Sound Bar problems..

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Hey guys,

I’m experiencing a very annoying problem with my new TV and sound bar, and would be very grateful if someone could kindly offer me some advice..

A few years ago, I purchased an LG home Cinema system, which comprised of an LG Blu Ray player, and a set of 5 speakers.. it was a wired system, and at the time, we wired it all up, and it was pretty good whilst we were using it.
A year or so later when we moved house, we just never got around to setting up the speakers, and so always used the Blu Ray player through the TV speakers. Each time we tried to play a DVD/Blu Ray.. we needed to go into the TV menu, and select ‘TV Speakers’, or there would be no sound at all, as the Blu Ray player was trying to use the surround sound speakers which weren’t connected. This was slightly annoying, but not too much of an issue.

Anyway, fast forward to present day.. we just upgraded our old TV, and purchased a lovely 4K 55” Sony with matching Sony sound bar and sub.. there are 4 HDMI input sockets on the back of the TV.. I have the sound bar connected to HDMI 3, as this is labelled ‘ARC’, and I read that this was the most appropriate location for the sound bar. The LG Blu Ray player I’ve connected to HDMI 1, and I also have a PS4 Pro connected to HDMI 3.. HDMI 4 is empty.

With the Blu Ray player unplugged, everything works perfectly.. the TV plays through the sound bar, and sounds great.. as does the PS4. The problem is, that as soon as I plug the LG Blu Ray player in, it instantly insists on being the sound source, and as there are no speakers connected, all we have is silence. I can go into the TV menu and select ‘TV Speakers’, but that does literally that.. it uses the small speakers in the TV itself, and makes no attempt to use the sound bar. There are only 2 speaker options on the TV, one is ‘TV Speakers’, and the other is ‘Audio System’.. if I select ‘Audio System’, it once again tries to use the Blu Ray player with no speakers attached, even though the sound bar is connected and powered up, and connected to HDMI 3 (ARC).

I can leave the Blu Ray Player unplugged, and everything is fine, and just plug it in when needed, but then I still have to listen to the DVD/Blu Rays through the TV speakers, which seems a bit of a shame, considering we have the great sounding audio system sitting there.

I know that the PS4 Pro can play DVDS and Blu Rays, but I’ll also often play an audio CD in the Blu Ray player, and for some unknown reason, the PS4 doesn’t seem to be able to play audio CD’s, and so solely using the PS4 for everything isn’t my ideal solution.. I’d really prefer to use both the PS4 and Blu Ray player.

I was just wondering whether someone could possibly help me out with this frustrating issue before I throw the Blu Ray player out of the window, haha.

Thank you in advance for any advice

Russ
 
I'm not specifically familiar with this model, but maybe turning off Simplink on the LG unit could get the job done.
 
Thank you for the reply, and that might be a good thing to be able to do, but I don’t seem to be able to find any options to alter the Simplink settings on the Blu Ray player.. there’s nothing in the menu anyway. There’s a sticker on top of the player saying ‘Simplink’, but I’m guessing that the options may be on the LG tv as opposed to the Blu Ray player?
 
You didn't say what model soundbar you had but chances are that it has at least one HDMI in. Have you tried connecting the Blu Ray player directly to the sound bar?
 
BDP/System - is not an ideal stand alone Player as it will always default to playing back through the onboard amplification.

That said replacing it with a more conventional BDP may not guarantee trouble free operation - you would need to try one in your system.

HDMI CEC (LG call it SimpLink) can be erratic when you have a mix of brands in a system.

HDMI CEC has to be enabled for ARC to work - try disabling CEC (HDMI Control) on all devices and either add an Optical cable between the TV and the Soundbar or as shure17 suggests rewire so that your connectivity is Source > Soundbar > TV.

No CD Playback on the PS4 Pro as far as I am aware.

Joe
 
Thank you all very much for the replies.. all sounds pretty complicated, haha, but I’ll have a go at it later.. I believe the sound bar is the Sony HT-CT290.. it has 1x HDMI, 1x Optical, and 1x USB ports. At the moment, it is connected straight to the TV via HDMI and a new expensive HDMI cable we bought specifically for the job (running into HDMI socket 3 (ARC) on the TV).
The Blu Ray player is currently running straight into HDMI 1 on the TV.
I do have an optical cable, but if I also plug that into the sound bar and connect it to the TV along with the HDMI, won’t it then use the optical cable instead of the new HDMI cable?
 
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If you disable CEC (which will in turn disable ARC) there will be no audio flowing from the TV to the Soundbar via HDMI - you then require the Optical cable from the TV to the Soundbar.

You could then remove the HDMI cable between the Soundbar and the TV - unless you require it for seeing the Soundbar menus.

Joe
 

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