TV as HDMI switch

Hello,

Wondering if anyone else might have this usage case...

I'm likely to plug all my HDMI sources into my TV and then use the ARC feature of the TV to the Vanity Pro. I understand there are some limitations in the TV in terms of sample rate (everything is sampled to 48khz), but its possible that when eARC is more commonplace this limitation will be usurped. From my reading, eARC is really intended to increase the ability of the TV to process higher bit rate audio information so hopefully that means 192khz LPCM streams will be available via the eARC output.

I understand the Vanity doesn't do eARC but that shouldn't really matter... a 192khz LPCM stream is the same if its ARC or eARC, right?

I'd plan to have a UHD blueray (xbox X), a PS4, and an RPi (HDMI out) connected to a TV with google TV/chromecast built in (Sony TVs). I'd be able to route all my source materials through the TV and out through ARC port.

Given the Vanity Pro's ability to de-jitter the HDMI sources with excellence, I don't see any reason to utilize/integrate another source besides these... I can stream just about any app via the chromecast, watch/listen to UHD bluerays, and stream via the RPi via DLNA...

Am I missing anything here? Sounds really simple and clean in my head, this product solves so many problems with multiple digital routing protocols like SPDIF, USB, I2S, and many others.

Thanks for the time!

Thought I’d get a little more traction on this ☹️

Maybe my question should be: how are others handling or intending to handle multiple hdmi sources?

Thank you.

Hi feurkils,
Thank you for your suggestion. One of the main differences between ARC and eARC is that the later supports multi-channel and higher sampling rates. But, that all depends on the TV set and I would be very surprised if the audio subsystem support of a TV would be as rich as of a decent Bly-ray player for example. In theory your plan to make the TV your main HDMI multiplexer should work, but with the limitation that the TV must be on all the time - even for pure audio playback. If that is not an issue for you, the go ahead! In most cases people make their Blue-Ray players the main HDMI mux (switch), mainly for the audio bandwidth - high sampling rate support, audio formats - CD/DVD/BR/SACD, streaming and audio decoding capabilities.
Feel free to elaborate on the topic further.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Pavel,

So you're right, the feasibility here explicitly depends on what the TV's LPCM output capabilities are. I'm crossing my fingers eARC TVs will usher in the capability of outputting 192khz LPCM signals because of the increase in bandwidth and acceptance of all the lossless formats. I've been meaning to go to a local TV shop and see if can dive into the settings on some eARC TVs for "research" purposes. Either that or find/read through the owners manual and attempt to figure this out. It's certainly a potential issue I'll need to research/resolve beforehand.

For discussions sake, if the TV can output 192khz LPCM via eARC/ARC, the VP should be able to handle it correct? eARC or not?

You make a good point about the TV needing to be on but I don't think that would be an issue, all my HDMI sources would be used with video during playback even if I'm listening to music only I'd use the TV for album art, playback viewing etc.

Hi feurkils,
There is always hope, but I would not rely on the expectation that eARC capable TV sets automatically support 192kHz sampling rate. The Vanity^PRO has ARC (not eARC). Therefore you are limited to stereo anyway. If it is not an issue, I would love the results of your TV capabilities research. Maybe if they let you connect the Vanity^PRO you would get instant confirmation what the supported sampling rates are
Regards,
Pavel

Hi all

I don't own one of these yet but when I read the specs I thought it was eARC so after reading this I went back to check. And yes it jus says ARC. I expect using an HDFury device between this and the tv eARC would work but I was wondering why only ARC and not eARC capable.

My use case would be to watch live TV via PC / Dirac / multi channel DAC.

Hi alc_aardvark,
The reason for ARC (only) is fairly simple. Certain properties of the HDMI interface we required for the VanityPRO operation were only available in non eARC HDMI chipset. With eARC silicon devices available these days eARC integration would not be a massive issue, but usability in the VanityPRO is still questionable. eARC equipped sources (TVs) rarely send raw multichannel in PCM, not even mentioning DSD. Preferred mode of multichannel audio transfer over eARC is with compressed formats, which the VanityPRO cannot decode. Devices like HDFury can help with having all the options available.
You mention watching TV via PC, do you mean the PC being the main source of HDMI signal?

Regards,
Pavel

Thanks for the explanation Pavel. It makes sense. I have almost finished building a HDPlex silent PC to be the main processor. Most things are available via Web based streams but some live programming is still locked down to closed hardware platforms. I am yet to decide if they are important enough for me to worry about but it's great to know that this device is available.