Samsung HW-Q950T and HW-Q900T Soundbar - Review & Comments

I'm getting into a settings/configuration wormhole and just don't know what the best way to set up is. Hopefully someone can help because this thread is a beast and difficult to follow.

I have the XSX, hw-q950t and lgcx.

Am I right in thinking XSX to bar= lossless atmos but I loose 120hz? Is there anything else I loose?
You lose VRR, 1440p120/60, and anything "advanced" that the TV might do. I would personally not do this. Please keep in mind I have a PC with the latest version of Windows 10 and the Dolby Access app, not an Xbox. There are similarities, but up to a point.

XSX to TV=120hz but loose atmos. If I do loose atmos what do I get?
Why do you lose Atmos if your eARC is set to ON?

Also freesync on the lgcx I loose dolby vision. Freesync off I get vision and vrr but does it really matter as games don't support dolby vision at the min?
You shouldn't care about Freesync. It's a proprietary implementation of VRR. If your TV has VRR enabled when connected to the Xbox, you're fine.

Hdmi input audio format=bitstream or PCM?
Bitstream.

Digital sound out= PCM, auto or pass though?
Passhtrough.

Basically I need someone to babysit me through every setting lol. I do apologise! Thanks to anyone who offers help
The only place I'm a bit opaque is the Xbox sound out settings. But as a general recommendation I would say the following:

Xbox --> TV -->eARC --> HW-Q950T
You don't need Freesync with the Xbox, as long as VRR is on. They're overlapping standards and you gain... nothing but trouble
1606650227510.png

From the TV side, make sure eARC is ON, mode set to Passthrough and HDMI input format is set to Bitstreaming.

Also make sure that HDMI Deep Color is enabled, as well as Instant Game response.

From the Xbox side, just make sure the Xbox is sending a bitstreaming format that is NOT DTS (as your TV doesn't even support passing it through), and you should have zero lag.
 
No reason. I wanted them just above head height so they weren't blocked by others sitting on the couch. But not to high because I wanted them closely in line with the soundbar that's mounted under the TV.

View attachment 1408708
@Eagle00Eye ... you have your bar placed similarly to me ie wall-mounted directly under the TV.

I was worried that being so close to the TV it would impact on the top firing speakers and limit sound.

What are your thoughts?
 
That's what I did above, just use the blue text settings on the graphic above.

The PC setting just goes on top of those. So all of them are already in one comment, in one image that people can bookmark, or save a copy.

It incorporates #2811.

i never even noticed the blue text in the image!!

thanks!
 
To add to what @PrMinisterGR said, xboxes support both HDMI VRR and Freesync standards. Certain TVs also support both these standards. For info, Samsung 2019 & 2020 tvs offer 'Freesync Basic' and 'freesync ultimate' as selectable options but there is no explicit mention of HDMI Vrr support. I expect their 2020 TVs with true HDMI 2.1 ports have this capability implicitly..

Conversely, their 2019 TVs are HDMI 2.0b so I think the only vrr support they offer is via freesync only. I don't know how it is with LG TVs, but I expect it to be a similar situation. Newer TVs with true 2.1 ports have HDMI vrr built in but may also offer Freesync as well..
 
Hooked up a Google Chromecast with Google TV yesterday and it's great but just a heads up the Atmos for Disney + and VUDU apps is not working at the moment. So, just note, it's an app thing and not your Q950T. I should have googled it first before swapping cables and troubleshooting haha
 
You lose VRR, 1440p120/60, and anything "advanced" that the TV might do. I would personally not do this. Please keep in mind I have a PC with the latest version of Windows 10 and the Dolby Access app, not an Xbox. There are similarities, but up to a point.
I have mine connected to the soundbar, and I do not lose VRR, but right on everything else.
 
Is it normal that my XOS can pass atmos when my x900h is on ARC mode but when I switch the tv seting to Auto eARC, I get the famous error ‘receiver does not support bla bla bla’?
With ARC, your TV is doing the decoding. With eARC, it's passing it through. That's why XOX thinks it's clear to send through ARC, but not eARC. Here's what's actually happening: When you select ARC, your TV is converting your incoming Atmos to Dolby Digital before passing to the soundbar. So XOX thinks it's clear to send (your TV tells XOX it is capable, because it's going to decode it at the TV and then convert to Dolby Digital since it knows it can't pass Atmos through ARC). When you change it to eARC, your TV decides it isn't going to convert it, b/c eARC is supposed to be capable of transmitting Atmos, so it just passes through the signal. Since the soundbar can't receive it through eARC right now, when the XOX polls for capabilities, the soundbar tells it is not capable.
 
