Samsung HW-E450 Soundbar - Page 9

Does anyone have any insight on:

1. How to potentially get more "thump" from the subwoofer?
2. How to get the soundbar to stay on HDMI as the input source when turned on? I have played around with tons of settings with no luck.
3. Whether there are any settings in my cable box that will allow for superior sound quality?

I have a 46" non-ARC Samsung LED TV and am using AnyNet.

Thank you.

still trying to figure out the "dialogue level" issue with most of the multichannel sources as voices do sound much lower than the rest of the mix and there's no way to adjust the central channel with this soundbar. the "smart volume" feature is far from ideal since the volume fluctuates a little too much between the scenes and it gets annoying. the "cinema" mode seems to even all the channels out but makes everything sound too tinny and unnatural. the "drc" levels do not change sound at all in my experience (i was hoping that "max drc" setting would help but it seems it does nothing). after switching the source to "pcm" all of the above issues remain.

any further advice is appreciated.

I'd be interested in hearing a response to this too. The volume fluctuation just seems to be the nature of cable TV these days. Smart volume does seem to catch the loud bursts, but in a delayed way.

Also, does anyone have recommended settings for this bar? Sound mode, subwoofer level, etc?

I currently have the sound effects off, smart volume on, and the sub woofer level at 5. I'm pretty happy with it, but wondered if others had subwoofer and sound mode differences.

Thanks.

I have my sub set to 5 and my Soundbar set to Cinema with the 3D effect on. Watched War Horse the other night and wow! Explosions during the war scenes were off the charts and dialog came through nice and clear. I am starting to really like this soundbar thats for sure.

Do you have the 3D effect on low or high? I have it on low right now. Smart volume turned on? How does cinema do with your cable/tv source?

For those using an optical cable with this soundbar, I would recommend getting a thinner version. I bought the cable below because that was all that they had in stock and it's really tight because of the angle of the input:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10229&cs_id=1022904&p_id=2764&seq=1&format=2

Because of this, I am going to be using an HDMI switch.

I have the 3D effect set to low and I have Smart Volume on. Cinema is very good with my Directv HD source.

Ok, this is really crazy. What is with Samsung. Three Samsung products, ES8000 tv, BD player and Soundbar. Cable box and BD player go through a Monoprice switch (4x1). All running Anynet+. Power on the tv and cable but have to use soundbar remote for sound. Because I have the hdmi passing through the soundbar the tv won't show a picture till I turn on soundbar. Also, once it turns on, it defaults to D.IN. Stupid! Have to change to hdmi for source to get picture. I can just imagine it it wasn't all Samsung products. Also, when I power off, that works fine. All go off.
If I switch to a Harmony remote, will that at least get everything to turn on and off? The one thing I'm still concerned about is the soundbar defaulting to D.IN when it starts. I can't seem to find a way around that.
Thanks

If you have been reading threads in this forum, you will see that you're not alone. I have the same issue. I also have a 5X1 switch that I'm going to connect over the weekend.

Thanks. I have been reading the posts. I guess I was kind of hoping someone had some new news. Oh well.

I would like to make sure that I am not aggravating myself for no reason. I have the Samsung HW-E450 soundbar with a Samsung 46" LED TV. The TV does NOT have ARC. I have everything connected directly into the soundbar via HDMI and then the soundbar to the TV via HDMI. I have AnyNet on as well as HDMI-CEC. The soundbar turns off with the TV but doesn't turn on with the TV. I have read about this being the case with others but want to make sure that I'm not missing something.

That has been an ongoing complaint in this thread when the bar is connected via HDMI to a Samsung TV. It is the TV's fault, not the bar. Samsung did not implement an "auto-on" feature in their version of CEC. When the bar is connected to a Panasonic or Sharp TV, it turns on with the TV just fine. I realize that doesn't do you any good.

I thought so. Thanks. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. It still beats the optical connection, where I had to use the soundbar remote for everything.

Nice of Samsung to take care of people that own other brand TV's.

sound bar worked find with my samsung plasma but I had to return it and get a panny and now I can't get any sound over hdmi. The bar says TV ARC and shuts off the tv speakers and it powers off when I shut the tv off but I can't get any sound. Does this thing work with panny st50 series?
Edited by altaguy - 12/20/12 at 5:09pm

It should work okay with a Panny. How do you have your devices connected? Sounds like you've made the Viera Link settings changes if the TV speakers mute when the bar turns on.

OTOH, I think I recall some posts in this thread about ARC issues with non-Sammy TVs.

solved it by trying another hdmi cable. Odd that the first cord would work with samsung but not panny

Just one more of life's mysteries.

