Skip to main content

TV: 2020 model Samsung UE50TU8500UXXU 

Just spent the morning on support calls to both Sonos and Samsung trying to get the Arc to connect with the telly through eARC. I think we might finally have made some progress.

In short, the problem was that the TV wasn’t seeing the Arc so it didn’t appear in the list of sound output options. Instead, all I could choose from was ‘TV speakers’, ‘Optical’ or ‘Bluetooth speakers’. I should’ve had the option to choose ‘Receiver (HDMI-eARC)’ too.

My first call to Samsung didn’t go well (I had to explain what a Sonos Arc was) and ended up no further on. The person referred the issue to a product expert who basically said ‘There’s a compatibility issue between the Arc and some Samsung TVs’. Like, tell me something I don’t know.

Their advice was to call Sonos and see what they had to say. I did, and we ran various diagnostics that all showed hardware was good and everything should be working fine. In fact, it sort of was at that point because the Arc suddenly started making noise. Problem was, it was only Dolby Digital 5.1 when it should’ve been Dolby Atmos. Checking the TV settings again confirmed the Arc still wasn’t being ‘seen’ through the HDMI eArc port. 

So, Sonos batted it back to Samsung. And my second call was more successful. I got to speak to a product expert who remoted to the telly and did various tests/resets etc. Eventually, bingo, we have the TV picking up the Arc through the HDMI eArc port, and sending a Dolby Atmos signal (according to the Sonos app anyway). Great.

Except not. Because there are two issues still outstanding:

  1. The ‘pass-through’ functionality on the TV is still greyed out so I can’t select it (although the Samsung guy couldn’t work out why that wasn’t making a difference to the Atmos signal) 
  2. Plugging in anything else to either of the two remaining HDMI ports on the TV means the Arc loses connection. So I can’t plug in my DVD player because if I do the TV doesn’t recognise the Arc anymore. Bonkers, I know. I mention this because if you’re having problems with your Samsung/Arc connection, try disconnecting everything else HDMI and seeing if that makes a difference.

An engineer is calling me in the next couple of days to try to fix these things and I’ll post an update if there is one.

An absurd situation all told, of course, but hopefully we’ll get there.

 

Hi @User103258 

Thanks for sharing your experience!

With regards to point 2, this sounds like a CEC conflict. If you can’t disable CEC on those other HDMI devices, you can instead get a CEC-less adaptor that strips the CEC channel from the HDMI connection. You’d need one for each device that causes a problem and that can’t disable CEC in it’s settings (don’t use one with a Sonos device as that will result in no audio).

@User103258, Any update on your Arc Issue?  Did the engineer ever call you back?   Any sign that Samsung is working on a firmware update?

 

Thanks

 

Hi, I just purchased the Samsung Neo QLED 4K 55QN95A with Sonos Arc. After reading all the compatibility issues between Samsung and Sonos I was surprised that I didn’t have the sound issue...at first. Now I seem to have intermittent drop outs in the sound. Power cycling the Arc doesn’t work. Only power cycling the Samsung TV. Furthermore, I see that the Samsung TV is continually swapping between the HDMI eARC (Sonos) and the TV sound output. It seems that the TV is trying to play through the Arc but no sound is playing so it swaps back to the TV speakers for a few seconds and then tries again. This issue has been going for a few years according to the forum posts and there is still no fix.

seems like this is still a total s***show.

 

I have a brand new QN95DA from Samsung (2021 model) and an Arc and can get audio out but it’s not connecting via eARC no matter what. Plus I got sound cutouts that require me to fiddle with settings to get it going again.

Hi @MilesAB & @jwick 

I recommend you both get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

Hi @MilesAB & @jwick 

I recommend you both get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I’m on the phone with Samsung support now. I believe it is related to the Samsung TV unless you tell me it is the Sonos Arc which has the issue?

Hi @MilesAB 

It does sound like the TV - or another device connected to it - is the cause of the problem. Calling Sonos technical support would likely (but not necessarily) confirm this and you’d be advised to contact Samsung. Without the tools, I can only make an educated guess.

I contacted Samsung (after the line dropping 5 times) I finally managed to speak to a technical support representative who investigated and then asked me if I’m using an HDMI 2.5 cable. Then I was kicked off the line again before  the line dropped again.

Checking online it seems that the latest standard is HDMI 2.1. It did make me wonder if the cable supplied with the Sonos Arc is HDMI 2.1? So I decided to purchase a couple of HDMI 2.1 cables to try to see if that would fix the issue.

Hi @MilesAB 

HDMI 2.1 is only required to carry 4K+ pictures. Audio, even at the highest quality, is not nearly so demanding and only requires HDMI 1.4 or better. The cable that comes with the Arc is recommended.

Although eARC is new, it just repurposes a wire already on the cable and needs no as-recently-made-as-possible cable to function.

The fact that power-cycling the TV fixes it suggests to me that either the TV or an HDMI device connected to the TV is the source of the problem.

Update: I spoke to a Samsung technician and they logged into the TV. He did an HDMI reset which fixed the problem at the time. Next he gave me a 10 minute lecture on how I shouldn't trust the information on the issue from forums. That they never have any fixes. He also said it isn't a big issue as he has people reporting this issue 2 or 3 times a week. So not a big deal to Samsung. They also don't acknowledge that it is the TV that is the issue. They say they don't support 3rd party devices.

 

The sound issue came back as expected so I tried a certified 2.1 HDMI cable between the TV and Arc. It still has the sound issue. Only power cycling the TV works.

So I can only wait for Samsung to recognise the issue and provide a firmware update.

