Sony HT-CT550W?? - Page 18

Nevermind my situation, as I returned the Yamaha sound bar. I determined that my need for good sounding music (along with movies) would be better served with a true speaker setup, rather than a sound bar like the Sony model I was asking you guys about. I ended up purchasing an entry-level Sony AV receiver and Energy Classic Take 5.1 speakers. The whole setup cost me $465 (including tax).

CT550 is powerfull and can rock the house for sure compare to my CT100 but there are some tinny sound with a few cable HD channels. I got the DTS 5.1 HD playing Avatar on Sony Bluray. Get the CT150 if I were you. I have Monster ultra hdi cables and thinking of buying 1.4 hdmi cable on Amazon to test out. It's a hassle but I might run the wiring for the full 7.1 set up with my Yamaha V661 with Bose speakers as I have before moving into the new place. That's really da sound of the home theatre .

I like mine so far in term of sound quality for its form factor. However, I hate the fact that it doesn't have a simple headphone out jack!

I just watched my first movie with my new living room setup, and I can say I am pleased with the movie soundfield performance.

Curious to know if anyone has any regrets with this Sony soundbar? I am heading to Best Buy this weekend with my gift cards from Christmas and this SB is on the top of my list.

If you do have regrets, what soundbar would you have preferred at this price (around $330)?

I do not regret getting the 550W. I use it in a room dedicated to a projector with an Xbox and PS3 attached. The sound is great and can be really loud. I do have the CT150 as well in our living room. I think the 150 probably handles dialog better, but by only a small margin. A lot of blu players and TVs have dialog "enhancement" settings to compensate. I love the break-out box and wireless sub on the 550, and those were essential to my setup (projector and consoles are above and behind where I sit). I'd recommend getting it home and trying it out, I doubt you'll return it.

If you do, though, perhaps one of the Samsung sound bars would be better for music specifically, especially the one with Bluetooth. Although I'm not complaining, Bluetooth would be a cool bonus to have. I make up for that by having AirPlay-enabled devices in most of the house

Standard = bland
Movie/Music/Game = good all-around
News/Sports= Enhanced dialogue

This is my impression of the soundfields.

I just purchased the sound bar & hooked it up to my Xbox 360 (HTPC setup with Ceton cable card for Media Center) to my Samsung 55". Everything works great, & it sounds really good after tweaking the AMP settings. I do like that I can control the volume without using the Sony remote..

One thing that's bugging me though.. When I turn on the receiver, it always defaults to "TV" ( TV blanks for a few seconds, then I get picture with no sound).. When I change the source to SAT/CATV, it blanks out for a few more seconds, then I get picture & sound. Is there a way to change the default so it always starts on SAT/CATV?

I currently have everything hooked up through HDMI Pass thru: Xbox -> SAT/CATV on Receiver -> TV out to TV

Trying to make this as seamless as possible for WAF (wife approval factor)

Are you using a Harmony remote with the system? I had the issue a few times, but it went away on its own after a few days. If you are using a Harmony remote, then maybe try to reprogram the remote.

No..Just an Xbox Media Center Remote

I don't think the remote has anything to do with it though.. I turn the receiver on with the Sony remote, but whenever I turn it on, I always need to hit the SAT/CATV button to get any sound from it. I get picture when it turns on, just no sound.

Maybe I also need to run the Optical cable from the Xbox along with HDMI.. I just don't want to lose the ability for the Xbox remote to control the sound of the receiver (again.. the WAF).

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but surprisingly I can't find out. Does the 550W have an actual display on the receiver? I really like to know the volume number, and wasn't sure if there was a display or not. No picture ever shows a display, surprisingly.

I've been searching and searching for a good soundbar. We have the Sony HTCT100 but are disappointed in how quiet it is, and how poorly it handles dialogue. Overall, is the feeling that the 550W would be more powerful and overall better? We have a 15'x20' room.

One disappointing thing is that this doesn't have bluetooth. Is there any way to play music through this using my android phone?
Thanks!

It does have a display, and it shows the volume number as you change it.. Then it goes back to displaying the source. (it also passes through the volume number to my set in a small window at the bottom, but I think YMMV on that depending on your set and how you hook it up)

Not sure how you'd connect your phone to it, but I'm sure there's some adapter out there that would let you hook it in as a source.

edit.. something like this would probably work.
Edited by dexter999 - 1/18/13 at 1:11pm

The receiver on the 550W has a display. I believe that it shows the source but I'm not sure about the volume. I would assume so but I'm not sure. To play music from your phone, you can get an RCA to 3.5mm cable to connect to the back of the soundbar.

Have you tried different connections and settings with your CT100? I would explore all options before spending more money.