Hi Folks,

First post. I've read through the thread and looking for some advice. 25 Years working as a Sony Rep and 6 years in the industry before that ( retired now for 4 ) and honestly....I'm still running into some glitches helping some friends set up their system. The system in set up in Ontario Canada.

TV is a Samsung PN51E450.
Soundbar is the HWE-450.

Rogers Digital HD PVR (SA-8300HD) is connected to the TV via HDMI.
Sony DVD player connected to to the TV via HDMI.
Nintendo Wii connected to TV via analog video/audio in.

Optical cable connected from digital out on TV to optical digital in on the Soundbar. TV speakers turned off.

TV and Soundbar powers up fine from Samsung TV remote and Rogers HD PVR remote. Soundbar defaults to D-In. All source material connected to TV, passes audio to Soundbar as it should. Soundbar shuts down after 20 minutes or so, when TV is turned off.

So....all good right?

Well, not exactly. The issue is one of controlling the soundbar volume with the Rogers HD PVR remote. It doesn't.

Therefore, the HWE-450 remote is required to adjust the listening volume on the soundbar.

Here are my questions:

1) has anyone found codes that can allow the Rogers PVR (SA-8300HD) remote to work the soundbar volume in the above configuration.
2) is there another method to learn the soundbar codes into the rogers pvr remote?
3) Some folks have mentioned the Harmony remote as a one-remote solution. What Harmony remote would one recommend for the set up as describe above. Also, how difficult is it to program the Harmony remote to operate the Sony HD PVR (SA-8300), Sony DVPNS75H, Samsung PN51E450, and the Sounbar HWE-450 so that all main functions can be handled by a single remote.

Thanking anyone that helps out in advance!

Utah.

Delete - double post.

I have the BD-C5500 connected directly into my HW-E450 soundbar via HDMI and am wondering what the best audio settings are for the BD player. Here are the setting choices with the default choices bolded:

Digital Output - PCM, Bitstream (Re-encode), or Bitstream (Audiophile)
PCM Downsampling - On or off
Dynamic Range Control - Auto, off, or on
Downmixing Mode - Normal stereo or Surround compatible
DTS Neo: 6 - Off, Cinema, or Music

In case anyone needs it, here are the manuals:

BD player: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201107/20110704101254757/01854A-BD-C5500_C5500C-XAA-ENG-BM-1006.pdf
Soundbar: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201202/20120221083917862/HW-E450-USA-ENG-IB_0203.pdf

I see this information listed on pages 33-34 in the BD player manual but I don't know what I'm reading.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
Edited by Doctego - 12/22/12 at 3:20am

HELP, HELP, HELP! Possumgirl, you seem to have a handle on this whole soundbar dilemmas. Would live your help or anyone else who has has these experiences.

Have tried connecting this soundbar 3 times using the ARC connection...FAIL. Each time have to revert back to using the bar a pass thru. I have 1) Vizio smart tv, 2) samsung sound bar, 3) directv box DVR, and 4) a blu ray player.

I seem to hit fail once getting to the CEC options. The CEC never recognizes the soundbar. I have used a regular HDMI, and a 1.4 HDMI. Turned tv speakers off, enable CEC, used HDMI into ARC tv HDMI. The anytime button doesn't seem to do anything for me, and reading says it is for Samsung tv owners? I have spoken to both vizio And Samsung, and have about decided that the ARC Functions seems to be incompatible with the Samsung. Neither vendor was able to provide any suggestions.

ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED! MAJORLY FRUSTRATED! Husband is ready to throw soundbar in the pool. Didn't even address clicker issues. A one point my vizio clicker would turn sound up and down...no longer!!!

HELP! HELP! HELP!
Edited by justbuyit - 12/22/12 at 6:12am

I have my system set up now just as you have. But forget about trying to get the soundbar to work with any other remote......its impossible! Thats what sucks because it seems Samsung dont want their soundbar to work with anything but a Samsung remote That aside I wish I would have got one of these a long time ago because it sounds great for a bedroom setup such as mine.

I feel your pain, but this may be one of those cases where the soundbar doesn't want to play nice with a different brand of TV. Seems like you've done all the right things, but let's go over it just in case something was missed.

Be SURE you use a high-speed HDMI cable to connect between the ARC ports of TV and bar. Be sure you have enabled CEC/ARC settings on the TV (sorry, I don't know what settings are on the Vizio). On the soundbar remote, press the Anynet button to turn it on. Make sure the soundbar is on the D.IN input. At that point, you should have audio from whatever source device(s) you've got connected to the TV. If ARC just won't work then you'll have to use an optical cable to connect the TV and soundbar. I presume everything works fine if you connect the BD player directly to the soundbar?

EDIT: If anyone has this soundbar connected to a Vizio and has ARC working, PLEASE chime in with how you did it.

