Samsung HW-E450 Soundbar - Page 19

Please help!

Got this bar today, I plugged it from the HDMI out on PS3 to the BAR HDMI in.
From The BAR HDMI Out to the Samsung (series 7) TV HDMI in.

Now I get great sound from dvds on the PS3 (which is the only DVD player)
However no sound from the TV. I tried the AUX cable and still no sound.
Can it be because we also have a shaw gateway cable portal that plugs into the TV via HDMI? Do I need to plug into that to get the sound bar to make TV/cable sound?

Thanks!!!

Your PS3 connection is fine but you also need an audio connection TO the soundbar for cable. If the TV supports ARC you can turn that on by enabling Anynet+ on both the TV and the soundbar. If you don't have ARC or don't want to use it, you can connect an optical cable from the TV to the soundbar, or you can connect optical directly from the cable box to the soundbar. In your TV settings you need to set speakers to external and turn the TV speakers off.

Thank you, But then why doesn't the AUX cable work for that?

What would be the best way to wire up the TV, BAR, PS3 and Cable box for optimal sound and function?

Seems like the AUX cable should have worked assuming you had it connected to analog audio out on the TV. Your best connection choice is PS3 the way you have it, cable box to TV via HDMI with an optical cable directly from cable box to soundbar. You will get 5.1 audio from cable (when available) that way.

Looks like I got a bargain on Craigslist @ $100 for a new HW-E350 ...

I only heard that unit at Sam's Club so I don't have much experience with it but I love the wireless sub with the HW-E450.

Ya I can't figure out why the aux didn't work to make the tv sound come thru the sound bar ? Maybe optical is better? And so instead of to to sound bar I should do cable box to sound bar?

Assuming that your TV has an analog audio output (with red and white plugs), you should be able to connect the other end of that cable into the AUX input on the sound bar. Of course, you would need to change the source on the bar to AUX and might have to change your TV speakers to external. That said, connecting your BD player to the sound bar via HDMI and the cable box to the sound bar via optical is the way to go. You should only need the AUX connection if you have another source or if you watch TV without a box.

I'm noticing in BD movies that the dialogue is not as loud as the background music or sound effects. So if you turn things up to listen to the dialogue, music or effects become overpowering. My TV/outputs are connected to this bar via HDMI.

Can anyone share the settings they use? Like Cinema, 3D low/high, Smart volume and subwoofer effect settings?

I typically go Cinema, 3D low, sub +6. When I notice the dialog issue, I sometimes change it to Drama, I believe.

Samsung set up

This is my 1st post, apologies if its in the wrong section.

TV - LE 40B550
Sound - Samsung HWE450 2.1 soundbar
Media player - WD 2tb media drive
sky HD box
XBOX360

Im wanting to get a blu ray player, i can get a Sony BDP-S570 for £80 or a Samsung BD-S5900 for £45

my 1st question is, which one would you get and why?

2nd, at present i have my xbox, sky box and media player hooked up to the TV through HDMI. I have my soundbar hooked up to the TV through audio optical. so my question is what is the best way to hook everything up so that the sound is playing at its optimal sound? do i connect the blu ray to the tv through HDMI?

cheers

Is there a way to get sound from TV and soundbar at the same time?
Thanks

Why would you want to do that? Read posts #526-533 in this thread for another person's experience.

nevermind. I got it. Optical from TV did the trick.
Run them both to get a more full sound

At the moment go with the samsung as they are known to have a better selection of apps. Make sure to study the reviews of it to make sure there aren't a ton of complaints about a slow interface. Sony is known for poor support for misc formats so there is a better chance that the samsung will give good playback of things like divx and mkv as well.

As for sound. HDMI is the most convenient as if gives you everything in one and gives you the same quality of optical.

TV - 60ES8000
Blu-Ray Player
Starchoice PVR
E450 Soundbar

I currently have all external devices connected to TV via HDMI and just one optical from the tv to the soundbar. Sound is great, but would there be any advantage to using my hdmi arc instead? I think my tv will pass the sound through optical to the soundbar just the same as if other components were directly connected to the soundbar? Less cables and cluttering. Can anyone else confirm or deny this after checking out my tv specs?

darn mouse - sorry for triple post!

