(Solved) Need Home Theater Setup Help and Not Sure Where Else to Go

[Webhead123 | 687]

Edit - (Problem Solved!!!)
Thanks to all for the inspiration. I was finally able to figure out that the problem was the Audio Output settings on my TV, which I had to change to "Dobly Digital" or "Dolby Digital Plus". Any other output setting including, infuriatingly, "Auto" is what was keeping the soundbar from detecting the proper signal. Once set to digital, sound is passing through from all sources and I can confirm that DTS:X and Atmos functionality are working.

Again, appreciate the ideas and even just the encouragement not to give up on the damn thing!

----------

Hiya, folks. So, I've got a new home theater configuration and I'm having a problem. First, here's the equipment I'm working with:

TV: Hisense H9G
UHD Player: Sony UBP-X700
Soundbar/system: Vizio sb3241n-h6

Currently, I have the soundbar connected directly to the TV via the single HDMI (ARC) port. When playing audio from the tv itself (streaming services, etc.) it all works perfectly fine.

I have the UHD player connected to another HDMI (non-ARC) port on the TV.

Individually, all components have been confirmed working.

In this current set up, I'm not getting any audio at all to the soundbar from the UHD player. There is no secondary HDMI port on the soundbar, so I can't pass the player through the soundbar directly. (Edit: I should clarify, it's not just the UHD player that puts no sound through to the soundbar. Any other HDMI input into the TV isn't passing audio through to the soundbar while it's connected through the HDMI (ARC) port. This includes game consoles. This leads me to believe it's an issue with either the soundbar itself or the way the soundbar and TV are configured with one another.)

I think (although I haven't tried) that I could connect the player directly to the soundbar with coaxial...but then I'll lose Dolby DT:X/Atmos support, etc.

The setup was working fine previously when I had the soundbar connected to the TV via an optical cable but I had to change to an HDMI ARC cable because of sound issues related to 5.1 encoding for certain apps. Is there a reason this recent Vizio soundbar would support HDMI (ARC) but somehow not have pass-through?

I know it's a shot in the dark considering how specific my problem is but I'm really getting frustrated with messing around with this crap and getting nowhere.

Any chance somebody's got suggestions of options or settings to check to help me avoid pulling more of my hair out and setting my soundbar on fire?

Thanks, guys!

Edited March 24, 2021 by Webhead123

[Tulpa | 3,538]

My guess is that the TV isn't sending the audio signal over ARC to the sound bar because it's not configured to do so with an external source. Usually the ARC is to send the audio signal from a TV's apps like Netflix. 

It's been awhile since I've messed with this, but either something needs to be enabled in the TV to allow audio to pass from the non-ARC HDMI port to the ARC port, or the TV doesn't support that particular pass through at all (they used to not, but like I said it's been awhile for me; if it does support that, it's probably a configuration setting somewhere in setup or audio.) 

That's my best guess.

[a3quit4s | 4,128]

Your TV doesn't have an optical audio port? That is how my soundbar is plugged in and then there is a setting to change from the internal speakers to the soundbar 

 

Edit: sorry just read the entire thing but I would still move back to the optical audio port. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by a3quit4s

[Tulpa | 3,538]

1 minute ago, a3quit4s said:

Your TV doesn't have an optical audio port? That is how my soundbar is plugged in and then there is a setting to change from the internal speakers to the soundbar 

He probably can, but he would lose the better audio codecs. Those are HDMI only.

Back in the day, TVs used to downmix optical audio pass through from Dolby Digital to stereo. That caused a lot of consternation among novices. The AV forum that I was on got a lot of posts about that.

[TDIRunner | 2,781]

I'm not into sound bars myself, but I recently set one up for my in-laws and I setup theirs exactly the way you are describing, which in my opinion is the best way to set it up.  The first thing that pops into my mind is that the ARC setting on the TV might default to off.  I know a lot of early TVs that had the feature defaulted to off for some reason and you had to go into the menu and turn it on.  

Other than that, I would work on using different setups just as a means to try and rule out what isn't working.  Run the HDMI from the UHD player straight to the sound bar just to see if you get sound that way.  Run an optical cable from the TV to the sound bar, again just to test if you get sound.  I know you don't want to use those setups since they aren't optimal, but it might help narrow down what isn't working.  

One other idea.  Does the sound bar accept a blue tooth signal?  Some TVs can send sound to the sound bar using blue tooth.  I've never messed with that myself, so I'm not sure what kind of sound level is used with that method, but I'm assuming it's not the same quality that the HDMI cable uses.  

