Samsung HW-E450 Soundbar - Page 20

My sound bar is supposed to arrive on Friday but I received my mounting brackets in the mail today. Thanks for the advice on the Sewell brackets BTW! Just an FYI for anybody looking to mount their sound bar to their TV, the you can find the Sewell brackets "open box" on eBay for about $17 shipped. The seller, chillyfly, is actually Sewell's eBay sales account so they ship directly from the manufacturer. Honestly, the package didn't even look opened when it came. Still had the original tape on the flap undisturbed and all contents were accounted for and were packaged just how I would imagine they are when purchased not open box. I don't know what made this item "open box" but it looks unopened to me. Great deal and fast shipping. I ordered the brackets on Sunday night and they were on my doorstep today, Wednesday, via USPS.

that's a tough one. seems like there's no good configuration to level up the dialogue and background volumes. the DRC settings don't do anything and most of the Sound Effects just apply the effects without doing anything to the levels. your best bet is Cinema with sub at +5/6 since it's the only setting that amplifies the overall volume a bit.

I was unable to find the mounts on ebay, not that it matter now since I already drilled a hole to my walnut panel to run the cables!


So playing music via bluetooth sounds like crap? Is that the case for everyone? Just the nature of streaming music via blutooth?

Thanks!

I stream in the car and with a wireless dock that I have and it sounds great. I would say that it's more the nature of the beast. I was somewhat disappointed by the sound when I streamed music to my soundbar but I will rarely use it because I have other options. I think that it doesn't sound great because it's not really meant for that. The sub is more of a compliment than a thumper and the speakers are small. I would try playing around with different settings other than music (using the EFFECT button on the remote). I would also try a 3.5mm cable instead of Bluetooth and see if that helps. I doubt it.

I have demo this a couple of times in store and I really don't like it honestly, I think Samsung 2012 year made very bad sound bars.

To each his own. I actually like the soundbar a lot as a decent system to use when I watch TV, movies, etc. If I was going to use it primarily to listen to music, I would probably look elsewhere.

my TV sounds 10x better when going through the soundbar. I really wasn't planning on using this for streaming music, i was just messing with the options.

I've get everything going through ARC, is there a sound quality difference using the optical feed?

ARC vs. optical out from the TV? It should be the same. Keep in mind that many TV's only output 2 channel audio. I have all of my sources connected directly to the soundbar. Actually, they are all connected into an HDMI switch, then connected to the soundbar, and then to my TV, all via HDMI. What sources do you have connected?

I honestly would have picked out a soundbar that was good in both aspects rather than crappy in one and good in another. Didn't have to be awesome in both but good in both is a lot better and samsungs I have found others for the same price that are good in both.

XBOX 360, Playstation 3, WDTV LIVE and a Mac mini. I've got it hooked up to a Panasonic 65" VT50 which
http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/TC-P65VT50?sc_mc=sem_google_mc_vra_69905_10012012

From the specs:

AUDIO
3D Real Sound yes
Number of Speakers Front speaker (8 train speakers) x 2, Woofer (ø100 mm) x 1
Audio Output 18 W (4 + 4 + 10)
Surround Sound AV Surround


How can i tell how many channels its outputting? Thoughts?

Go spend $700 on the new sonos soundbar. Supposedly it's awesome:
http://gizmodo.com/5988306/sonos-playbar-review-everything-wireless-should-be-this-easy

I can't complain about the HW-E450 @ $150

Just chatted with panasonic, take it with a grain of salt though:

Panasonic: Connection established.
Panasonic: Initiating Chat, Please Wait.
Panasonic: Connecting... An agent will be with you shortly.
Panasonic: Welcome to Panasonic Chat. A transcript of this chat will be emailed to you once you disconnect.
Antonesia W.: Thank you for contacting Panasonic. How may I assist you today?
bryan: hi, can you tell me how many audio channels are put out via ARC from a VT50?
Antonesia W.: The amount of audio channels output by the TV is dependent on how many is in the original signal. The TV outputs audio as both PCM and Dolby Digital
bryan: ok, so it's not limited to 2 channels by the TV?
Antonesia W.: No it is not
bryan: any benefits on using an optical connection vs. the ARC?
bryan: from a quality standpoint
Antonesia W.: No, not that I can say.
Antonesia W.: Anything else I can assist you with?
bryan: that's it
bryan: thanks!

Well, Panny gave you a correct answer but didn't qualify it as pertaining ONLY to audio received by the TV's internal tuner.

If you had asked them what audio is output from source devices connected to the TV via HDMI, the correct answer would be 2 ch. PCM.

So you are going HDMI switch to the HDMI in on the soundbar, then HDMI out to your TV?

I just called panasonic and they are insisting that the VT50 will pass thru what ever signal it receives via to the sound bar without any down sampling (that's my word not theirs.) They said the output of the soundbar is based on the audio source, the TV can handle whatever it's fed and pass it through?

Yes.

Hi. I am locking for sound bars. Is this recommended or should I buy the e551?

What's your budget? What will you be connecting? What TV do you have? You need to provide some information. Any information.

