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Samsung HW-E450 Soundbar - Page 21

post #601 of 661
3/15/13 at 9:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwb100 View Post

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?

The soundbar has an input selector that cycles through the four inputs: HDMI (for whatever is connected directly to the bar), AUX, D-IN, ARC-IN. So if one of your source devices is connected to the TV and also connected via optical to the bar, you should be able to select D-IN and get the audio from the optical even though you have ARC enabled.

Also, some source devices have an audio out setting so that you can connect to a TV via HDMI but direct the audio to optical out.
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post #602 of 661
3/17/13 at 6:29am
Ok so having got the soundbar, pretty happy with it, only annoyance is that to get the optical digital input from the Blu Ray player to work I have to temporarily turn off anynet+ on the bar, otherwise it simply will take the TV Arc feed as I feared!
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post #603 of 661
3/17/13 at 6:29am
Ok so having got the soundbar, pretty happy with it, only annoyance is that to get the optical digital input from the Blu Ray player to work I have to temporarily turn off anynet+ on the bar, otherwise it simply will take the TV Arc feed as I feared!
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post #604 of 661
3/17/13 at 9:00am
^^^
Sorry to hear that but thanks for the report. Apparently ARC overrides digital, regardless of what you want it to do. frown.gif
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post #605 of 661
3/18/13 at 10:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwb100 View Post

Ok so having got the soundbar, pretty happy with it, only annoyance is that to get the optical digital input from the Blu Ray player to work I have to temporarily turn off anynet+ on the bar, otherwise it simply will take the TV Arc feed as I feared!

Well, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but, I have my sound bar hooked up by running a digital optical out from the TV to digital input on my sound Bar. My BD player is hooked up with HDMI out from BD to HDMI 2 input on TV. STB is HDMI out to HDMI 1 in on the TV. My set up is very simple.
I do have one question for you. My hearing isn't so good anymore so, when I watch TV late at night I like to use the DRC function. There are three settings,DRC MIN, DRC Standard And DRC Max. What I don't understand is which setting would be the quietest?
Thanks Bill
Edited by evening flyer - 3/18/13 at 10:59pm
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post #606 of 661
3/19/13 at 2:27am
I don't think I have DRC on my HW-E450, it's not something I've come across on it, though I haven't really tested it via the digital in yet, so perhaps thats why. Someone with more knowledge might know?

As for your setup, as far as I understand (which may be wrong) DRC is for maintaining the fidelity of Dolby Digital or DTS sound at lower volumes. And as you are feeding from your TV it won't matter what DRC setting you use, because you won't be feeding your soundbar a dolby digital or DTS signal via the TV. To do that you'd have to go from the Blu Ray direct into the soundbar.

Again, anyone who knows differently, can correct me.
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post #607 of 661
3/19/13 at 11:27am
DRC Max should be the quietest since it's applying the most compression. However, as noted above, since you're only sending a stereo signal to the soundbar it's doubtful that DRC is doing anything at all.
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post #608 of 661
3/19/13 at 5:16pm
iwb100, Possumgirl; Hummm, OK ,I think I understand. I just hooked it up as suggested on page 14 of the HW-E450 manual. It said [ connect the digital input on the main unit( sound bar] to the Optical out of the TV or source. One would think that if you connected the bar as shown in the manual , that everything should work correctly. If I connect from my blue ray player does that mean that the blue ray player would have to be turned on when watching TV, even though the source is from my cable box? I'm 67 so some of this is new to me. Thanks for your input! ( no pun intended)smile.gif
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post #609 of 661
3/19/13 at 6:11pm
^^^
The way the manual suggests certainly works, but they don't tell you that you may not be getting optimum audio. I'd suggest you connect your BD player via HDMI directly to the soundbar and then run another HDMI cable from soundbar to one of the HDMI inputs on your TV. That way you will get the best possible audio when listening to blu-rays and the DRC setting should work as intended.

