Soundbar/HDMI/360 box - no sound at all.

[moggyman]

My brother recently had an issue with garbled sound on his TV and it turned out to be his 360 box.

A new one was installed but I'm convinced that something isn't right with it or a setting therein. Since installation he's been having problems getting the TV's sound to go through a soundbar. It's connected correctly using HDMI/ARC cabling but only the TV speakers produce sound.

He even bought a new LG TV and I've tried two different soundbars on it but the problem persists.

Is this a known issue? I also had a replacement 360 box recently and I connected that to my LG OLED and Sonos bar OK without having to change any settings at all. It's baffling. I'm wondering if his 360 box is simply faulty or needs a firmware update to get the sound pushed to the soundbar via HDMI/ARC? I'm told that using an optical connection works fine.

Thanks.

PS. After a bit of snooping around, someone suggested getting a CEC less adaptor from Amazon and plugging that between the 360's HDMI cable and the TV's HDMI port. I'm willing to risk a tenner on that but I'd really like to know what this adapter does if anyone out there knows.........

[moggyman]

Anyone out there experienced similar issues?

[thrice]

Earlier this year, I upgraded my LG TV to a newer model and transferred my existing B&O soundbar from the previous TV. There was great difficulty getting them to work together. It required a factory reset to the soundbar and now works perfectly. I used a pro installer so - other than the factory settings reset - I don't know what other magic might have been involved in getting the two to work together via the LG sound settings or the Virgin 360 box.

[moggyman]

My brother is an utter technophobe so it was initially left to me as I have (allegedly) more of a clue and have the same set up at home. I tried absolutely everything I could think of. He got a new LG TV and Sony soundbar from Richer Sounds but I could NOT get the sound to appear from the bar using an HDMI connection. They swapped his bar for an LG equivalent and still no joy. They then arranged for a professional installer they use to deliver a replacement TV to him (as they thought the ARC port on the TV might be faulty) and set it up. He did that yesterday and he was utterly baffled too. Never seen such a problem before. He did all the same things I had done and more but just couldn't get it working via HDMI. It only works via an optical connection but that isn't ideal. 

I've seen lots of posts here and elsewhere about sound dropping out/in when using a 360 box and HDMI connection from TV-to-soundbar. That's where I found the reference to the CEC-less adaptor but I'd like to understand more about what's happening, if possible. It must be the 360 box as we've now tried 3 different TVs and 3 different soundbars and multiple HDMI cables.

I was hoping a Tech from VM might spot this post and offer some words of wisdom. If I just call in on my brother's behalf, I'll get to India and someone will just spout the usual script which will be no use at all. I live in hope!! 

[roy247]

If you have had a pro installer I am sure he will have checked all this but my LG TV and Soundbar are connected using the following settings.

HDMI cable must be Version 2.1 or newer for eARC.

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

and the 360 set to Follow Content for Dolby Atmos.

[moggyman]

Thanks for that.

I'm pretty sure those TV settings were tried but I'll make a note of them anyway and check. I'll also check my own settings on my LG/Sonos setup. I don't recall having to make any changes at all when I plugged that together, not even after I recently switched from a Tivo to a 360, I will check though. The installer know his stuff and was as baffled as me but we assumed the issue was between the TV and the bar - not between the 360 and the TV & bar!

[moggyman]

Any kindly VM techs out there?

[Roger_Gooner]

First thing to test is whether the TV's sound is good when connected directly by its HDMI 1 to the 360.

[moggyman]

The 360's HDMI cable plugs into a non-ARC/HDMI port on the TV. The soundbar connects it's HDMI/ARC port to the TV's HDMI/ARC port. Sound via the TV speakers is fine. The problem comes when you change the TV's sound settings to use the soundbar. No sound comes out of the bar.

[Roger_Gooner]

You mean that for "Sound Out" you've selected "HDMI ARC"? If that doesn't work I suggest going to LG or another forum.