HDMI ARC Not Working? This May Be Why

Life was so much easier with RCA cables.

I really appreciate what you did here. After two hours of head scratching I found your video and just went out to buy an optical cable.

I’m glad that you brought this out into the open. I gave up using HDMI ARC and eARC.

You know, the more I think about this the more I believe that HDCP is responsible for most of the connectivity issues. Especially delays in video resolution/audio format switching.

I think the other big culprit is High Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP), which like CEC has been implemented slightly differently by every manufacturer. If there is even the slightest mismatch, then the two devices will not handshake.

Caleb, as usual, you are spot on. ARC/eARC/CEC are easily one of the most frustrating tech bits in the last decade. You would think that after all this time, they would have this figured out. Now.. the truth is that it’s much better than it once was and it also works much more reliably when same brand products are used. On the other hand, after all this time, it should work close to 100% of the time and it simply doesn’t. Manufacturers simply are not on the same page here and it makes everyone crazy!😵‍💫🤦🏻‍♂️ Caleb, Please champion this issue and see if they can make this all it’s promised to be! Keep the great content coming! 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you for this, Caleb! Am so damn sick of this issue. No matter the tv or soundbar I find myself unhooking, restarting, getting on my knees and begging… for sound.

Keep it up! Keep it “real”! No positive, half glass full videos! Your ability to keep things real is what builds trust. Builds credibility!!

I have an LG C2 OLED TV and an Onkyo rz830 A/V receiver and thank God the eARC works beautifully. I get sound from all sources. Count me as one of the lucky ones! Caleb's videos are always right on the mark and very thorough. I bought my LG OLED because of his positive reviews on it. It is a fantastic TV that thrills me very time I turn it on!

So glad to hear I’m not alone! I have an LG TV and an LG Soundbar but every time we have a power cut it takes about a month to get HDMI eArc working again. And I swear that all I do is put everything back exactly as it was - again and again.

I love the video. You can't ever fix a problem unless you talk about.

THANK YOU!!! Went in and searched out the HDMI-CEC and turned it on in the receiver settings.

Yes, please do the investigative journalism that you suggested. You will be a hero in getting to the bottom of this fiasco! And yes, I like this video and wish you would do more of them addressing problems in tech.

Finally: honesty! Thank you. I’ve been clicking, dropping in and out of menu options, unplugging & replugging, watching videos, forget “manuals” (they’re just cartoons now), etc., just to get ANY sound out of a simple set-up (yes, HDMI ARC) - just a damn DVD player/flatscreen/sound bar connection, at a 2.0 level - and it’s been days of maybe it’ll work today, or maybe not, maybe yesterday’s apparently correct settings will hold, or . . . Thanks for your rant, so much better than the No-problem videos we’re normally sedated with.

Thank you. We were recenty required to update a FIOS cable box, which massively messed up everything. And as soon as I finally got everything working correctly, and felt happy, I would make the horrible error of turning off my television and messed everything up again. So everything you said rings absolutely true. As I play this I keep pausing to repeat it to my wife so that we can laugh maniacally in recognition. I am pleased that I anticipated your solution and "just gave up" and ordered a shiny new optical cable. Thank you so very much. I feel seen.

Thanks so you and my never quit attitude, I finally connected my Samsung Q90 to my Samsung sound bar with HDMI ARC. Haven’t these people ever heard of plug-n-play? Great, informative post.

HDMI Forum/Licensing should absolutely be put on blast. They're letting HDMI 2.0 capable devices be sold as HDMI 2.1 even if they support none of the HDMI 2.1 specification.

Very timely video as I just spent a good portion of this past weekend grappling with ARC connection issues. The most infuriating thing when you get it to work one time and then it refuses to work shortly thereafter even if configured the exact same way.

I like it for the reason ! I have that problem and you are my salution every time!! KEEP UP THE FANTASTIC INFO!

POWER CYCLING: I normally don't suggest something so silly but I actually resolved HDMI CEC issues with two separate systems (1. Sony OLED eARC to Marantz receiver, 2. LG OLED eARC to Sonos Beam Gen 2) by turning everything off for a few minutes then turning it back on. If your eARC works well then stops working after a few months despite not having changed any settings, try POWER CYCLING! I know- it sounds silly but it worked for me. Just hoping it minimizes headaches for others.