Having trouble with a Bravia 49-HX9505 and HT-X8500 soundbar setup

[bluedayve]

Hi, can someone please advise the correct way to connect a sky box, bravia tv and sound bar?

I have followed the quick setup instructions to connect sky box to sound bar (HDMI in) and soundbar to tv (using e-arc/hdmi). Sound settings on tv also set to audio system speakers.

Sound is perfect when watching the sky picture, with sound bar indicator on HDMI, but when trying to watch anything else on the tv such as bt app or Netflix I get no sound whatsoever...through the soundbar or the tv, unless I go back in and change the sound settings back to tv speakers.

Surely there is a set up that allows both the sky box and tv to project through the sound bar?

All advice gratefully received.

[bluedayve]

I'll maybe try that again at the weekend? I spent another 2 hours yesterday playing with connections and setups.

As ksaro says, there is no earc indicator on the soundbar, you only know that it is on by holding the sports button and seeing which lights flash - it is definitely on.

I have no terrestial tv aerial, so other than sky I have the inbuilt tv apps for netflix and bt sport mainly, and considering also connecting a freeview box as a back up to sky.

When I connect sky directly to the tv, the only sound I get is through the tv when audio system is switched off, when sky goes through the soundbar, and earc from sb to tv all seems fine...if I want bt sport then I have to switch sound bar off and change settings to tv speakers.

Other than a faulty cable and a factory reset of the tv, I'm fast running out of options.

Thanks for al comments, I'll feedback later.

[royabrown2]

@bluedayve 

That the soundbar is set to eARC does not mean that the soundbar is connected to the one eARC HDMI input on the TV.

When the Sky box, plugged in to the soundbar, which is in turn connected to the TV by HDMI, is working for both audio and video, eARC does not come into play; the video will go over any HDMI input to the TV.

Everything you have described so far, I think, is consistent with you not having the soundbar plugged into the eARC HDMI input on the TV, but rather into one of the other three.

The only thing that would be inconsistent with that would be that if:-

while listening to the sound on the TV speakers OK, with the soundbar off;

that turning the soundbar on would result in silence on both TV and soundbar.

Which would indicate a different problem.

But I’m not sure if you have reported that.

[Bat_Rick · Accepted solution]

Here is illustration on where the eARC HDMI port is located on your soundbar.

[bluedayve · Accepted solution]

Thanks all...at the last attempt of repeating everything you all had suggested, I decided to try an alternative hdmi cable and hey presto...sound from everywhere going through the soundbar. Looks like a dodgy cable was thr culprit.

Thanks for all your help...got there in the end!

[MaccaJim]

Any hints on why action sequences are loud & following action when actor speaks, the dialogue is low?

I've an HDMI lead coming from bluray player into above soundbar (x8500) after attempting optical from tv to soundbar (same issues). I have an hdmi (arc) input on tv but unsure connection wise & with only 3 hdmi plugs on tv, they're all being used.

HDMI 1 - Virgin box

HDMI 2 - Bluray player

HDMI 3 - Xbox

Should I plug hdmi lead into Hdmi (arc - socket) & feed soundbar with optical lead?

Ready to throw soundbar in bin, instructions are poor too.

[royabrown2]

@MaccaJim 

You describe the BluRay player variously as being plugged into the soundbar, and into HDMI 2 on the TV. it can’t be both (unless you are running two BluRay players!), so which is it?

And your 49-XH9505 (sic) has four HDMI inputs - you missed the one on the side 🥲

But you need the HT-X8500 to be connected to the TV by an HDMI cable between its HDMI Out into the eARC HDMI input on the TV - HDMI 3. And ensure you are using an ‘HDMI with Ethernet‘ cable, as this is needed to get the full benefits of eARC.

Because with your current setup, as described, you aren’t getting any benefits from the soundbar for anything plugged into the TV, or any TV programmes played on it, or any apps it has - just from the BluRay player you said was plugged into it.

