sound bar expert help please!

I believe that this soundbar has 1 HDMI input and 2 optical inputs. If not, please let us know. If so, I would connect the PS3 to the HDMI IN on the soundbar and the HDMI OUT on the soundbar to the TV. I would also connect the Sky box to the TV via HDMI and the Sky box to the soundbar via optical.

Please can you tell me if there is anyway possible to use a Visio VHT-215 sound bar with a Pioneer SC-1522 receiver? The AVR was on sale for half off so I couldn't resist plus I could use more HDMI ports. I hooked all components to the AVR but I have no sound. Is this doable or should I just return the AVR? My sound bar has 2 HDMI IN and 1 HDMI ARC and optical, coaxial, as well as RCA 3.5 MM My plasma vt 50 has a HDMI ARC as well

I responded in the separate thread that you started.

My big screen TV finally died and I've joined the new world. I've read a lot from this forum and am more confused. Bought a HW F 450 soundbar, a BD E 5400 Blue Ray and a 60" fxza TV. All Samsung so I wouldn't have compatibility issues. I would love to have optimal performance. I hooked the BD to the TV with HDMi. Hooked the cable box (Time Warner) to the TV with HDMI. Then hooked the sound bar to the TV via optical cable given to me at Best Buy. Issues I have. The remote I use from Time Warner controls the cable box of course, the TV power and on and off of the TV. The volume it controls is for the TV only. I have to use the remote from the soundbar to raise that level. It sounds like I have the TV speakers working together with the soundbar. I don't like that I have to use 2 remotes. That sucks. Is there a way to set this up with 1 remote? Also, the wireless sub woofer is i impressive. Not sure if its working. I manually winked it with the soundbar but still not much coming from it. Did I hook it correctly or should I connect the BD directly to soundbar? Is this optical cable the best thing to use? Bare with me cause I'm new to all this.

The sub woofer is unimpressive I meant to say. Thanks in advance.

Here's a link to the master thread for the Samsung soundbar. There's lots of connection advice there and you can probably find help for subwoofer issues. In the meantime, this should get you started:

Connect the BD player via HDMI to the soundbar. Connect soundbar HDMI-out to the HDMI-ARC port on your TV. Leave the cable box connected to the TV. Turn on Anynet+ on both the TV and the soundbar. Set the TV's audio output to "external". Also, turn your TV speakers off. You should be able to control the soundbar volume with any remote that works for your TV. The soundbar will also turn off with the TV, but you likely have to turn it on using its own remote.

Bless you Possumgirl.

One last question. What about that optical cable? Remove it or leave it connected as is?

Since you are utilizing the ARC function, you can safely remove the optical cable.

Now I'm being a pest but I looked in the manual for my TV and don't see HDMI-Arc anywhere. So how do I know it has Arc capabilities. And if it doesn't then everything that was instructed above is incorrect. Right? So much for buying 3 components from the same company for ease of setup.

Generally speaking, it will be mentioned in the manual. You should also notice a port in the back of the TV labeled HDMI/ARC or something like that. Did you try what PG mentioned above? If so, did it work? If it did, don't worry about it. If not, you have other options. It would also help if you provided the model # of your TV.

The tv model is UN60EH6000FXZA. I don' t think its arc supported. I didn't have time to change it around as we had company all day. But if it is not arc supported, which changes would I make if any? I'm not impressed with this soundbar as it is. We watched Les Miserables on the blue ray and I heard very little from the sub woofer. That thing should have been booming. I even set it on +6 for crying out loud. And I'm still not sure what to do with this optical cable. It's a big TV so I want to make these changes just one time if possible. Thank you so much for your patience with me.

It doesn't look like your TV supports ARC. I would connect the BD player to the HDMI IN on the soundbar and HDMI OUT on the soundbar to the TV. I would also connect the cable box to the TV via HDMI and the cable box to the soundbar via optical. As PG mentioned above, you also want to:

My comments on this soundbar all relate to the HW-E450 so keep that in mind. I have my settings on the bar at CINEMA - 3D low - sub +6. I felt that the subwoofer lacked punch and, relatively speaking, it probably does. I'm not sure what volume you had your soundbar at but mine seems to kick into another gear at volumes of 11 and up. I don't feel that this soundbar will ever rattle the walls but it does fill the room with quality sound and my wife is constantly asking me to turn it down, which says something.

The optical goes from the cable box to the soundbar or from the TV to the soundbar?

