What I have learned about the MC-700: 4K, HDR and HDMI

[jthomp27]

I have had my MC-700 for a few months now, but only recently upgraded to a 4K set (TCL 55P605).  I love the way this processor sounds, but had a LOT of headaches getting 2160P, Audio Return Channel and HDR working correctly.  Over the past couple of weeks, I have learned a few things that may help you along the way, and thought I would share them.  If I have missed anything, please chime in!:

#1.  The HDMI cables in your setup are CRITICAL!

• If you need a long cable run, the pdf found in this link is a wonderful resource.  I wish I had seen it before purchasing the 40' Monoprice DynamicView that does NOT support 2160p RGB.
• ARC will not work unless you have a proper HDMI cable....even if you have an older 1080p set (like my old Panasonic Plasma).
• I learned the hard way that even on short runs, if it does not work correctly, it is probably your HDMI cable.  The HDMI cable that came with my PS4 Pro would not pass 4K directly to my TV (yet alone, through my MC-700)...but a $10 Amazon cable would.
• If you can stream 4K video, but not 4K with HDR, it is likely your cable does not support the proper bandwidth required for HDR.

#2.  MC-700 has a few quirks (not defects!):

• ARC on the MC-700 does not support Dolby Digital Plus over ARC, but does support DD and DTS
• MC-700 does not support passthrough Dolby Vision *currently*, but I am hopeful they can add that in the near future.
• I have heard that you don't want to add too many "active" HDMI cables to the inputs of the MC-700.  It can cause issues, like not booting up correctly.  This is likely due to the active cables taking power from the MC700.

#3 If you have a PS4 Pro:

• Download and install the 2.9.2 firmware (here) before you do anything else.  
• If you are having issues with the signal flickering, you need to set the PS4 Pro to output 2160p-YUV420 instead allowing it to select video resolution automatically or forcing 2160p-RGB.  

[Soup]

Thanks for sharing!

[Gary Cook]

Thanks, very similar to my experiences with the UMC-200 and 4K (although it doesn't pass through of course), the ARC in particular seems very sensitive to HDMI cables, especially at my 5 metre length. My understanding of ARC is that it only handles DD and DTS, none of the lossless formats. So maybe it's not the MC-700 but ARC in general.

Cheers
Gary

[jthomp27]

ARC *can* support DD+ and Atmos, but few TVs do. My TCL supports both, but Emotiva tech support confirms the MC-700 does not support DD+.

[cwt]

Nov 7, 2017 12:55:04 GMT -5 jthomp27 said:

ARC can support DD+ and Atmos, but few TVs do. My TCL does, but support both, but Emotiva tech support confirms the MC-700 does not support DD+.

Yes ; thought it was a bandwidth thing as dd+ is higher though still lossy and can theoretically be 7.1 but its all in the tv/avr compatibility ; heres a list of devices @ avs

www.avsforum.com/forum/39-networking-media-servers-content-streaming/2378442-dolby-digital-plus-dd-atmos-over-hdmi-arc.html

Was taken aback when Scarabeus said this ; there are some crap hdmi cables out there

I have encountered many external SPDIF ports and cables, RCA and optical, as well as some HDMI cables, that were not capable of handling DD+, so be aware of this when testing different scenarios

[tarascon]

jthomp27,

Thanks for the great info. I'm on the fence as to whether to get an MC-700 and posts like yours are helpful.

John

[Gary Cook]

Nov 7, 2017 12:55:04 GMT -5 jthomp27 said:

ARC *can* support DD+ and Atmos, but few TVs do. My TCL supports both, but Emotiva tech support confirms the MC-700 does not support DD+.

I thought HDMI 2.1 was a requirement for ARC to pass lossless codecs and eARC is the new standard that facilitates Atmos and DTSX?

Cheers
Gary

[jthomp27]

Update: finally bit the bullet and bought the RUIPRO HDMI Fiber Optic HDMI cable (50ft), and it can carry the full 4K HDMI RGB signal. I have also noticed that my TCL handles video format transitions almost instantly with this cable, where there was a brief black screen with the monoprice.