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Vizio VHT215 setup

post #1 of 16
2/23/12 at 6:44am
Thread Starter 
I have all of my components going to the samsung plasma PN50C680 via hdmi and optical from the tv to the soundbar. I am not receiving a dolby signal to the bar. Not sure why but I know if I connect my DVR via optical to the bar the dolby signal is present. Is my setup incorrect?

samsung plasma
samsung bluray
Direct tv
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post #2 of 16
2/23/12 at 7:47am
You should have the Soundbar go to the TV via HDMI only to the input labeled ARC and all the components run into the soundbar via HDMI.

Connecting everything to the TV and then the TV to the sound bar via optical will not yield Dolby sound as the TV does not pass Dolby from HDMI inputs to the Optical output.
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post #3 of 16
2/23/12 at 10:52am
I will be purchasing this soundbar from costco today and I have a couple similar questions. I will be hooking this up to a Panasonic st30 65in plasma.

Currently I have comcast-DVR box and Blu-ray hooked up directly to TV via HDMI. I understand I will be able to connect both comcast-DVR box and Blu-ray player to soundbar and then have one HDMI towards the TV.

My question is how do I get the soundbar to play the sound when using the Vieracast on my Panasonic. I watch alot of sports and use the NHL Gamecenter App(as well as MLB.tv) through Vieracast and I don't think I will get sound out of the soundbar when viewing anything through Vieracast. Is there a work-around for this?

Also what would my solution be if I wanted to add an Xbox to this thing? Just switch out the HDMI inputs in the soundbar?
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post #4 of 16
2/23/12 at 11:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nuttybardude View Post

I will be purchasing this soundbar from costco today and I have a couple similar questions. I will be hooking this up to a Panasonic st30 65in plasma.

Currently I have comcast-DVR box and Blu-ray hooked up directly to TV via HDMI. I understand I will be able to connect both comcast-DVR box and Blu-ray player to soundbar and then have one HDMI towards the TV.

My question is how do I get the soundbar to play the sound when using the Vieracast on my Panasonic. I watch alot of sports and use the NHL Gamecenter App(as well as MLB.tv) through Vieracast and I don't think I will get sound out of the soundbar when viewing anything through Vieracast. Is there a work-around for this?

Also what would my solution be if I wanted to add an Xbox to this thing? Just switch out the HDMI inputs in the soundbar?

I think the soundbar supports ARC. Make sure you connect the HDMI cable to HDMI1 on the ST30 and have Viera Link enabled.

If you add an Xbox you could connect to TV and use ARC, or get an HDMI switch so you're not unplugging cables.
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post #5 of 16
2/23/12 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Possumgirl View Post

I think the soundbar supports ARC. Make sure you connect the HDMI cable to HDMI1 on the ST30 and have Viera Link enabled.

If you add an Xbox you could connect to TV and use ARC, or get an HDMI switch so you're not unplugging cables.

Thanks for the quick response.

I'm not exactly sure what "ARC" is, or what it does?
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post #6 of 16
2/23/12 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 
I believe my Samsung plasma does not support ARC. What are my alternatives?
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post #7 of 16
2/23/12 at 12:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nuttybardude View Post

Thanks for the quick response.

I'm not exactly sure what "ARC" is, or what it does?

Quote:
Originally Posted by bdom12 View Post

I believe my Samsung plasma does not support ARC. What are my alternatives?

ARC=audio return channel. When both the TV and the external audio system support ARC, it allows audio to be output FROM the TV using the same HDMI cable used to send video TO the TV. It eliminates the need to use a separate digital cable to output audio from the TV.

You only need to output audio from a TV if one or more of the following applies to your setup.
  • You watch TV OTA
  • You have components connected to the TV rather than the external AVR
  • You use your TV's smart apps

If none of those apply, you don't need ARC or a digital output connection.

If you do need to output audio and either the TV or the external system don't support ARC, then you simply connect your TV's digital output. Surprisingly, most TV owner's manuals will show you a diagram of how to make connections.
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post #8 of 16
3/28/12 at 6:22am
possumgirl the recommended setup for the vht215 is hdmi out from blu ray to hdmi in on soundbar hdmi out from cable box to hdmi in on soundbar and hdmi out from sound bar to hdmi in on tv but the hdmi out on soundbar is (arc ) if your tv 's hdmi does not support (arc ) can you give me the exact best work around thankyou in advance
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post #9 of 16
3/28/12 at 8:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by keether View Post

possumgirl the recommended setup for the vht215 is hdmi out from blu ray to hdmi in on soundbar hdmi out from cable box to hdmi in on soundbar and hdmi out from sound bar to hdmi in on tv but the hdmi out on soundbar is (arc ) if your tv 's hdmi does not support (arc ) can you give me the exact best work around thankyou in advance