From the cable box to the soundbar. Whenever possible, I always connect sources directly into the soundbar.

Ok thank you

I have a Samsung 40" UN40ES7500 and just got the HW-F450 and really like it. I am having the same issue as the person above getting everything to work together. First I used the Soundshare and that works really nice, it automatically turns your TV speakers off, connects wireless to your TV, and allows your TV's volume to turn into Soundshare mode to control the sound bar. The problem is I can't get the soundbar to turn on when I turn the TV on. It will auto turn off 20 minutes after the TV is off so that's fine. If you don't turn the sound bar on the TV speakers stay on until you do. Then I tried using Optical Audio and that will automatically turn on with the TV but then you have to use the remote for the sound bar to control the volume.

Right now I have a DirecTV DVR hooked up but next month we are switching to Comcast so I will be getting a TiVo Premeir XL4 and I will have an Xbox 360 hooked up as well. If I use the above HDMI setup with Anynet+ and hook the Tivo to the sound bar an the sound bar to the tv then the Xbox 360 to the TV directly what happens when I use the 360 or the apps on the TV like Netflix or Hulu plus? Do I have to manually switch the input on the sound bar? Also with Anynet plus do you see a volume display on the TV?

I really want an all in one solution so I don't ever have to use the remote for the sound bar. I haven't tested it out yet but I don't see how the TV could back feed the sound bar for the TV apps on the HDMI cable. Would I have to use Optical from the TV to the sound bar and switch inputs to use the 360 and built in TV apps?

On another note, I purchased this setup for my bedroom. I did some research for a small sound system because the internal speakers just wasn't quite as good as I would of liked so I got this. The bass seems good to me, I have to turn it to -6 because I use it a lot at night and don't want to disturb my roommate. I upped it to -3 the other night and could feel it a little. When I did the research this was recommended for a bedroom or small room setup.

-Zaphodjoe

I did some more research and answered most of my questions. LOL. I'll reply here just in case anyone else finds this thread in a search like I did.

I found the only difference between the HW-E450 and HW-F450 is that the F has the wireless connection to the TV. So I read the whole 22 page E450 forum
I found that Samsung TV's do not have a CEC on function, only an OFF. That's why it will turn off but not on.
I didn't know what ARC was, that's Audio Return Channel so yes HDMI does work in reverse from the TV to the Sound Bar.
I found that once hooked up with HDMI CEC on a Samsung TV the volume can control the Sound Bar and has an on screen display.
I read that the F450 Soundshare mode has an Auto on function but won't work till new TV's that will be released in 2013.

So it's really the TV's fault that it won't turn on because the TV has to send the signal or an STB and I found both my current DirecTV HD DVR and Future TiVo Premiere XL4 do not have HDMI CEC so that won't be any help.

I'm really hoping that older model TV's can be upgraded with a firmware to add CEC On or the new SoundShare On functions if its just a software thing and not a hardware thing. Maybe if we all email Samsung and ask them to add CEC On like other TV's have.

So after finding all this out the only two things that bug me a little about the HW-F450 now is that it sucks up dust like a vacuum and gets really dusty fast and it does not remember the dim mode, once the unit is powered off and back on its bright again.

I did think of one solution to my problem, when I get the new TiVo it comes with the TiVo Glow Remote and it's a learning remote so I can program the mute button to power my Sound Bar. I used to use the Mute button from my old TIvo Glow remote from my Series 3 HD TiVo as a sleep timer function. I never watch live TV, its always something from my DVR so I don't need a mute when I can just pause it.

Thanks, if anyone has anything to add please let me know

-Zaphodjoe

ARC works only if both devices support it. I have the HW-E450 but my TV doesn't support ARC so I'm SOL there. The conect of ARC makes sense when you look at what it stands for. Good luck getting Samsung to include auto on. That is a major gripe of Samsung owners.

I was unaware of the F series having wireless to the TV. When I have time, I'm going to research that a bit. If I am understanding correctly, the convenience is nice but I like to have my devices hardwired whenever possible.

I had been using it with the wireless connection to the TV all week. It's been working fine just wouldn't turn on or off automatically. All I had to do was go into the TV's Sound Share and turn the allow new connections on then when I turned the Sound Bar on the tv popped up asking to allow the connection and now its in the devices list. Just like pairing a blue tooth ear piece basically. As soon as both the TV and Sound Bar are both on they automatically connect and the internal speakers turn off. If it turned on and off with the TV I would love to keep it that way. It's one less wire to have to run.

-Zaphodjoe