TV HDMI AUDIO ISSUE

[Davyie]

Hi people, I've been having an issue with my LG Plasma TV not outputting sound from HDMI devices. Let me explain the dilemma and what I've tried to do to rectify it. Bear with me it is a little long winded. I really hope someone could shed some light on this. 

So I've got an older LG 50PG3000 Plasma TV, it has worked wonderfully for the past 10 years without any issues, I have a PS3, Xbox One X, Fire TV Stick, PC, a satellite set top box (SkyTV), and an Apple TV that I connect up to the TV. All of them have stopped outputting sound from the TVs built in speakers but continue to output video, the only exception to this is the Apple TV which produces video AND sound.
The TV has a built in Digital Freeview Tuner which also produces sound. 

Trouble Shooting steps:

• Unplugged all HDMI Devices
• Factory Reset TV
• Plugged AppleTV in with known good HDMI cable. Tested on all 3 HDMI ports on TV and all produce video and sound. 
• I then repeated the above with the other devices, none of which produced sound only video on all 3 HDMI ports.
• I tried 3 other known good HDMI cables and repeated above, I even switched the cable ends (just to eliminate any possibility of cables or devices having one directional use)
• I updated the software on all possible devices to no avail.
• I then connected the other devices to a monitor with speaker output via 3.5mm jack, every device output sound perfectly as expected. 

Here's the funny thing, the PS3 issues an error stating, "This device cannot be used to output sound", and the PCs (of which I have 3 and 1 laptop) cannot even detect the TV as present/connected for audio even after multiple uninstalls and reinstalls of drivers. 

From everything I have tried above I cannot fathom what is causing this issue to happen. There would appear to be no issue with the speakers themselves as the sound clearly works when using the Freeview tuner and Apple TV, also it would appear that the HDMI ports on the TV work fine too given the Apple TV outputs sound. 
Given the other devices would out put sound via another monitor using the same HDMI cable I can assume that the devices themselves and the cable are working as intended and therefor must be an issue with the TV itself. 

So my question that I have been unable to get an answer to is this; what in the heck is causing this! The devices worked with the TV perfectly fine for years and now only the Apple TV outputs sound.

I would really appreciate help with this, I'm at a complete loss.
Thanks! 
D.

[homeap5]

HDMI itself can handle sound and video, but it need signals for that. Apple TV provide that sound signal so your TV just pass that signal by HDMI. For some reason TV itself loses possibility to produce sound by itself (it's like soundcard in your pc is broken). That is my guess. Solution may be to use digital output (separate) if your TV has that type of output.

[Davyie]

6 hours ago, homeap5 said:

HDMI itself can handle sound and video, but it need signals for that. Apple TV provide that sound signal so your TV just pass that signal by HDMI. For some reason TV itself loses possibility to produce sound by itself (it's like soundcard in your pc is broken). That is my guess. Solution may be to use digital output (separate) if your TV has that type of output.

Thanks for your reply Homeap5, 

 

It doesn't make a lot of sense that it can handle the sound from Apple TV but nothing else... when only a few weeks ago it would handle sound from every HDMI device that was ever connected to it. 
Alas, the TV does have a TOSLINK SP/DIF output but that's all, however I do not own a soundbar with that particular input to test.

I'll try to buy a cheap soundbar to test out your suggestion, Thanks man!