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.

[royabrown2]

@bluedayve 

HDMI showing as the input on the soundbar means that the soundbar is still listening for a signal from the Sky box.

When watching something from the TV, you need the soundbar to be showing eARC, which you should be able to switch to with whatever setting on the soundbar, or its remote if it has one, does this.

Like me, you probably think that if the Sky box is off or on standby, and stuff is coming over the eARC link, then the soundbar should automatically switch inputs; but it looks as if, like my kit (which is not the same as you have) it doesn’t.

So switching this manually on the soundbar or its remote every time you change inputs should be one way of solving this. But it’s a faff.

My streamlined solution was to put the thing connected directly to the sound bar - in your case the Sky box, in mine a UHD BluRay player - onto one of the TV HDMI sockets instead, so everything goes over eARC to the soundbar, and I now don’t have the problem with the soundbar going to HDMI,

Make sure, though, that the audio on the TV is set to bitstream, not PCM, or your Sky 5.1 sound will be busted down to stereo. But on bitstream, the sound sent from the Sky box to the soundbar over eARC should be every bit as good as when it was directly connected to the soundbar. (Something that was not true for plain old ARC, for which the audio had to be compressed).

[ksaro1]

I have a Bravia KE-55A8 with the HT-X8500 soundbar and a  Sky Q main box. My Sky Q main box's HDMI output goes into the HT-X8500 HDMI In and the HT-X8500 e-Arc HDMI goes to the Bravia's e-Arc input.

On the Bravia I have Audio Output -> Speakers -> Audio System. I get sound from all Sky Q menu options and from all of the in-built Bravia options as well.

I've been experimenting with Dolby ATMOS sound and you can get that as well, as long as this is selected on the Bravia and the content is outputting this (which is as rare as hen's teeth) and the HT-X8500 sound mode is set to Dolby ATMOS (you will see the ATMOS LED lit up if the soundbar is set for ATMOS and the content is indeed ATMOS). Intergalactic on Sky is one show that does output audio in Dolby ATMOS, so it's a good one to use to test your setup.

[bluedayve]

Thanks, but I think that is the same set up I have at the moment, with sky mini into soundbar (hdmi)  and soundbar to tv via eArc. Even switching the soundbar to tv doesn't seem to pick up the tv apps

[bluedayve]

Thx, I'll try that combo and see if things work any better.

Do I need to factory reset the tv and go back to total setup again?

[Joe_Dohn]

I don't think a factory reset would be necessary here. That said, have you tried connecting the Sky to the TV directly instead of through the soundbar? It shouldn't affect anything (unless you have all the ports taken ofc) and will solve the issue between Sky "ghost-sending" a signal to the soundbar.

Hope this helps!

- JD

[ksaro1 · Accepted solution]

@bluedayve  - Oh I forgot to mention that the HT-X8500 is set to TV input for me. I notice you mention a Sky mini box. I have my HT-X8500 connected to my main Sky Q box. There may be issues with the mini box versus the main box. Have you tried the Sky forum?

Have you tested the sound from your TV running any apps, like Netflix, natively? BTW - if you use Netflix via your Bravia you get some content with Dolby ATMOS where Sky doesn't provide that same content with Dolby ATMOS. Amazon Prime does have Dolby ATMOS content both natively and via Sky though.

Have you checked that the eArc function is enabled? The manual for the HT-X8500 states the following:

The default setting of the eARC function is on. If the eARC function is set to off, press and hold SPORTS for 5 seconds to set the eARC function to on. The HDMI and BLUETOOTH indicators flash when the eArc function is set to on. The Dolby ATMOS and DTS:X indicators flash when the eArc function is set to off.

Finally - I didn't factory reset neither the TV nor the soundbar when testing my soundbar and changing any settings on it and the TV.

[bluedayve]

This allows me to listen to sky broadcast on the tv, as well as bravia in built apps, but no soundbar connections will work for both...really getting frustrated here....sounds like sky only via soundbar and tv via tv speakers is the only way to go?

Help!

[ksaro1]

@bluedayve  afaik there is only 1 HDMI port on the Bravia that says eArc. Have you double checked that that is the port that the cable to the soundbar is connected to? This will pass the audio From the TV To the soundbar.

The audio going from the TV to the soundbar should not be affected by what else is connected to other HDMI ports. So it appears really odd that if the Sky box is connected to an HDMI port that the sound then works from your TV to the soundbar.

[royabrown2]

@bluedayve 

My current hypotheses are one or more of:-

that you are using the wrong HDMI input on the TV for eARC;

that you have a faulty HDMI cable;

that the Sky input on the soundbar is preventing anything else working;

that you have a faulty soundbar.

There may be other hypotheses I haven’t thought of.

First, check @ksaro1 @‘s suggestion, and make doubly sure that the HDMI cable between TV and soundbar is plugged in to the one HDMI port on the TV that supports eARC. Since the other three don’t.

Does this fix things?

If not, let’s simplify things a little.

Disconnect the Sky box from the soundbar, and put the soundbar and the TV in standby.

Then switch the TV on, and play something, maybe BBC1.

Does the soundbar switch on?
Does it say eARC?
Does the TV sound now come through the soundbar?

Or is it on the TV speakers?

Or is there no sound at all?

Your answers will determine where we go from here.