Leave your cable box connected as is to the TV and use the optical connection like you have now. Does your TV support ARC? If it does you can use that instead of optical for audio out when using the STB. If you need any help on that, let us know. smile.gif
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post #610 of 661
3/19/13 at 9:13pm
Thank you, I'll hook it up that way and see if I can tell the difference:) and yes my new Sharp LC-60LE640U does support ARC. One more Question, Is it necessary to use the toroidal ferrite cores on the HDMI cables? I just don't seem to have room to twist two HDMI cables around the ferrite core, as shown in the manual. I know these are newbie types of questions but , if I don't ask them ,I'll never Know.smile.gif
Edited by evening flyer - 3/19/13 at 9:24pm
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post #611 of 661
3/20/13 at 7:54am
Bought a Harmony One remote, and now everything works perfectly with just one remote without having to fiddle with the ARC or anything. Works absolutely perfectly with the E450.
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post #612 of 661
3/20/13 at 10:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by evening flyer View Post

Thank you, I'll hook it up that way and see if I can tell the difference:) and yes my new Sharp LC-60LE640U does support ARC. One more Question, Is it necessary to use the toroidal ferrite cores on the HDMI cables? I just don't seem to have room to twist two HDMI cables around the ferrite core, as shown in the manual. I know these are newbie types of questions but , if I don't ask them ,I'll never Know.smile.gif

There are lots of HDMI cables that do not use a ferrite core, so it's not an absolute necessity. HDMI cables are fairly inexpensive though, so you might want to purchase some that already have the core attached. The following information was borrowed from Monoprice (see link below as they have a wide selection of cables):

Ferrite Cores are small magnetic blocks wrapped around the end of a cable. They are used to suppress EMI/RFI electronic noise on the cable by absorbing the unwanted high frequencies and dissipating them as very low-level heat. This is the simplest and cheapest form of electronic noise reduction and is most effective on small gauge cabling, which is inherently more susceptible to electronic noise interference than thicker cables.
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post #613 of 661
3/20/13 at 12:08pm
Those things were in my box as well. 3 months later, they're either in my closet or in the garbage. I believe that it has been determined that they serve little to no purpose. I saw what PG posted in the past and I have also seen a lot of evidence to the contrary. I never buy cables with them and I haven't had any issues with my HW-E450 or anything else. I would just make sure that you have high-speed HDMI cables and you should be fine.
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post #614 of 661
3/20/13 at 4:51pm
For all the issues that people appear to be having with this sound bar it really does sound great. I have a Panny St50 plasma and directv. In order to get everything to work on it, I merely have to push my directv button over one section to turn it on. I mean my fingers are already on the darn thing. Wireless sub connected without issue. Super happy with my purchase. I have a JVC BA1 on my other plasma and didn't think I would like anything as much as that.
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post #615 of 661
3/20/13 at 7:38pm
I have tried to connect this soundbar for several weeks. The only way it seems to work ok is with the optical cable. But we still can control the volume only with the remote for the soundbar and that makes it just a little cumbersome.
I just ordered hdmi cables that support arc because I think that the ones I had may not have done that. Can someone just run through this with me to make sure I'm doing this right..

I have:

LG 55LS4500 TV (according to LG both HDMI 1 and 2 support ARC and CEC _ they call it SIMPLINK
SONY BDP390 Blu Ray with 1 HDMI
COMCAST HIdef cable set top box with 1 HDMI
and of course Samsung W-E4503.

1. Blu ray to HDMI in on Soundbar
2. HDMI out on Soundbar to HDMI 1 on TV
3. HDMI on comcast box to HDMI 2 on TV

do i set the anynet on the remote for the soundbar? do I turn the sounbar on before I turn on the tv? does it make any difference what order things are powered on?
do i have to put on the ferrite cores?

Will this let me use the cable remote to control the volume? If not does anyone know of a universal remote I can buy to control all of these devices. Thanks>
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post #616 of 661
3/21/13 at 3:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigger55 View Post

I have tried to connect this soundbar for several weeks. The only way it seems to work ok is with the optical cable. But we still can control the volume only with the remote for the soundbar and that makes it just a little cumbersome.
I just ordered hdmi cables that support arc because I think that the ones I had may not have done that. Can someone just run through this with me to make sure I'm doing this right..

I have:

LG 55LS4500 TV (according to LG both HDMI 1 and 2 support ARC and CEC _ they call it SIMPLINK
SONY BDP390 Blu Ray with 1 HDMI
COMCAST HIdef cable set top box with 1 HDMI
and of course Samsung W-E4503.

