Panasonic SC-HTB500 - Page 9

^^^ So even with a BD player connected to the bar and the player turned off, it still does it? I'm at a loss. Guess I'd go to the troubleshooting section of the manual and try resetting the bar. Then start over with Vieralink and see what happens.

Thanks. I got ARC and vieralink up and running once I switch to a high speed hdmi cable.

Hi All
First time post here. Looking for some help connecting all my components.

I currently have

1. Samsung UN32D4000 LED TV (4 HDMI ports but not ARC compatible)
2. Rogers HDTV Explorer 4642 Cable Box - One HDMI Port and I optical Cable Port
3. Blu-Ray Player/DVD - one HDMI port
4. Apple TV
5. Panasonic SCHTB10 (Similar to the SCHTB500 with respect to inputs)

After reading through all the threads here I have a general idea of how to connect, but not having an ARC compatable TV makes it difficult. I want to maximize my sound through the sound bar with all the components.

If I were to do as follows
TV < -> Sound Bar : HDMI + optical cable
I have the one HDMI In port left on the sound bar with three components (Apple TV, Cable Box, Blu Ray) - if one connects to the soundbar and the other two to the TV, would I lose sound quality from the latter?

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help
M

Potentially yes. The TV will only output 2 ch. stereo on the optical from the components you connect to it. Since blu-rays have excellent audio, it's usually preferable to connect the player to the bar's HDMI input and your other components to the TV. You could look into getting an optical switch which would allow you to connect from the components to the switch and then switch to optical in on the soundbar.

If that is my only option then I will have to look into it

Any idea where I can get a relatively inexpensive optical switch?

If I had an ARC compatable TV, it would free up the optical cable.

How would my connections change?

Would I send the Rogers box to the soundbar via optical and the Blu Ray to the Soundbar via HDMI?
Keep Apple TV directly to the TV via HDMI?

Thanks

For a TV with ARC, that connection plan should work fine.

Regarding the optical switch, check Monoprice (link at top of page) and/or Amazon.

Truthfully, I use my apple TV and Rogers HDTV more than my blu ray player

So I think this configuration would get used more.
TV ----HDMI --- SoundBar
TV---Optical----SoundBar
Apple TV ---HDMI---Soundbar
Rogers Cable Box ---HDMI ---TV
Blu Ray ---HDMI---TV

or

TV ----HDMI --- SoundBar
TV---Optical----SoundBar
Rogers cable Box ---HDMI---Soundbar
Apple TV ---HDMI ---TV
Blu Ray ---HDMI---TV

I think both would work.

I dont really follow the optical splitter
-Would I want and HDMI splitter with three HDMI inputs (one from Cable Box, Blu Ray, and Apple TV) and one HDMI Output to the Soundbar?
-Or am I using optical cables for the 3 inputs and outputs with seperate HDMI cables for each component connecting to my TV?

^^^
Either of the connections you just listed will work fine.

The only reason to use an optical switch is if you want 5.1 audio sent to the soundbar rather than the 2.0 that the TV will send. If you use a switch, you would not connect optical from TV to soundbar. You would connect optical from each of the two devices connected to the TV to the switch, then connect switch to optical in on the soundbar.

I'd suggest first just seeing how the audio sounds to you. It may sound good enough that the extra connections aren't worth it. At least you know you have the option of a switch if you want to try it.

Sorry for the necro bump. I have an oppo 103, with my cable input into the 103 input to take advantage of the marvel QDEO chip. Output to the soundbar, then output to tv.

Is the output on the soundbar completely out of the way, just a clean pass through for video? I don't want it mucking up anything from the oppo's video.