Should I Connect the PS5 and XSX to my TV or Receiver?

SOLDIER · Oct 10, 2020

I'm prepping my setup for next gen, and wanted some clarification on whether I'll receive the full benefits of the new consoles plugging them to my TV or my Home Theater Receiver.

My TV is an LG CX, purchased just a few months ago: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-65-...4k-uhd-smart-webos-tv/6401850.p?skuId=6401850

The receiver is a Yamaha RX-V385BL, which I got back in 2018: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/yamaha...heater-receiver-black/6198554.p?skuId=6198554

Before people say I should always plug directly to the TV, keep in mind I already have a bunch of devices taking up the HDMI slots (including the receiver itself), so the purpose of this thread is to figure out what needs to be directly plugged to the TV to get the full range of picture features vs plugging it to the receiver without any loss in quality or performance.

That's pretty much it: it's hard keeping up with all the fancy new features the new consoles are said to have, so I just wanted to know what I would potentially lose having the PS5 or XSX plugged to that receiver vs directly to the TV.

Also, as far as audio goes, for the majority of the time I'll be playing the games with headphones, so surround sound quality is currently not a factor.

And if there are any recommended HDMI switches that I can also plug some devices to without a loss in quality, I wouldn't mind learning about them as well.

OddSock · Oct 10, 2020

You'll lose all of the benefits of HDMI 2.1 plugging the new consoles into your receiver. Variable refresh rate, 120hz, auto low latency plus things like Dolby vision (in the case of the xsx). If surround isn't a factor, then forget your receiver exists.

Plug your receiver in to the arc port, PS5 and xsx into the TV, and everything else can be plugged into your receiver.

Shark · Oct 10, 2020

If you're using headphones most of the time, you only lose benefits of your display for running it through the receiver.

SuperYlvis · Oct 10, 2020

Plug it into the TV and then utilize the Hdmi Arc on your TV and receiver. This way you will at least get 5.1 Dolby. Do not plug it into the receiver, this will make you lose all the Hdmi 2.1 features.

platocplx · Oct 10, 2020

There aren't any cheap hdmi 2.1 switches both consoles should go to the tv.

Ravelle · Oct 10, 2020

I have mine in the TV and have my receiver on HDMI ARC so that everything connected to the tv goes via the receiver

Spork4000 · Oct 10, 2020

Plug them into the TV or buy a new receiver.

SOLDIER · Oct 10, 2020

OddSock said:
You'll lose all of the benefits of HDMI 2.1 plugging the new consoles into your receiver. Variable refresh rate, 120hz, auto low latency plus things like Dolby vision (in the case of the xsx). If surround isn't a factor, then forget your receiver exists.

Plug your receiver in to the arc port, PS5 and xsx into the TV, and everything else can be plugged into your receiver.

Thanks, that makes things clearer.

I've tried to get ARC working in the past but could never seem to get it working. That's why I've stuck with optical.

Is there a handy guide to get ARC working on this TV and receiver combo?

I also have an Apple TV (latest model), should that also remain plugged to the TV?

Deleted member 9857 · Oct 10, 2020

you'll definitely want to connect both of them to your TV or you'll lose VRR & other benefits of HDMI 2.1 as others have pointed out

SOLDIER said:
I also have an Apple TV (latest model), should that also remain plugged to the TV?

the current ATV 4k doesn't use HDMI 2.1 IIRC, the new rumored models might though

platocplx · Oct 10, 2020

SOLDIER said:
Thanks, that makes things clearer.

I've tried to get ARC working in the past but could never seem to get it working. That's why I've stuck with optical.

Is there a handy guide to get ARC working on this TV and receiver combo?

I also have an Apple TV (latest model), should that also remain plugged to the TV?

~~seems like that receiver doesn't support arc.~~

it supports it.

SuperYlvis · Oct 10, 2020

platocplx said:
seems like that receiver doesn't support arc.

It should if it's from 2018. Arc first launched in 2009. The op might have to do some light configurations, the first which should be to see if the arc is activated both on the tv and the receiver.

EvilBoris · Oct 10, 2020

To the TV, no contest.

