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. 

[SteffenAB]

https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/Audio-Video/Everyone-who-is-wanting-to-know-about-EARC-on-the-Q-...@fb767

#EarcSamsungGate

[fb767]

I honestly find it bullcrap that we have to resort to returning the soundbar for a refund. Vision Electronics will definitely not accept my return because it's been 3 months that I've owned it (3 months of believing Samsung and Stephen Withers that the eARC update 'is coming next month'). 

We should find all the reviewers that mentioned eARC in their updates and push them to contact Samsung and their reps for updates or something. Use your Google-fu to search "Q90R review update" or something. 

To start, this rtings.com review (a website which I highly trusted): 

There have been numerous comments about some of Samsung's soundbars supporting eARC. We confirmed with Samsung that this is in an upcoming update. At this time, there's still no eARC support. We will retest it when the future firmware update is available.

I messaged them on Twitter but to no avail: https://twitter.com/MoAbush/status/1204110651855163392?s=20

Let's not give up and get what we paid for. 

[SteffenAB]

https://www.change.org/p/lg-electronics-lg-oled-c9-multichannel-pcm-over-earc 

Maybe we need something like this...

[Clapton94]

I m angry too nevertheless  don't forget that this soundbar sounds incredibly and it seems to me funny to replace it with another atmos bar which features EARC just to say hey I ve atmos. I doubt that a simple soundbar can deliver real Atmos ambiance. I prefer a great sound than a poor atmos however I fully agree that Samsung doesn t respect us at all

[fb767]

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@Clapton94 wrote:

I m angry too nevertheless  don't forget that this soundbar sounds incredibly and it seems to me funny to replace it with another atmos bar which features EARC just to say hey I ve atmos. I doubt that a simple soundbar can deliver real Atmos ambiance. I prefer a great sound than a poor atmos however I fully agree that Samsung doesn t respect us at all

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Bro, I agree with you but eARC is no small feature, especially if your TV supports it (which mine does, LG C9). We're talking about making it so that you can plug everything in your TV and still get all the audio formats rather just 2 things into the soundbar, we're talking about lip sync issues fixes thanks to eARC, we're talking about future proofind your purchase with the new standard, and more. eARC is a huge selling feature that can make or break a soundbar. 

Imagine you buy a car with a great engine and it looks great, but the thing that made you go with _that_ car rather than another or waiting for next year's model is because I tell you "it will have all wheel drive with next month's update". Now I take your money and run, no AWD update, no communication, nothing. Do you think to yourself "oh well, I spent a ton of money but at least the engine is great and it looks sexy" or do you get pissed because I misled you on a very important feature and you spent a ton of money on this car? 

[mike1986krk]

eARC is not only about loseless Atmos. eARC solves also lip-sync issues, which is a key feature for many. It is terribly frustrating when the actor's lips move and no speech is heard or when a special effect is seen, but the sound comes a second later. Especially when you spent $2000 for TV and $1000 for soundbar. I believe that $3000 home theater configuration should be pretty much accurate when it comes to audio-video synchronisation...

[jobean]

But is it 100% sure the update will not be released?? 

[mike1986krk]

No, but it has beed promised months ago. So it is becoming less and less likely to be ever released.

[Clapton94]

Fully agree but I meant no need to rush on any earc soundbar just because it s earc you know... I m mad at Samsung, I still hope they will implement it very soon otherwise I ll go with Sony LG or others. But my reflexion is to analyze first of all the sound not a technology.

[Clapton94]

In addition did anyone try dts then dts x or db then atmos, on a soundbar even on a full theater system, 90% people can t make any difference, on the contrary 90% users can make the difference between a hw-80r versus hts 5000 sony. But the topic here is to complain on what Samsung promised and about this I do complain too, last news said that they were facing difficulties with compatibility. I fear that Samsung wants to sell this new model first 😔