[FireHazard51 | 2,054]

11 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

Hiya, folks. So, I've got a new home theater configuration and I'm having a problem. First, here's the equipment I'm working with:

TV: Hisense H9G
UHD Player: Sony UBP-X700
Soundbar/system: 

Currently, I have the soundbar connected directly to the TV via the single HDMI (ARC) port. When playing audio from the tv itself (streaming services, etc.) it all works perfectly fine.

I have the UHD player connected to another HDMI (non-ARC) port on the TV.

Individually, all components have been confirmed working.

In this current set up, I'm not getting any audio at all to the soundbar from the UHD player. There is no secondary HDMI port on the soundbar, so I can't pass the player through the soundbar directly. (Edit: I should clarify, it's not just the UHD player that puts no sound through to the soundbar. Any other HDMI input into the TV isn't passing audio through to the soundbar while it's connected through the HDMI (ARC) port. This includes game consoles. This leads me to believe it's an issue with either the soundbar itself or the way the soundbar and TV are configured with one another.)

I think (although I haven't tried) that I could connect the player directly to the soundbar with coaxial...but then I'll lose Dolby DT:X/Atmos support, etc.

The setup was working fine previously when I had the soundbar connected to the TV via an optical cable but I had to change to an HDMI ARC cable because of sound issues related to 5.1 encoding for certain apps. Is there a reason this recent Vizio soundbar would support HDMI (ARC) but somehow not have pass-through?

I know it's a shot in the dark considering how specific my problem is but I'm really getting frustrated with messing around with this crap and getting nowhere.

Any chance somebody's got suggestions of options or settings to check to help me avoid pulling more of my hair out and setting my soundbar on fire?

Thanks, guys!

1.) Your TV doesn't seem to be able to pass Dobly DT:X/Atmos so know that up front (https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h9g)

2.)  Looks like your player has HDMI video/audio out and HDMI audio only out.  Try using the HDMI audio to the sound bar and that way we can see if the TV is the issue.  AKA it can't down grade the audio quality so none gets passed.

3.)  If you get sound when directly connect to sound bar then the TV is the issue and likely a setting can changed so that it's outputting lower quality audio to sound bar as I suspect the lack of eARC is the issue.  If you can figure that out then the UHD should allow you to not output a audio signal of lower quality.  

4.) If you don't get sound when directly connect to sound bar then I think it doesn't support DTS:X/Atmos as I'm having a hard time seeing a site that list it.  I just keep seeing DTS.  So if no sound directly connect you'll need to see if the UHD can output a lower quality of sound.  

As a tip HDMI audio is better than Optical so when possible use the HDMI connection.  Blu-tooth is the least preferred from what I've read.  I'm not an expert on this hierarchy and may be a mute point for certain audio formats.

Your TV should pass audio from another HDMI port to the sound bar.  You can try this with other things like a gaming console, which looks like you tried and failed.  This sounds like something you may have to manually set in the audio options when using a different input.  I think the issue is the audio format trying to be passed isn't readable by sound bar.  Isolating things will help figure out where the missing link is.  It could be BOTH the TV & sound bar so keep that in mind too.  Some times the systems are smart and can realize it's not working and down grade the quality.  But wouldn't be surprised if this is left up to you to manually do/set.

[Webhead123 | 687]

Edit - (Problem Solved!!!)
Thanks to all for the inspiration. I was finally able to figure out that the problem was the Audio Output settings on my TV, which I had to change to "Dobly Digital" or "Dolby Digital Plus". Any other output setting including, infuriatingly, "Auto" is what was keeping the soundbar from detecting the proper signal. Once set to digital, sound is passing through from all sources and I can confirm that DTS:X and Atmos functionality are working.

Again, appreciate the ideas and even just the encouragement not to give up on the damn thing!

Edited March 24, 2021 by Webhead123

[Webhead123 | 687]

48 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

1.) Your TV doesn't seem to be able to pass Dobly DT:X/Atmos so know that up front (https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h9g)

Thanks for the detailed response. The H9G does not support eARC but it does have standard ARC support and (as mentioned above) I was able to get DTS:X and Atmos working once I switched the TV output setting to "Digital".

[Tulpa | 3,538]

50 minutes ago, Webhead123 said:

Edit - (Problem Solved!!!)
Thanks to all for the inspiration. I was finally able to figure out that the problem was the Audio Output settings on my TV, which I had to change to "Dobly Digital" or "Dolby Digital Plus". Any other output setting including, infuriatingly, "Auto" is what was keeping the soundbar from detecting the proper signal. Once set to digital, sound is passing through from all sources and I can confirm that DTS:X and Atmos functionality are working.

Again, appreciate the ideas and even just the encouragement not to give up on the damn thing!

It's good to know that TVs can actually do that. I've been out of the AV scene too long.