You'll lose VRR, 4k 120hz support. basically all the reasons that you want such a TV for a next gen machine

MrKlaw · Oct 10, 2020

According to Yamaha's website it has eARC so you'll lose almost nothing connecting direct to the TV

on LG the arc channel goes through HDMI2 so you connect your receivers HDMI out to that input. Then connect Xbox/ps5 to other HDMI inputs. You may need to enable them as 'full' HDMI in the TV settings

platocplx · Oct 10, 2020

SuperYlvis said:
It should if it's from 2018. Arc first launched in 2009. The op might have to do some light configurations, the first which should be to see if the arc it activated both on the tv and the receiver.

Yup you're right.
found the manual.

Cocksman · Oct 10, 2020

So someone explain things to me like I'm a toddler . So I have to plug the PS5 into the tv directly to get the 2.1 features? I won't be able to take advantage of my Dolby Atmos system while playing games?

Neuromancer · Oct 10, 2020

Cocksman said:
So someone explain things to me like I'm a toddler . So I have to plug the PS5 into the tv directly to get the 2.1 features? I won't be able to take advantage of my Dolby Atmos system while playing games?

Can't you output sound from your TV to your receiver?

pg2g · Oct 10, 2020

Cocksman said:
So someone explain things to me like I'm a toddler . So I have to plug the PS5 into the tv directly to get the 2.1 features? I won't be able to take advantage of my Dolby Atmos system while playing games?

You are limited by the lowest thing in your chain. To take advantage of 2.1, your source, destination, and everything in between (cables, receiver, other) needs to supoort 2.1.

Ocean · Oct 10, 2020

Until AVRs start sporting HDMI 2.1 ports, you're gonna have to plug in next-gen consoles directly to your TV to keep the 2.1 benefits (4K120 etc).

If your AVR doesn't support eARC, you'll lose out on fully uncompressed audio though. Regular ARC is a garbage spec.

Yun · Oct 10, 2020

Yup the oleds (and arc in general) is super flaky. Once it worked here then for no reason stopped on its own and never was able to get it back to work. Sigh tried everything for weeks (literally)

RdN · Oct 10, 2020

TV, since your receiver does not have HDMI 2.1.

Fredrik · Oct 10, 2020

pg2g said:
You are limited by the lowest thing in your chain. To take advantage of 2.1, your source, destination, and everything in between (cables, receiver, other) needs to supoort 2.1.

Sigh, I'm so not looking forward to that mess. Will keep my "old" TV and receiver a few more years until everything has stabilized. I hear that some TVs and AVRs only have one HDMI 2.1 port, which would mean swapping cables for multi-console gamers :s

Darknight · Oct 10, 2020

Cocksman said:
So someone explain things to me like I'm a toddler . So I have to plug the PS5 into the tv directly to get the 2.1 features? I won't be able to take advantage of my Dolby Atmos system while playing games?

You need a receiver that has HDMI 2.1 ports on it in order for an HDMI 2.1 signal to get passed through to your TV. Without it, the best thing you can do is go through your TV and use ARC or eARC to pass the audio from your TV to your receiver if you want to use HDMI 2.1 features on your TV. The problem with ARC is it's not lossless sound.

All of this is the reason I've held off upgrading because my AV Receiver would need to be replaced for my whole setup to function and the selection of HDMI 2.1 receivers is currently abysmal. Hopefully that gets rectified in 2021.

Fredrik said:
Sigh, I'm so not looking forward to that mess. Will keep my "old" TV and receiver a few more years until everything has stabilized. I hear that some TVs and AVRs only have one HDMI 2.1 port, which would mean swapping cables for multi-console gamers :s

Yep there are only two(?) receiver lines out there right now that have HDMI 2.1. Denon only has one port while Yamaha claims to have all ports but it needs a firmware update that doesn't exist yet. Neither is ideal IMO.

pg2g · Oct 10, 2020

Really wish they would de-couple video switching from audio in receivers so that they could be upgraded independently.

While I know eARC is an option, im not too excited about running a ton of wires to a wall mounted TV. I'll likely live without some of the benefits of HDMI 2.1 until there is a suitable receiver.

Fredrik · Oct 10, 2020

Darknight said:
Yep there are only two(?) receiver lines out there right now that have HDMI 2.1. Denon only has one port while Yamaha claims to have all ports but it needs a firmware update that doesn't exist yet. Neither is ideal IMO.

Okay that's even worse than I thought.
And I'm guessing Denon having only one HDMI 2.1 port means that the same goes for Marantz? I have the Marantz SR6012, wouldn't even for a second consider replacing it if it wasn't for HDMI 2.1 features, it's still an amazing AVR.