1. Blu ray to HDMI in on Soundbar
2. HDMI out on Soundbar to HDMI 1 on TV
3. HDMI on comcast box to HDMI 2 on TV

do i set the anynet on the remote for the soundbar? do I turn the sounbar on before I turn on the tv? does it make any difference what order things are powered on?
do i have to put on the ferrite cores?

Will this let me use the cable remote to control the volume? If not does anyone know of a universal remote I can buy to control all of these devices. Thanks>

Are you sure that your TV supports ARC? I looked at your manual online and saw no mention of ARC whatsoever. Take a look at the actual ports on your TV and see if it mentions ARC at all. Either way, I wouldn't use ARC unless I had to. How I would set up your system depends on whether your HD box has an optical out. If so, I would connect it the following way:

BD player to HDMI IN on the soundbar.
HDMI OUT on the soundbar to TV.
HD box via HDMI to TV.
HD box to soundbar via optical.

Because of a known small glitch, I am in the habit of turning on the soundbar last. I wouldn't worry about the ferrite cores. You can look at getting a universal remote like a Harmony but I would first try connecting the soundbar as listed above, activating AnyNet+ on the soundbar and Simplink on your TV, and seeing how it works for you.

With your setup, you should have at least gotten sound when using the BD player. Did you change the SAT SOURCE on the soundbar to HDMI?
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post #617 of 661
3/21/13 at 9:15am
Tigger55, your TV does NOT support ARC. It does have CEC support which should work on either HDMI input, so by enabling Simplink and Anynet+ (on the bar) you should be able to control volume with any remote that can operate your TV. The bar should also turn off when you turn off the TV, and it may turn on with the TV (I don't recall if LG TVs have an "auto-on" function).

Doctego has given you the best connection method. See posts #612 & #613 just above re ferrite cores.
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post #618 of 661
3/21/13 at 9:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigger55 View Post

I have tried to connect this soundbar for several weeks. The only way it seems to work ok is with the optical cable. But we still can control the volume only with the remote for the soundbar and that makes it just a little cumbersome.
I just ordered hdmi cables that support arc because I think that the ones I had may not have done that. Can someone just run through this with me to make sure I'm doing this right..

I have:

LG 55LS4500 TV (according to LG both HDMI 1 and 2 support ARC and CEC _ they call it SIMPLINK
SONY BDP390 Blu Ray with 1 HDMI
COMCAST HIdef cable set top box with 1 HDMI
and of course Samsung W-E4503.

1. Blu ray to HDMI in on Soundbar
2. HDMI out on Soundbar to HDMI 1 on TV
3. HDMI on comcast box to HDMI 2 on TV

do i set the anynet on the remote for the soundbar? do I turn the sounbar on before I turn on the tv? does it make any difference what order things are powered on?
do i have to put on the ferrite cores?

Will this let me use the cable remote to control the volume? If not does anyone know of a universal remote I can buy to control all of these devices. Thanks>

If you want to make things a lot easier on yourself, I would suggest just hooking the cable box and BD player to the TV via HDMI, running an optical digital cable from the TV to the sound bar and getting a Logitech Harmony remote. I have a Samsung TV, Samsung BD player, Comcast STB and the HW-E450 and still found this to be the easiest way to set things up. There was no noticeable difference in audio quality, at least to my untrained ears, between the optical cable and HDMI cable when used with the BD player. As for the Harmony remote, I'm just using a fairly inexpensive Logitech Harmony 650. It performs all of the necessary functions, was easy to set up and and added nice convenience features like individual favorite channel buttons with logos and a channel skip button that Comcast does not have on their STB remotes.
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post #619 of 661
3/21/13 at 9:46am
thanks will try this way next. I never tried with the optical cable in addition to the hdm cables.
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post #620 of 661
3/21/13 at 10:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tigger55 View Post

thanks will try this way next. I never tried with the optical cable in addition to the hdm cables.

HDMI can send both audio and video while optical can only send audio. In my post (#616), I mentioned connecting the cable box to the TV via HDMI and the cable box to the soundbar via optical. If you had a 2nd HDMI port on your soundbar, you wouldn't need the optical cable in this setup. Since you only have 1 HDMI input on your soundbar, the HDMI cable to the TV is providing video (and audio if you want to occasionally bypass the soundbar) and the optical is providing audio to the soundbar.

