HomePod HomePod as home theater?

[felixen]

I currently have a rather nice Pioneer receiver with a 5.1 speaker system. I do enjoy the great sound quality but I have been thinking of taking it a notch down to save some space in the living room.

I’ve been considering getting 2 HomePods to replace all of it. Does anyone here use HomePod for this purpose?

Also, I’m curious if I’m even able to connect the HomePods directly to my TV? I use the TV’s native Netflix app + I have a Mac Mini connected to the TV.

Any thoughts? I’m kinda intrigued but don’t know how it’ll actually work out


EDIT: Just to clarify, I don’t expect the HomePods to reach the same high quality as a proper home theater sound system. But I’m willing to compromise a bit on surround and on general sound quality.
My uncertainty is just HOW much worse it’ll actually get - do they still deliver a good sound experience for movies despite not being AS good?

 

[felixen]

From what I’ve seen and read online, it sounds like the volume is way too low when watching movies. Also, it sounds like I wouldn’t be able to get sound directly from my TV (when using the native Netflix app), which is a bummer. I wonder if I can somehow connect the HomePods to my Pioneer receiver, which will get the sound from my TV

 

[Donar]

It seems it all comes down to personal preference. Some say the HomePod is good as TV Speaker, others do not like it.

I do not know of and device that will connect the audio out of your TV or Receiver to a HomePod. If you want to have a smaller audio system maybe a soundbar is what you are looking for?

 

[robjulo]

It’s not 5.1.....it’s not home theater....it wasn’t designed for it...it wont’ do it...why even bother trying to save a small amount of space?

My advice would be to sell the two Home Pods and get a Sonos 5.1 system including a sound bar, subwoofer and two Sonos Ones for rears. You’ll spend more money, but in the end it will sound a heck of a lot better and is far more versatile and the footprint is tiny.

 

[DavoteK]

Got two homepods in the living room as a stereo pair, primarily for music and situated at opposite ends of the room.

Moved them to either side of the sofa, temporarily, to watch an Avengers film. Sound was great. I know its not 5:1 but the quality you were getting I thought was pretty good.

Volume too low? I guess thats from the video that guy did comparing louder more expensive speakers against the homepods. Stupid video IMO. Ignore.
Didn't have the volume on full (say 80%) and it had enough impact on the viewing experience IMO. You'd struggle to have a conversation during loud action set pieces or any music playing.

I did like how bassy the sound was.

As already said, its not a 5:1 replacement, but a very convenient, quality sound experience.

 

[Shanghaichica]

I think one issue to consider as they can only be connected to the Apple TV 4 and upwards as there is no audio out or Bluetooth. For me I do 99.9% of my viewing via the Apple TV and have them connected up. I’ve watched a few movies and the sound is excellent. I’ve had a 5.1 surround sound before and yes it does would better but now I prefer having just two small HomePods as apposed to all the speakers.

It’s certainly loud enough. I only usually have mine set to about 60-70 percent got watching movies and that’s plenty loud.

Apple insider made a video about low sound when connected to the Apple TV and how to fix it.

 

[tromboneaholic]

Stereo HomePod work well with Apple TV, but it depends on your usage.

Apps with commercials (such as ABC, NBC, etc...) can cause problems due to the delay that Airplay introduces to keep things synced. HomePods sometimes disconnect when the commercials are injected into the stream, and often the speakers don't automatically reconnect afterwards. Sometimes they don't disconnect, but the apps get stuck in a loop on the last 2 seconds of the commercial.

Also, if you use the HomePod for something else after watching TV, you need to select the HomePod as your Airplay output device on AppleTV the next time you use it.

 

[felixen]

Thanks for the info. I had actually given up on the idea but the last 3 messages got me some hope again.

However, I won’t be using an Apple TV. So I need to find out if I can somehow connect the HomePods to a receiver. I’m curious if this is possible with AirPlay 2. If I could do that, then I could use them for my TV, Mac Mini, and PS4. Which would be awesome.

It’s not a big deal to me that I’ll be missing out on 5.1. I’d rather not have so many large speakers and cables around the living room - but of course I’m still looking for decent sound (don’t wanna compromise TOO much after all)

 

[tromboneaholic]

Thanks for the info. I had actually given up on the idea but the last 3 messages got me some hope again.

However, I won’t be using an Apple TV. So I need to find out if I can somehow connect the HomePods to a receiver. I’m curious if this is possible with AirPlay 2. If I could do that, then I could use them for my TV, Mac Mini, and PS4. Which would be awesome.

It’s not a big deal to me that I’ll be missing out on 5.1. I’d rather not have so many large speakers and cables around the living room - but of course I’m still looking for decent sound (don’t wanna compromise TOO much after all)

Airplay introduces a delay to keep things in sync. It will not work for your PS4 even if you find a receiver that will output Airplay.

The Apple TV plays interface sounds through the TV speakers because of this delay. It only outputs sound to the HomePods when it can delay the video to sync it with the audio. Realtime audio events, like the beeps when hovering over app icons in Apple TV, can't be delayed and sent to HomePod.

Your Airplay audio would not be in sync with realtime output from the PS4.

 

[felixen]

Airplay introduces a delay to keep things in sync. It will not work for your PS4 even if you find a receiver that will output Airplay.

The Apple TV plays interface sounds through the TV speakers because of this delay. It only outputs sound to the HomePods when it can delay the video to sync it with the audio. Realtime audio events, like the beeps when hovering over app icons in Apple TV, can't be delayed and sent to HomePod.

Your Airplay audio would not be in sync with realtime output from the PS4.

Bummer, but makes sense. Thanks for the heads up

 

[tromboneaholic]

Bummer, but makes sense. Thanks for the heads up

I was hoping to do the same thing with a PS4 myself....

 

[DavoteK]

Bummer, but makes sense. Thanks for the heads up

Its also what happens if you output your sound to a HomePod from a Mac and watch video on something like VLC. Its about 2s out of sync.

 

[felixen]

Thanks, good info. Looks like we have to wait for the future

 

[JohnR]

We have watched YouTube TV with the HomePods and I think they sound just fine, not too soft at all. Haven't tried with a movie yet.