Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems How to get Hi Res formats into 861v6/861v8 - Without a UHD722

I can see both sides to the argument and that they work for 2 different types of indervidual.

The VVROOM looks a very tidy device with great features! But all in one box works well for many at the same time..

Would be good to know if the VVROOM takes a DD+ stream in on a HDMI input (like a Roku 4k outputs with Netflix) and then does it pass the required locm or 5.1 downscaled to the HD621 to get Cinema on the G6*/861?

Regards
David

HDFury boxes do absolutely nothing to the audio stream apart from split it from the incoming (or EARC) and pass it to the processor audio output as HDMI 1.4 matrixed into a blank video signal. You have to configure your source to send what is palatable to your Meridian processor. If your player can't do the unpack and send LPCM multichanel, you won't hear it.
Don't know about the ROKU, but by manipulating the EDID data in the HDFURY you can get an amazon fireTV to send LPCM even though it's not a configurable option in the FireTV. Probably worth a try.
It would be great if someone would produce a black box that simply took in DD+ and higher bitstream on HDMI and split the channels out to 6 or 8 LPCM on HDMI, but I've not found anything that can actually guarantee to do that. In the Meridian Architecture this could only be done by a significant enhancement to the HD722 - there's not enough bandwidth in one SPDIF connection to send a DD+ bitstream to a Meridian Processor to decode.

I mentioned before. Anyone buying a VRRoom (Vertex 3) as of today needs to be prepared for the firmware to stabilise. It's very much a beta product today. The underlying 2.1 chipset it relies on is very new and HDFury are working very hard to get everything working as it should. There is also a new version of the hardware coming out soon which will allow gamers to play games and also use a capture card for streaming to their YouTube/TikTok channels. All very niche but once you get outside the pure Bluray/Projector world, these features are required and are way outside the bounds of the functionality of a UHD722.

The Vertex and Vertex 2 are based on a previous version of HDMI chipset, which has more stability and maturity.

As I also mentioned, for Bluray playback via Projector/OLED/etc the UHD722 will work just fine if you are happy to spend £2K.

My point really, was given the OP already had a HD621, there are other options that can get you more functionality for a lower outlay. But essentially, anything to do with HDMI is a massive PITA. It's not just Meridian and HDfury that have a problem keeping up with the evolving HDMI spec.

Cheers
Greg

This is a neat little widget that can extract 8 channels of audio from HDMI as well as the audio return channel from an appropriate TV. This would work especially well for those looking to extract PCM audio from their ARC equipped displays thus letting the TV do the switching and such. They are available with either XLR, RCA or BNC multichannel outputs. There is a stereo version as well. As an added bonus, it can convert DSD to PCM.

https://audiopraise.com/projects/internal/vanitypro/

Bruce ,
Does It use the same vanity board that was used on the Oppo 203?

Jonathan

Not sure.

Bruce,

This does indeed look like a nice bit of kit. But its a single channel HDMI in/out. So you could use it on your AppleTV or Bluray player. But I dont think you can use the HDMI switching on the TV for multiple devices and then route the Audio out of the TV via ARC. I dont think thats how ARC works. So the only audio you would get out of the TV's would be audio from the built in Apps.

Also ARC only supports compressed Audio due to its limited bandwidth. For PCM it would need to support eARC and that pesky HDMI 2.1 spec again.

If Im wrong Im happy to delete this post, but a lot of people on the HDFury forums ask about this and that has always been the response.

Cheers
Greg

This would be best placed behind a switch on the forward feed rather than relying on ARC. Functionally the VanityPRO appears identical to a 722 except for the switching part being missing and the DSD transcoding to LPCM being added. If it would extract those 8 channels from a DD+ or higher bitstream rather than from LPCM embedded, it would indeed be interesting. I'm still of the opinion that you're better off with a Vertex2 or VRROOM and a HD621, but YMMV. Of course if you're not using a Meridian Processor, the absence of forced MHR would be an advantage, but then you wouldn't be reading this anyway.

An ARC connected soundbar does exactly this where every connected device to the TV the audio is routed out of the ARC HDMI Port.

I went with this
Keydigital

Pretty sure the lower end model would function the same.

This unit doesn't scale, I connect to my TV and let the TV do the scaling.

I then connect Coax into the 861 and setup several phantom sources.

Works great.

Only issue I have, is that w/ a Tivo Edge, on some channels, if i skip around a lot, Cinema will sometime sync to Discrete.

A few months ago, I had the third replacement PSU fitted in my G68XXV and I felt that enough was enough and that it was time to update my system to take into account newer formats. Just getting a UHD722 would still leave me with the annoying G68 so I looked further afield and finally decided to get a Marantz AV8805A to replace my G68/HD621 combination. I decided on this model from the relatively few balanced output AVPs available. As it is due to be replaced soon with a new model, the pricing is currently very good at <£3,000. It also can do 8K should I ever need it.

I have had the AV8805A as the core AVP in my system for 3 months now and I have been very pleased with its performance on all kinds of source material. It has linear PSUs with toroidal transformers so should not suffer from the dreaded Meridian PSU issues.

So, my solution to "Is there an alternative to the UHD722?" is more radical than you might have expected.

Are you also using the Marantz to process and output Atmos content in some 5.1.2 or 5.1.4 or similar configuration? I am toying with what to do next, which would also mean a switch away from a M Pro, I’ve been considering Marantz and Denon options, as several are coming to end of line and are reduced.