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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1384448
without the need to use a separate digital audio cable. What this means for the Apple TV, however, is that for the first time you’ll be able to pass audio INTO your Apple TV from other sources, such as a PlayStation 5 or Blu-ray play. This is designed to work in tandem with the Home Theatre Audio feature that was introduced in tvOS 14.2 last fall, which allows you to use one or two full-sized HomePods as a Dolby Atmos compatible surround sound system. While that was a really cool and useful feature to begin with, there was one thing missing that would prevent most people from ditching their AV receiver entirely — it only worked with content played directly from the Apple TV. Clearly, Apple realized that and has sought to address this limitation by introducing eARC support in the 2021 Apple TV 4K, allowing audio to be fed back from the ARC port on your TV to the Apple TV 4K so that it can then in turn be sent back to your HomePods. With HDMI ARC or eARC turned on, your Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) can receive high-quality audio from a supported TV and then play that audio through your HomePod speakers. The result is that a new Apple TV 4K and a pair of HomePods will now be able to work as a full home theatre audio system for most users. In my case, it’s working exactly as designed with a pair of HomePods, with full surround audio streaming from a PS4 and even an older HD-DVD player, through my TV and Apple TV, straight to my HomePods. I’ve already ripped out my older Denon 7.1 receiver and wired speakers, significantly simplifying my home theatre configuration and cleaning up a whole rat’s nest of wires in the process. What You’ll Need Note that the list of requirements to make this work is actually pretty stringent. The HomePod mini is not supported, nor are any of the older Apple TV models. Here’s the specific list of requirements: The 2021 Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) HomePod speakers (not the HomePod mini) A TV that supports HDMI ARC or eARC. On the new Apple TV 4K, you’ll be able to find the setting under Default Audio Output, although it’s worth noting that Apple has currently labelled it as “Beta,” suggesting that there may still be a few bugs to work out, which will likely happen in future tvOS versions. In its new support document, Apple also links “HomePod speakers” directly to its “Buy” page, which might lead more cynical folks to see this new feature as a naked attempt to help clear out old HomePod stock. The reality, however, is that the feature works well, and if you want to take advantage of it without waiting to see when (and if) another compatible HomePod comes along, you’re going to need to hurry and pick up an original HomePod before they’re all gone. To be fair, it’s a bit unclear why the HomePod mini isn’t supported here for at least basic audio. While you obviously won’t get the best home theatre experience with Apple’s smaller speakers, these can be used as audio outputs for the Apple TV. That said, it’s worth noting that when it comes to Apple TV support, Apple lumps the HomePod mini in the same class as “other AirPlay 2-compatible speakers.” Unlike the full-sized HomePod, you can’t set a HomePod mini as a default audio output — you can only stream to it manually by selecting it in the output options in the same way as any other Bluetooth or AirPlay 2 device. It appears that the original HomePods get special status because of their ability to work as a true Dolby Atmos home theatre system, and Apple doesn’t want to confuse people by offering a substandard experience. Of course, there may also be other technologies in the full-sized HomePod that’s simply not present in the HomePod mini that affects things like audio synchronization. You’ll also not only need to make sure that your TV supports either ARC or eARC, but that you’ve connected your Apple TV to the correct HDMI port; many TVs only offer eARC/ARC on a single port. Depending on your manufacturer, you may also need to toggle it on somewhere in your TV settings.