Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Using an HD621 with a 4K screen

Thanks for the responses.

So let me summarise my understanding here:

1. ARC and eARC will kick out high res audio from a TV (source) (that is , compared to TOSLINK two channel with can kick out stereo and potentially compressed 5.1 anyway)
2. There is a "negotiation" on the ARC/eARC that determines what the "(destination)" is capable of receiving.
3. The HD621 is not able to "negotiate" over ARC so is likely not to receive anything.
4. If one adds a "PureTools eARC Audio Adapter, Splitter and Extractor" for example and connects that directly to the TV then then it will handle the "negotiation" on behalf of the HD621. The negotiated signal can then be output to the HD621 which allows the HD621 to receive signals from the TV that it would otherwise not be capable of doing.

If that is all correct, my next question would be in trying to understand the limitations of the HD621/861v4 parts of my chain.

According to WHAT-HIFI HDMI ARC and EARC everything you need to know.

eARC can handle Uncompressed 5.1, uncompressed 7,1, and High bitrate and object based signals (Dolby Atmos, DTS-x etc.).

Questions are then:
1. Can HD621/861v4 chain handle the uncompressed signals anyway? Or is that part of the chain the bottleneck anyway so the "best" I can get is compressed 5.1?
2. If it can't receive anything more than compressed 5.1 over the ARC cable, then why bother with ARC at all, why not just use the TOSLINK?

Thanks in advance
/Marcus