Connections to 360TV/Soundbar

[yowfailed]

A question for the hive mind please.

I have a 360 set top box and recently purchased the new C4 LG 4K TV and matching Soundbar. I was advised to connect as follows.

From TV to soundbar…..HDMI 1 ARC to soundbar HDMI ARC

From TV to 360 Set top Box….. HDMI 2 to Set top Box

Its now been ‘suggested’ by a Virgin Tech that this is incorrect and should be as follows

From TV to soundbar….Optical lead 

From TV to 360 Set top Box…..HDMI 1 ARC to Set top Box

Any help would be appreciated as I feel the suggested connection would not make use of the ‘ARC’ facility.

Thanks

[roy247 · Accepted solution]

First question is are you having some sound problems if you have been advised to use the optical cable.

I have a LG C1 and SP8Y soundbar connected HDMI Arc and the 360 to TV without any problems.

If you want to receive Dolby Atmos when it's available this is the way you need to be connected with the 360 Audio set to follow content.

I wouldn't connect the 360 to the Arc connector.

[yowfailed]

Thanks for your response Roy. In answer to your question, yes I’m getting a one second audio dropout and also one second picture dropouts. I don’t think the ‘suggested’ connections are correct.

[roy247]

You need to make sure your HDMI cables are V2.1 or greater.

Can't say I have heard of anyone having picture dropouts, the usual problem is sound out of sync.

[yowfailed]

Just purchased new 46gbps 2.1 HDMI Cables, no difference. Sound sync’s fine just momentary dropouts both picture and sound. I can’t see the TV HDMI 1 ARC port should be connected to the standard 360 HDMI port?

[roy247]

The TV and soundbar need to be connected by HDMI-ARC, you should then be able to connect the 360 to either the TV or your soundbar if it has another input.

The settings on my LG TV are below they might be different on your TV.

Settings > Sound > Select Use Wired Speaker

Select HDMI Input Audio Format > Bitstream

Select Mode AI Sound Pro
Advanced Settings

DTV Audio Setting > Auto
TV Sound Mode Share > Off
Sound Bar Mode Control > On
LG Sound Sync > Off
Digital Sound output > Pass Through
eARC Support > On

[yowfailed]

I’ll have a look at my setting tomorrow thanks Roy. I was hoping a Virgin representative would jump in on this post but……nah!

[roy247]

You will have to wait for a couple of day's usually, if the 360 is just connected to the TV with the soundbar out of the loop I wouldn't expect you to have any dropouts especially with the picture.

[Roger_Gooner]

VM cannot be expected to support kit attached to your TV.

[yowfailed]

Thank you so much for such a helpful response!