Question For Those Who Have A Sound Bar

[RutgersRaRa]

I just bought a sound bar with separate wireless woofer, and it sounds great on most channels (the most important one being BTN). A couple of interrelated quirks, though. One is that the TV's sound and sound bar's sound don't always sync (about a half-second delay), which ordinarily would be no big deal since I don't care about the TV's sound, but when I turn the volume on the TV all the way down (not muted, but turned down), some channels don't produce sound at all, not even through the sound bar. I am using an optical cable from the TV outputs to the sound bar, and the problem seems to be with SD (standard def) channels, but not always. And on the channels for which there is no sound, the quirky thing is that when I switch to one of these channels from another channel, it produces sound for about two seconds, then cuts out completely. I thought if I went with an HDMI cable out from the TV to the sound bar it might make a difference, but there isn't an HDMI out slot (only in from cable box).

Anyone experience this problem, and anyone with a solution?

 

[ATIOH]

This guy sound like he had a similar setup and problem:
https://forums.att.com/t5/U-verse-2013-Archive/Sound-on-Standard-TV-Channels-Disappears/td-p/2157983

I simply had to change my remote to control the cable box (rather than my receiver) and unmute the cable box.



Even though my remote is always suppose to control the sound on my receiver, somehow it ended up muting the cable box itself a few nights back. I was able to get HD sound because when I adjusted the Audio Options from Surround Sound to Stereo and back to Surround Sound it "unmuted" the HD channels; however, the SD channels were still muted (sounds a bit like a bug or quirk).



I'm only using an optical cable for my sound, and, like Diamond_Jim says, you can indeed use it for both SD and HD channel sounds ... just make sure your cable box isn't on mute or at a volume level of 0!

 

[RutgersRaRa]

Great stuff--thanks. I'll try putting the TV's volume on 1 (which isn't audible) and see if that works. I'm not using a power source other than the signal coming from the cable box, so we'll see if the solution works the same for receiver-printed problems and non-receiver-oriented ones.

When I go back and forth between "Cinema" and "Standard" it doesn't change anything, but maybe the volume on 1 will work.

 

[RU85inFla]

I have DirecTV and use an optical cable from the DTV to the soundbar. Using the TV remote, I set the TV volume to zero. Using the soundbar remote, I set the soundbar volume real high and lose it, I then control the volume with the DirecTV remote only. I never touch the soundbar remote again and only use the TV remote to go to things like Netflix.

 

[RutgersRaRa]

I have DirecTV and use an optical cable from the DTV to the soundbar. Using the TV remote, I set the TV volume to zero. Using the soundbar remote, I set the soundbar volume real high and lose it, I then control the volume with the DirecTV remote only. I never touch the soundbar remote again and only use the TV remote to go to things like Netflix.

I just solved the problem--I was running the optical cable from the back of the TV to the sound bar rather than from the cable box. Sounds great and the remotes aren't a PITA, either. Thanks!

 

[RU85inFla]

I just solved the problem--I was running the optical cable from the back of the TV to the sound bar rather than from the cable box. Sounds great and the remotes aren't a PITA, either. Thanks!

Glad it helped.

 

[Tango Two]

Great forum for A/V information:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/index.php



Soundbars:

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/195-soundbars/

 

[RUPedro]

On one of my TVs I have a Samsung sound bar with wireless sub where I use an optical cable from the TV to the sound bar. I also have Directv providing the broadcast content. Sometimes the order in which I turn the components on ends up with the audio and video out of whack. Each time this has happened, I just turned off the sound bar and turned it back on and it the audio and video sync up OK.