You can do that.

Except Xbox + Dolby Atmos can't pass Atmos through some TV models, so those Q950T owners have to go to the bar first, then pass video to the TV at 4K and 60Hz, with HDR10.
Ahh gotcha! I have the ps5 and LG cx, I went from ps5 to lgcx to 950t....so hopefully I'm good?
 
With ARC, your TV is doing the decoding. With eARC, it's passing it through. That's why XOX thinks it's clear to send through ARC, but not eARC. Here's what's actually happening: When you select ARC, your TV is converting your incoming Atmos to Dolby Digital before passing to the soundbar. So XOX thinks it's clear to send (your TV tells XOX it is capable, because it's going to decode it at the TV and then convert to Dolby Digital since it knows it can't pass Atmos through ARC). When you change it to eARC, your TV decides it isn't going to convert it, b/c eARC is supposed to be capable of transmitting Atmos, so it just passes through the signal. Since the soundbar can't receive it through eARC right now, when the XOX polls for capabilities, the soundbar tells it is not capable.
But the bar does get DTS, DTS-MA, DTS:X, DD+ 5.1/7.1, TrueHD, and Atmos via TrueHD/DD+, and it even seems to work with Dolby MAT just fine via the C9 eARC.

Seriously, the only audio format issue there is is with PCM via eARC.
 
But the bar does get DTS, DTS-MA, DTS:X, DD+ 5.1/7.1, TrueHD, and Atmos via TrueHD/DD+, and it even seems to work with Dolby MAT just fine via the C9 eARC.

Seriously, the only audio format issue there is is with PCM via eARC.
I'm answering his direct question on why, when set to ARC instead of eARC, XOX would allow bitstream "Atmos" through the TV and then to the bar (b/c it's not; the TV is decoding/converting it) but if you set to eARC, you can't get bitstream Atmos from XOX (TV is no longer converting, but attempting pass through--if you changed TV's digital input to "auto," the TV would go back to converting it and XOX will enable Atmos as an option again, but it still wouldn't be true Atmos.)

This is from testing with CX, not the C9 or OP's TV, so it is simply an explanation on why Xbox would allow it via ARC vs. via eARC for some TVs. (For the CX, it doesn't matter if it's bitstream or PCM/MAT; the soundbar won't correctly decode either through eARC. In some cases, it will just not output anything (with passthrough settings), and in others, it's an improperly mapped Dolby Digital signal (with Auto decode settings) where sounds don't come out of the appropriate speakers).
 
I'm answering his direct question on why, when set to ARC instead of eARC, XOX would allow bitstream "Atmos" through the TV and then to the bar (b/c it's not; the TV is decoding/converting it) but if you set to eARC, you can't get bitstream Atmos from XOX (TV is no longer converting, but attempting pass through--if you changed TV's digital input to "auto," the TV would go back to converting it and XOX will enable Atmos as an option again, but it still wouldn't be true Atmos.)

This is from testing with CX, not the C9 or OP's TV, so it is simply an explanation on why Xbox would allow it via ARC vs. via eARC for some TVs. (For the CX, it doesn't matter if it's bitstream or PCM/MAT; the soundbar won't correctly decode either through eARC. In some cases, it will just not output anything (with passthrough settings), and in others, it's an improperly mapped Dolby Digital signal (with Auto decode settings) where sounds don't come out of the appropriate speakers).
This sounds very weird. Anybody else with a CX getting this? When set to "Auto", I also have zero problems from a C9, it encodes everything.

It might also be an issue with the Xbox itself. What are your audio out settings in it?
 
Thank you everyone for your replies.

This sounds very weird. Anybody else with a CX getting this? When set to "Auto", I also have zero problems from a C9, it encodes everything.

It might also be an issue with the Xbox itself. What are your audio out settings in it?

Yeah I can confirm I am getting exactly the same with the cx and XSX.

Why do you lose Atmos if your eARC is set to ON?

When XSX is connected to the cx. If earc is set to on and the cx is set to pass through I cannot select atmos on xsx. If the cx is set to auto I can select atmos on XSX but it doesn't register as atmos with the bar and I don't think there are any height channels. Also I don't beleive im getting atmos at all even when XSX is connected directly to the bar because XSX uses dolby mat and (lpcm) which the bar does not support. I could live with lossy atmos from the Xbox but I'm not even sure how to get that.

