Bernie wants to know if HDMI is the same as optical for audio quality. Leo says that both connections are digital, so it's the same quality. Optical will give him Atmos and other multi channel stereo options as well.
A few questions. Caller is having issues with his ARC in his home theater system. A SmarTV needs to be able to run audio from the TV to the home theater system without latency. That's where AV ARC (audio return) option comes in. But your home theater and TV has to support it. It is essentially sending the audio the other way along with HDMI system. It also needs CEC, consumer electronics control. You also need a high speed HDMI cable, and you have to be sure to plug it into the right HDMI port, which will be labeled HDMI ARC.
Jack bought the HDMI adapter for his iPhone to watch video on the TV and it doesn't work! What can he do? Leo says that he gets this complaint a lot and there may be an update in iOS that broke the connection. It could be copy protection. But you'd think that if Apple sells the item, they wouldn't break it with an update. Apple says to be sure the TV is set to the right HDMI selection. It should work automatically.
Tim has an iPhone 6S and when hooking it up to his smart TV, nothing happens. The TV says it has the signal, but nothing happens. It has worked in the past. Leo says that it sounds like HDCP may be the issue. That's digital copy protection. Everything in the chain has to be HDCP compliant to work. But that should only be an issue if he's watching YouTube or a movie. It should work with photos and home videos no problem. Tim says a friend's iPhone works though. Leo says it sounds like an iOS issue, then.
Sandy wants to watch video from her laptop on her TV. Leo says that most laptops have an HDMI port and she can connect it directly. She says it won't work at home, but it will at work. Leo says the Apple AirPort is Wi-Fi, so she can connect wirelessly through the AirPort and then direct it to her TV via DNLA, if her TV supports Wi-Fi. She can connect via Wi-Fi and then set up her Sony TV to connect to the Wi-Fi as well. Once both devices are connected by the AirPort, she'll be able to do it.
Murray has an Apple TV 4K and it's not working with his LG TV unless he reboots it. Leo says it's probably an HDMI handshake issue. It could be a bad HDMI cable. Or worse, a bad HDMI port. Apple says to hold the menu/volume buttons down for 5 seconds. The Apple TV will run through resolutions until one wakes it up.
Jeff wants to extend the range of HDMI to other parts of his house. But when he does, he starts to lose signal. What can he do? Leo says that Baluns are good for that. It stands for "Balanced/Unbalanced" and it will convert HDMI to ethernet and back to HDMI so that he can stretch it hundreds of feet with no signal loss at all. Jeff should check out Monoprice.
Christian recently bought a Lightning to HDMI cable to connect his phone to his Roku, but it doesn't work with Hulu. It only plays the sound, not the picture. Leo says it sounds like it isn't HDCP compliant. Copy Protection is probably what he's running up against. Hulu's site says it doesn't support it. There may be a workaround, though. He should try scrubbing through the timeline. According to the chatroom, 9/10 times it will bring the video back. Another solution is to log out and log back in. But if he has a Roku device, why not just use the Roku app?
Rick wants to know how he can bring his Amazon Fire Stick with him when he travels and plug it into the TV where he stays. Leo says that older TVs will require an HDMI to Composite converter, but newer TVs have HDMI ports. So he could just plug them in. Many hotel Wi-Fi hotspots require captive portal registration to use it, and the signal really isn't that good. Also some older TVs may not be HDCP compliant.
Tom is having an issue with his Samsung 4K TV. The HDMI through his AV Receiver drops and he has to reacquire it. Leo says that it all comes down to his source. There's a feature called Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) that allows a streaming box to switch his AV Receiver automatically. It's annoying and happens to Leo all the time. So he should check his source in the AV Receiver. Then he should disable CEC everywhere. Samsung calls this feature "AnyNet Plus."