Hope this clears it up for you.
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post #621 of 661
3/22/13 at 8:24am
Hi Doctego. Tried this setup and got sound from blu ray on hdmi. sound from tv only on d-in. Simplink couldn't find device. Thought it was because I was still using my old cables and I wasn't sure If they were all high speed. Today I got the high speed cables. Hooked up this way.

HD box to HDMI 1 LG TV
HDMI 2 on TV to HDMI out on soundbar
HDMI on Blu Ray to HDMI in on soundbar
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post #622 of 661
3/22/13 at 8:29am
Sorry was finished.

Optical on Cable box to optical on Sound bar.

Blu Ray plays on HDMI on Soundbar. TV will only play on d-in on soundbar. Can't get Simplink on the TV to find the soundbar. ( I've turned the tv speakers off. turned them on) . I've tried to have the soundbar turned on first. Turning on after the tv. I make sure Anynet is turned on. Is it possible there is a problem with the soundbar
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post #623 of 661
3/22/13 at 8:59am
If you set it up like I recommended, you will set the SAT SOURCE on the soundbar to HDMI for watching/listening to blu-ray and D.IN for watching/listening to TV. That part seems right. Simplink/AnyNet+ is another issue. My TV doesn't recognize the soundbar when I check the connected devices but the functions still work fine. I have a Samsung TV and this soundbar, though. I would activate it on the TV and soundbar and give it a shot anyway.
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post #624 of 661
3/22/13 at 10:14am
Thanks. Tried again for several hours. Still cannot control volume with comcast remote. Think for now I'll just go back to the original set up both blu ray and hd box into tv and optical out to soundbar. At least that way we didn't have to do too much switching.
This is primarily other half's tv and she keeps complaining about multiple remotes and switching. Was trying to set up before she's home all week next week for surgery. She's not an audiophile so doesn't care about sound from blu ray so long as it's better than tv speakers.

I think I'll go to radio shack and by one of those Harmony Remotes and next time I'll research a tv a little better before I buy.
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post #625 of 661
3/22/13 at 10:47am
Based on your needs, running a single optical cable from the TV to the soundbar would definitely be the easiest. Good luck.
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post #626 of 661
3/23/13 at 12:18am
Just received the HW-E458 sound bar. It sounds great, Bluetooth works perfect. I simply used the supplied audio cable ( red/white) to connect tv and soundbar. What purpose to use two hdmi cables to connect sat decoder as well. Better sound?
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post #627 of 661
3/23/13 at 4:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by raggedd View Post

Just received the HW-E458 sound bar. It sounds great, Bluetooth works perfect. I simply used the supplied audio cable ( red/white) to connect tv and soundbar. What purpose to use two hdmi cables to connect sat decoder as well. Better sound?

The supplied cable is for analog audio. Using HDMI (or optical) allows for digital audio. If you have any questions about methods of connectivity, please provide the model # of your TV and let us know what sources you will have connected.
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post #628 of 661
4/10/13 at 8:53am
I have this soundbar also. is there any benefit of connecting my TV via optical as apposed to the supplied RCA jacks?

I have a Vizio 47" TV. Just want to be sure im getting the best sound possible.

Thanks
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post #629 of 661
4/10/13 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vettegofast View Post

I have this soundbar also. is there any benefit of connecting my TV via optical as apposed to the supplied RCA jacks?

I have a Vizio 47" TV. Just want to be sure im getting the best sound possible.

Thanks

Ideally, you would want to connect the sources directly to the soundbar, if possible. Your TV more than likely only outputs 2 channel audio so connecting the TV to the soundbar via optical isn't ideal. You can always try different connection options to see which one you prefer.
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post #630 of 661
4/11/13 at 4:31am
the soundbar is on my mantle and the tv hang on the wall above. all my equipment is wired through the wall to the entertainment center. becuase of this, it will be hard to connect all audio sources into the bar.

I went to the audio settings on my TV and i have Dolby digital and PCM. Currenty set to DD right now. does this mean only left and right audio as well?

Thanks
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