BT TV Box sound drop outs intermittently

[JoanneMay]

We recently switched over to BTTV from Sky. So all our equipment and set up was working great with sky. Plugged in the BTTVbox and now have sound drops outs intermittently.  We also have sound issues swapping from an app in bttv back to tv. We have a soundbar and had to change the way it connected before with the sky box, to a splitter. Otherwise if we wanted to watch a DVD we would have no sound. But this hasn't solved the problem. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@JoanneMay 

Sky use a slightly peculiar wiring setup 😢

As you say, you’ve had to do things differently with the BT box, but I think there may be a better differently, which won’t need the splitter, and should resolve the audio issues 😛

What ought to work with the BT box is to have the soundbar connected via its ARC HDMI connection to whichever HDMI port on the TV is labelled ARC, and the BT box and the DVD player to any other two HDMI ports (your choice here).

Then the TV, when switched on, should turn on the soundbar, and this will play the sound from whichever input you choose, BT box, DVD Player, or broadcast or smart apps on the TV.

(I am assuming the soundbar has an ARC HDMI connection, maybe even eARC which is better, and you need the TV’s and the soundbar’s CEC turned on as well. But you haven’t given us any make/model details; if you can please post the make and model of the TV, and the make and model of the soundbar, we can give you more precise instructions, including what fancy names each device has for CEC. I’m not so worried about what the DVD player is, though I am assuming it has HDMI. But let us know, with the make and model of that, if not),

[JoanneMay]

Thank you @Midnight_Voice  for your response. Yes atm whatever we turn on we have to turn the soundbar on and off separately. The TV is LG49U850V-ZD and the soundbar is LG SH3B.DGBRLLK.

The Soundbar currently connects 5o TV via Optical lead not hdmi.

Hope that helps.

Thanks again

[Midnight_Voice · Accepted solution]

@JoanneMay 

OK, no ARC on the soundbar. So BT box and DVD Player connected like I said above, but Optical from TV to soundbar, as you have it now. Make sure in the TV settings that it is outputting over Optical, and not the internal speakers.

The soundbar should still turn on and off with the TV; Off will be slightly delayed until the soundbar realises no audio is arriving, but you shouldn’t have to turn it on and off manually.

Still no splitter needed.

Hopefully you have the manuals for these devices, if you need to check any details, but if not, here are the pages you can download them from:-

https://www.lg.com/uk/support/product-support/cs-SH3B.DGBRLLK/

https://www.lg.com/uk/support/product-support/cs-49UB850V.AEK/

[gomezz]

Can you clarify the nature of the sound drop outs and if it is on all channels or just the internet channels and not Freeview?

[edbostan]

If this is any help. We have BT box and Sonos soundbar. The BT box is connected by HDMI cable from box to HDMI cable on tv. Sonos is connected by its supplied HDMI cable to ARC socket also on TV. This mutes the television speakers and the remote adjusts the volume via the soundbar. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@edbostan 

And you are getting dropouts?

[edbostan]

Not if already tuned to a channel. I occasionally drop sound when watching Netflix via the app and retune to a terrestrial channel but that is another problem.

[Midnight_Voice]

@edbostan @gomezz 

Yes. @JoanneMay ‘s soundbar hasn’t got ARC, but Optical is a close second best. Strategy at the moment, as above, is to get the switcher out of the equation, as it shouldn’t be necessary, get her setup more like yours (the standard for every setup except Sky!), but with optical instead of ARC. See if this stops the dropouts, as I hope it will.

The only Dropout we want is the one currently showing on the BBC iPlayer 😛

[JoanneMay]

Thank you so much @Midnight_Voice . I have done everything you suggested.  Now the soundbar turns on and off with the TV . Splitter has been removed. Settings on TV now correctly on optical . [There were 2 optical settings and it was on the wrong one]. And now No More sound drop outs.  Really can't thank you enough. Thank you it was driving us mad lol 😆