What is the Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature?

IMPORTANT: This article applies only to specific products and/or operating systems. Check the Applicable Products and Categories section of this article before starting these steps.

The ARC feature eliminates the need to use an additional composite audio cable or an optical cable when connecting an Audio/Video (A/V) receiver or surround sound system to a TV. Connecting an HDMI cable from an ARC-compatible A/V receiver to an ARC-compatible TV will allow the following:

• Send audio to the A/V receiver from the TV.
• View and listen to movies and other content from source devices as they are passed through the A/V receiver to view on the TV.

The following image displays the connections required to get sound from a TV that is ARC compatible to an audio unit that is also ARC compatible:

[A]: TV
[B]: Audio system
[C]: HDMI ARC input on the TV
[D]: HDMI ARC output on the Audio system
[E]: HDMI cable (high quality, high-speed HDMI cable)

NOTE: Low quality HDMI cables that are not labeled high-speed will not be able to provide the ARC function.

The following image displays the connections required to get sound from a TV to a home audio device when either of the units are not ARC compatible:

NOTE: For model-specific information regarding any of the information in this solution, refer to the supplied operations manual.