Contributor I

Sonos Beam gen 2 Samsung Frame TV (2021) eARC not working

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I am having an issue with my 2021 Samsung Frame TV and Beam gen 2. Sometimes I get no sound when the TV turns on, sometimes it connects to the Beam but via ARC not eARC, sometimes the TV speakers come on and go off in a loop, but no sound from the Beam G2.

I have tried the various solutions, but nothing works. The only fix is power cycling the TV. Which is a pain. If the Beam connects via ARC, turning the TV ARC setting from “Auto” to “Off” and back to “Auto” reconnects as eARC (but who wants to do that every morning?). If the TV speakers are cycling on and off every 10 seconds or so, I have to power cycle the TV to fix it.

This is a major problem when my wife turns the TV on (from artMode) first thing in the morning for the News, and gets no sound, or TV speakers on and off every 10 seconds. Her solution? “The TV speakers are fine, send the Sonos thing back”). I like my “Sonos thing”, but only if it works!

I have found that sometimes when the TV powers on on a morning with no sound (but ARC connection shown), the problem is that the volume has set itself to 0. It’s not easy to tell, as there is no volume display on the TV.

Once the problem is fixed, the TV works fine for the rest of the day, until it is powered down at night (full off). Then the problem starts over the next morning. This happens every day, and is 100% reproducible. To reproduce it, power off the Frame TV (long press on power button). Wait at least 10 minutes (time it takes for the Beam to go to stopped mode). Power on artMode (press power on remote). Wait 5 minutes, power on TV (press power on remote again) - no connection/sound from Beam gen 2, might get an ARC connection, might get volume set to 0, might get TV speakers cutting in and out. It’s a mess.

This seems to be a similar problem to the Arc not working with the 2020 Frame TV reported on this forum earlier this year.

Is anyone else seeing this? I know the Beam gen 2 is new, but there must be some people connecting it to Samsung Frame TV’s out there…

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Nick_WAuthor

Contributor I

Yes it works fine on optical, but no Atmos, just 5.1 audio. Also there is no passthrough mode for optical, so you may have lip-sync issues depending on your source.

I have the Beam working on eARC though. You should set the audio to passthrough on the TV, ARC mode to Auto. Beam connected to HDMI 3 (ARC port). To get eARC working, turn the Frame TV fully off (long press on power). Now wait for at least 1 minute (the TV actually takes 1 minute to turn fully off, it’s in “standby” mode until then). Now press power - you get “artMode”, press power again, and the TV comes on. The Beam will come up in eARC mode. This assumes you have an HDMI cable with Ethernet channel (eARC needs this to work).

Now if you turn the TV to artMode, and later back to TV on, the eARC mode will persist.

If you turn the TV to fully off (say overnight), and the TV comes on to artMode automatically, then when you turn the TV on, it will come up in ARC mode (not eARC), but it will still work fine. To get eARC back, switch the audio mode from Auto to off and back to Auto, and eARC will come up.

As I said, it’s a matter of timing. Just don’t power the Beam off once you have it working.

M

Magres

Lyricist II

I am having a similar problem. The only remedy I found was to power off (unplug) both beam Gen 2 and TV, then everything works until the next day when the beam Gen 2 doesn’t come on again.

It’s getting very annoying, sending diagnostics to Sonos didn’t help, just got standard answer.

Tried the Beam on three different TVs - exactly the same.

N

Nick_WAuthor

Contributor I

As I say in my answer above, powering off the Beam was causing the problem. Leaving the Beam on and power cycling the TV fixes my problem.

Just make sure you have a good HDMI cable (doesn’t need to be 2.1 or anything, just needs to have the Ethernet channel). I’m using a 15’ monoprice ultra slim active HDMI cable, and it works fine.

What make/model of TV’s are you using for your tests?

It could be the TV’s, eARC isn’t implemented well on many TV’s. The “handshake” can be a big issue, as other HDMI devices can interfere with the CEC broadcast messages. You might want to try turning CEC off on all other devices than the TV (you must have CEC turned on on the TV or ARC doesn’t work) - see if that makes a difference. Perhaps unplug all HDMI devices and test using the TV built in apps. A bad HDMI on another input can mess up the CEC commands.

M

Magres

Lyricist II

Tried everything you suggested. Just powering off the TV doesn’t work. Changed the HDMI cable- no difference. TV is currently a New Samsung, but have tried the beam Gen 2 on a Panasonic and a Sony, exactly the same. Only powering off both TV and Beam seems to work until the TV is turned off then the beam doesn’t come on again after. Running out of options now. CEC is definitely turned on.

C

Chimilinga

Lyricist I

I just purchased the Samsung Frame, I have been using my Sonos Beam on my previous Samsung TV without issue over eARC for sometime. I am having this EXACT same issue. If I go to the app, select TV from the source for that room I can “fix” the connection and it works. But this is a ridiculous work around.

Airgetlam

Have you talked to Samsung, since the error appears to be in their implementation of CEC/ARC in the Frame itself, since it works on other TV sets?

Bruce

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Nick_WAuthor

Contributor I

This is what I got from Sonos support on the matter.

Looking at the CEC messages between the TV and Beam it looks like the Beam is detecting the TV power on, and as part of the TV coming on the Beam requests to initiate ARC. Because the TV is in art mode it doesn't respond to the ARC initiation request, then when you switch to TV mode the Beam can't tell the difference. HDMI pin 19 still has the same positive voltage indicating the TV is on, so the Beam doesn't know anything has changed, and doesn't request ARC be initiated.

Powering off the TV completely causes HDMI pin 19 to no longer have a voltage, so when the TV comes back on there is a change the Beam can detect, and it requests ARC initiation again.

I'd like to know if you could replicate this at any time by powering the TV off, then powering it up into art mode. Leave it in art mode for say ten minutes, then switch to TV mode to see if you get audio. We want to test if this only happens after the TV's been powered down for a prolonged period over night, or if it happens any time the TV is powered up to art mode, and left in art mode for a period of time before switching to TV mode.

So it’s a timing issue.

As to speaking to Samsung about the eARC issue - Samsung is a competitor of Sonos in the sound bar market, and Samsungs eARC soundbars work fine. How much effort do you think they would put into looking into this, given that their solution is “buy a Samsung soundbar”.

The problem with tracking down the issue is that there are a whole lot of variables involved, given that it works fine in 99% of cases. We here are the 1% that have a problem, and for me, it’s not a big issue - the sound bar does come up in ARC mode, I just have to make a couple of clicks to get eARC to come up.

Airgetlam

That’s indeed unfortunate, but good to know. I’d think that as you suggest, Samsung wouldn’t be overly motivated, but on the other hand, if enough people complained, they might actually do something.

There’s several threads already about issues with CEC and the Frame, so you’re not alone in this.

Bruce

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Magres

Lyricist II

Tried contacting Samsung, they just laughed. No way are they going to help. So I have given up and connected the beam Gen 2 to the optical connector, until such time as Sonos decide to upgrade their software, if ever. Unfortunately I have no Dolby atmos, which is what I bought it for, but at least the beam works.

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