My budget is at max e551 pricerange. I live in Norway so the prices is different. I have ordered the Philips 46pfl9707. (Best tv out right now ). And will use arc or optical. Will use the soundbar for music (kpop) battlefield and tv series and some movies. I need good dialog sounds. I am choosing from these model: e55, e450 and Yamaha yas 101n, yht 401. And maybe LG NB3520A

Out of the 2 Samsung soundbars, they seem to have similar features while the E551 has a little more power and additional connectivity options. Keep in mind that I believe that, with the E551, the connections are made on the subwoofer. That could affect placement. The connections on the e450 are on the soundbar itself. I have heard the Yamaha 101 and the LG NB3520A and both sound good. The Yamaha doesn't have a sub and the LG has limited connectivity. Those are things to keep in mind.
Edited by Doctego - 3/8/13 at 8:05am

Is the sound better on the Yamaha then the HW-e450? I purchaced the e450 today and is not happy with it. The dialogs is bad and miss some crisp in the sound. Is the Yamaha better there? Don't care of the sub. I am now between Yamaha yas 101, 201 or yht 401. I ned good sound in this Prince range. Will the bass be good enogh on yas 101
Edited by chriso89 - 3/8/13 at 11:27am

Better is purely subjective. I have the HW-E450 and it is more than fine for me. The Yamaha is good but has no HDMI connectivity and no sub. Personally, I would recommend a sub whenever possible. Have you tried all of the settings? How do you have it connected? I find it odd that, within hours, you have picked up this soundbar and are already looking to return it. Seems pretty quick to me.

We are 3 persons her and we tested the modes. Watch idol an some movietrailers. Optical cake from tuner and Apple TV. It was missing dialog clear sounds. The bass was good and on music it was only ok. When it comes to the sub, it's not something I need where I live anyways

T testing it more now, but I am thinking of the yamaha yht-401 or the yas 101

After having this sound bar hooked up and running for a week now I can say it's basically everything I assumed it would be.

Pros:
-Dialogue is fairly clear
-Overall sound quality is 100x better than an average TV's built in speakers
-Very nice looking

Cons:
-Needs a couple notches lower worth of volume
-Bluetooth audio sounds crackly
-Doesn't seem to have a true .1 channel, (seems like anything that is low frequency in the least comes through the sub, including deep voices)

As far as the "Needs a couple notches lower worth of volume" goes, my situation is probably a bit more different than most. I bought our sound bar for the bedroom and I like to fall asleep with the TV on. On our old tube TV I could turn the TV down to a minimum and it basically became background noise to fall asleep to. Our new Samsung UN40ES6100 does not go low enough on volume for my liking. I was hoping this sound bar might help, (not the only reason I got it though), but it doesn't. It seems like volume level 1 is about 3 times louder than what I would like it to be.

I'm satisfied with this sound bar overall considering I'm less than $150 all in including the brackets. I wasn't expecting it to blow me away. I wasn't expecting it to be a life changing experience. Since it is something that we use for about 10% of our TV viewing, I was more concerned about aesthetics and ease of use than anything else. Our living room setup is a Pioneer Elite SC-37 with Definitive Technology speakers so when I want to listen to something that impresses I go there.

If I was the type of person that was going to be using this for all of my TV/movie viewing I would step up to a higher quality sound bar made by a company that specializes more in sound, (Yamaha, JBL, Boston Acoustics, Bose, Harmon Kardon, etc). I didn't go out and "audition" sound bars but I'm sure that in a head to head comparison the HW-E450 would lose heavily to a higher end sound bar but in the $300 the price range I would assume the Samsung is right in line with its competition.

I am getting the bar this weekend. I have a question......

I am planning to hook up my Sky+HD Box which 99.9% of all our viewing takes place on through the HDMI socket in the bar and then hook the bar up to the ARC HDMI on the TV. This means that for Sky watching we will use the HDMI input on the bar for Smart Hub watching on the TV we will use the D-IN (ARC).

That much is fine.

But we also have a 3d blu-ray player that is barely ever used, but occassionally is. IF I hook that up via optical, to the bar direct (to get the DD benefits), and I select D-IN on the bar, how does the bar know whether to use the ARC source via the downmixed stereo signal sent from the TV OR the DD signal from the blu-ray via optical?

Essentially both will be active at the same time. Any ideas?

Unless you want to get an HDMI switch, I would recommend hooking it up a different way.

1. BD player to HDMI IN on the soundbar.
2. HDMI OUT on soundbar to TV via HDMI ARC input.
3. HD box to TV via HDMI (non-ARC).
4. HD box to the soundbar via optical.

You will also need to activate AnyNet+ on the soundbar and the corresponding feature on your TV. You didn't specify a TV brand. Connecting it this was is the simplest way to me so that you get quality sound and don't have to unplug cables from time to time. The audio codecs of your BD player cannot be transmitted via optical. HDMI is ideal. Your HD box is another story. Optical should be fine there. ARC will allow you to use the smart apps on your TV.

Keep in mind that I am extremely tired right now but this makes sense to me.

Thanks, and yes that does make perfect sense and I understand exactly why you suggest that. However, our (Samsung) TV has a fault in that the Sky 1080i output does not work properly in HDMI3 and I need HDMI1 for the Xbox (as it gives low lag in PC mode - the XBOX is only used through headphones so will not be hooked up to the Bar).

What I'm asking really is in your setup say, given there is an ARC source and an optical cable, if I'm watching the HD box on D-IN, will I get the sound routed from the optical cable, or from ARC? Seeing as both seem to use the D-IN source? As in will the TV still pass down the sound for the HD Box OR will the optical cable take preference in that situation?

I've read a lot of posts, but still need help. New hwe450 soundbar, with new Phillips pfl6007t tv. Connected both with optical cable and the sound bar works, but the cable is too short. Using HDMI from tv HDMI 1 to soundbar HDMI IN. Was working briefly until the tv updated the firmware after I connected wifi. Now, no sound at all from soundbar

Turned off the tv HDMI ARC as that seemed to help others, but still no sound

My apologies but my TV doesn't have ARC so I'm not exactly sure how that would work.

Get a longer optical cable.

In all seriousness, please provide additional information. What sources do you have connected to your TV? If your TV supports ARC, you need to connect a high-speed HDMI cable from the HDMI/ARC port on your TV and the HDMI OUT port on the soundbar. Depending on your sources, you might not need to utilize ARC. You might be able to connect them directly to the soundbar.