Connecting Panasonic Soundbar to Virgin box

[Dred18]

Hi all,

Had so many issues since signed up to Virgin in November. One issue remains and Virgin won’t help with this one.

I’ve got a Panasonic SU-HTB688 soundbar and subwoofer and when connected directly via HDMI to the Panasonic TV the sound lags behind the picture, so this is not an option. 

The Virgin engineer suggested I purchased an optical cable and connected the soundbar directly to my new 360 box. I’ve done this and turned TV speaker setting on my TV to off otherwise I get echoing through the soundbar. 

This setup seems the only way I can get decent sound but also lined up with the picture. The one remaining thing is can I use the Virgin remote to adjust the volume on my soundbar. When the bar was connected via HDMI to the TV I could control through the Virgin remote, but using the Optical connection I can’t get it to work. Any ideas? 

I’ve looked on here and tried the Pair remote with devices but I only have the Pair TV and Pair amplifier option. Once clicking amplifier, it scans and then comes up with a connection problem CS9993.

On the Virgin settings under Audio and Video I have Audio Output on Follow Content - is this correct? 

Really appreciate anyone’s time to try and sort this out.

Thank you. 

[Client62]

Does the TV have a optical audio output (or even an RCA output) that can be connected to the Panasonic Sound bar ?

This would make the sound bar available for all TV channels & sources and might reduce the lip sync issues too.

[newapollo]

Hi @Dred18 

The 360 is a temperamental wee beastie

I often used to get error CS9993  which is usually due to the internet  not working correctly on the 360 box

It used to prevent me altering settings such as the soundbar.

Often a quick reboot and try again works.

My 360 box was connecting to the 5Ghz band and dropping out every now and again but when I split the SSID's on my hub and connected the 360 to the 2.4Ghz band I found it generally stayed connected.  It's better still though if you can connect the hub and 360 with an ethernet cable, but even that sometimes gives the CS9993 error code

As an aside, sometimes new remote control  batteries helps when pairing devices on the 360

I've just tried to see if I could set up my 360 using the codess for your equipment  - guess what I couldn't even get to the screen to pair remote with devices - error CS9993  - I rebooted the 360 and was able to set it up.

It gives the message "It's a match!" when I eenter both tthe code HTB6 and the code SU-H 

I can't however check if it actually works as I don't have your soundbar

So fingers crossed - reboot your 360 and try again

[Ilyas_Y]

Hey @Dred18, thanks for reaching out to us and a warm welcome to the Virgin Media forums. 🙂

I'm sorry to hear about the issues you're having with the sound bar to the Virgin Media TV box 😞
May I ask if you've reached out to Panasonic for any assistance on what settings may be the best to adapt to the Virgin TV box?
Let us know and we can go on from there.

Kind regards,
Ilyas.

[cove87]

Hi all,

I recently upgraded from a Horizon box to a 360 box but I'm having an issue connecting my Panasonic HTB100 soundbar to my TV. Previously, I had no issues with the soundbar and the Horizon box using an optical cable. Have tried an optical cable and HDMI ARC from soundbar to TV but nothing seems to be working. I paired the 360 box to the soundbar but that hasn't made a difference either. Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks

[newapollo]

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@cove87 wrote:
Hi all,

I recently upgraded from a Horizon box to a 360 box but I'm having an issue connecting my Panasonic HTB100 soundbar to my TV. Previously, I had no issues with the soundbar and the Horizon box using an optical cable. Have tried an optical cable and HDMI ARC from soundbar to TV but nothing seems to be working. I paired the 360 box to the soundbar but that hasn't made a difference either. Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks

---

The 360 box runs on the Horizon interface, as does the IP based Stream box. The older Tivo and V6 boxes run on the tivo interface.

You sometimes to place new batteries in the 360 remote (even if it's brand new) to get the pairing to work.

I can connect my soundbar directly to my LGTV via HDMI Arc (only the HDMI 2 port on my TV is capable of an Arc connection) 

On the 360 box One Power needs to be enabaled under Settings > System > One Power

On my LGTV I need to have Simplink (HDMI-CEC) enabled. 

The naming convention varies on different TV makes 

Hitachi: HDMI-CEC, LG: SimpLink or SIMPLINK (HDMI-CEC), Panasonic: HDAVI Control, EZ-Sync, or VIERA Link for CEC, Philips: EasyLink, Fun-Link, Roku TV: 1-Touch Play, Samsung: Anynet+, Sharp: Aquos Link, Sony: BRAVIA Link, Bravia Sync, Toshiba: CE-Link or Regza Link, Vizio: CEC 

You should be able to add the Panasonic HTB100 in the 360 settings by going to Settings > Audiom & Video > pair remote with devices > Audio Setup > Panasonic >  then Enter Device Model Number > and type in HTB1

If that doesn't work then try the key testing method, but don't just accept the first one that appears to work.  Try a few more as (like the older V6 and Tivo boxes) there are often 3 or 4 that will work, some more fully than others