Philips TV and soundbar not as kind to each other

Valiceemo

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So, I am unsure if this post belongs in the soundbar forum, or the TV forum...but here goes

I have a Philips Tab 8405/10 soundbar, hooked up to my Philips 43PUS6753/12
Now, I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong, but I feel like the performance, and general user experience is somewhat sub-par.

The most annoying thing at the moment, is simply getting the soundbar to produce sound...
When I power on my TV, using any source (Sky Q, Xbox etc) the soundbar does not power on with it, via HDMI CEC. (If I power on the Sky Q box the TV will switch on, and change the input source)
So I have to manually turn on the soundbar...OK, no big deal.
But
The TV (or soundbar, or both) then gets 'confused' at how to output the audio (either via the TV speakers, or the soundbar), and after a second or 2 just gives up, and i have no sound at all.
I then have to open the Audio Out settings for my TV, select any option other than HDMI sound system, and then change it back to HDMI sound system.
I can choose any option, TV speakers, headphones, just anything that isn't the HDMI sound system. SO long as I go back to HDMI sound system, the soundbar will produce sound....sometimes out of sync, but that's another thread 🤪
And I have to do this every Single. Time.
As you can imagine, this is painfully annoying.

I am using ARC, so Sky Q box, and Xbox are hooked direct to the TV, and then a high speed HDMI cable from TV ARC to soundbar ARC.
I have tried multiple different cables, across all connections, and still I see this issue.
Both soundbar and TV are fully updated

Everything was working OK in the past, so I am at a loss as to what has changed...in my setup nothing has physically changed.

Does anyone have any ideas, or tips as to where I can start to look.
 
CEC is a pain and often best switched off.

Have you tried connecting the two Source devices to the Soundbar HDMI Inputs and disabling CEC (which will disable ARC) and see how that goes, you can use the TV Optical Out to the Soundbar Optical Input if you plan to use the TV Tuner or onboard Apps.

Joe
 
CEC is a pain and often best switched off.

Have you tried connecting the two Source devices to the Soundbar HDMI Inputs and disabling CEC (which will disable ARC) and see how that goes, you can use the TV Optical Out to the Soundbar Optical Input if you plan to use the TV Tuner or onboard Apps.

Joe
I haven't tried this tbh. I bought the soundbar as it had hdmi, and arc. I was under the impression that hdmi audio was better quality than optical?
Plus there is no 4K pass through I don't think, so I'd loose visual quality / HDR wouldn't I ?
 
Source > TV > Soundbar is your best connectivity in terms of Video.

Source > TV > Soundbar using the TV Optical Out vs the TV ARC Out will deliver the same audio to the Soundbar as ARC just without the benefit/hassle of CEC!

Joe
 
Source > TV > Soundbar is your best connectivity in terms of Video.

Source > TV > Soundbar using the TV Optical Out vs the TV ARC Out will deliver the same audio to the Soundbar as ARC just without the benefit/hassle of CEC!

Joe
Yea that's what I though, so best to have the sources connected directly to the TV
In terms of audio, I was convinced HDMI have better quality. But if I can't get around this issue I can switch to optical.
 
Whilst 'HDMI' has the potential to carry formats Optical cannot the limitations of ARC mean Optical is equivalent to HDMI in your system.

Joe
 
It is a 2.1 Soundbar! Personally I'd ignore any talk of delivering 'Atmos' via the Soundbar.

The TV ARC can carry 'lossy' Atmos as DD+ if your Streaming Apps (with required Subscription) or Devices connected to the TV HDMI Input supports Atmos.

Joe
 
It is a 2.1 Soundbar! Personally I'd ignore any talk of delivering 'Atmos' via the Soundbar.

The TV ARC can carry 'lossy' Atmos as DD+ if your Streaming Apps (with required Subscription) or Devices connected to the TV HDMI Input supports Atmos.

Joe
It is a 2.1 soundbar correct. What is the point of this obvious statement?
...But it is sold as Atmos compatible...so why would I ignore it?

Just looked up the specs. again.
Phillips product page states 4K passthrough, and support for HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG.
Sky HDR content uses HLG, so I may try passing video through the soundbar, and see if I still get a HDR image.
 
Last edited:
Compatible’ is always the giveaway, marketing over any real substance.

If you connect Source > Soundbar > TV and your Source device and content streams support Atmos you will know if the Soundbar sounds any different with Atmos enabled at the Source.

