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RESOLUTION AUDIO FORMATS over HDMI Surround Sound  What you need for surround sound: Source: Blu-ray, TV broadcast, Internet Streaming, DVD Decoder: Audio Video Receiver or Soundbar HDMI cables Speakers: at least 6 or more or a soundbar  HDMI CABLE You need at least HDMI 1.3 standard capable gear to process Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby TrueHD. Dolby Digital Dolby Digital is a form of discrete digital 5.1 surround sound. Dolby Digital is a whole family of digital surround encoding technologies created by Dolby Laboratories. It is also known as AC-3, or Adaptive Transform Coder 3. It' has the capabilities for various channel configurations, however, it is most widely used as 5.1 surround sound. It includes Front-left, Center, Front-right, Surround-left, Surround-right, and subwoofer channels. Dolby Digital is a lossy encoding technology limited to 640 kbits per second, however, most DVD players may limit it to 448 kbits per second. Since Dolby Digital treats each channel discretely and is digitally encoded, Dolby Digital requires a digital decoder to provide the 5.1 audio standard. Most home theater receivers can decode Dolby Digital, however, to get the signal from a source, such as a DVD player, to the receiver you must use a digital audio connection such as optical or digital coax cable or HDMI. DTS DTS, also a form of Discrete Digital 5.1 Surround, stands for Digital Theater Systems. DTS is a competing standard to Dolby Digital. It is a discrete digital surround standard that provides multiple channel surround including the Front-left, Center, the Front-right, the Surround-left, the Surround-right, and the subwoofer channels. Similar to Dolby Digital, it is different in one primary way. It provides lossy encoding up to 1536 kbits bandwidth on DVDs compared with Dolby Digital's 448 kbits. Depending on the sound system, a broader dynamic range and less hiss may be noticed. Like Dolby Digital, DTS requires that the home theater receiver supports decoding DTS and also requires optical, coax digital audio or HDMI connections. Dolby Digital Plus Dolby® Digital Plus is an advanced, more capable digital audio codec based on Dolby Digital (AC-3) which has historically been used by DVD, broadcast TV, satellite and cable TV for years. Dolby Digital Plus supports up to 7.1 discrete channels when implemented in Blu-ray Disc media. For a stereo presentation, the decoder plays a two-channel downmix. There is no need to include a separate stereo (two-channel) mix because Dolby Digital decoders can create a stereo mix from a 5.1 mix on the fly. Online content providers use Dolby Digital Plus because it is more efficient than Dolby Digital, however it is still a lossy format unlike Dolby TrueHD which is lossless, therefore taking up more space which is why it is found on the high capacity Blu-ray discs. So with Blu-ray, if you can get Dolby TrueHD and ATMOS, you will get a richer ATMOS since it is using the lossless Dolby TrueHD stream. Dolby TrueHD Dolby TrueHD stands for true high definition. TrueHD has nothing to do with high definition video. It is an audio standard. TrueHD is a next generation encoding standard. This standard is optional for Blu-Ray players. TrueHD uses a HDMI 1.3 connection standard. The optical and digital coax connections are not capable of carrying Dolby TrueHD. Dolby ATMOS Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound technology that was first developed in 2012, expanding upon the pre-existing 5.1 and 7.1 surround-sound set-ups with surround channels coming from overhead, enveloping the audience in a dome of sound. But unlike traditional channel based systems, Dolby Atmos doesn't just send audio at discrete levels to each speaker. The technology can also produce up to 118 simultaneous sound objects, allowing the sound designer to place each sound and voice to exact points within the soundfield rather than simply assign them to specific channels. These objects can be manipulated and moved around within the space creating a convincing 3D soundstage. Adding two or four ceiling speakers in home environments in addition to the 6 or 8 ground speakers creates a dome of sound. Any Blu-ray player that fully conforms to the latest specifications and can output a bitstream audio signal for your AV receiver to decode can playback Atmos. Current Online streaming services, even headphones have ATMOS capability. ATMOS is not sound but information about sound. ATMOS is carried in a Dolby TrueHD or a Dolby Digital Plus stream. Not all sound sources will have ATMOS. Check the source content. Online services usually will use Dolby Digital Plus to carry ATMOS metadata when available. DTS-HD DTS-HD is the Digital Theater Systems' answer to Dolby TrueHD. The specification allows for unlimited channels that can be down-mixed to the number of channels supported on the home system. The bit-rate is also flexible because it can be as low as lossy DTS, or all the way up to lossless quality. DTS-HD standard is optional on Blu-ray high definition discs. HDMI HDMI supports Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and other high resolution audio formats. HDMI has been designed from the very first version to carry up to 8-channels of audio, 192kHz, 24-bit uncompressed audio, which exceeds all available current consumer media format. Plus HDMI can carry any compressed audio format, such as Dolby or DTS. The Dolby or DTS compressed audio formats are the only multi-channel or high-resolution audio formats that can be carried across the older S/PDIF or AES/EBU interfaces (optical or digital coax). In addition, most existing HDMI sources can output any compressed stream, and the newer sources can output uncompressed 6-channel, 96kHz audio from a DVD-Audio disk. There are A/V receivers available on the market that can receive and process the 6- or 8-channel audio from HDMI. HDMI itself does have the capability to carry up to 8 channels of audio and compressed audio streams. The key consideration in connecting audio source to audio processor using HDMI is as follows: 1) Does the source device send the desired audio out over HDMI? 2) Does the audio processor, such as a receiver, have the capability to handle the sent audio using HDMI? Many modern audio/video receivers do have the capability to handle the latest multi-channel high res audio but be careful, many do not. HDMI Cable Connections HDMI devices such as Digital Cable TV boxes, Blu-ray players, HDTVs, Internet media boxes and Audio/Video Receivers can use an HDMI cable to carry video and audio signals. In fact HDMI MUST be used for the newest audio surround sound as the SPDIF optical and digital audio coaxial cable connections are not capable of handling the newer audio (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD). An HDMI cable is connected from the source device (Blu-ray player, cable box) to the decoder device (audio/video receiver) and another HDMI cable from the decoder device HDMI OUT to the HDTV's HDMI input.   