Gave up trying to get these Samsung pieces to play together. Bought a Harmony remote, shut off Anynet + on all equipment and everything works great.

I'd leave all settings at their default. PCM for the digital output means the BD player will do the decoding. Bitstream (Audiophile) would probably sound the same if the soundbar actually decodes DD & DTS. The soundbar manual implies that it does but doesn't say it.

Hello everyone,

I've read through this whole thread and came to the conclusion that this soundbar will not turn on with your tv remote if you have a Samsung tv. You have to use the soundbar remote to power it on unless you get one of those Harmony remotes or connect the soundbar with Anynet set to off, but then you have to use the soundbar remote for the volume and tv remote for the channels. Tried it with HDMI and optical cable...no way to power it on at all with the tv remote.

My current setup:
Samsung un50es6100 tv (has HDMI ARC port)
Soundbar (hdmi and optical cable connected)
Comcast HD box (Motorola)
Xbox 360

As others have mentioned, I also had the issue that the soundbar switched from HDMI to Any ARC when it turned on so I had to change it back to HDMI just to watch tv. Since I mostly use the Comcast box on that tv I avoided that minor annoyance by connecting the Comcast box to the tv instead of the soundbar. Now I power it on and start watching tv right away. No need to change settings. Now I just change it to HDMI when I want to use the xbox, I don't mind doing that lol. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that some have experienced a sound delay, so they have to sync it....thankfully I haven't had that issue. Not sure if it's cause I have HDMI and optical cables connected, but I'm glad it doesn't happen.

As far as the sound...I like it! It sounds great during movies and when I play music. I leave it set to drama and the subwoofer set to 5. The loudest I put the volume is 22 because beyond that it just feels too loud lol. Tried the Bluetooth feature with my Galaxy S3 and it works great as well. Sat about 12 feet away and streamed Pandora on it with no issues.

In conclusion, I was thinking about retuning it since I couldn't power it on with my tv remote, but I'm happy with it overall. I think I made a good purchase. Maybe I'll buy that Harmony One remote later on. My only other complaint is that I paid $249 for it while others paid much less during Black Friday, but it's still not a bad price for what it offers.

Frankly, I've given up trying to "control" the sound bar off/on and now just leave it on, even when the TV is off. What possible harm? Power consumption is miniscule. Life is too short to fight insignificant issues (poor designs). Leave it on and move on.

We have a Samsung 65ES8000 TV and a TIVO Premier with 2 remotes. We control everything with the TIVO remote.

The TIVO HDMI out connects to the soundbar and from there to the #2 HDMI (ARC) input on the TV. That's it.
Optical cable is not used. (optical is actually used with TV & all other devices to connect to the legacy (YAMAHA) receiver & "big" surround system, which we seldom use.

Our sole reason for getting the HWE450 was to augment the weak, cigar box speakers built into the TV while at the same time not having to run the big surround system except in those few occasions where we want to watch a movie. In all other instances the HWE 450 is actually better in that it doesn't suddenly shake the whole damn house. (Full surround is nice, but many times a full surround system is overkill....plus fumbling with remotes again)

We prefer using a single, intuitive remote. (TIVO)

We do happen to have a Harmony 880 but don't use it as it's not intuitive (too many buttons in too tight of a cluster - confusing to use plus there's only one of them and its use requires finding & putting on our glasses.

We have two identical remotes for the TIVO. Simple, intuitive. That way when one of us falls asleep in the chair or on the couch it's really nice not having to disturb them for the dang remote.

Wait until you get our age (66) before criticizing

My soundbar is set up this way:

The 2 red and white cables go from the soundbar to my Directv HD set top box.

1 optical cable goes from the sound bar to my Sony BDP S570.

Otherwise I have 2 HDMI Cables one running from the Directv box to my tv, the other from my Blu ray player to my tv. So my tv and Blu ray player do all the video porcessing while the soundbar does the audio processing. Simple and easy. The only thing that makes me mad is you cant control the soundbar with anything but the remote that comes with it. Otherwise its an excellent soundbar.

Hi. I have an LG 60PK950. Would this soundbar be too small for a 60 inch tv? this will be in my bedroom.

Or do I need to get a soundbar as long as the base of my tv? in this case, it is 55 inches.

Any help would be great.

Thanks.

We're using ours with a 65". (65ES8000)
You do not need a sound bar that's the same dimension (width) as your TV. The whole purpose of the sound bar is to replace the chintzy-sounding, itty-bitty speakers that are built-in to the TV. Only realize that you're going to either need to use separate remotes for the TV & Sound Bar or else use something like the Harmony universal remote.
Our TV is in our family room, approx 17' x 20'. Unless you have an exceptionally large bedroom, the HW-E450 will most likely be fine.