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Using two HDR enabled consoles on a TV with only one HDR enabled HDMI port (PS4 Pro and Series S)

oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,024
UK
Hi all, need some advice from people with two or more consoles that can output HDR but only have one HDMI slot that allows this

I have a 2017 Sony TV with 4 HDMI ports, they're only listed as 1, 2, 3 ARC and 4, and I have had my soundbar in the ARC port, with 2 being the HDR enabled port, so the Pro has been used in this port over the last few years

Picked up a Series S this week and added it to the HDMI 1 port, and to my surprise it output in 4k, which was nice as for some reason I thought only HDMI 2 was 4k

Fired up the first Ori game, and it looked great, but I could tell it wasn't in HDR, so looked in settings and my Xbox was telling me that this HDMI port was not outputting HDR, so I switched the ports around so the Xbox was in HDMI 2 and now HDR is working fine

So my question is, other than HDR, will I be missing anything by keeping the PS4 Pro in the non HDR HDMI port? I'm guessing not as it's still outputting at 4k so I should still see games that run above 1080 over 1080 right?

If I just then swap the HDMI ports around when I'm playing a PS4 Pro game that supports HDR, that would be fine right, or will I need to re-calibrate the HDR each time I swap the ports on each console?

How do you guys with more HDR enabled consoles than ports manage things on your TVs?
 
Relix

Relix

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,222
I agreee with the switch recommendation. Plugging and unplugging will just wear down the port.
 
Pocky4Th3Win

Pocky4Th3Win

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,098
Minnesota
What 2017 Sony TV do you have that can only do HDR through a single port? I had a 2015 prior to my OLED and it could do HDR on all 4 ports..
 
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oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,024
UK
Pocky4Th3Win said:
What 2017 Sony TV do you have that can only do HDR through a single port? I had a 2015 prior to my OLED and it could do HDR on all 4 ports..
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Transistor said:
I'm curious about this, too. What's the model of the TV oni-link?
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I'll have a look when I'm back in my lounge, it was a Bravia model

Is there a way to check which HDMI Ports are what? I did Google it but on the back of my TV they are just listed as 1, 2, 3 ARC and 4

Maybe it has two that can do HDR, but I know that slot 4 can't and slot 2 can, and 3 is ARC
 
mingo

mingo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
815
London
HDMI 3 is the other one that can support HDR, same as my Sony. But as you said you are using that for your sound bar. Thats why I use optical lead for my sound bar.
 
Pocky4Th3Win

Pocky4Th3Win

Member
Oct 31, 2017
4,098
Minnesota
Arc just means it's the audio return channel. It can be used for anything but if you have a sound system it's the port you would use for it.

I never seen a modern tv limit HDR on inputs.
 
Soriku

Soriku

Member
Nov 12, 2017
6,904
Your HDMI 3 should be HDR capable but it's already taken by a soundbar.

I'd say that switch, or if you had separate speakers, a receiver.
 
ekim

ekim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,405
oni-link said:
I'll have a look when I'm back in my lounge, it was a Bravia model

Is there a way to check which HDMI Ports are what? I did Google it but on the back of my TV they are just listed as 1, 2, 3 ARC and 4

Maybe it has two that can do HDR, but I know that slot 4 can't and slot 2 can, and 3 is ARC
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My old TV had the "deep-color" option enabled on Port 1 but not Port 2 - I had to manually do this in the settings and it was buried somewhere I did not expect it. Maybe it's the same for you?
 
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oni-link

oni-link

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Oct 25, 2017
16,024
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Thanks for those saying 2 and 3 should work

Edit: (I meant to tag mingo and Soriku in this post)

I Googled it again and yeah it's saying on 2017 models 18Gbps works on port 2/3

Maybe a stupid question but I'm guessing my sound bar won't work on a non ARC HDMI port, will it?

Is an optical lead for a soundbar just as good as using the ARC port, or are there issues with delay and quality by switching to optical?

If I opt to go for a switcher, do these work without any loss in quality?
 