Assuming there is no limitations in terms of video formats introduced by the Soundbar then Source > Soundbar > TV would seem to be your best option.

Joe
 
well, now I'm more confused on this.
soundbar arc is labelled eARC.
TV is labelled ARC only. And no mention of eARC on the product page, so i suspect it is ARC only

Connected source (SkyQ) to HDMI on soundbar, and sound bar to TV (eARC to ARC)
UHD is OK and works perfectly, but seems like there is no HDR passthrough. SkyQ box message saying "this content cannot be played on this device
My assumption is this a limitation of ARC on the TV? (only HDMI1 and 2 support HDR, ARC is HDMI1)

Or am I hooking things up incorrectly?
Currently hooked up as:
Source > TV + Soundbar eARC to TV ARC
 
As you say it looks like the ARC port on the TV does not support HDR!

The TV is ARC enabled, not eARC enabled, that means you can only pass 'compressed Atmos as DD+ where your Source device (connected to the TV) or TV Apps plus Content streams/subscription supports it.

If you ditch ARC and connect Source > Soundbar HDMI Input 1 or 2 and then use the HDMI Out of the Soundbar to HDMI Input 1 or 2 on the TV you should have the best audio and video your system delivers.

If you need to use the TV Tuner or TV Apps you would then have to use an Optical cable between the TV Optical Out and Soundbar Optical In for 'TV' audio.

You would typically disable CEC in the above setup.

Joe
 
Connected source (SkyQ) to HDMI on soundbar, and sound bar to TV (eARC to ARC)
UHD is OK and works perfectly, but seems like there is no HDR passthrough. SkyQ box message saying "this content cannot be played on this device
My assumption is this a limitation of ARC on the TV? (only HDMI1 and 2 support HDR, ARC is HDMI1)
When you connect the A/V device to the soundbar, the soundbar HDMI socket marked eARC is simply an HDMI output. The soundbar takes the audio and plays it, passing video through and out the HDMI output to the TV. That video can be plugged into any HDMI input on the TV.

ARC and eARC are audio return channels. Audio travels the “wrong way” from the TV to the soundbar and the soundbar eARC socket becomes an audio input to the soundbar.

ARC has nothing to do with the video capabilities of the TV inputs. If HDMI 1 on the TV can handle HDR then the TV will display it if it is delivered.

The Sky box is connected to the soundbar. The message is on the Sky Q? Firstly is the soundbar playing the audio? If so that message sounds like it can’t send video or part of the video the Sky Q is trying to send. If that is HDR then the TV input would display it. The HDR may not be getting passed through the soundbar.

Try the Sky Q plugged into the TV HDMI 1 input. Full video should play with HDR. If it does and there is no message, the HDR is not being sent to the soundbar - the Sky Q can’t see the soundbar as being capable of accepting HDR for some reason.

Does this soundbar pass all video features according to the instruction manual?
 
Unfortunately the ARC enabled socket on the TV does not support HDR so in this system you cannot connect the Soundbar to the TV using ARC if you want to send HDR via the Soundbar.

Joe
 
I think the limitation is the TV in my set up.
It has 3 HDMI inputs
HDMI1 is ARC
HDMI1 and 2 are the only inputs that support HDR @ 10 bit.
I was getting the "not supported" message on SkyQ when I had the HDMI out of the soundbar connected to the ARC on the TV. It would not allow me to play any HDR content. i.e. I cannot start the content at all, audio or video.

The suggestion from Joe, above, seems to work OK.
I currently have 3 source devices: SkyQ, Xbox and Nintendo switch
SkyQ to Soundbar HDMI in 1
Xbox to soundbar HDMI in 2
Switch to TV HDMI in 3
Soundbar HDMI out to TV HDMI in 2
Optical from TV to soundbar
This allows HDR content from SkyQ and Xbox on the TV
The only problem I have now, is I get no audio from the Switch. I believe this is due to the audio out format set on the TV...currently set to 'Dolby Digital Plus'
I only get audio via the TV speakers...not the soundbar optical connection
If i switch the TV audio format to 'Multichannel (Bypass)' I get audio via optical
But i am unsure if this is detrimental to the quality of audio then from Sky
The user manuals for both the TV and the soundbar are not great, but as far as i can make out Atmos is only available via ARC on the soundbar...so with my setup, i loose this
 
Changing the Audio settings in the Source connected to the TV (your Switch) or TV audio settings has no affect on the audio the two source devices connected to the Soundbar deliver.