In the case of the TV as the source, connect an HDMI cable from the TV HDMI ARC/eARC port to the AVR or soundbar HDMI ARC/eARC port so audio will be sent from the TV to the sound processor. The source (TV, Bluray, DVD, streaming device) may need some adjustments on the sound OUTPUT menus so that you are selecting the correct audio OUTPUT.  Select the surround sound output on the source device Your source device may have a audio setting of AUTO  Sometimes this is the best setting Also select the correct surround sound mode on the Audio Video Receiver or Soundbar In addition, be sure to select the correct SOURCE on the Soundbar or AVR (Bluray player HDMI input for example). Verify by looking at the display on the AVR or soundbar.   Connect HDMI cable from source device output to HDMI input on AVR or soundbar. Connect HDMI cable from AVR HDMI OUT to TV HDMI ARC/eARC HDMI input. In the case of a streaming stick, just insert the HDMI connector into the HDMI input on the AVR.  ARC/eARC port The HDMI 2.0 standard can handle high data transfer rates allowing you to take advantage of a feature called ARC (Audio Return Channel). The newer and improved version, eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) requires an even higher data transfer rate, leveraging the new HDMI 2.1 standard which can handle up to 48 Gigabytes per second (Gbps). If both your TV and soundbar support ARC, or both ARC and eARC, it should allow you to pass high-definition audio between your devices using just one cable — just make sure to use the appropriate high-speed HDMI cable for your setup. Check your TV specifications to find out which audio streams it can passthru because some budget TVs will not passthru the higher audio codecs. For this reason, in the case of streaming sticks, you may want to connect to the AVR instead of directly to the TV. The AVR can usually handle Dolby Digital Plus. If both your TV and soundbar support ARC, or both ARC and eARC, it will allow you to pass high-definition audio between your devices using just one cable — just make sure to use the appropriate high-speed HDMI cable for your setup.  TV rear panel with HDMI ports. The HDMI 3 port has the chipset for eARC and ARC. Look for HDMI port labeled HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC/ARC on your gear. HDMI Cables HDMI cables have advanced over the years from HDMI Standard cable to HDMI High Speed cable to Premium High Speed and then to Ultra High Speed. The best cable to buy is HDMI Ultra High Speed Cable because it is the only cable that complies with stringent specifications designed to ensure support for all HDMI 2.1b features including uncompressed 8k@60 and 4K@120 video. The cable’s bandwidth supports up to 48Gbps, it is backwards compatible with existing HDMI devices, and features exceptionally low EMI which reduces interference with nearby wireless devices. For verification and authentication, the cable packaging is required to display the Ultra High Speed HDMI Certification Label which includes the Cable Name Logo printed on it. I need an HDMI cable for my 4K TV, what should I buy? Buy a high speed HDMI cable that supports at least the HDMI 1.4 standard (2009), the first HDMI standard to support 4K signals. To get a 4K picture, all components must support 4K: the cable box or streaming service, the HDMI cable and the TV. If you are using an old standard HDMI cable purchased before 2009, it will not have the bandwidth to carry a 4K HDR signal. HDMI over Cat5 and Cat6 – A Cat5/6 extender will convert the HDMI signal into similar Ethernet IP packets that can be transmitted over the category cable and reconverted at the other end with no loss of signal strength or fidelity. Using this approach, an HDMI signal can be transmitted about three times further than an active HDMI cable–approximately 100 meters (328 ft.). Shielded (STP) Cat6 cable is recommended for its ability to reduce EMI interference from power lines and crosstalk within the cable. HDMI over fiber – The connectors on fiber HDMI convert conventional electrical inputs to pulses of light that are transmitted at high speed through optical fiber, then converted back to electricity on the receiving end. Since signal transmission is optical, it isn't subject to EMI/RFI line noise. HDMI over Fiber can be extended well beyond the 100 meter/328-foot limit of copper Ethernet cable. HDMI audio extraction An HDMI signal includes both video and audio, which is convenient because you need only one cable to connect a cable box, game console or streaming device to your television. But if you want to play audio through an older analog sound system that doesn't have HDMI support, you will need to separate the audio track from the video. That's where an audio extractor comes in. An HDMI audio extractor splits an HDMI signal into a separate HDMI signal and an audio output. Depending on the capabilities of the audio extractor, you may have the choice of compressed or uncompressed (LPCM) audio outputs, for example, 3.5mm stereo or a multi-channel format like 7.1 surround sound via TOSLINK. When buying an audio extractor, make sure the video and audio output formats match the capabilities of your television and sound system. NOTE: Manufacturers can pick and choose which of the HDMI 2.1 standard’s features they want to support. They can support them all or just a few, and either way, they’re still allowed to claim that they offer you the HDMI 2.1 standard. HDMI Versions HDMI Cables Wiring diagram - HDMI Surround Sound • How to hookup Surround Sound • What's the best way to get connected to the internet? click here Columbia ISA Audio/Video Empowering consumers through information |