Ive got a local source by a TV, the TV has a 5.1 surround system, with the AVR located in the rack.

Whats the best way to configure this, so far ive come up with 3 options.

Option 1 - as per diagram 1, here

Option 2 - as per diagram 2, here

Option 3 - Similar to Using HDMI ARC instead of optical audio. The downside of this is that to use HDMI ARC you need to enable HDMI CEC, which in turn causes issues with control systems.

These days I aim to keep video sources local in a casual, non home theatre room. I would use the TV for video switching or use an external HDMI switcher close to the TV. Convert TV optical to analogue or digital coax then send to distant amp in rack. The only disadvantage with this is you lose high res surround you would only get through an HDMI cable.

Most video sources are now so small that they are not overwhelming in a cabinet near the TV. These sources, if even required at all, are less than $200. Use a short HDMI through a conduit to get to a TV. Compare this to the thousands your customer would have to spend on a matrix units and HDMI extenders plus a high end control system. Add the potential of headaches when these devices don't work correctly. You have to ask yourself - are you really doing yourself and the customer a favour by using that complex scheme?

I would even go as far as leaving out the multi-room amp or receiver and going with a Sonos soundbar or Sonos amp installed locally if running in-ceiling speakers. Saves the cost and time of running speaker wires, adding matrix, extenders and control system. This idea might seem ridiculous to guys used to installing things the way we have been for the past 20 years but you can think of it as a way to solve what might be unnecessary problems.

Option 1 is how I tend to do this, and I've not run into any unexpected issues. This approach has several merits:

1. It avoids the long haul HDMI, which tends to be the weakest link.
2. It works even if the HDMI matrix goes down.
3. It doesn't take up inputs on the HDMI matrix.
4. It facilitates support, since you wind up with multiple video paths to play with for troubleshooting.
5. Better PQ
6. Reduced lag

As for possible shortcomings:

1. This approach does force more HDMI connection setup/negotiation (since the HDMI inputs on the TV change), but I've never found that to be an issue.
2. Optical cannot carry all the audio formats that HDMI can carry, but that seldom comes into play (and you can rule that out based on the specific local source, anyway.)

Don’t most devices have the ability to enable HDMI CEC, but disable the controls while leaving the ARC enabled? Whether that be on the TV and or AVR end?

That is if the equipment are of recent. Early CEC devices didn’t do that.

KOT

100% go with #2.
If an installer came into my home and took away my ability to get lossless audio I'd be pissed beyond belief and they simply would not be paid.

The other advantage with #2 is that the PS4 becomes an available source for all rooms in the home, the downside, obviously is the distance that the controllers can connect over.

With option 1, most tvs won’t pass through 5.1 audio to the optical output. They only send surround formats out when using the TV’s built in sources.

With Option 2, you have a synch issue. Your sources are going to try to synch to the TV and the AVR. The TV is going to want 2 channel, which will override the AVR getting 5.1 or Dolby. Or even worse, either the tv or AVR won’t work at all.

The TV PS4 should be sent straight to the AVR, and the TV should get it’s video directly from the AVR’s output.

This is the correct answer.

I thought this was a forum for pros.

The matrix is obviously there because the cable box and Apple TV need to be shared with other TVs. How would you abide by your guidelines and still meet the requirement of sharing these sources?

Put otherwise, how do you deal with video distribution through a matrix when one (or more zones) has surround sound?

Two questions (assuming that the TV will pass 5.1):

1. Given that the source is a video game, why aren't you concerned about the latency introduced by the back and forth trip over an HDMI extender?

2. Long haul HDMI is typically the weakest link, so there is clearly a benefit to avoiding that if you can. Are you not concerned about this (i.e. because you've found a way to super reliably long haul HDMI)? Or, is it that you feel the downside of connecting the game console to the TV makes that approach a non-starter? If the latter, which downside are you most concerned about (i.e. lip sync; lack of support for lossless audio?)

In your scenario, you don’t need the PS4 to go through the matrix. So that’s why I said to not send the PS4 through the matrix. If it’s a source that does need to be shared, then yes, send it to the matrix first. But if there is an AVR, don’t send from the matrix to the AVR and the corresponding TV. It will screw up the synch. Especially audio, because the TV will knock the source down to 2 channel. You use Baluns and send the output of the AVR to the TV. The matrix goes to an input on the AVR. Odds are no one is actually going to use a source in two zones at the same time.

Ask Brent. He can explain the whys better.

Depending on the TV and AVR and IF ARC could be enabled without enabling CEC controls (Like Sony). Would the best option be the Connections per Fins from the matrix to the AVR for all the shared sources. Then the PS4 be a direct connect to TV, for latency and ARC over The HDbase-T Connection from AVR To TV?

Also gets you around power/input command lag time. Most displays will not take an input command until quite a while after power on. Leaving you with either a long delay in the control system to account tv input switching or a situation where the tv is on the PS4 input and the client wanted the rest of the sources (or vice versa). Same reason I try to keep clients away from trying to use the on board "Smart" tv stuff, especially in a distributed system.

I try not to use any direct to display inputs for that reason alone. Most of the time I will put an input command in the power off macro in case someone accidentally presses a button on the tv or finds the factory remote.