Native apps or external player for LG OLED tv?

[nails666]

Hi, I'm hoping soon to get myself an LG C9 OLED to replace my long serving Panasonic 50ST60 plasma and I'm thinking about how best to connect it up to my existing A/V setup. I have a Yamaha RX-583 receiver and currently I have all my devices (Virgin V6 box, Xbox One S, HTPC and Nintendo Switch) connected directly to the receiver and then just a single hdmi cable up to the TV. Although my current TV does have some smart features I don't use any of them and just play everything through the various devices with the vast majority being done through the XBox, i.e. Netflix, Amazon Video, iPlayer, Plex, Youtube. This makes the setup nice and neat with fewer cables going to the TV and nice and simple to operate for the rest of my family who don't seem to care about gadgets as much as I do

With the C9 having much more advanced smart features and built in apps for all of those services will using them give any advantage in terms of picture or sound quality over sticking with my current setup? I know the receiver supports Atmos and plenty of HDR formats and so should be fine to pass them through from the XBox but I presume I won't be able to use the VRR unless I directly connect the XBox to the TV and use ARC to send the audio back to the receiver? Are there any services where the XBox app is more limited than the built in version?

Are there any other tips about connection setup I should be aware of?

Many Thanks

 

[ElliorR]

I currently have a nano cell LG TV from 2017 and the apps are fine. I too aim to have the C9 this year, fingers crossed for a BF price drop, and I shall use the apps on that. Of course this is now subject to someone saying that there is a better alternative but I'll be surprised if there is.

 

[Techno_Viking]

I find I only use BBC iPlayer, purely for its UHD content and YouTube, due to my Shield TV not being able to play YouTube HDR on my LG B7 OLED. I have a similar AV setup as yourself, so have to use ARC for sound through the AV, however you will need to have a new(er) AV capable of eARC to handle some of the high bitrate audio available now.

 

[nails666]

Cheers, yeah I need to check the exact specs of my receiver in terms of HDR formats it supports and I'm pretty sure it doesn't suppport eARC so what I'd lose out on if using that. I currently only have a 5.1 speaker setup attached to it but am considering adding an extra 2 speakers for Atmos so need to be sure how to get it all connected up for the best quality.

 

[sHo0sH]

Arc and eArc can be a massive faff.

My friend has the C8 and a brand new high end onkyo receiver and no matter what we try we can't get the surround to work over hdmi and have had to run the optical cable. So whilst it may work for you there's no guarantee as there isn't an arc standard across brands at all.

Personally I would use the built in apps, it's definitely less hassle than loading up the Xbox to do it all, the LG magic remotes are great

 

[Broken Hope]

I prefer the built in apps even over my Apple TV, the built In apps are faster.

You can get a C9 at Richer Sounds for £1274 atm btw with the code RSTV125.

 

[200sols]

Arc and eArc can be a massive faff.

My friend has the C8 and a brand new high end onkyo receiver and no matter what we try we can't get the surround to work over hdmi and have had to run the optical cable. So whilst it may work for you there's no guarantee as there isn't an arc standard across brands at all.

Personally I would use the built in apps, it's definitely less hassle than loading up the Xbox to do it all, the LG magic remotes are great

C8 doesn’t have eARC does it? Using am optical cable your friend won’t get atmos from TV apps to the receiver.

My understanding is eARC is now a proper standard of HDMI and doesn’t rely on CEC which is often what causes the problems with ARC. This means eARC should solve any problems people have with ARC as well as allowing full bandwidth sound to be passed through the TV.

 

[sHo0sH]

C8 doesn’t have eARC does it? Using am optical cable your friend won’t get atmos from TV apps to the receiver.

My understanding is eARC is now a proper standard of HDMI and doesn’t rely on CEC which is often what causes the problems with ARC. This means eARC should solve any problems people have with ARC as well as allowing full bandwidth sound to be passed through the TV.

This would make a lot of sense - https://hdguru.com/understanding-dolby-atmos-from-an-supporting-lg-tv/ good article here to explain it as well. Thanks I'll let my mate know!

 

[nails666]

Thanks again all. Overall less faf is definitely good as my children and wife probably use the TV more than me and if they can't work out how to use it then I'll get a ton of grief As they are used to using the XBox I'm fine with carrying on with that rather than using the tv apps but only if I don't lose out on quality in terms of video or audio formats. From some google research it looks like all the big streaming apps on the XBox do support the same range of HDR and audio formats as the native apps so I think I will go that route for the moment at least. I don't really game that much on the XBox and as it's only an S rather than an X I don't think missing out on VRR is too big a problem at the moment. Maybe next year if I upgrade to the next gen Xbox and get a new receiver that supports eARC then I might rewire.

I saw that deal this morning Broken Hope, very very tempting with a 6 year warranty and potential 0% finance as well although I notice they've also dropped the 65" version to under £2k as well now. Wonder if Black Friday will drop either of them any more.

 

[Broken Hope]

Thanks again all. Overall less faf is definitely good as my children and wife probably use the TV more than me and if they can't work out how to use it then I'll get a ton of grief As they are used to using the XBox I'm fine with carrying on with that rather than using the tv apps but only if I don't lose out on quality in terms of video or audio formats. From some google research it looks like all the big streaming apps on the XBox do support the same range of HDR and audio formats as the native apps so I think I will go that route for the moment at least. I don't really game that much on the XBox and as it's only an S rather than an X I don't think missing out on VRR is too big a problem at the moment. Maybe next year if I upgrade to the next gen Xbox and get a new receiver that supports eARC then I might rewire.

I saw that deal this morning Broken Hope, very very tempting with a 6 year warranty and potential 0% finance as well although I notice they've also dropped the 65" version to under £2k as well now. Wonder if Black Friday will drop either of them any more.

Richer have a Black Friday guarantee that if it drops further they will refund the difference.

 

[TALON1973]

I use my LG oled apps over my Apple 4k tv .

 

[dbmzk1]

I use built in apps on my LG, some kind of streaming device on all others (Shield, Chromecast, etc).