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Question

Samsung sound bar HW-J550 troubleshooting

Feb 17, 2016 7:35AM PST

I have a Samsung tv (PN50C450B1D) and sound bar (HW-J550) above my fireplace. TV does not have hdmi arc, so they are connected by optical cable. HDMI connected to TV comes out of our wall on the other side of the room. From there, that HDMI cable runs into a Rocketfish switcher. Then cable box, Apple TV, and Sony DVD player are connected to the Rocketfish switcher. Everything was working fine (albeit we had several remotes we were using), then we had to disassemble everything because we had to clear out the room to have our carpet replaced. Now that we've reassembled everything, we only get sound when we toggle the Rocketfish switcher to Apple TV. No sound when we toggle to the cable box or DVD player. We thought maybe the Rocketfish went bad, so we changed up where we input the HDMIs into the Rocketfish, but same problem...still only got sound when we toggled to Apple TV. Thoughts?? TV video is set to HDMI and audio to Digital. TV also set to audio through external speakers. Thanks all!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
One more thing
Feb 17, 2016 7:48AM PST

Many of these soundbars will be silent if you send them 5.1 audio. Try PCM or Stereo. If that fails, try the soundbar on other devices to sniff out if it's the TV, cable or bar.

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One more thing - reply
Feb 17, 2016 9:01AM PST

Thanks for the reply, R Proffitt. I took the Rocketfish, Apple TV, and DVD player out of the equation and just hooked the HDMI directly into the cable box and the sound bar works. So that solves that problem, but doesn't solve the issue of having all the other devices unconnected now. Maybe I need to try another HDMI switcher. Weird, since it was all working fine before. Thanks.

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And more things.
Feb 17, 2016 9:11AM PST

Samsungs are notorious for not passing 5.1 if the source is HDMI. Also, most won't downconvert if need be. So back to the source and make it PCM or stereo as well to see if it's that other thing.

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And more things - reply
Feb 17, 2016 9:20AM PST

Not sure how to do that? Using my Samsung TV remote, under Menu, Sound...I don't see anything like that. I must be looking in the wrong place? My TV is about 6 years old.

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The Samsung remote usually doesn't apply to Apple TVs
Feb 17, 2016 9:56AM PST

So let's get out the manual on the HDTV. I used http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/PN50C450B1DXZA-search
Specifically page 10 of http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201009/20100906140458218/%5BPC450-ZA%5DBN68-02577A-06Eng-0902.pdf

Here's where Samsung HDTVs get weird. "When the source is a digital component such as a DVD / Blu-ray player / cable box / STB (Set-Top-Box) satellite receiver and is connected to the TV via HDMI, only 2 CH audio will be heard from the amplifier or DVD home theater. If you want to hear 5.1 CH audio, connect the digital audio out jack from your DVD / Blu-ray player / cable box / STB satellite receiver directly to an amplifier or home theater."

So there it is, if your devices are sending 5.1 then you may get no sound.

Change the Apple TV and such things to stereo or PCM to get the Samsung to pass audio.