topic Re: 4k upgrade advice in Other TVs

4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 18:39:40 GMT

Hi there everybody, I'd like to ask advices regarding 4k upgrade. Generally, I'd go to SONY store and ask there but there is no SONY store around here. I can go to general electro store but those guys there are usually just able to repeat what's written on the sticker so no help there either. So yes, I'd ask SONY technical support to help decide but hey, there is no online SONY technical support. That apparently means I have to bother community and hope for someone willing to burn some time helping me out...
Anyway, I currently have Bravia KDL-50W656 with STR-DH540 receiver, in 5.1 config. Receiver receives PS4 Pro and nVidia's 960 GPU based PC. Now I'd like to replace the TV for something 4k HDR with 55" and I am not sure about my choices. Main purpose is gaming and movies, no actual tv watching, cable either terrestrial, is planned. I usually watch Netflix, HBO GO and stuff. Do I have to replace my receiver also? I was actually hoping I could use this ARC feature and change the setup to 'tv centric', instead of 'receiver centric'. But, if I understand it correctly, ARC supports only compressed formats like DD or DTS, is that correct? PC GPU outputs LPCM in games, no chance to compress it like in the old DTS connect/DD Live days. And what about GPU connection, will its HDMI output in 4k? My 4k Dell monitor can be connected with displayport but not the tv, I guess. I'm really not sure where to even start...

Re: 4k upgrade advice

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 19:12:50 GMT

Hi there

Wow, quite a few questions there. And yes, this comminuty will help you. Just bare in mind though, when you have lots of questions, it is easier to use bullet points instead of huge paragraphs (well it makes it easier for me anyhow )

Which 55" 4K TV?

This one is hard to answer as you have not given a price budget to work with. No point recommending a TV when it doesnt suit your budget.

General AV Receiver Questions

Even though your STR-DH540 supports 4K pass-through, unfortunately it does not support HDR. At current, only the STR-DH770 supports HDR in the EU/UK Region (hopefully set to change with CES Announcements in a couple of days time). So at the moment, its been the general advice to connect the PS4 pro directly to the TV and output audio via HDMI-ARC.

You are correct, ARC does not support higher audio formats such at DTS-HDMA or Dolby TrueHD. So if you were to play movies via the PS4 Pro (Bluray), those audio formats will not work with when passing audio through the TV to the STR-DH540 via ARC. It will still play DD5.1 though.

If you want the best of both worlds (video and audio wise) - connect the PS4 Pro to the TV. And purchase a Bluray player that connects to the AV Receiver.

Cheers

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 11:57:54 GMT

Hello Quinnicus, thanks for the replay and the tips! I'll try to be more exact, you're right, I was kinda confusing. It would be much easier to draw a picture, I guess. Let me rephrase the questions:

How to get one common 4k and HDR display for both PC and PS4?

While PS4 can output compressed audio bitstream, which can be directed from TV to receiver via ARC, what about PC? I believe it outputs LPCM 5.1 only, via HDMI 2.0. Would that somehow work with ARC also?

Right now I have both PC and PS4 connected to receiver, which outputs picture to HD TV. If I replace TV with new 4k model, can I connect both PS4 and PC to TV now and output audio only to receiver?

/edit: OK, I created some schemas. First, the current setup is like this:

If I want to upgrade TV to 4k HDR model but not spend extra money for a new receiver, I need to change the setup to this:

Is that correct? Does anyone know if PC GPU will work this way? I know PS4 definitely will.

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:02:40 GMT

OK, I can clearly forget that plan, just tried ARC on my current TV and it's LPCM 2.0 or DD5.1 ONLY, yes, not even DTS passthrough, definitely not usable for PC connection. Man, I WILL need a new receiver, jeez. Can't believe we still need those ugly big boxes just to have some sound, it's like we are forever stuck in nineties....

Re: 4k upgrade advice

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:08:08 GMT

Hi there

Was just reading up on the following - which you might find interesting:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/5-1-surround-audio-passthrough

You should be able to pass-through DTS 5.1 via ARC.

Cheers

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:09:25 GMT

Ah, seems superinteresting, checking...

Re: 4k upgrade advice

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:10:50 GMT

The PS4 Pro will be connected directly to the TV.

However on the nVidia GPU (or whatever you have) are you able to split the audio and video and connect the video to the TV and the audio to the AV Receiver??

Re: 4k upgrade advice

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:18:22 GMT

Also have a read of this:

http://uk.rtings.com/tv/tests/inputs/input-lag

As your interested in gaming.

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:18:53 GMT

And somehow tie these two together in receiver settings, so I have both picture and sound when switching inputs, right? Hmm, I have to try that. I mean, yes, I can surely split A/V and send audio via optical or coax but I am not sure how to encode it to DD or DTS so I can keep multichannel. I already mentioned that, good and expensive PC boards in pre-HDMI era employed Dolby Digital Live to achieve that but those techs are long gone, I'm afraid.

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:20:31 GMT

Yes, nice and actual table, thanks again. I keep an eye on input lag each time I buy a new tv indeed.

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 01:49:55 GMT

Yeah, I played a bit with PC and I did split audio to optical out as you adviced and connected it directly to receiver, where I paired it to proper input in settings. But as I was afraid, I got only LPCM 2.0 this way, as the board in the PC doesn't support encoding into compressed multichannel formats to push 5.1 through TOSLINK. It means I'm stuck with stereo in games with such setup. Bitstreaming of both DD and DTS from BD disks works well though.

Maybe if I could use another HDMI cable to output audio only, from PC to AVR, effectively replacing mentioned optical connection with HDMI. But as I understand, HDMI _requires_ videosignal present, audio only connection is not possible.

Re: 4k upgrade advice

RenMcCourtey — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 10:07:41 GMT

Now I am hypothetically somewhere here:

I just can't believe that with all these outputs from PC I am not able to connect it to the chain anywhere and have both 4k@60Hz and lossless multichannel.:-(