Need a compatibility guru (TV Soundbar trouble)

[admin_exported]

I own a 50 inch LG plasma TV (model 50PW451A), I also bought a Philips Soundbar (model HTS5110/12), trouble is that while the tuner on the Soundbar works fine, I cannot make it recognize the TV, I've tried the HDMI cable, Aux, black&red cables.. nothing works, then I read about some incompatibilities of home theathers/soundbars with TVs which are not produced by the same company, I just wonder if that's the case.. it would be really annoying if it was, I just fail to understand why Philips would want to shoot themselves in the foot by limiting their market only to those who have a Philips TV..

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Andrew Everard]

As far as I can see, your TV doesn't support the Audio Return Channel functionality you'd need to send audio over the HDMI connection to the Philips soundbar, and in addition the audio phono sockets on the TV are designed for audio input when a component video source is being played into the TV.

The TV has a digital audio output, but this is on an optical connection, while the digital audio input on the Philips is an electrical connection. To make the two work together, you're going to need an optical digital cable, an optical/electrical converter such as this, and an electrical digital cable.

 

[Anonymous]

Have I got this right, I need 3 items? An optical digital cable AND optical/electrical converter AND an electrical digital cable? I might as well buy another SoundBar altogether.. what have I done wrong, all my friends bought a TV and a SoundBar and nothing else...

 

[The_Lhc]

Have I got this right, I need 3 items? An optical digital cable AND optical/electrical converter AND an electrical digital cable? I might as well buy another SoundBar altogether.. what have I done wrong, all my friends bought a TV and a SoundBar and nothing else...

You didn't do any research, if you'd bought a soundbar that accepted an optical input you'd just need a cable. Can you exchange the soundbar?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Have I got this right, I need 3 items? An optical digital cable AND optical/electrical converter AND an electrical digital cable? I might as well buy another SoundBar altogether.. what have I done wrong, all my friends bought a TV and a SoundBar and nothing else...

You're welcome - happy to help...

 

[Anonymous]

You didn't do any research

Frankly, even if I had researched it I'm not sure I'd have purchased the correct soundbar, this jargon is quite complicated and far beyond my knowledge..

I contacted both LG and Philips support and was advised to either:

1) Connect a cable that has a jack on one end and a double jack (white & red) on the other to receive analogue quality sound through Aux

2) Verify if one of the 3 HDMI of the TV is 1.4 (AudioReturnChannel)

I suppose the 2nd option is out of the window otherwise the d^mn thing would've worked already... I'm sceptical about the 1st option as well as I think I tried in one of my attempts..

What a pain, things should be easier for the final consumer, not everyone is a flaming hifi expert, I'm just an accountant

I'll look at the optical converter option, just a couple things, would the converter affect audio quality? What if option one was on the cards, would analogue still be a decent sound quality or would that not make the most of the soundbar potential?

 

[Anonymous]

Alistair, whilst notproving an answer for you I entirely agree that hi fi and AV is far to embroiled in jargon that 99% of the buying public don't understand. How many people go buy a bog standard TV and get pushed into forking out an extra £75 on a fancy cable when all they want to do is watch Eastenders over a cuppa. I blew a couple of grand on some upmarket digital audio kit only to find I could do exactly the same thing for a quarter of the price. Thankfully the existence of ebay helped me recoup some of those losses. The problem is most sales assistants in the major store groups haven't a clue either due to poor training. Always amazes me when you go to Comet and the sales assistant proudly declares he "has one of those at home", must have huge houses.

The existence of this jargon is partly, I believe, deliberate as it allures us to purchase through the embarrasment of ignorance so we end up buying something so we don't look daft, not suggesting this happened to you but certainly has to me. Thankfully I am now somewhat wise and can recognise BS when it is trotted out. Its nothing new though and its certainly not confined to this industry at all. There are very many thoroughly good dealers out there and its often worth paying a few quid extra for that honest advice.

I have the utmost sympathy and do hope you find a solution. Can't help with your problem specifically but you make a valid point. Fraid I'm in the watching Eastenders with a cuppa brigade when it comes to TV. All I want is a flat TV that receives a signal and produces a picture!

 

[Andrew Everard]

1) Connect a cable that has a jack on one end and a double jack (white & red) on the other to receive analogue quality sound through Aux

I'll look at the optical converter option, just a couple things, would the converter affect audio quality? What if option one was on the cards, would analogue still be a decent sound quality or would that not make the most of the soundbar potential?

Analogue is going to mean running a connection out of the TV's headphone jack, which IME tends to sound not great and can be prone to buzzing and other problems. Which is why I didn't suggest it.

No, the digital converter shouldn't have a detrimental impact on the sound in a system such as this.

 

[The_Lhc]

You didn't do any research

Frankly, even if I had researched it I'm not sure I'd have purchased the correct soundbar,

You would have done if you'd asked here first. That's research, Andrew (or someone) could have checked the compatibility and told you there was no easy way of connecting the TV to that soundbar.

 

[John Duncan]

You didn't do any research

Frankly, even if I had researched it I'm not sure I'd have purchased the correct soundbar,

You would have done if you'd asked here first. That's research, Andrew (or someone) could have checked the compatibility and told you there was no easy way of connecting the TV to that soundbar.

Oh come on, The_Lhc, be fair - it's only sad old b------s like us who go into minutiae like this; most people will (and, by god, should be able to) trust the assistance of a retailer when it comes to stuff like this, so I'd be blaming them...

 

[The_Lhc]

You didn't do any research

Frankly, even if I had researched it I'm not sure I'd have purchased the correct soundbar,

You would have done if you'd asked here first. That's research, Andrew (or someone) could have checked the compatibility and told you there was no easy way of connecting the TV to that soundbar.

Oh come on, The_Lhc, be fair - it's only sad old b------s like us who go into minutiae like this; most people will (and, by god, should be able to) trust the assistance of a retailer when it comes to stuff like this, so I'd be blaming them...

Yes but where's the fun in that? And I did ask if he could exchange the soundbar, that's the very least I'd expect the retailer to do in this instance.

 

[Anonymous]

Fraid I'm in the watching Eastenders with a cuppa brigade when it comes to TV. All I want is a flat TV that receives a signal and produces a picture!

That makes two of us!

And I did ask if he could exchange the soundbar, that's the very least I'd expect the retailer to do in this instance.

Can't do it, not if the Soundbar isn't faulty per se, as I bought it off Pixmania, second hand.. :clap:

You would have done if you'd asked here first. That's research, Andrew (or someone) could have checked the compatibility and told you there was no easy way of connecting the TV to that soundbar.

Yep, only me to blame I suppose, it serves me right for next time, I just didn't think that far, I was sure that port HDMI IN + HDMI OUT = BINGO, looked pretty obvious to me to be honest, turns out it was too obvious to be true.. frankly I still don't understand this optical/electrical nonsense.. but hey, as I said, only me to blame, next time I'll ask here first! Ta

 

[pierogiprincess]

Hi not sure how to right a new post so replied to this one??

having to get a new TV as the one we bought last year has gone faulty. We have got a soundbar with it (TV was Sony KDL 46NX723b/u - bravia 3d led smart tv) but not got any details of the soundbar and want to understand does it only work with a sony tv or can I use with others (obviously stick to same size of tele being 46 inch) Anyone help as not tecchy minded and been searching on internet with no luck!!

thanks

 

[bigboss]

What's the brand name & model number of the soundbar? What connections does it accept? You have to give some more information in order for us to help you.

 

[simonlewis]

It should work with any telly, just use the phono or optical cable.