I could be completely wrong and someone please correct me if I am.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies.



Yeah I can confirm I am getting exactly the same with the cx and XSX.



When XSX is connected to the cx. If earc is set to on and the cx is set to pass through I cannot select atmos on xsx. If the cx is set to auto I can select atmos on XSX but it doesn't register as atmos with the bar and I don't think there are any height channels. Also I don't beleive im getting atmos at all even when XSX is connected directly to the bar because XSX uses dolby mat and (lpcm) which the bar does not support. I could live with lossy atmos from the Xbox but I'm not even sure how to get that.

I could be completely wrong and someone please correct me if I am.
Yes, XSX connected directly to the bar will give you Atmos. (I've verified all 9.1.4 speakers).
 
How did you confirm this is it something I can do myself?
Two ways generally; first, the bar will say "Atmos" (it will not say Atmos if that's not what it's decoding--not even fake Atmos ... if you send Dolby Digital to it, it won't let you move out of the "surround" option, but it won't say "Atmos" either when you send audio to it. Referring back to my earlier example where the TV decodes it for you and passes it on as Dolby Digital...XBX says it's sending Atmos, but the bar never shows "Atmos" on the display when you send audio. It won't display Atmos if that is not the signal it's decoding). And second, run the Dolby Demo test files--specifically the Amaze demo. You should hear sound rotating around you in the bird flap sequence, and then sound above and below you through the rest. With Dolby Digital signals, that same test will give you a general pan left to right, but it won't go completely around/above you in a definite sweep. The way you truly know though, besides verifying with your ears, is that the soundbar says "Atmos" when you send it a new Atmos audio signal to decode.

Xbox/Dolby do not have dedicated speaker channel test patterns (you can get around that with Apple TV, I'll explain that below) because no such thing officially exists (Dolby even removed it from their old test demos). Atmos is not about the number of dedicated speakers; it's an additional layer of height information. There is no specific "front height" signal, there is just a front left/right signal, and then an object-based layer that tells the decoder where to place the final sound, depending on how many speakers are connected at the moment. For this reason, Atmos does not work the same way as a 5.1/7.1 where each channel has a discrete signal it's responsible for playing. On full AVRs/some soundbars, you can play speaker level tests that are built into them, but they are just to set the individual speaker level, they don't play an individual Atmos speaker output, if that makes any sense at all. Dolby's website has several good breakdowns about why it is so different than how you'd approach a traditional sound pattern.

With ATV, you can test it more specifically with the Surround Generator app. It's not cheap .. a hundred bucks, but that's because they have tried to create the best estimation of what a discrete Atmos sound generator would be like, if it existed. You select a speaker, and the app will generate you a signal, and if the soundbar is decoding Atmos correctly, the bulk of that sound will come from primarily that specific speaker on the bar (small sound will be coming out of a couple of the other speakers, because that's the way Atmos works--it's not a dedicated channel, but a dimension in 3D space using the other speakers). If you conduct the same App test sending your AVR/soundbar a Dolby Digital signal instead (by connected the ATV to your TV, setting digital sound input to Auto, and eARCing it to the bar), when you select specific speakers, they do not operate or they come primarily from locations/speakers they definitely should not be coming from.
 
Hi! I just got a q950t and I'm trying to catch up. I connected my Apple TV 4K on the soundbar. One thing I noticed is when I am using Netflix with the Apple TV. When you select a show then start, the Netflix logo is displayed and you hear its logo sound. One thing I noticed is that when you select a show then start it from the beginning, the Netflix logo music is cut.

It's like if the soundbar needs time to start so you only hear the end of the Netflix logo sound. Then it's playing as it should.

But that small sound cut in the beginning is still annoying. Is anyone experiencing that?
 
This sounds very weird. Anybody else with a CX getting this? When set to "Auto", I also have zero problems from a C9, it encodes everything.

It might also be an issue with the Xbox itself. What are your audio out settings in it?
Yes. I have stated that I am experiencing the exact same issue many times in this thread.

It sounds like its a CX issue.....
 
@Eagle00Eye ... you have your bar placed similarly to me ie wall-mounted directly under the TV.

I was worried that being so close to the TV it would impact on the top firing speakers and limit sound.

