Samsung HW-Q90R
512 W, 7.1.4 Channel
Question about Samsung HW-Q90R
I recently treated myself to the HW-Q90R soundbar. Now I am looking for a suitable TV. Since I have read in various forums that Samsung TVs do not support Dolby Atmos, I am wondering which TV I should choose, as I would like to listen to my soundbar via Dolby Atmos in the future. I have the Philips 65OLED804 in mind, but I don't know if the Samsung soundbar will have problems with a Philips TV or not. Does anyone have any tips or advice? Is a Philips TV compatible with the Samsung soundbar? Thanks for your help
Helpful answer
Where exactly does your Atmos sound come from? From a Netflix app? (if so, from the TV itself, or do you have an AppleTV or ShieldTV or similar)? From UHD Blu-Ray rips (here too... playback device plays a role)?
Basically, the TV doesn't have to be able to do Atmos, only the soundbar, because you're using the soundbar to play the sound, not the TV. Atmos in the TV is only useful if you use the TV speakers.
For example, I have a 2019 Samsung, but I still get Atmos sound on the soundbar via the Netflix app on the TV. But it depends on the app, I don't get Atmos from the Disney+ app on the TV (whereas Atmos works fine on the Disney+ app on my AppleTV, which is connected to the TV via the soundbar). If you plug the AppleTV (or ShieldTV) directly into the TV, it depends on whether your TV supports EARC or only ARC. sAlthough the 2019 (and older) Samsungs like the Philips you mentioned do not offer EARC. That doesn't mean no Atmos, it just means that the source delivering Atmos has to be connected via soundbar, and from there the picture goes on to the TV. If you connect the source directly to the TV and from there to the soundbar, the Atmos information is lost via the ARC return channel (with EARC it would work).
Rumour has it that the better 2019 Samsungs will get an update with EARC this month. The 2020 series already has it as standard. I don't know if the Philips will also get something.
Infofern: yes, the soundbar is certainly compatible, but Atmos support in the TV is of little use to you because you are using the soundbar. And because of the lack of EARC, you have to connect external Atmos players directly to the soundbar and not to the TV unless you use a TV that supports EARC. And you can also use another TV that does not support Atmos.
I hope I didn't confuse you... the situation with Atmos/DTS-X is still a bit complex at the moment because many devices don't yet fully support HDMI 2.1. There, the topic of ARC/EARC would be dead in the water. It also cost me a few grey hairs until I finally got Atmos in TrueHD on my HW-90QR.