Keether, you may want to reread my post that's just prior to yours to determine if you need to send audio out from TV. The HDMI connection from soundbar to TV sends video to the TV and you can use any HDMI port on the TV. If all of your gear is connected to the soundbar, you're done! If not, connect digital audio from TV.
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post #10 of 16
3/29/12 at 10:47am
thank you possum girl i was not sure if both hdmi ports had to be (arc ) enabled for the video signal to work but i now understand as long as you don't need audio from tv your good and the video signal will still come through i hope
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post #11 of 16
3/29/12 at 4:23pm
just finished vht215 setup for cable box blu ray and hdtv 3 hdmi cables worked flawlessly as long as you are not depending on tv for audio the hdmi arc out on soundbar works fine with hdmi in on tv that does not supprt arc by the way i own an old sony 100 and a jvc thba1 which i love the vht215 was a gift for my son but from what i heard in an hour cd blu ray tv ipod this unit is every bit as nice as the jvc thba1 by the way if your out there davyo i'm glad you agreed with my assessment of the jvc but i'm glad i finally got to listen to a vizio you were right they make a great product although i've heard there has been some qc issues lately good luck everyone
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post #12 of 16
10/20/12 at 6:05am
I just bought the VHT215 Sound Bar. What are people using for settings for Sub, Bass and Treble? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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post #13 of 16
10/23/12 at 6:35pm
Does anyone own the VHT 215 soundbar? Could you tell me what settings you use? Thanks!
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post #14 of 16
12/6/12 at 7:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Possumgirl View Post


ARC=audio return channel. When both the TV and the external audio system support ARC, it allows audio to be output FROM the TV using the same HDMI cable used to send video TO the TV. It eliminates the need to use a separate digital cable to output audio from the TV.


You only need to output audio from a TV if one or more of the following applies to your setup.
  • You watch TV OTA
  • You have components connected to the TV rather than the external AVR
  • You use your TV's smart apps


If none of those apply, you don't need ARC or a digital output connection.


If you do need to output audio and either the TV or the external system don't support ARC, then you simply connect your TV's digital output. Surprisingly, most TV owner's manuals will show you a diagram of how to make connections.

Hi, I have a TV that does not support ARC. Currently I have Cable/DVR and Blu Ray plugged into the TV via HDMI. So, since I can't use ARC, should I just plug in the optical audio out (the only outgoing audio connection) into the soundbar and then I'm done? I guess I'm not really understanding what ARC does. Would it still work to plug everything into the soundbar and then connect to TV with HDMI even if ARC is not supported? Or do I need to plug evertthing into the soundbar and then have an HDMI *and* optical audiot cable going to/from the TV? I ask because the initial post in this thread indicated that the TV would not pass along the Dolby audio to the soundbar. My TV does have a Dolby Digital decoder so I don't know if the same rules apply or not. Not having all the various cables needed to test the various setups, I'm a little confused about the best way to set it up and can't current just test each method to see what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for any help.
Edited by wsmithjr - 12/6/12 at 7:58am
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post #15 of 16
12/6/12 at 9:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wsmithjr View Post

Hi, I have a TV that does not support ARC. Currently I have Cable/DVR and Blu Ray plugged into the TV via HDMI. So, since I can't use ARC, should I just plug in the optical audio out (the only outgoing audio connection) into the soundbar and then I'm done? I guess I'm not really understanding what ARC does. Would it still work to plug everything into the soundbar and then connect to TV with HDMI even if ARC is not supported? Or do I need to plug evertthing into the soundbar and then have an HDMI *and* optical audiot cable going to/from the TV? I ask because the initial post in this thread indicated that the TV would not pass along the Dolby audio to the soundbar. My TV does have a Dolby Digital decoder so I don't know if the same rules apply or not. Not having all the various cables needed to test the various setups, I'm a little confused about the best way to set it up and can't current just test each method to see what works and what doesn't.
Thanks for any help.

Hmmm, you quoted my post from awhile back that should have answered your questions, but let me try again. biggrin.gif

If you leave your source devices connected to the TV, then yes, you need to connect optical from TV to soundbar to get audio since the TV does not support ARC. (Reread my post where I explain ARC).

A better solution is to connect your two source devices via HDMI to the soundbar and then connect the soundbar via HDMI to your TV. The soundbar processes the audio directly and outputs video only over the HDMI connection to the TV.

All HDTVs that have an ATSC tuner can decode and output DD, but they output DD ONLY from the tuner, not from devices connected to the TV.
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post #16 of 16
12/6/12 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Possumgirl View Post

Hmmm, you quoted my post from awhile back that should have answered your questions, but let me try again. biggrin.gif
If you leave your source devices connected to the TV, then yes, you need to connect optical from TV to soundbar to get audio since the TV does not support ARC. (Reread my post where I explain ARC).
A better solution is to connect your two source devices via HDMI to the soundbar and then connect the soundbar via HDMI to your TV. The soundbar processes the audio directly and outputs video only over the HDMI connection to the TV.
All HDTVs that have an ATSC tuner can decode and output DD, but they output DD ONLY from the tuner, not from devices connected to the TV.

Thanks for the clarification. When I posted, I kind of thought I should know the answer, but I was a little confused from reading various related posts. So, I appreciate the clarification and now it makes perfect sense. smile.gif Thanks.
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