Bought a Soundbar, need help setting it up.

[Melodia-]

Hey

 

My Setup:
TV - Philips 49PUS7101/12 49"

Soundbar - Sony HT-X8500

Digital Internet/TV Receiver? (Dunno what to call this) - https://kartinatvbrooklyn.com/en/pristavki/kartina-tv-eva-box
Occasionaly I connect a PC/Laptop via HDMI to watch streams/youtube and so forth.

 

Now while reading through the Setup Guide, it was mentioned that if I don't have a TV with eARC support, I should connect the Soundbar to the ARC HDMI Port and all other Devices directly to the Soundbar.

I have two issues with that. First the Soundbar has only 1 other HDMI Port, that would mean if I wanted to use my PC as the Video source I'd have to share this one Port with the TV Receiver and keep changing cables, which would be really annoying. The second issue I have is me believing the video quality worsens if I connect my TV Receiver to the Soundbar. I kept switching around between connecting the Receiver directly to the TV or through the Soundbar to double check. I used the same HDMI Cable and just changed the Source on the TV from one HDMI port to the other. Is this me tripping or is this a real thing, that pushing your video through the soundbar worsens quality? Also I didn't really understand why the manual told me that all extra devices had to go through the Soundbar. When my Receiver was connected directly to the TV the Soundbar was doing its job just fine, I had sound coming out from the Soundbar and not the TV. Do I lose features if I don't follow what the manual suggests?

 

Also I have questions concerning HDMI Cables. Since this Soundbar supports Dolby Atmos I read somewhere that you need high quality HDMI cables for that. Is that true? Also can you differentiate between low quality and high quality HDMI cables? Because mine are just black and I used one for the Soundbar which came with another device since the Soundbar came without one.

 

Now to sum up my Questions:

- My TV has only ARC Support and not eARC, do I need to connect all extra devices directly to the Soundbar to not lose out on any features/quality?

 - If yes, is there some kind of splitter with multiple HDMI inputs and one output which I then connect to the Soundbar, so I don't have to keep swapping cables?

- Does connecting devices like Receivers/Consoles/Computers to the Soundbar instead of directly to the TV worsen video quality in any scenario or is it me tripping?

- Do I need "extra" high quality HDMI cables for Dolby Atmos and can you differentiate between cables somehow.

 

I would really appreciate your help with this. When it comes to TV/Sound stuff theres just emptiness in my head and I can't seem to fill it.

If theres any information I forgot to add I'm more than happy to share it with you guys!

 

- best wishes

Melodia

[Roswell]

You should be plugging everything you can into the TV if you have ARC coming back to the sound bar. You don't need any actual source plugged into the sound bar, just ARC from your TV. As far as HDMI cables go, if they work they work. If you don't get a signal or you get other issues, you may need to get a higher rated cable that guarantees a certain level of bandwidth.

[Melodia-]

19 hours ago, Roswell said:

You should be plugging everything you can into the TV if you have ARC coming back to the sound bar. You don't need any actual source plugged into the sound bar, just ARC from your TV. As far as HDMI cables go, if they work they work. If you don't get a signal or you get other issues, you may need to get a higher rated cable that guarantees a certain level of bandwidth.

Thanks for the reply. I plugged in my Laptop via full size hdmi to mini hdmi (mini for the laptop port) as well as the receiver and the soundbar directly into the TV now. All HDMI Ports on the TV have ARC support. Now I have the issue that as soon as I plug in the HDMI Cable which connects the Laptop to the TV, the sound output switches from the Soundbar to the TV Speakers. Even if I plug out the cable from the Laptop, but it still is plugged in the TV it wont play back audio from the Soundbar. Only when I remove the cable from the TV sound comes through the Soundbar again (Tried plugging it in HDMI 3 and 4, same issue (HDMI 1 and 2 is currently used for the Soundbar and Receiver)). This only happens while the Laptop is powered off though. Once I turn on the Laptop Sound comes through the Soundbar again.

 

Is there a way to fix that?

[Roswell]

25 minutes ago, Melodia- said:

Thanks for the reply. I plugged in my Laptop via full size hdmi to mini hdmi (mini for the laptop port) as well as the receiver and the soundbar directly into the TV now. All HDMI Ports on the TV have ARC support. Now I have the issue that as soon as I plug in the HDMI Cable which connects the Laptop to the TV, the sound output switches from the Soundbar to the TV Speakers. Even if I plug out the cable from the Laptop, but it still is plugged in the TV it wont play back audio from the Soundbar. Only when I remove the cable from the TV sound comes through the Soundbar again (Tried plugging it in HDMI 3 and 4, same issue (HDMI 1 and 2 is currently used for the Soundbar and Receiver)). This only happens while the Laptop is powered off though. Once I turn on the Laptop Sound comes through the Soundbar again.

 

Is there a way to fix that?

There should be a setting on the TV to select digital audio out as the default. You may need to set it for each individual input while it’s active.

 

What kind of TV is it?

[Melodia-]

1 hour ago, Roswell said:

There should be a setting on the TV to select digital audio out as the default. You may need to set it for each individual input while it’s active.

 

What kind of TV is it?

TV - Philips 49PUS7101/12 49"

I looked through all the sound settings and the only setting which seemed to have influence on any device are the TV Speaker Off/On and Easylink Settings (which I assume detects Sound Systems). If I turn the Speakers off, theres just no sound at all (duh). It seems like there is no Setting to tell inputs their default audio output  or maybe im blind.

 

Edit:

I tried deactivating Easylink and hoped a List of Speaker options would pop up, but no. All it does is give me the Option to Turn on or off the TV Speakers.