HDMI new TV and soundbar
 

I've been thinking for a while to buy a replacement smart TV for the living room, for a while. Present one is plasma, none smart, analogue/digi - but I 'smartened' it with a Firestick. This was our second plasma, the first didn't last long.



New one on order is - slightly larger, smart, UHD and will draw, less than half the watts/ one third. So should maybe pay for itself in saved electric quite quickly.



Long ago, I added a 'soundbar' to the first plasma, to get some decent sound/ better volume. It was less necessary with the second plasma, so it became disused.



The 'soundbar' is a Sony, 6 speaker system with a single HDMI socket, DVD and an FM/AM radio built in. The DVD playing has been its only rare use, the radio a little more so through its own speakers.


New TV when it arrives, has three HDMI sockets, one of which is marked HDMI └ ARC (Audio Return Channel).



Does that last suggest I can use that HDMI port to both play DVD's and feed audio to the 'soundbar' via one single HDMI cable?

Strange, was asking a tv engineer yesterday about hooking up my soundbar to the telly. First post, top of the pile, is yours.
My soundbar is a cheap one, it has phono sockets and a toslink, no HDMI. Seems I'm stuck with the toslink because tv has no phono or earphone socket. He said best way is HDMI using the arc outlet on the tv. Dunno how this helps but it's a bit of a job for me to get my head around it all.
Just thinking, there are usually 3 HDMI outlets, I use one for the PVR and the other for the DVD. The aerial goes to the PVR. The one marked 'arc' I'm going to try for the soundbar with a converter for the phono sockets.

As long as your soundbar is ARC compatible it should be fine to use it to send the audio signal back from the Tv, you will need to ensure that HDMI control is set to on with your new Tv... However using Arc can be problematic in some cases and can cause issues that may not seem related to the soundbar.

I do suspect that your all in one surround system isn't Arc compatible as most of these don't tend to be and that the Hdmi port is output only!

Check to see if your system has an optical port as they just work with no issues or if it only has an Aux in you can buy a relatively inexpensive Dac that will convert the digital PCM signal from your TV's opt out and convert to 2 channel stereo.


Optical (Toslink) is fine and is able to send a compressed 5.1 surround signal or uncompressed 2 channel audio which will be the vast majority of programs transmitted but even if the signal is compressed it is very unlikely that you would be able to hear the difference. The advantage using the opt channel is that it 'just works' and everything on screen including the smart services will be transmitted.

The 'soundbar' calls itself a Home Theatre Sony DAV - DZ230. Its HDMI is marked DVD out only, so my guess is that I must have fed audio in via the Sony's SCART port. It looks like I might be out of luck with using its HDMI, though it has a port marked DMPORT, which I need to investigate. The TV will have an Opto port, but there is not one on the new TV.



I'm surprised they don't have speaker level sockets on modern TV, to help get around the poor built in speakers.



Thanks..

I'm surprised your new set does not have an optical port but if it has a headphone socket you could run a 3.5mm to 2 phono lead to a scart adaptor https://www.amazon.com/35570-SCART-A.../dp/B00008A956 ... Note you will need one that you can change from output to input as above. This will at least give you stereo and as mentioned above most Tv programs are only encoded in stereo. You will generally only find films are transmitted in surround if they are broadcast on 'HD' channels as this gives them sufficent bandwidth for the extra audio channels. I didn't look much further than the basic specs of your Sony but it's probable that it will have a sound field setting that will give you psuedo surround from a 2 channel input. Bear in mind that on some tv's activating the headphone socket will mean no sound from the tv's internal speakers although most mainstream sets will allow for both to output simultaneously.

I guess I must have fed the audio in, via the scart then. I remember I got a very good sound from the system, using all six speakers and the old TV is not HD, so it must have a psuedo surround mode. It is an awfully complex audio system with a mass of options.


I have not managed to track down a Sony DMPORT adptor, it seems it was a failed Sony only system.


I wonder if there might be some way to get an HDMI └ ARC to opto adaptor?


Tracking suggests the new TV will arrive tomorrow, then I will know more.

There is, its called an HDMI └ ARC to to TOSLINK adaptor..


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HDMI-ARC-...IlJt:rk:1:pf:0

As you have already realised the sony port never went anywhere and as you have neither Hdmi nor Optical inputs on your sound system the adaptor mentioned above would not help. Let me know the model number of your set and i can give you an idea of how to connect the two together.

The Sony does have an opto port. It is a Home Theatre Sony DAV - DZ230.


The new TV is an LG 49UJ630V