HomePod HomePod + MacMini + TV audio

[gjhinc]

Going in circles. This should be simple. I want the audio output from a television (Vizio) to go to the HomePod speakers without an Apple TV.

Here's what I tried.

Vizio (RCA audio output) -> Mac Mini (audio input port) -> HomePod (AirPlay)

Take the audio out from the Vizio and plug it into the input of a Mac Mini (OS 12.7.6). "System Preferences > Sound > Input" set to the television in-line. Then set "System Preferences > Sound > Output" to the HomePod pair. When I play something on the Mac Mini the sound does come out of the HomePod pair. The HDMI from the Mac Mini is plugged into the Vizio.

Then I change the Vizio input to built-in app interface and play something. It then only plays out of the built-in speaks. Stumped!

 

[waw74]

That's never going to work well, if it works at all.

airplay is a bit laggy by nature, it's smart enough for all speakers to have the same amount of lag, so they all play the audio in sync with each other, but especially since you're introducing many steps, trying to get audio and video to sync up properly will be almost impossible. Your Mac or iPhone is also smart enough to introduce a bit of lag to the display of video playback so that it will sync up with the audio coming out of the airplay speakers.

Not sure if there was a specific feature that made you choose the homepods, but your best bet would be a sound bar directly connected to the TV. You can get sound bars with airplay if you want to send audio to the speaker that way. The only thing you can't really get is siri, or being able to use it as a home hub.

Depending on your TV, you might able be able to use bluetooth to send the audio from the TV to a speaker, but this can lead to lower quality audio.

 

[gjhinc]

That's never going to work well, if it works at all.

airplay is a bit laggy by nature, it's smart enough for all speakers to have the same amount of lag, so they all play the audio in sync with each other, but especially since you're introducing many steps, trying to get audio and video to sync up properly will be almost impossible. Your Mac or iPhone is also smart enough to introduce a bit of lag to the display of video playback so that it will sync up with the audio coming out of the airplay speakers.

Not sure if there was a specific feature that made you choose the homepods, but your best bet would be a sound bar directly connected to the TV. You can get sound bars with airplay if you want to send audio to the speaker that way. The only thing you can't really get is siri, or being able to use it as a home hub.

Depending on your TV, you might able be able to use bluetooth to send the audio from the TV to a speaker, but this can lead to lower quality audio.

I do have another television with a "normal" eARC setup with an AppleTV and an HomePod pair. Works perfectly. Just though I'd try something on the cheap in another room. I have a lot of HomePods and too many televisions. I'm ex-Apple and owned every Mac since the beginning ('85). So Apple stuff is 'til death do we part. Thanks!

 

[erihp]

I do have another television with a "normal" eARC setup with an AppleTV and an HomePod pair. Works perfectly. Just though I'd try something on the cheap in another room. I have a lot of HomePods and too many televisions. I'm ex-Apple and owned every Mac since the beginning ('85). So Apple stuff is 'til death do we part. Thanks!

the solution (if you really want homepods for tv audio) is a used ATV.

cheaper than the time spent trying to make this work, Ive acquired them as low as $50 on ebay.



alternatively, look into a solution that will take audio input and airplay it to another airplay reciever.

the Quanta app comes to mind. You need a USB sound card to hook up an audio source to an ios device. The primary use case is playing records over airplay. You -will- have issues with syncing the airplay audio and the TV video.

best of luck.

 

[bbednarz]

Spend $100 on an Apple TV and dont worry about rigging it up.