SuperYlvis · Oct 10, 2020

Fredrik said:
Sigh, I'm so not looking forward to that mess. Will keep my "old" TV and receiver a few more years until everything has stabilized. I hear that some TVs and AVRs only have one HDMI 2.1 port, which would mean swapping cables for multi-console gamers :s

Very few receivers have 2.1, but more should arrive in 2021 I assume. When it comes to TVs, the high-end Samsung 2020 TVs have only one HDMI 2.1 input. However, the LG C9/B9/E9 (2019) and the LG CX/BX/GX (2020) have four HDMI 2.1 inputs.

Darknight · Oct 10, 2020

pg2g said:
Really wish they would de-couple video switching from audio in receivers so that they could be upgraded independently.

While I know eARC is an option, im not too excited about running a ton of wires to a wall mounted TV. I'll likely live without some of the benefits of HDMI 2.1 until there is a suitable receiver.

Maybe I'm not quite understanding what you want, but I don't see how they really can. The whole point of HDMI was to unify everything to one cable to simplify things. ARC/eARC is really the only alternative if you want to have any type of separation but even then it requires both ends to have the same ARC or eARC compatibility. Otherwise, I don't know how you're going to decouple it without splitting the video and audio into separate cables which would be even messier from a cable standpoint.

Fredrik said:
Okay that's even worse than I thought.
And I'm guessing Denon having only one HDMI 2.1 port means that the same goes for Marantz? I have the Marantz SR6012, wouldn't even for a second consider replacing it if it wasn't for HDMI 2.1 features, it's still an amazing AVR.

Oh ya, I forgot about Marantz. Ya, it would apply to them too. I hear you though on not needing to replace it if it wasn't for HDMI 2.1 or other HDMI features. I have a Pioneer Elite SC-07 and it's a really good receiver and the only reason I'm planning to replace it is to gain all the 4K/HDR pass through and HDMI 2.1 features. Otherwise, it's still a really good receiver on its own in performance.

pg2g · Oct 10, 2020

Darknight said:
Maybe I'm not quite understanding what you want, but I don't see how they really can. The whole point of HDMI was to unify everything to one cable to simplify things. ARC/eARC is really the only alternative if you want to have any type of separation but even then it requires both ends to have the same ARC or eARC compatibility. Otherwise, I don't know how you're going to decouple it without splitting the video and audio into separate cables which would be even messier from a cable standpoint.

I just mean itd be nice if video switching andaudio amplification were in different boxes. That way when a new standard comes out you only need to update the appropriate piece. It seems silly to spend a ton on a receiver for audio quality reasons only for the video part to go out of date.

Im thinking devices go into 'source' switch, output of switch goes to TV and a box that provides audio processing/amplification.

BlockABoots · Oct 10, 2020

May want to check as a lot of TVs only support HDMI 2.1 on only one input

Concrete1337 · Oct 10, 2020

pg2g said:
I just mean itd be nice if video switching andaudio amplification were in different boxes. That way when a new standard comes out you only need to update the appropriate piece. It seems silly to spend a ton on a receiver for audio quality reasons only for the video part to go out of date.

Im thinking devices go into 'source' switch, output of switch goes to TV and a box that provides audio processing/amplification.

There are some that let you do this. NAD receivers have blades essentially that you can swap in and out with new ones. So if a new hdmi spec comes out you can swap in a new hdmi card. New audio codecs, well swap the audio module.

That said I've never upgraded my cards and now that I want to for 2.1. I just kinda want a new one anyways for all the extras.

pg2g · Oct 10, 2020

Concrete1337 said:
There are some that let you do this. NAD receivers have blades essentially that you can swap in and out with new ones. So if a new hdmi spec comes out you can swap in a new hdmi card. New audio codecs, well swap the audio module.

That said I've never upgraded my cards and now that I want to for 2.1. I just kinda want a new one anyways for all the extras.

That's actually pretty cool, never heard of something like that.

pray_bentos · Oct 10, 2020

Was in a similar position and because my receiver doesn't support arc I just ran the optical out from the LG to the receiver and it sounds okay to me.

SuperYlvis · Oct 10, 2020

Duckula said:
Was in a similar position and because my receiver doesn't support arc I just ran the optical out from the LG to the receiver and it sounds okay to me.

