Sony HT-CT550W?? - Page 15

kinglerxt

Let me know what you think of the new Sony HX850 setup with your new 550w I have the 550W connected to last years HX820 Sony TV and am still very happy with both. When do you expect delivery?

I havent ordered my TV yet. When I called the rep at the store they said in a few weeks as they were in transit from distribution so end of March. Now site says 4/2
Who knows how quickly they will sell. I know the 55"s are more popular than the 46" so hopefully that will be to my advantage since Im getting the 46".

my concern is how it will look and work if I put the soundbar in front of the TV as the new 850 has that gorgeous wide flat stand (even though the website pix is incorrect). I dont want to block the sensors.

Im torn now between the Sony HX850 and the Panasonic WT50

When I first installed the 550W I put the sound bar almost flush to the base of the TV resting on the table top cabinet--looked really good! Then someone on the avs forum asked me if the sound bar was getting in the way of the sensors--it was. So I moved the sound bar about five/six inches forward and that seems to have worked fine and now the remote is able to communicate with all the TV sensors.

The attached is a pic of my setup (Sony 55HX820 w/ 550W) before I moved the sound bar forward.

I've just ordered one, and have question about the HDMI cables.

I know I need high speed HDMI cables from the components to the receiver,
but do I also need a high speed cable from the receiver to my TV?

thanks,

FCD

Fred: If your TV supports ARC ( Audio Return Channel) then you'll need a high speed or 1.4 HDMI cable to take advantage of that feature. ( You can buy these cables for under $10 on Amazon.com and other Internet sites) You can also use an older HDMI cable but then you may also need to run a second optical/digital (S/PDIF) cable to carry the sound.

"The Audio Return Channel in HDMI 1.4 enables a TV, via a single HDMI cable, to send audio data “upstream” to an A/V receiver or surround audio controller, increasing user flexibility and eliminating the need for any separate S/PDIF audio connection."

http://hometheater.about.com/gi/o.ht...i_1_4/arc.aspx

(Scroll all the way down the page to see the HDMI version comparison table)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI

Thanks.
My TV is almost 3 years old, so probably doesn't feature ARC.

I plan to feed the CT 500w a high speed HDMI from my Tivo HD, and a Blu Ray player.

I seldom use the built in TV tuner, and can use the TV's speaker in those cases.

thanks,

FCD

quick dumb question....what did you use to secure the 3d transmitter to the top of the tv as shown in your picture?

Hello Thats a Sony Skype camera. It comes with an adhesive backing that attaches to the TV frame. The 3D transmitter is built into this TV model.

Hello everyone. What is the iPod adapter that we can use for this system. I can not seem to find one. Can someone help me out? Thanks:-)

Got a question.


A. Soundbar with optical connection and only dolby digital

B. Soundbar with HDMI connection and DTS HD


Soundbar (A) is a better speaker/gives better sound then B, will A be better for movies ??
even though B got HDMI and DTS HD ...

Iam asking because, there is a Soundbar that scores high on sound quality and that reviewers love, but only got Optical and Dolby digital.. The Yamaha is behind it, but the Yamaha got HDMI and dts hd...

How does 550W learn the room geometry and the distance of the listener from it? Polk Audio 6000 has a learning feature.

NVM just got a 3.5 to RCA monster cable. Music sounds great.

I have a Tivo s3 and a Sony Blu Ray plugged into the Soundbar.
No problems with the Tivo.

However, the BD main menu and all web functions has a static (snowy) screen.

Picture is fine when the BD is connected directly to the TV.
I tested it by moving all the hi speed HDMI cables and port, but the snow is constant.

Near the BD is a cable modem and Apple Airport Extreme.

Could either one of these be the cause, and any solutions?

thanks,

FCD

I've had this Soundbar for about 4 months and it's been great except for an issue that I've been noticing lately...

When watching TV through my cable box (connected to receiver and ARC w/ Samsung 55D6050) on Input 2 (ARC) it keeps randomly changing the resolution to 1280 x 720 or 640 x 480... This is extremely annoying and I haven't found a fix for it yet. Sometimes I can plug it into a different HDMI input then plug it back and it fixes, and sometimes it doesn't fix it. Sorry if this has already been addressed before, but has anyone else experienced this or know how I can fix it?

My Setup:

Cisco RNG150N Cable Box -> Connected to sat/catv input on receiver
LG Bluray Player -> Connected to BD input on receiver
WD TV Live -> Connected to game input on receiver

Receiver connected to TV Input 2 (Arc)
Wii connected to component on TV

So is Sony going to come out with a new soundbar this year?

I am planning on wall mounting this below a wall mounted TV.

All the cables are going to be hidden in the wall (house is a new construction - actually still under construction)

questions:

what runs from the sound bar to the receiver? are they standard speaker wires or what?

if they are proprietary, how long are they?

It's a proprietary cable that comes pre-attached to the bar with two connectors at the other end that plug into the receiver unit. It's just shy of 10' long.