This may already been answered here...but I just have an issue with my HT-CT550W not displaying Dolby TrueHD on the receiver when I play a blu-ray that outputs that audio on my PS3 Slim. I optimized the PS3 with the settings to have the HDMI audio output to be in bitstream and not LPCM. Should the Audio Optical format be in Bitstream Mix, Bitstream Direct or LPCM? I've tried 300 Blu-ray which has the Dolby TrueHD soundtrack and it works on the display on the receiver. But when I play Transformers: Dark of The Moon 3D, the receiver displays Dolby Digital but not Dolby TrueHD...how do I set the receiver to display the correct output setting? Do I have to go through the PS3 settings? Please let me know

I picked this up yesterday from BestBuy. They had an open box that was still packed in the original box and packing material for only $225 (after an extra 10% off for open box items they had). I had an older Sony speaker bar from five years ago for my secondary TV. It had a dedicated center channel speaker(which anchors the dialog better). Which is one thing I miss from the CT550W. But it is listed as a 2.1 speaker bar while my old one was listed as a 3.1 speaker bar. But I needed something that could decode the HD audio codecs plus pass 3D since I'm replacing my seocndary Tv with a 3D capable one. And the choices are extremely limited for speaker bars that decode HD audio, unless you want to spend alot. So for the price I got, I am happy witth it.

I'm a bit confused whether I should be using Bitstream or Linear PCM on my launch day (fat) PlayStation 3. I just changed it to Bitstream and I think it sounds better/less hollow/tinny. Should I uncheck all the LPCM options even though my output format is on Bitstream? For some reason, I can't uncheck LPCM 2 channel 44.1 and 48 khz LPCM. They're permanently checked.

EDIT:

Inception (DTS Master Audio) shows DTS on the receiver.
300 (Dobly TrueHD) shows the Dolby logo.
A film I have on my PS3 shows PCM.

Is it safe to assume all is working properly?


EDIT 2: First game I tried (Ni No Kuni) is playing in LPCM, despite having the Dolby Digital logo. I'm assuming it's because I can't uncheck the two 2 Channel LPCM settings. This kind of concerns me.
Edited by Goldfingiz - 2/14/13 at 11:02am

The PS3 fat can't bitstream the HD audio codecs. They need to be decoded and sent as pcm.
Edited by aaronwt - 2/14/13 at 2:02pm

Thank you. So I should change it back to PCM and check all of the PCM settings? They all get checked during auto-setup.

From wat you said it sounds like it is just sending the legacy audio to the receiver. So with PCM it should decode the advanced audio codecs and send them as pCm. And the great thing about the HT-CT550W is that it can handle all the advanced audio codecs as well as up tto 7.1, 192Khz PCM audio.

Looking to buy the 550w but I have a couple of questions I hope someone can help me out with regarding this system. My setup will be uverse, blu ray, and roku all connected VIA HDMI to the 550w, with the 550w connected VIA HDMI to a samsung ES6003 LED that does not support ARC. My questions are this...
1. Do i need to run an optical from the TV back to the 550w with this configuration?
2. Will the 550w automatically turn on and off when I power the TV on and off thru my programed ATT UVerse universal remote, or will i need to use the sony 550w remote to power the system on and off?
3. Can the volume be controlled without using the 550w remote?

Looking for a system that is wife friendly that can be used with our current Uverse remote. Thanks.

You will not need to connect an optical cable from your TV. Connecting everything to the soundbar via HDMI and then the soundbar to the TV via HDMI is the way to go. The other 2 are a bit trickier. I would search the forum for information on this soundbar (specifically with your TV or other Samsung TV's). Activating AnyNet+ on your TV and a similar feature on the soundbar should get you most or all of the functionality that you want but I'm not certain.

By activating Anynet+ on the TV and HDMI-CTL on the soundbar, you should get volume control and "auto-off"; however most, if not all, Samsung TVs do not support the "auto-on" feature. The only reason you might need to connect an optical cable is if you want to use smart apps on the TV.

Doesn't the 550w use the Audio Return Channel(ARC) over HDMI? According to the manual it has it. With that you just have the one HDMI cable to the TV which will handle incoming video to the TV from the 550w and also send audio from the TV to the 550w.
Of course the TV has to support ARC for it to work.

If you are referring to bskaggs' post, his TV doesn't have ARC. I wouldn't use it anyway because his soundbar has 3 HDMI inputs and he only has 3 sources at this time. I would only think about using ARC if I had more than 3 sources and/or if I used smart apps on my TV.

I am new to this forum/thread. I own a CT550W and recently my house was broken into. Fortunately, I scared the guys away before they got much. Unfortunately they did take off with my Sony TV remote, and my CT550W remote. I was hoping to see if anyone here had either a model of the 550w remote or some suggestion of a replacement remote for the system. I would like something similar if at all possible, and have been unable to find anything as of yet. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

This says it's a genuine replacement

http://www.newtvremotes.com/Catalog/Item.php?BLI=SONY&CG=3&model=HT-CT550W&qlref=212149841

You can also get a Harmony remote. My Harmony One remote controls my CT550W without any problems.

Speaking of remotes, does anyone know where the IR sensor is on the Sony? I put the CT550 in a built-in wood cabinet and bought and ir extender. I've got most of my components working with my universal remote but the CT550 is hit or miss. The ir extender came with something that I can attach right over the ir sensor on the Sony. I can't get any consistency yet. Thanks!

Nevermind: Found it on page 9 of the manual. It's below the input selector button. Will place ir eye over it when I get home and hopefully it will work better.