What is going on with eARC update for the soundbar HW-Q90R?

[zhspence]

Hi everyone,

I need some clarification, as to be honest the Samsung support staff are hopeless with knowing anything about their own products. 

I was on chat with support enquiring about the eARC firmware update for this soundbar, he replies to me saying it doesn't have eARC?! 

the whole reason I purchased it was because of this update, I have the LG C9 which is eARC!

if they don't provide this firmware update to allow it, then this soundbar is going back for a refund. 

[zhspence]

Hi, yes Samsung apparently released it in May they actually did not. A reviewer shared information with me that the update comes this month and I have also been in touch with techradar who have also confirmed it after I let them know that it initially did not support eARC like in their review.

VRR would 100% work direct to tv with a 2.1 HDMI cable I have a two metre one that cost me £17. In terms of if the soundbar does, I’m not 100% sure it should tbh but don’t bother asking Samsung support because they told me it didn’t support Dolby vision.... it does.

Yeah that’s correct through arc is lossy audio DD and earc is lossless so true dolbytrueHD (you’ll be able to use this when eARC comes to soundbar) soon, dependant on what the source material supports that you’re watching.

You can still get 7.1 surround but Jsut not through using PCM you’d have to bitstream it but once the update is out from LG this year or next PCM 7.1 will be supported lossless through PCM.

(I should get a tech job, instead I’m a student nurse) 😂

[Blib]

Haha yeah, I think I know more about tech than about my work myself, just how ut is I think. But I sure wouldn’t want to work tech support for a living, I think having it for a hobby is more than enough headache 😄

But then is there no way to get Atmos from the Netflix app or similar on the TV then, until the Samsung update? Since that requires eARC? Since Atmos requires truehd right? Only regular DD?

And that LG bug, is that accepting 5.1 PCM, or sending out over eARC? Or the passthrough feature?

Lastly, I’m guessing that there is no way to output audio from the TV into one of the other HDMI ports on the sound bar correct, we have to use the eARC port? Because the soundbar supports 7.1 pcm input on those two HDMI ports yeah?

And thanks again for answering this man, you are saving me from hours of work and debugging tonight when the TV and soundbar arrives. Trying to gather all this info by googling took me several hours, being able to gather my thoughts here and get some feedback is such a relief.

[kylios88]

Hi @zhspence, 

I am in the exact same position as you are. I have an LG OLED C9 television en recently bought the Samsung Soundbar HW-Q90R. My 14 days refund period end this weekend and I was wondering if you chosen to get the refund at te seller or kept the soundbar in waiting for the upcoming eARC firmware update. 

Despite all the positive information about the upcomming eARC update, there is no absolute guarantee till de update is released.  I still have doubts about returning the soundbar and play it safe. 

Regards, 

Kyle
 

[zhspence]

Yeah, I couldn't work in the tech industry. You can get atmos on Netflix and Apple TV 4K if you have one of those. All you have to do HDMI cable in HDMI out from soundbar to C9 HDMI 2 which is the arc input. 

then in sound settings go to HDMI arc and turn earc on and then make sure it is set to passthrough. You will get atmos display on the soundbar when any atmos content is playing. It will be lossy atmos using DD+ but soon as eARC comes to the soundbar it'll be Atmos through DolbytrueHD. 

The LG PCM issue doesn't allow 5.1 either. It's two Channel audio but will allow it when the LG updates happens whenever that will be. You'll still get 5.1 and 7.1 on content that supports it but just ensure on the HDMI inputs it's set to bitstream. As on the C9 You can change the input for each HDMI to pcm or bitstream. 

yeah to get lossless audio you need to use the eARC port to allow the formats to passthrough fully. Like I said you'll still get 5.1 and 7.1 but not through pcm just bitstream. 

not a problem, glad I could help. Also when you get your soundbar if you experience any connectivity issues with the sub or rears the new update plans to fix this and remember when you update the soundbar you then have to update the sub and rears seperately. Hope this all helps. 

[zhspence]

Hi,

I agree, I initially was sceptical about keeping it but in the end I did. I have had reviewers and tech radar tell me we get the update middle of November which bring eARC support to the 2019 Q series tvs and soundbars. I have been assured that this update is coming so I have kept the system as it’s a fantastic soundbar I can’t deny that.

Another reason why I was reluctant to send it back was because it’s the only soundbar that supports real 7.1 surround with also up firing rear speakers which no other soundbar package has.

[MarceloFM]

You can get lossy Atmos from the Netflix app on the C9 to this soundbar. Working fine here. Make sure you set the HDMI ARC port to eARC passthrough.

The EDID reported by the TV to the source (PC, game console, BD player etc) does not include 5.1 PCM. I edited the EDID manually on my PC and I am able to send PCM 5.1 to the TV but the TV only passes 2 channels to the soundbar. That is actually a problem with many TVs, not only the C9.

Multi channel PCM has been announced by LG for 2nd quarter 2020 via firmware upgrade, so we will need to wait.

You can only output audio to the soundbar from the TV via the TV HDMI ARC port (or via optical cable but that is not an option for HD audio). You can pass 5.1 PCM to the TV via HDMI but the TV will pass only 2 channels to the soundbar.

You are going through the same issues other owners have been. Key points are: you need to wait for the eARC support to be added to the soundbar this month to get lossless TrueHD audio, and multi channel PCM on the C9 is coming next year.

[Blib]

Thank you everyone, going to read through the new of the comments in a bit, but I just had an idea while I was out and figured I could ask about it ASAP. 

My motherboard also has an integrated graphics chip/sound card and hdmi out. Can't I just send video out on my nvidia card, but 7.1 pcm audio out on the motherboard hdmi directly to the soundbar? That should give me the best of both right? 

[MarceloFM]

Yes you can definitely do that. Just select your onboard HDMI port as the digital audio output on nvidia control panel.

I am planning to do the same but I don't have a spare HDMI port on my GPU. I will need to buy a passive DP++ to HDMI adaptor.

We might run into some config issues with Windows thinking the soundbar is a second monitor.

Nevertheless this is a great alternative for PC users.

[Blib]

Went out and bought a new HDMI cable now, going to test using ut for sound from the mobo later tonight. Just barely had time to get ut up and running yesterday before i had to go to bed, so really excited about the tv now. 

Another thing that struck me though, the LG bug is only PCM right? So when the Samsung gets the eARC update ut should be able to recieve trueHD lossless Atmos from the TV instantly right? As opposed to now where it only can handle lossy Atmos? 

[Blib]

So no luck so far with mobo HDMI, it doesn't register the HDMI cable. Thinking maybe it is disabled in bios, so in checking that today. Hoping that having them both enabled won't lead to windows thinking there are two monitors as well and nvidia therefore disabling VRR. We'll  see. 

Also I heard that LG has not enabled truehd atmos for their webos apps, so I won't be able to get lossless atmos from Plex on the TV to the soundbar even after the eARC update.