And no, don’t use optical; eARC is sonically better, passing Dolby Digital Plus where Optical can’t, and operationally better, with seamless volume control. And you will find the fourth HDMI input on the TV when you take another look, and you anyway have a fifth HDMI input you can use, on the soundbar itself.

Finally, regarding the sound varying between action scenes and dialogue, you have several options; if you set Night Mode on the TV and/or the soundbar, this will compress the dynamic range so there is not such a contrast in the level of sound. Or there is a Voice Mode setting as a sound option instead of Night Mode on the soundbar, which should selectively push up the voice range frequencies on the speakers of the soundbar to enhance voices, as generally this is where dialogue comes from, of the 2.1 Left, Right, and Subwoofer speakers.

[MaccaJim]

Thanks for reply, could you be more specific in exactly best places to connect hdmi cables. I have an hdmi cable going from dvd player to tv for visuals, one for Xbox & one for Virgin box so no sockets left for another HDMI to go into tv. Do I run one HDMI (out) from dvd player to soundbar then one onwards to tv - what about visuals?

How many presses on 'night mode' or 'voice' do I have to perform? Last attempts at these buttons achieved zero effect to remedy. 

Sorry for perhaps silly questions but getting old lol.

[royabrown2]

@MaccaJim 

I realised after posting that you had added to an existing thread, so you maybe don’t have a 49-XH9505 TV there, and maybe you do only have three HDMI inputs on your TV. And maybe only ARC, not eARC. And now, your ‘travelling’ BluRay player has morphed into just a DVD player, perhaps? 

So what model of TV do you have?

But provisionally :-

(i) an  ‘HDMI with Ethernet’ cable from whichever HDMI input on the TV is labelled ARC or eARC, to the HDMI Out on the soundbar;

(ii) an HDMI cable from the BluRay/DVD player to the HDMI In on the soundbar;

(iii) an HDMI cable from the Virgin box to one of the remaining HDMI inputs on the TV (doesn’t matter which one);

(iv) an HDMI cable from the Xbox to the remaining HDMI input on the TV.

You get the visuals on the two things connected directly to the TV by choosing the relevant HDMI Input, and the visuals from the BluRay player by choosing the eARC HDMI Input on the TV.

In all cases, the soundbar should handle the sound from whatever you choose without you having to do anything.

If the soundbar is worth its salt, then it should switch itself to the BluRay player input as soon as you start playing it, and may even set the TV to the input labelled ARC. If not, you may have to choose one or both of these inputs, one on the soundbar and the other on the TV, to get the BluRay player putting sound out on the soundbar and video out on the TV.

As far as the Night Mode and Voice Mode buttons go, as far as I know it is one press to select each - or maybe you choose one or the other, I don’t know - but certainly not multiple presses. And though you might hear the difference on Voice Mode if you are playing some dialogue when you select it, Night Mode is much more subtle, and you would have to play an action scene going into a dialogue screen to hear this, and I hope you would hear that there was not such a big volume contrast between the action scene and the dialogue screen any more.

So, please tell me what model of TV and BluRay/DVD player you have, and I will see if I think the above needs changing in any way, though I hope not.

NB: Though I can scarcely believe it, I am myself 76 😛

[MaccaJim]

Thanks so much for your lengthy, informative & detailed reply. I'm going to attempt in a few hours time to follow your comnnections & will feedback results.

My bluray dvd  player is - Sony UBP - X800M2

Television - Samsung UE55MU6100k

3 hdmi connections on tv with one showing (ARC) beside socket.

Many thanks

[royabrown2]

@MaccaJim 

OK, 3 HDMI ports only confirmed. So my advice above stands, with nothing changed, except that as the TV has only ARC, not eARC, this confirms that the device with the most audio capability, the BluRay player, should be the one connected directly to the soundbar.

Less importantly, it now does not matter if the HDMI lead between the soundbar and TV is not the ‘with Ethernet’ type. (The strand of these HDMI cables once intended for Ethernet is now used as part of eARC, but isn’t needed for ARC).

Good luck, and keep us posted as to how you get on!