.1/atmos in the lounge I have to use a different input on the AVR switched to the Kitchen.
Having a Freesat box also connected and send the same live content to the kitchen TV from the Freesat box and the aura to the lounge only. You might be able to fix it by splitting the HDMI at the kitchen end and use a edid switchable splitter.
Try a splitter at the Kitchen End with EDID switching.
Hi Graham.
Thanks for the reply
.
I know the problem you mean with the kitchen tv as I had no end of bother stopping my 4K Apple TV defaulting to the lowest common denominator last year.
I did solve that by using an actual hdmi cable from lounge amp to kitchen into a hdmi switch, then into kitchen sound bar and finally into tv, all by hdmi. The switch has a power on/off so by powering off the switch it broke the link to the kitchen and we can watch 4K/Dolby Atmos in the lounge (when not using kitchen tv).
The soundbar in the kitchen is Dolby 5.1 capable and uses hdmi in and hdmi out (does have optical too).
I’ve run a separate cat6 cable that I’m using just for the Aura. I was hoping, given that the amp and the kitchen are both 5.1 capable, that a higher spec balun will allow 5.1 in lounge and kitchen at same time.
I use Harmony Remotes in both rooms and have every activity programmed to single button press so my complicated setup isn’t an issue.
Sorry, realise this is very long winded.
My amp has a workaround that provides a 5.1 speaker outputs using a DTS-Neural- X encoder from a stereo PCM source. It’s not as good as proper 5.1.
This article might cast some light on the issue.
https://sewelldirect.com/blogs/learning-center/managing-edid-and-hdcp-in-hdmi.
Thanks again Graham.
I’ve taken a chance on these
If they don’t work I’ll go with the pseudo 5.1 on the amp as you suggest
JohnWilkinson – 5 mins ago »
Thanks again Graham.
I’ve taken a chance on these
If they don’t work I’ll go with the pseudo 5.1 on the amp as you suggest
Please post how you get on with these. I tried something similar before I had a 4K AVR and TV.
A while ago following a thread from a poster having similar issues with a Sky-Q box found a device which was imported from the US. I forget what it was though 😯
Will do.
I only found out about baluns because you wrote about them on this forum previously.
JohnWilkinson – 4 hours ago »
Hi Graham.
Thanks for the reply
.
I know the problem you mean with the kitchen tv as I had no end of bother stopping my 4K Apple TV defaulting to the lowest common denominator last year.
I did solve that by using an actual hdmi cable from lounge amp to kitchen into a hdmi switch, then into kitchen sound bar and finally into tv, all by hdmi. The switch has a power on/off so by powering off the switch it broke the link to the kitchen and we can watch 4K/Dolby Atmos in the lounge (when not using kitchen tv).
The soundbar in the kitchen is Dolby 5.1 capable and uses hdmi in and hdmi out (does have optical too).
I’ve run a separate cat6 cable that I’m using just for the Aura. I was hoping, given that the amp and the kitchen are both 5.1 capable, that a higher spec balun will allow 5.1 in lounge and kitchen at same time.
I use Harmony Remotes in both rooms and have every activity programmed to single button press so my complicated setup isn’t an issue.
Sorry, realise this is very long winded.
Have you still got the HDMI cable ? Have you got a spare HDMI input on your AVR ?
I don’t think the balun spec is the issue. If you had a 4K Kitchen TV then it would allow 4K viewing in both locations the remote TV would still need 5.1 capability.
Eg. If I had two LG C9 OlED’s and a large enough kitchen and a bottomless wallet (if only).
Then the upgraded baluns should do the job. (The LG-C9 has Atmos and 5.1 decoding built in.
Have you considered a HDMI audio extractor with video passthrough and toslink output at the the kitchen end. Leaving the TV to handle the video and the soundbar to handle the audio. That would leave the lounge TV to upscale to 4K from 1080p to 4K as usual (The handshake will reduce the video to 1080p for both).
I wish they would just start making (cheap
) 22/24” 4K TVs for second rooms. Would solve a lot of problems. I’m semi confident the baluns will work as the kitchen tv isn’t involved in the audio decoding.
I currently have a hdmi cable from lounge amp to kitchen soundbar and it happily plays 5.1 in lounge and 2.1 in kitchen simultaneously.
The soundbar is capable of accepting 7.1 input via hdmi.
The baluns are arriving today so I’ll post back later with results.
JohnWilkinson – 1 min ago »
I wish they would just start making (cheap
????
Lost half the post somehow
Hi Graham.
Success. The baluns work perfectly.
Short of time right now so I’ll post properly later or tomorrow.
All sources going into lounge amp. Zone A hdmi to lounge tv. Zone B hdmi into Balun.
Now getting 5.1 in lounge and 2.1 in kitchen. Zero dropouts in 20 minutes or so I’ve had to test it.
Only tested 5.1 using Plex on Aura as there’s nothing being broadcast in surround at the moment.
JohnWilkinson – 1 min ago »
Hi Graham.
Success. The baluns work perfectly.
Short of time right now so I’ll post properly later or tomorrow.
All sources going into lounge amp. Zone A hdmi to lounge tv. Zone B hdmi into Balun.
Now getting 5.1 in lounge and 2.1 in kitchen. Zero dropouts in 20 minutes or so I’ve had to test it.
Only tested 5.1 using Plex on Aura as there’s nothing being broadcast in surround at the moment.
Excellent news. Does not fix it for me as no space for a 5.1 sound bar. TV is small but full-HD and is wall mounted near the ceiling.
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