You can see drawings & specs in the owner's manual.
http://store.sony.com/wcsstore/SonyS...set-250359.pdf

thanks for the info. 10 feet is probably a little short for my application

I'm assuming its just regular speaker wire with fancy ends, so an enterprising person could extend it if need be.

Shouldn't be hard to extend, scissors + electrical tape and more wire should do the trick.

Just pulled the trigger on my CT550 since Amazon lowered the price recently.

Still dont have my TV yet for my bedroom so wont be able to try it out for a while.

So this is my setup I have planned (just ordered the sound bar):

40ex720 ARC --> HDMI 1.4 --> 550w ARC
PS3 Slim --> HDMI --> 550w
X360 --> HDMI --> 550w
WDTV Live --> HDMI --> 550w
Rogers STB --> HDMI (Video) --> 40ex720
Rogers STB --> Optical (Audio) --> 550w

I think this set up should work but potential issues come to mind:

1. Originally, I had all my electronics (PS3, X360, etc) connected to all 4 of my HDMI inputs on my TV and each has their own custom Picture Settings.
Now by having them connected from my 550w to my TV, I'm going to assume I will be losing my custom settings that i have from their original inputs and will have to use one standard setting since they will all be connected through that single HDMI Input.
The only workaround I can think of would be to connect my PS3 and X360 to the soundbar and have them as their own input and have identical picture settings.
As for the WDTV, I can connect it straight to my TV using another HDMI port for the video feed but this is where I'm curious on how to get 5.1 audio transmitted directly to the soundbar.

Does ARC allow the audio to transmit to the soundbar through that single ARC-enabled HDMI Port as long as a device is connected to the TV?
I'm still confused on how ARC works. Can anyone give me some tips?

Your assumption is correct.

Yes, ARC transmits the audio from any device connected to the TV. Whether it will be 5.1 or 2 channel stereo depends on the TV. Most HDTVs do not output 5.1 from connected devices, but some do and Sony may be one of them. You can check your manual or check the owner's thread in the display section of AVS.

Specs say it does output 5.1 channels. So lets say I plug in my WDTV into HDMI Port 2 on the TV, what input on the 550W's receiver am I supposed to tune in to in order to hear the Audio from the WDTV?

Should be the "TV" input. You'll need to have BraviaSync enabled on both the TV and the 550W for ARC to work.

Yeah, after reading the manual online, I figured it would be TV input. I should be getting it delivered within the next couple days and I can't wait. Thanks for the tips.

Installed this baby this afternoon and used LBJ's settings and god damn this thing blew me away!
I actually had to turn the bass level down a couple notches and also turned down the subwoofer level by a couple notches as well.
I know what bass level does but I'm having a hard time understanding what the Subwoofer level does. The manual doesn't explain it clearly enough. Any thoughts?

Also this thing works perfectly with my ex720 set. Only gripe would be that the "Home Theater Control" app in the TV only works when I have a broadband connection. Seems kind of lame because I see no relation in what broadband service has to do with the connection between the receiver and the tv set.

Hey All!

Just had my CT550w installed tonight and I'm a little confused on why I need to run optical AND HDMI from the TV to the receiver. Here is my setup:

Sharp LC-46D64U - HDMI 3.1 and Optical to 550W
Comcast HD cable box - HDMI to 550W
Boxee Box - HDMI to 550W
Sharp BD-HP21 - HDMI to 550W

So...One more time for us N00Bs: Why do I need to connect BOTH HDMI and optical from the TV to the 550W? When I go to Input and select OPT I don't get any sound. Do I also need to connect optical AND HDMI from my cable box as well to the 550W?

Why do you think you need optical? You don't unless you also watch OTA TV and/or you have internet apps on the TV and/or you have a device connected directly to the TV. Since the TV doesn't support ARC, those are the ONLY situations where you would need optical to send audio TO the soundbar.

I was following the diagram in the manual showing an HDMI AND Optical being plugged in from the TV to the 550w. Thanks for clarifying.

I got the CT550W for $300 CAD from Futureshop's one day sale.
It took me longer to take down my previous 5.1 setup than it took to set up the 550W. Once everything was set up and settings were adjusted to my liking, I don't miss my 5.1 setup too much.
For the price and its simplicity, the sound is pretty darn good with TV and sports.

I have a newborn baby in the house so I can't really test its full volume potential, but a brief testing at a local sony store tells me that it won't be an issue when I'm ready to turn it up.

Here's my setup:

Samsung LN52A650 [Toslink & HDMI] CT550W
OTA antenna to LN52A650
Nintendo Wii [Component A/V] LN52A650
HTPC [coaxial audio] LN52A650
HTPC [HDMI] LN52A650
PS3 [HDMI] CT550W
Cable STB [HDMI] CT550W

I am saving the other HDMI input for future XBOX instead of connecting the HTPC to the CT550W.