OK, i've got it hooked up to my 2012 Panasonic VT50's ARC output. The TV detects it, the sound bar volume can be controlled by the TV, but I can't get any sound? Any thoughts?

Personally, I would only use ARC if I had to. How many sources will you have connected? As for your specific issue, do you have the HDMI cable connected to the HDMI OUT port on the soundbar?

I'm a dumb arse, i had it hooked up to HDMI input, because i was assuming INPUT to the sound bar, right?

Anyways,. it works now.

THanks!

Glad to hear that you got it working. Don't worry about it. Where to connect the cable when using ARC has confused many people here, myself included.

How many sources do you have connected? I'm not sure whether your TV outputs 2 channel stereo or not but, if you're able, I would look to connect your sources to the soundbar first. To me, ARC is more of a convenience that I would only consider using if I had too many sources to connect directly to the soundbar or if I wanted to use the smart apps on my TV.

So I'm about to pull the trigger on a refurb HW-E450 for about $160. I looked into a few other soundbar options but I keep coming back to the Samsung as it seems to fit best with what I'm looking for. I need something that fits in the 5" or so space between the STB and BD player and the TV hung on the wall. I also want something that has a separate sub. The fact that the HW-E450 has Bluetooth connectivity for our iPhones is an added bonus as well. I looked at some other soundbars too, mainly Yamaha. Yamaha YAS-101 uses internal subs and the YAS-201 is more than I'm looking to spend. Many of the other soundbars do not have a slim design that will fit well in our space and I'm not willing to move the TV up any more than it is now. Price is also a huge consideration for me. This is going to be for a bedroom setup that we use for probably 10-20% of our total TV/movie viewing so I'm trying to keep it extremely reasonable.

Our current bedroom setup is a Samsung UN40ES6100 40" TV, BD-E5400 BluRay player, an Xfinity HD box and Logitech Harmony 650. To keep it simple, I'm planning on just running the optical out from the TV to the soundbar and controlling the entire thing via the Harmony 650.

Given all of this, would anybody suggest something else? Also, I posted another thread but didn't get many responses, I want to find some sort of stand or tripod that will hold the soundbar elevated between the lower components and the TV. I'm not interested in mounting the soundbar above the TV. Any thoughts on something that could accomplish this? Here's a picture of what I'm working with:

If those smart apps are on your TV and not your BD player, running an optical from your TV to the sound bar is the easiest thing to do. Not the best sounding but certainly the simplest way to go, which is what you seem to want.

I like this sound bar a lot. There were some responses with relatively inexpensive mounts in that other thread.

Yes, the apps are on the TV. All of the mounts that I saw suggested, (assuming you're talking about the thread I posted that had one reply with 2 links), placed the soundbar above the TV. Is there a way to hang it below the TV instead? If so, is it safe to use the VESA mounts on the back of the TV for both the wall mount and the soundbar brackets?

If you have woodworking tools (or a friend that does) you could make something like this stand.

The link for the Sewell brackets had pics that showed what it would look like above or below the TV.

Or how about a couple of black wooden cubes to lift up the sound bar, or even use a couple L-brackets like this-http://www.draftdaysuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/L_Bracket.jpg

Thanks for the clarification. I think I'm going to go this route. I actually found similar brackets on eBay for as little as $17 shipped. Not bad.

Anybody have any thoughts on buying this soundbar refurbished vs new. Obviously, buying new poses less risk but I can get it refurbed for half off and, like I said before, this system isn't really used all that much. If it was something for our main viewing room I wouldn't hesitate to buy new.

I think it sounds like you are trying to convince yourself you are making the right decision! lol But, it depends on your situation and what you are comfortable with. Personally, I will never pay full price for an item. I also realize refurbs and open boxed- items carry a risk not working properly. I still tend to buy them though because you can get more product for less money. The big question is what is the return policy? Most reputable sellers offer around 30 days, no questions asked return policy- but this is usually easier to go about at a brick and mortar store. What good is a return policy if you need to pay 40 bucks in shipping fees!? If it's brick and mortar, and they offer a return policy, I'd say go for it. Within that first 30 days, you'll likely know if the item works to your satisfaction and has any defects/ problems.

Thanks for the advice everybody. I actually just bought a lightly used one from a member on here and ordered the brackets on eBay. I'm less than $150 all in at this point. I'm sure I'll see it as $150 well spent. My wife on the other hand...