Soundbar HDMI input vs normal TV input?? whats the point?

joysleep1

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Hi Peeps

I have a music bar 40 with 2 musicast 50s speakers along with my own subwoofer coming tomorrow. I just wanted your opinion on what i should do with the HDMI IN port for the soundbar.

So my set up is an 85XH9505 TV with 4 HDMI inputs. I have 3 devices that are being used.

1) Regular PC desktop
2) Virgin 4k box
3) Vu DUO 4k enigma 2 receiver

Now i plan on using the HDMI eARC port connected to the soundbar and the rest of the ports to those 3 devices above. (if i were to do this, would that remove the need for the optical audio cable)?
What would the advantage if any, connecting my DUO 4k receiver to the soundbar directly as opposed to the TV. This receiver is where i mainly do watch my downloaded ultra HD content and some IPTV channels.

A bit confused of the reason soundbars have HDMI inputs?

Thanks
 
I have a music bar 40 with 2 musicast 50s speakers along with my own subwoofer coming tomorrow
As in the discontinued Yamaha?


Now i plan on using the HDMI eARC port connected to the soundbar and the rest of the ports to those 3 devices above. (if i were to do this, would that remove the need for the optical audio cable)?
Yes - the soundbar has ARC in the HDMI output so audio will come from the TV that way.

What would the advantage if any, connecting my DUO 4k receiver to the soundbar directly as opposed to the TV.
If the soundbar is the one I mentioned, most likely no advantage at all.

A bit confused of the reason soundbars have HDMI inputs?
Later soundbars with DD+ and higher channel capabilities plus ATMOS rely on all that being passed-through the TV from the HDMI inputs to the TV eARC socket. There are many reports of some TVs and sometimes some soundbars not playing together well or at all.

If you have issues with audio not passing through the TV, you would wish the soundbar had 8 HDMI inputs.
 
As in the discontinued Yamaha?



Yes - the soundbar has ARC in the HDMI output so audio will come from the TV that way.


If the soundbar is the one I mentioned, most likely no advantage at all.


Later soundbars with DD+ and higher channel capabilities plus ATMOS rely on all that being passed-through the TV from the HDMI inputs to the TV eARC socket. There are many reports of some TVs and sometimes some soundbars not playing together well or at all.

If you have issues with audio not passing through the TV, you would wish the soundbar had 8 HDMI inputs.
Yes that's the soundbar in question.
So what is the point for having hdmi input.? Is it soley in a case where you have run out of ports?
So you said there is no advantage? So in that case just use the tv hdmi ports right?

Thanks
 
Yes that's the soundbar in question.
So what is the point for having hdmi input.? Is it soley in a case where you have run out of ports?
So you said there is no advantage? So in that case just use the tv hdmi ports right?

Thanks
For the older soundbars I suspect the intention was you plug in your BD player to the soundbar (it has decent video pass-through) and anything else was TV sourced.

For that soundbar audio capabilities there should be no difference between plugging all in the TV or one or all (with switch) into the soundbar.

As long as the TV does the pass-through ok and the HDMI CEC doesn’t do things to drive you nuts, all in the TV is fine.

SONOS has soundbars with no HDMI inputs and it remains a point of difference that many find annoying. Only if the TV isn’t doing passthrough properly though.
 
For the older soundbars I suspect the intention was you plug in your BD player to the soundbar (it has decent video pass-through) and anything else was TV sourced.

For that soundbar audio capabilities there should be no difference between plugging all in the TV or one or all (with switch) into the soundbar.

As long as the TV does the pass-through ok and the HDMI CEC doesn’t do things to drive you nuts, all in the TV is fine.

SONOS has soundbars with no HDMI inputs and it remains a point of difference that many find annoying. Only if the TV isn’t doing passthrough properly though.

Hmm OK thanks for your advice.
 
Hmm OK thanks for your advice.
You’re welcome - I don’t think you should worry about the point of HDMI inputs on any soundbar though. They aren’t pointless on any of them (unless they don’t passthrough video). I narrowed down to yours since with it’s audio codec capabilities it isn’t likely to matter. Your TV is newer so is more capable with passthrough than TVs when the soundbar was first sold.
 
You’re welcome - I don’t think you should worry about the point of HDMI inputs on any soundbar though. They aren’t pointless on any of them (unless they don’t passthrough video). I narrowed down to yours since with it’s audio codec capabilities it isn’t likely to matter. Your TV is newer so is more capable with passthrough than TVs when the soundbar was first sold.

Yh I love my TV. Excellent purchase
 
I'll hijack this thread as my query is similar. But alot more low tech!

Panasonic sc-sb1 soundbar, BT box and Sony Xf8796 TV. I don't care about sound formats (gulp!), I mainly want moderate improvement to vocals from regular TV watching.

So... Should I use the ARC which mostly works on this setup, with the BT box into the TV with some lip sync issues; would putting the BT box through the soundbar first be an improvement? I can of course just try this, but curious on what I maybe missing. If it's HD audio formats only, not a problem. If it should eliminate audio sync issues, even better, but how does it impact on CEC?

Opinion welcome. Even if it's to tell me I'm an idiot!
 
To answer both @Piscauk and the OP, having HDMI inputs on soundbars which don't have an eARC connection (at both the TV and soundbar end) gives you the capability to play videos etc from connected external devices eg a BD player, video streamer etc without lip-sync issues. So HDMI inputs are extremely useful on setups that are not fully eARC capable.

If however both the TV and the soundbar have eARC connections then external devices can be connected to either the TV or the soundbar and you shouldn't have lip-sync issues with either connection, you can just use whatever is most convenient.

--
JB
 

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