What are your thoughts?
I don't think it's a big issue as the speakers should be in an up firing angle anyway to bounce of the middle of the roof to hit the listener.

And as others have stated those up firing top speakers are a little weak in the surround bubble department anyway. I have mine on +6 and still fail to really hear any effect...
 
Hi

I’m considering this soundbar. Q900T

I will use it with an Apple TV 4K to watch contents from Netflix ... disney+ or Amazon prime.

I got a samsung TV. 55Nu7093 without eArc. Just Arc

My config

Apple Tv 4k connect to -> Q900T

soundbar connect with Arc to -> Samsung 55NU7093.

Could I get Dolby Atmos with this config ? ( From Netflix app in my Apple TV )
 
With ARC, your TV is doing the decoding. With eARC, it's passing it through. That's why XOX thinks it's clear to send through ARC, but not eARC. Here's what's actually happening: When you select ARC, your TV is converting your incoming Atmos to Dolby Digital before passing to the soundbar. So XOX thinks it's clear to send (your TV tells XOX it is capable, because it's going to decode it at the TV and then convert to Dolby Digital since it knows it can't pass Atmos through ARC). When you change it to eARC, your TV decides it isn't going to convert it, b/c eARC is supposed to be capable of transmitting Atmos, so it just passes through the signal. Since the soundbar can't receive it through eARC right now, when the XOX polls for capabilities, the soundbar tells it is not capable.

yeah but the q950t can play atmos. Not through eARC though? Im unhappy with this answer.
 
Hi! I just got a q950t and I'm trying to catch up. I connected my Apple TV 4K on the soundbar. One thing I noticed is when I am using Netflix with the Apple TV. When you select a show then start, the Netflix logo is displayed and you hear its logo sound. One thing I noticed is that when you select a show then start it from the beginning, the Netflix logo music is cut.

It's like if the soundbar needs time to start so you only hear the end of the Netflix logo sound. Then it's playing as it should.

But that small sound cut in the beginning is still annoying. Is anyone experiencing that?
It's the same on the PC, for everything. It's because the ATV switches audio formats.
yeah but the q950t can play atmos. Not through eARC though? Im unhappy with this answer.
The bar plays everything except multi channel PCM, via eARC. All lossy and lossless bitstreaming formats work. What the guys report seems to be either a CX issue, an Xbox issue, or a CC+Xbox issue.
 
yeah but the q950t can play atmos. Not through eARC though? Im unhappy with this answer.
It does not seem to be able to do this when connected to the LG CX TV; not for XBX (says unavailable), and not for ATV (Atmos no longer an option in ATV Audio settings). The max it will do through eARC, on this TV, is Dolby Digital. When connected straight to the bar, both ATV and XBOX output Atmos.
 
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The bar plays everything except multi channel PCM, via eARC. All lossy and lossless bitstreaming formats work. What the guys report seems to be either a CX issue, an Xbox issue, or a CC+Xbox issue.
Not an Xbox issue, it's likely CX/TV+bar issue. (ATV, like XBX, doesn't play Atmos through eARC either, using the CX (XBX is bitstream, ATV is PCM/MAT--neither work). So the problem is not exclusive to XBX, it's exclusive to the CX TV model (though a few other TV owners in the thread above with eARC are initially reporting the same) and the soundbar.

But again, there are lots of TVs, formats, standards, handshake protocols, so it's hard to narrow this one down; what might seem like a common problem could be several smaller problems with certain manufacturers. Given LPCM over eARC is a known problem with all TVs to the soundbar, and ANY Atmos format over eARC with the CX won't work, it's pointing to either a central problem at the soundbar, and/or an additional, separate handshake issue for CX TVs and the soundbar.
 
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Given the problems with the CX passing through Atmos... how does the Q80T Samsung offering compare?
 
Given the problems with the CX passing through Atmos... how does the Q80T Samsung offering compare?
As of two weeks ago, seems like Q80T may be suffering from the same, but Q90 may not. Here and here. But then again, I wouldn't take this as gospel, because we don't know any of the other variables with those commenter's setups [certified HDMI 2.1/48gbps cables to all devices? (only 2.1/48gbps can do uncompressed Atmos/120Hz/VRR/4K/HDR at the same time] are their TV/device settings right?). Hopefully someone here who has a Q80T can chime in for you. I was scoping out that TV too before I pulled the trigger on the CX, so I'd be interested to know.
 
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