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Interestingly enough, HDMI Audio Return Channel, the feature most soundbars and television sets use for audio, uses the same pins as HEC. In some cases, these two are combined into one term – HEAC – but it’s not very common. In short, an HDMI cable that is labeled as High Speed or ARC compatible is also HEC compatible.
As part of the process, you should consider enabling HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control), so you can turn your TV on and control the volume on your soundbar or amp without the need for multiple remotes. A word of warning, though: turning HDMI CEC on can have some unwanted AV side effects, so you might want to experiment first.
Or perhaps your smart TV is using a built-in video app such as Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video. Either way, you don’t want to use your TV’s speakers for audio – you’d rather hear everything played through a soundbar or AV receiver instead.
If you have a home theater sound system or a soundbar, ARC over HDMI is a useful feature. What it does is establish a communication between the audio and video devices connected directly to the HDMI ports on your television. It is true that you can find ethernet being used in home applications, but for the most part, all devices use WiFi. This is one of the main hurdles HEC had to overcome and, for the most part, didn’t. There is one area where HEC was implemented, although in a much different way. This is the reason we see ethernet included in most HDMI cables produced today. Best Uses of HDMI Ethernet Channel/HEC Connectivity Since 2009, HDMI cables have builtin ethernet capabilities, but not many people are using HDMI cables to connect to the internet. There aren’t even many devices that support the internet over HDMI. Why is that? Is it more efficient than ethernet cables or is it a useless feature? Should you buy an HDMI cable with ethernet?When you switch to an HDMI input, ARC intelligently detects it and creates a bidirectional link between the source and audio device, transmitting the audio streams to the sound system connected to your TV over a unified interface. It eliminates the hassle of plugging in multiple cables and allows users to have an overall clean setup. READ NEXT: The best 1080p, 1440p, 4K and ultrawide monitors Does the physical construction of the cable matter? While most HDMI protocols work over any standard HDMI cable, you should still look out for the ones that have “Ethernet” mentioned in the specifications to take advantage of the HEC functionality. However, some high-speed HDMI cables often omit the Ethernet channel to allocate more bandwidth to the audio and video streams. There’s scope for eARC to deliver up to 32 channels of audio, including eight-channel, 24bit/192kHz uncompressed data streams at speeds of up to 38Mbps.
eARC basically does the same, but its capabilities are enhanced. It gets a massive boost in maximum audio bandwidth, enabling high-quality, multi-channel, lossless audio data to be transmitted from your TV to a sound system. So, unfortunately, ethernet over HDMI is pretty much dead because it’s too complicated to build equipment that supports it, and the alternatives are much better. However, the channel is being repurposed in a couple of ways which we’ll talk about below. HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) and HEC: When HDMI 1.4 made its debut, HEC or HDMI Ethernet Channel was pitched as a convenience factor. Rather than relying on two separate cables for AV and Ethernet, users could just use one cable connected to a TV or home entertainment device to fulfill their needs. Yes, HDMI over Ethernet extenders require power to function. The transmitter and receiver units must be plugged into an electrical outlet or powered through PoE (Power over Ethernet) injector. It’s also worth mentioning that an HDMI cable with Ethernet costs mostly the same as any other standard high-quality HDMI cable. The Concept Behind HDMI Ethernet ChannelAn IP-based controller applicance can be used to turn any video distibution setup into an AV matrix switching or even video wall control setup that enables users to place any content from any source to any display. When multiple AV receivers are combined into a video wall, users can create presets, specific content zones and control content remotely. The system’s mobile support enables users to easily access and activate presets from a cell phone or tablet device. Video Matrix Switching Since HDMI ARC and HEC use the same pins, any HDMI cable that is marked as “HDMI with Ethernet” or ARC will work. Ultimately, I wouldn’t worry too much about finding the perfect HDMI cable, most modern ones built within the last decade should work just fine. What about eARC? Enhanced Audio Return Channel (also known as eARC) is the next generation of ARC. It’s a feature implemented in the most recent HDMI 2.1 specification. Plenty of products other than TVs also offer eARC connectivity. Onkyo and Pioneer were the first to offer eARC updates on select AV products such as the Onkyo TX-RZ830, Integra DRX-5.2, Pioneer SC-LX502 and Pioneer VSX-LX503 AV receivers. The 4KIP200 4K HDMI over IP kit boasts matrix switching, video wall support, easy visual control, fast seamless switching, and other amazing features. The AV over IP solution is ideal for wide applications like sports bar, restaurant, shopping mall, retail store, house of worship, casino, college and university, etc.
Colour can also be affected, as Category 1 and Category 2 cables haven’t got the bandwidth to convey the enhanced 10-bit colour depths, or Deep Colour, output by 4K Blu-ray players and 4K HDR consoles, let alone the 12-bit colour depth used by some Dolby Vision screens and 4K Blu-ray players. HDMI splitters divide HDMI signals to be displayed on multiple screens and can also be used to distribute audio separate from video channels. This allows accurate, reliable digital video reproduction without distortion and attenuation. Splitted audio channels can be required in any environment where speakers or PAs are installed independently from any visual output, for example in a shopping malls or on a school campus.Think of this example. Say you have a soundbar hooked up to your TV. Using CEC, you can use the remote control for your TV to manage the sound coming from your soundbar. The TV does this by transferring that information across the HDMI cable to your soundbar. You need to make sure your devices are CEC compatible to make sure they will work in this fashion. Conclusion
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