What’s the sense of industry standards when you “don’t support 3rd party devices”?

I was thinking I was going crazy fighting the issue of theArc cutting out. I hope Samsung or Sonos figure it out. It’s a let down when you think you buy the best of the best and it doesn’t work correctly.

@97zmego Have you contacted Sonos?

Not yet just haven’t had time. 

I have an older Samsung UE65F9005XXE which has the hdmi arc function. I just bought Sonos Arc and Sub gen3 and have now spent two nights trying to get the sound working. Nothing happens. Have changed cables, removed all other hdmi’s and still nothing. It works with the optical to hdmi adapter but not with direct hdmi arc and thus it is not the setup that I want. Now I just tried Arc to my another device, LG OLED55GX and it took less than a second from LG to ask if I wanted to route the TV sound to external speaker. I said yes to LG and that was it, works sooo well. I would have preferred Sonos working with Samsung in the living room but am now considering to return it. I still have 47 days to return the Arc and Sub and get my money back.

I got my sonos arc today. I have Samsung Q80t Canada version. I was having same problem with my Sonos Arc not detecting eArc port. I did following steps and it worked:

  1. Enabled HDMI eArc in settings->sound settings
  2. I swapped Sonos hdmi cable with hdmi 2.1 cable I had purchased for gaming from Amazon. 

Step 1 with Sonos HMDI cable didn’t worked. But as soon as I switched to HDMI 2.1 cable it immediately worked. I hope this helps others here. 

I got my sonos arc today. I have Samsung Q80t Canada version. I was having same problem with my Sonos Arc not detecting eArc port. I did following steps and it worked:

  1. Enabled HDMI eArc in settings->sound settings
  2. I swapped Sonos hdmi cable with hdmi 2.1 cable I had purchased for gaming from Amazon. 

Step 1 with Sonos HMDI cable didn’t worked. But as soon as I switched to HDMI 2.1 cable it immediately worked. I hope this helps others here. 

Just curious… if you switched the cable back to the Sonos-supplied cable, does it still work?

TV: QLED 8K 75” - Model: QN75Q850TAFXZA

Sound: Sonos Arc + 2 Ones SL + 2 Subs 
 

my dilemma is: My system worked pretty good for several months then suddenly starting have the issues you guys are reporting. 
 

Now, I’ve been fighting the same issue for months. Have tried everything you can imagine and still not have the issue solved.

  • Changed cables for the best I could buy (8K ready cables) …
  • Added a very expensive 4K HDMI Hub wondering if using only one of the HDMI from the TV would solve the problem….. 
  • Have tried any settings possible on both TV and Sound Bar       
     
  •  
  • One of the contacts I had, Sansung said that could be an issue on the TV main board managing the HDMI ports. They sent a new board to me and scheduled the Assurant technician to make the replacement. The technician came, called them and they, instead of change the board they decided to reprogram some settings, what momentarily worked …. Next day, when turning the TV on …. Same issue. The Sonos Arc got u recognized and can’t used it.  It’s just remove all other devices from the the other HDMI ports that everything works perfectly. 

when I run the TV setup from Sonos App, the message I got is: Can’t connect with the TV. other devices are causing interference. 

I contacted Sansung again yesterday and they are escalating the issue for s higher technical level: I’m waiting for the call and I will keep you guys posted here.  Meanwhile I think I would try to suggestion of adding CEC block connectors on the HDMi. It may solve if this is the issue … one more try! 

One update …. It seems the CEC blocker connect could really work. It seems to be a issue with Sansung HDMI controlling the requests from CEC from other devices. 
 

I deactivated all my devices CEC option. Suddenly everything is back to normal. Sound runs trough E-arc HDMI and works perfectly no Mather the devices connected in the other HDMI ports. 
 

I know it’s not the desirable solution (lose the ability of control the sound from other devices and also not being able to turn all at once) but considering Sansung has no idea what is going on and not willing to fix the problem in a firmware update, I think it’s something to consider and not have to unplug cables in the back of your TV all the time as I was getting sick of doing. 
 

Still waiting on Sansung high level technician to call me. I will send an update here as soon as it happen 

I had the same issue.  I purchased this item on Amazon and it resolved the issue right away. It is a 2 pack.  Make sure to set it to IR.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0787P4YRH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

How did you connect it?  I just spend one hour with sansung on the phone and they are dropping the balls, saying that this is a Sonus issue that needs to be fixed. 

You use both plugs? Please explain how did you manage to solve the issue. 

I had the same issue.  I purchased this item on Amazon and it resolved the issue right away. It is a 2 pack.  Make sure to set it to IR.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0787P4YRH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can you please explain how did you connect the  plugs? I’m gonna trust your word and order right away. 

One update …. It seems the CEC blocker connect could really work. It seems to be a issue with Sansung HDMI controlling the requests from CEC from other devices. 
 

I deactivated all my devices CEC option. Suddenly everything is back to normal. Sound runs trough E-arc HDMI and works perfectly no Mather the devices connected in the other HDMI ports. 
 

I know it’s not the desirable solution (lose the ability of control the sound from other devices and also not being able to turn all at once) but considering Sansung has no idea what is going on and not willing to fix the problem in a firmware update, I think it’s something to consider and not have to unplug cables in the back of your TV all the time as I was getting sick of doing. 
 

Still waiting on Sansung high level technician to call me. I will send an update here as soon as it happen 

After some tests and some configuration test, now even when it’s just sound bar connected… it’s not working properly anymore.. Runing out of options and very disappointed about how this is ending up. Spent more than 5K in a TV and sound bar system that do not work as supposed to be. 

Terms & ConditionsCookie settings