Smart-speaker based theater mode
It is a new feature that allows your TV to send back audio over eARC to your “media player” currently available for these 2 devices, please refer to the official docs:
- Apple TV 4k gen 2 and newer (Apple docs)
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (Amazon docs)
Apple TV 4K
You need to have quite new Apple TV 4K (gen 2 released in May 2021) and at least one HomePod (or HomePod mini).
I have tested this setup with a quite new eARC enabled Samsung The Frame TV and my old ARC-less Epson projector (using method described here).
I have tested Apple TV 4K 2gen + HomePod gen2 with a quite eARC enabled Samsung The Frame TV and it worked as expected. Sound from TV and other connected HDMI devices was playing through HomePod.
I have tested Apple TV 4K 2gen + HomePod gen2 with my ARC-less Epson projector using both the VAX04101 switch and VAX04201 matrix and they worked as expected. Sound from connected Playstation5 was going back through the AppleTV and playing on my HomePod.
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max
A very similar setup is possible with a similar set from Amazon. You need to have the “Max” version of the Fire TV stick and at least one Amazon Echo.
It is also required that you have an eARC enabled TV/projector as it will not work with the VAX04201 HDMI eARC Matrix!
I have tested Fire TV Stick 4K Max + Echo Studio with a quite eARC enabled Samsung The Frame TV and it worked as expected. Sound from TV and other connected HDMI devices was playing through Echo Studio.
I have tested Fire TV Stick 4K Max + Echo Studio with my older ARC-less Epson project and it was not working when using a VAX04201 HDMI eARC Matrix. I contacted also the Arcana support, they have never tested Theater Mode on Amazon devices, so it might be related more with the Fire TV HDMI port rather than Feintech gear.