[bofh23]

Good luck finding any consumer products that ever supported HDMI Ethernet Channel (HEC). In contrast, HEC capable HDMI cables with pins 14 and 19 in a twisted pair were widely available to the confusion of many.

Audio Return Channel (ARC) uses the same pins as HEC. Enhanced ARC (eARC), available on some newer TVs and AV Receivers/preamps/soundbars, takes advantage of the twisted pair to support greater audio bandwidth and surround channels (ARC was limited to 5.1), so it’s a happy ending for folks who bought HEC compatible HDMI cables.