Soundbar questions: automatically turning on with tv, volume control, etc

If you're able, I would connect everything directly to the soundbar via HDMI and then HDMI OUT from the soundbar to the TV. If you do this, you won't need to use ARC at all. ARC is only a convenient way to connect everything to your TV and then output the sound from your TV to the soundbar.

Whether your DirecTV controller will control the soundbar or not is a mystery. I would recommend reading the reviews for the soundbars in question for ways to do this. I didn't really care about that because I knew that, unless I got a fancy remote like a Harmony, I would still need the soundbar remote to utilize all of the features. FWIW, I have a Samsung HW-E450 soundbar with a Samsung LED TV (not ARC). I connected my HD DVR into the soundbar directly and then from the soundbar to my TV. I need to use the soundbar remote to turn the soundbar on and use the special features but, other than that, I can control the volume with my cable remote. I can also turn the soundbar off with my TV.

Good luck.

Two things factor into the "control". First is the features of the CEC on your TV. Viera Link is very good and does allow for volume control, auto-on/off. The second thing is whether the external audio system (soundbar or AVR) supports CEC. If it does, then you need to have an HDMI connection from the external system to your TV because that is the only way CEC works. You do not need to have or use ARC. When all the stars align correctly, any remote that can operate your TV will allow for volume control, etc.

I should add that there are soundbars that utilize other means of learning a TV remote, but I don't think any of the ones on your list fall into that group.

Just posted this on another thread about the Toshiba SBX4250:

I bought one a couple of weeks ago when Best Buy had it on sale for $199 (thanks to Dealnews.com for the deal!). With the two HMDI inputs, wireless subwoofer, and bluetooth, I figured it was worth a shot. So far I am very pleased as it it works quite well and is a big improvement on the TV speakers. My TV has CEC so the bar turns on/off with the TV and my DirecTV remote controls the volume so that's quite nice as well. I have a bluray player and DirecTV HD receiver hooked up using the HDMI and that works nicely. I have an optical cable coming from Monoprice that I will connect for when I watch OTA TV and use the SmartTV functions. The bluetooth seems to work quite nicely as we used it recently with my wife's Ipod Touch and I was carrying it pretty far from the TV (15-20 feet) with no issues.

If you can wait until it's $199 again, I think it is a hell of deal since it has the two HDMI inputs and one HDMI output so you not just stuck with the limitations of running the audio from the TV over optical.

Hey, El Bajo. You said your direcTV remote controlled your volume. Are you controlling the volume through your TV, or the Toshiba 4250 soundbar. I just got a 4250 and I am trying to find the code to control it with the DirectV remote with no luck. Can you help me??

FWIW, this is the same configuration we have with our Panasonic TV and HTB200 Soundbar (with a Panasonic Blu-ray player). They all work very well together. For general television viewing, the DirecTV remote is all that's needed. The soundbar automatically switches between inputs with the TV so we can watch VieraCast or Blu-Ray content without giving any thought to the audio. The little remote that came with the soundbar is never used. The only glitch happens if you mute the TV for more than 30 minutes; you have to power the TV on/off to get the sound back.

Since the household includes two seniors, I wanted something that would "just work" and that's just what we got.