Joe
 
Changing the Audio settings in the Source connected to the TV (your Switch) or TV audio settings has no affect on the audio the two source devices connected to the Soundbar deliver.

Joe
Yeah, this makes more sense.
And it is kind of hard to test, as Atmos content on SkyQ is minimal.
Will try and do some more testing when I can.
But having had a quick play, if I select 'Multichannel (Bypass)', I stop seeing the 'Also available in Atmos' note on SkyQ content description. If I select 'Dolby Digital Plus', it is there....but when playing, the soundbar does not display "ATMOS" as before when connected via ARC.
In honesty, I think the lesson I'm learning is...steer clear of Phillips
 
Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread but I bought a Philips 55OLED856 television and associated soundbar TAB 8805/10 last year and I've tried to live with sound quality / connection issues, trying to always manually solving them, updating the firmwares etc... however now I feel like i need some help with it and you all seem very knowledgable!

Setup
  • The TV is connected to the soundbar using a high quality HDMI lead via eARC. I very early on noticed however that by connecting via Play-Fi, the sound quality was far superior (i'm not sure why, considering eARC is meant to be high-quality audio also. It sounds very tinny in comparison)


Issues that I'm having:
  • Randomly switching audio inputs by the TV from eARC, to TV speakers to Play-fi without touching a control.
  • Sometimes the audio goes off altogether, requiring on/off TV and soundbar.
  • Play-fi will not work on startup sometimes and a full re-pairing needs to take place. At points, it will just stop working during use and then when you try to start it up again using the TV menu it will just state that the soundbar is 'in use' and connection will fail.
  • The soundbar will forget my wi-fi setup and the indicator light will just flash 'looking for wi-fi'.
  • The play-fi app will not connect to the soundbar at points
  • Why is the audio sounding so much better on play-fi rather than via eARC HDMI?


I've continually updated all firmwares, and the problems still remain. It all just seems rather buggy and i'm not sure what else to do. Going to ask Philips themselves but not sure how helpful that will be.
 
@campbelle - eARC is a pipeline, the quality of the audio you hear when using eARC is wholly reliant on the content you are listening too.

Which Source/Content are you using when you use Play-fi?

Which Source/Content are you using when you use eARC?

If you are using any external Source devices where/how are they connected to the system?

Assuming you have correctly configured eARC using HDMI 2 on the TV have you tried diabsliqng CEC control on all devices to snare hat is not causing any of your connectivity issues?

Joe
 
Thanks Joe.

I'm not using any external sources.
Only using the Philips TV itself using either digital TV, or in-built streaming apps - Netflix, amazon prime, BBC and ITV.

The difference in quality is obvious in all of the above. If you start listening in play-fi - the quality is a lot deeper, however switch to eARC, more tinny.

I'll try switching the EasyLink CEC control off and see if that helps with the stability of any connection but still don't understand the Play-Fi issue.
 
Unfortunately the ARC enabled socket on the TV does not support HDR
But twice I read

HDMI1 is ARC
HDMI1 and 2 are the only inputs that support HDR @ 10 bit.
Which says HDMI 1 supports HDR. Anyway the check with Sky plugged in to the TV confirms the OP likely muddled up numbers
 
Which says HDMI 1 supports HDR. Anyway the check with Sky plugged in to the TV confirms the OP likely muddled up numbers
Yes, you're right, apologies. Miss-type from me.
On the TV HDR is only supported on HDMI2 and HDMI3.
HDMI1 is ARC

The user manuals for both the TV and the soundbar are not great, but as far as i can make out Atmos is only available via ARC on the soundbar...so with my setup, I loose this
@Joe Fernand I have confirmed this. Sky Sports UHD supports Atmos on football.
Whilst watching in UHD, if I have the audio settings on the SkyQ set to Dolby Digital Plus, I get no sound when I switch to UHD. Changing to Dolby Digital and sound is back.
This is using the above setup: Source(s) > Soundbar HDMI in + Soundbar eARC to TV HDMI2 in.
So in order to get Atmos audio, I need to revert back to my original setup of Source > TV + Soundbar eARC to TV ARC.
Why on earth Phillips would limit Atmos to only 1 input is might strange.
 

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