This will always work, with minor audio loss, however, there is also the possibility of audio delay, which is much worse.

harz-marz · Oct 10, 2020

So I just got an LG CX also.... I have an older AV receiver with ARC. I have set it up with the HDMI Arc going from TV to AV receiver ARC

I then have the following going into AV receiver:

Nvidia Shield TV
Virgin Box
Switch

Currently when I try and watch YouTube from the CX itself, I have no sound, why is this?

SirDante · Oct 10, 2020

I'm not a very tech guy.. and right now I have my PS4 plugged into my TV one connect box and my receiver is plugged into my one connect box (Samsung) as well.

I get 5.1 channel sound on all the HDMI's, someone that is tech minded, is that ok of a setup for next gen? (if I disconnect my PS4 and just plug in PS5 the same way) (HDMI from PS5 to One connect box, optical cable from receiver to one connect box) am I even getting real 5.1 channel sound this way? I have PS4 set to Dolby Digital via HDMI in PS4 sound settings.

StrappingYoungLance · Oct 10, 2020

Spending the money on a CX only to plug your HDMI 2.1 supporting consoles into your receiver seems like not a great choice, especially if sound quality isn't a factor thanks to headphones.

Transistor · Oct 10, 2020

You need to plug it into the TV to take advantage of HDMI 2.1 features.

However, ARC will make you lose out on high quality audio, and I don't think your receiver supports eARC. You'll be limited to crappy lossy 5.1 DD / DTS or 2.0 uncompressed.

So you need a Sharc to send high definition lossless audio from the TV to the receiver over the eARC channel.

www.thenaudio.com

SkimpyMcChicken · Oct 10, 2020

Assuming you have a decent 5.1 / 7.1 system, you pretty much never need to upgrade again. It's officially good enough. But you've got a brand new, 4K HDR VRR television and a next gen console that needs max bandwidth. One possible (expensive) solution is the SHARC EARC Processor. https://thenaudio.com/elements/pages/fIt

Although it makes the cabling a mess

thisismadness · Oct 10, 2020

This suggests his receiver has 4x HDMI 2.1 ports, so he should be fine going through the receiver?

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/yamaha-rx-v385-av-receiver-implements-hdmi-2-1.3163960/

TooFriendly · Oct 10, 2020

thisismadness said:
This suggests his receiver has 4x HDMI 2.1 ports, so he should be fine going through the receiver?

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/yamaha-rx-v385-av-receiver-implements-hdmi-2-1.3163960/

i don't think that's true.
It does have eARC But it doesnt have HDMI2.1 features like 4K 120hz, VRR, QMS etc.

i'm thinking of getting the Yamaha RX-V6A, which will be the first amp to have multiple HDMI2.1 inputs (I think 3 inputs out of the 7). There is a new Denon line of receivers but they only have 1 HDMI 2.1 input.

Specs: RX-V6A 7.2 channel 4K / 8K AV Receiver – Yamaha USA

The Highest Resolution. This 7.2-channel, 100 Watt AV receiver boldly explores entertainment possibilities for an advanced home theater with the latest in video and audio, including Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization, DTS:X, wireless streaming and more.

usa.yamaha.com

Yamaha Unveils Two New 8K AV Receivers With A Host Of Advanced Features

Two new AV receivers from Yamaha promise unparalleled 8K support as well as host of gaming features and support for Dolby Atmos in the flagship model.

www.forbes.com

i haven't been able to find any reviews of the Yamaha RX-V6A though. Anyone seen any?

TooFriendly · Oct 10, 2020

whoops double post

MrKlaw · Oct 11, 2020

harz-marz said:
So I just got an LG CX also.... I have an older AV receiver with ARC. I have set it up with the HDMI Arc going from TV to AV receiver ARC

I then have the following going into AV receiver:

Nvidia Shield TV
Virgin Box
Switch

Currently when I try and watch YouTube from the CX itself, I have no sound, why is this?

check the TV is setting itself to ARC in the sound output, and the receiver is connected to the same one (and any setting In your receiver for arc)

also try a different all because sometimes youtube on my c9 plays video but has the sound from the previous source

Lowrys · Oct 11, 2020

If your TV has Dolby Digital 5.1 pass through, which I am 99% sure it does, you can plug the consoles into your TV and then optical from TV to receiver.

Should I Connect the PS5 and XSX to my TV or Receiver?

One Winged Slayer

2020 Member Elect

One Winged Slayer

user requested account closure

2020 Member Elect

Prophet of Truth - HDTVtest

2020 Member Elect

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Alt-Account

The Walnut King