ARC or Audio Return Channel is one of those home cinema features that firstly most people don’t know what it is and those that do sometimes have a hard time getting it to work with their specific setup.
ARC is the ability to send sound in the opposite direction so that audio sources received direct on the TV (Terrestrial / Digital / In built Media Player) can be output on the home cinema AMP & Speakers instead of the in built TV speakers.
As it took me the best part of an hour to research / test this, I thought it would make a useful post.
This guide will walk through the enabling of ARC on my TV (LG 47LW550T) and my home cinema Amp (Onkyo TX-SR608).
The necessity to do this came from wanting to stream movies from my home server running Plex direct to the TV whilst utilising my home cinema speakers for the sound.
There are a number of pre-requisites:
- You should ensure that the HDMI connection is from HDMI out on the Amp to HDMI1 on the TV
- The HDMI lead should be HDMI 1.4
Now to get to the configuration. I believe the ordering here is important so for best results, I’d suggest doing the following steps in sequence.
Firstly, we need to enable RIHD on the AMP:
- Press Setup on the Onkyo Remote
- Assuming you have OSD enabled, you will see the setup menu on screen.
- Go to Hardware Setup
- Go to HDMI
- Set HDMI Control (RIHD) to On
- Set Power Control to On
- Set TV Control to On
- Exit Setup by pressing the Setup button on the Onkyo remote
We now need to configure the TV audio:
- On the LG remote press the blue Home button
- Goto Setup
- Goto Audio
- Change Digital Audio Out to Auto
- Change TV Speaker to OFF (Personal Choice)
- Set ARC Mode to ON
- Press the Blue Home button on the LG remote
We now need to configure the TV input selections:
- On the LG remote press the blue Home button
- Goto Input
- With HDMI1 highlighted, press the Red button on the remote to access Simplink
- Scroll down to Speakers and click right until HT Speaker is highlighted
- Press the OK button on the LG remote
You should now find when you watch normal TV or any of the build in Internet Apps / Media players etc, the sound will come through your Amp on the TV/CD channel. This has made watching streamed movies from my home server a much more enjoyable experience – why would you want to listen to anything through small in built speakers when you have a home cinema amp that is begging to be used?
Will this work on my Sony HT-DDW890 home theatre system I am getting the LG 47LW550T today. Brian
Not sure about other Amps, would hope so!
You are a godsend! Thanks for putting this together! Saved my bacon after way to long trying to get this fixed after it suddenly stopped working.
Cheers,
JJ
So glad it helped 🙂
I have tried everything to get ARC working on my newly purchased LG-55LM640s in combination with my (also new) HarmanKardon 270. It drives me absolutely crazy that it’s not working, considering that I have purchased a rather expensive 1.4 HDMI Cable which supposedly should support this.
I have set up the TV with the HDMI cable on both ends connected to the assigned HDMI (ARC) in ports. My home cinema, the Harman Kardon says that the tv is connected (CONNECTED TO TV), and sometimes when I switch off my TV, the HK set also turns off. But I can’t manage to get this working.
What am I doing wrong here? Would really appreciate the help!
Regards,
Mas
Hey Massi,
Have you successfully completed the speaker selection part of the tutorial:
We now need to configure the TV input selections:
On the LG remote press the blue Home button
Goto Input
With HDMI1 highlighted, press the Red button on the remote to access Simplink
Scroll down to Speakers and click right until HT Speaker is highlighted
Press the OK button on the LG remote
Are the speakers actually listed there when you’re scrolling through the options?
Are you using HDMI1?
I know this bit was key to making the LG work with the Onkyo, perhaps its the same with your amp.
Thanks so much for this article/tutorial.
I’ve successfully connected my Sony XBR75X900F to my 7-year old Onkyo TX-SR608, including using a Caavo Control Center for all my devices (Direct tv, fire tv, Apple TV, etc), which works beautifully through my Google Home Hub. The end result is a smart set up with beautiful 4K picture where available and 1080p if not feeding 4K. All that with the great surround sound and options from the Onkyo.
I had been scratching my head for a few hours and now it all works.
Thanks again for writing this!
Thanks for writing this. I didn’t know I needed to change an HDMI setting from the default on my Onkyo receiver to enable audio return and never would have thought to use the HDMI out on the receiver. This worked for my new TCL TV and 5 year old Onkyo receiver.
Glad this article is still helping people 🙂
Thanks, did I understand it correctly? Onkyo hdmi output is also ARC and when watching tv for exp. Netflic Onkyo amp is reading full audio in 5.1?
Thanks
Thanks so much for the article… the manuals are impossible to follow and I have spent months tearing my hair out trying to get it to work, and it took about 2 minutes with your help! Onkyo TX-SR608 and Panasonic TV.
Hey Nick, really pleased that this guide is still helping people out 🙂
Will this work with the TX-SR605 also?
Thank you! I searched everywhere to enable ARC on my Onkyo TX-SR608 and Hisense U8H, and this was the solution! So happy right now!