Contributor I

Answered

playbar and new tv

19 replies
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Hi

I have a playbar with an optic output but my new Samsung TV only has an HDMI output and no optical. I tried connecting the playbar with an original Sonos Optical Audio Adapter with a male optical cord to the playbar and HDMI to hdmi input in the other end for the arc entrance on the TV - but it does not work. Sonos support can not help as they do not have a cord the works between the optical in Sonos and the hdmi in the TV. They say I might need a female optical to connect to the original optical/optical cord - with a HDMI input the other end (playbar male optical to female optical to hdmi to tv) but they do not know it it will work. Any suggestions?

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User117655Answer

Prodigy II

You do need a splitter that will handle ARC/eARC.

Basically the TV will output any audio on the Audio Return Channel (ARC) equipped HDMI port. This is usually the only thing output on HDMI by a TV, all other HDMI ports being input only (communication layer(s) excluded).

The splitter will then take the audio on the ARC and pass it to the Play Bar via SpDif controlled TosLink optical. The Play Bar then decodes and plays the audio.

The TV will probably not recognise the Play Bar (unless a splitter tells it it is external audio - unlikely). TV will therefore need configuring to know an audio device is on the port and to turn off its internal speakers.

Generally there is no volume information in the optical toslink spdif communication layer. In line with this the Play Bar (via Sonos App ect.) will need to be configured be be controlled by the TV remote.

Interfacing the old Play Bar tech with modern TV tech has loads of potential for issues unfortunately. For example, if the TV remote is RF (many are nowadays) then the IR Play Bar will not recognise volume commands. Also the TV may not allow appropriate configurable internal speaker management…

(I am happy to be corrected on any of the above, my understanding is not perfect by any means!)

jgatie

The Sonos adapter is optical to HDMI, not the other way. You need a generic HDMI to optical converter, like this:

avedio links HDMI ARC Audio Extractor Converter 4K@60Hz, HDMI to Optical Toslink SPDIF

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RikkeBrocksAuthor

Contributor I

The Sonos adapter is optical to HDMI, not the other way. You need a generic HDMI to optical converter, like this:

avedio links HDMI ARC Audio Extractor Converter 4K@60Hz, HDMI to Optical Toslink SPDIF

thanks - I’ll try that. Is it a suggestion or do you know if I actually works?

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RikkeBrocksAuthor

Contributor I

thanks - I’ll try that. Is it a suggestion or do you know if I actually works?

jgatie

thanks - I’ll try that. Is it a suggestion or do you know if I actually works?

I have no personal experience, but according to the product description, it should work.

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RikkeBrocksAuthor

Contributor I

Thank you very much. I’ll try

User117655

Prodigy II

@RikkeBrocks I have no experience of that particular converter but I used a very similar one to split out the optical from HDMI for many years on my PlayBar and it worked a treat 👍

106rallye

For future readers; the Playbar has an optical input, not an output.

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RikkeBrocksAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks guys - i found these two to ship here in Denmark - are they the same/the right ones (output/input-wise)?
https://www.av-cables.dk/billedkabler/hdmi-kabel/hdmi-extractor/delock-hdmi-lyd-extractor-4k-60hz

https://www.av-cables.dk/billedkabler/hdmi-kabel/hdmi-extractor/hdmi-ekstraktor

Quite a big difference in price and size and I need to hide it behind the tv

Thanks in advance - and sorry if it is obvious - I’m just not so much into tech….

User117655

Prodigy II

@RikkeBrocks They look OK, for reference, but no longer available, this was the one I used (from 2015 to a couple of months ago):

LINDY HDMI 4K Audio Extractor…

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SAYO8Y2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

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RikkeBrocksAuthor

Contributor I

I got the converter but I can’t seem to make it work. Took the optical male and put it into the soundbar. The other male optical into the converter and the HDMI attached originally on the converter into the ARC on the TV. The TV will not register the soundbar.
there is an extra female HDMI on the converter - do I need an extra wire from that to the TV…?

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