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ty_hot

ty_hot

Banned
Dec 14, 2017
7,176
I dont really get what is the point of ARC ports... the way I understand it is you can connect as many devices to the TV, and the TV will send the audio through the ARC connection to the soundbar/receiver. But that is exactly the same thing that happens if you use an optical cable, right? I understand that eARC has higher bandwidth (7.1 lossless), but what does an HDMI ARC do that an optical out cant do?

edit. I read that one 'advantage' is that you can have less cables, but how exactly do you have less cables if you need 1 HDMI from TV to Speaker instead of 1 Optical from TV to Speaker?
 
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oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,024
UK
dallow_bg said:
Yes, in this case optical would be the same quality since I'm sure your tv and sound bar aren't "eARC".
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Oh god I've never heard of that, how do I find out of it's eARC or not? Soundbar is also from 2017

Will any optical cable do or is a better cable better quality?
 
Jedi2016

Jedi2016

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,669
Get a switch or a receiver, so everything's only using a single input on the TV. The only control I touch on my TV is power, everything else is handled through the receiver.
 
Transistor

Transistor

Hollowly Brittle
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
37,156
Washington, D.C.
oni-link said:
Oh god I've never heard of that, how do I find out of it's eARC or not? Soundbar is also from 2017

Will any optical cable do or is a better cable better quality?
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Your 2017 TV wouldn't have eARC. So in your case regular ARC and Optical would give you the same thing. So your best option would be

HDMI 2: PS4
HDMI 3: Xbox

Optical (TV) --> Optical (sound bar)
 
disillusion386

disillusion386

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,465
oni-link said:
Oh god I've never heard of that, how do I find out of it's eARC or not? Soundbar is also from 2017

Will any optical cable do or is a better cable better quality?
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Do you have the X900E by any chance? Your HDMI ports sound awfully like mine. I just plug in my PS5 and SeriesX in 2 and 3 then have optical out to my soundbar.
 
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oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
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Oct 25, 2017
16,024
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disillusion386 said:
Do you have the X900E by any chance? Your HDMI ports sound awfully like mine. I just plug in my PS5 and SeriesX in 2 and 3 then have optical out to my soundbar.
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Nah I don't think so, it's model was KD something if memory serves. It does sound like I need to replicate your set up though

I'm hoping to upgrade my TV in a year or so, I'm still on the whole happy with my TV, and the Series S will be a companion console to the PS5 I'll get in 2/3 years time. That's the plan anyway!
 
Soriku

Soriku

Member
Nov 12, 2017
6,904
I don't remember any audio issues with my old 2.1 Vizio soundbar that used optical. You can probably get away with plugging it through optical if you have that option, and then plugging your other console into HDMI3.
 
disillusion386

disillusion386

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,465
oni-link said:
Nah I don't think so, it's model was KD something if memory serves. It does sound like I need to replicate your set up though

I'm hoping to upgrade my TV in a year or so, I'm still on the whole happy with my TV, and the Series S will be a companion console to the PS5 I'll get in 2/3 years time. That's the plan anyway!
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Ah gotcha. Yeah, the X900E was the popular gaming TV in 2017 here (or maybe the old site) if you didn't want to spring for OLED. Yeah, my set up works really well for me. No issues with HDR and audio.
 
F34R

F34R

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,990
I have two rooms setup differently.

Main living room has a soundbar connected to tv. Console and uhd player connected to soundbar.
game room has three consoles connected to switch, switch connected to vid capture card in pc, that goes out to monitor.
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,366
I've had a lot of luck with HDMI switches (multi-in to single-out) for various devices, and I expect to eventually need one with HDMI 2.1 compatibility for my new TV, which unfortunately only has one 2.1 port (out of four).
 
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oni-link

oni-link

tag reference no one gets
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,024
UK
Just an update to this thread, I got an optical cable today and moved audio output from HDMI ARC to optical for the soundbar, which works fine

I then moved the Series S to HDMI ARC and put the PS4 Pro back to HDMI 2 and then fired up both consoles to check the HDR was set up and working, and it was fine on both systems

Thanks to everyone that helped me with this!
 
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