Hi @displayname 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Regarding the audio dropouts, I recommend you try rebooting your TV by unplugging it from power for at least a couple of minutes. However, if you opt to try HDMI again, you’ll do this soon anyway.

As for the HDMI-ARC issue, I suspect a HDMI-CEC conflict (Consumer Electronics Control). Please try disconnecting all HDMI devices from the TV and unplug the TV from power for 2 minutes. Turn on the TV, then in the Sonos app, go to Settings » System » sRoom with Beam] » TV Setup. Only connect the Beam to the TV when the app instructs you to do so.

If this works, reconnect one device at a time to the TV, testing audio on the Beam each time. Once you find the conflicting device, see if you can disable any CEC options on it (Sony call this feature Bravia Sync) - they usually relate to volume, power and input switching. If there are no settings, a CEC-less adaptor may be needed on the device’s HDMI cable.

Each (major) TV manufacturer has their own version of CEC, and when you connect a device of the same brand as the TV, the CEC feature set is often an expanded one. I suspect the TV and Blu-Ray might be having a conversation that the Beam is not privy to, though the issue could be caused by another device entirely.

If you’re still using your Sony device for playing Blu-Rays, you may need to also somehow tell it that it is no longer the output audio device.

Finally, and probably worth checking first, is if you are not using the HDMI cable supplied with the Beam, please do so.

I hope this helps.

Tried all suggestions and no joy - Sonos will not connect to hdmi arc - only way if to use the optical which seems to still have the audio dropouts 

Hi @displayname 

I’m sorry to hear that.

I recommend you 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, and to go through some real-time troubleshooting.

Hi All - a quick update

This morning I managed to make it all work. :)

For the HDMI ARC I found a tip in another thread which seems to have made the difference

- having plugged everything in and on, then switch to AV2(ARC) on the Panasonic TV which displays some Sonos artwork from the Beam.

This seemed to kick the TV into recognising the Sonos so all works as expected!

For the optical dropout problems  - (I was using the Sonos optical -> HDMI adaptor before I got the ARC to work) when I was unplugging the optical connector from the back of the TV it I noticed it was a bit loose, turns out you can connect it so it seems to be working without pushing the plug in far enough, once I did that (I heard a “click”) then the sound dropouts stopped occurring.

So very happy with the system now 

thanks!

Hi @displayname 

Thanks for updating the thread, and I’m glad to hear you’ve got it fixed!

I have a Beam Gen 2.

Generally I'm VERY happy, sound quality and the Atmos spatial sounds are impressive.

As for loosing sound when using Atmos with eARC and anynet CEC ,I'm afraid that's something most of us have to live with. 

Everyone I know with  Beam looses sound for 20 mins.

I have to unplug the beam and HDMI turn off eARC and CEC.

Give it 30 mins and plug it all back in.

YES it's a pain and apparently SONOS have been aware for years.

Luckily it only happens every few weeks and especially when using it for hours. 

I have a Qled Samsung but have no idea if that is an issue.

On general love my Beam so annoying I can live with although I do wish there was a fix.

Hi ​@rikaarddxb 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Sorry to hear of these issues you are having, and the conclusions you have come to!

I think it likely that we can improve the situation for you - please submit a support diagnostic immediately after the next time you lose audio on your Beam Gen 2, then call in to our technical support team at your convenience so they can look for which device might be causing a CEC conflict.

Alternatively, please test performance with other HDMI devices disconnected from the TV and after unplugging the TV from power for at least a minute. If that improves things, please add one HDMI device at a time and test until you have found the one causing the conflict. In it’s settings, look to disable any CEC options - they typically refer to turning the TV off/on and switching inputs. If you can’t disable such features, consider a cheap CEC-less Adaptor to go between the device and the TV.

I hope this helps.

Thanks I might be able to.

Obviously I don't know how to do a diagnosis of a sound bar.

I can do everything on a PC but obviously there's a manual and online.

It doesn't bother me too much as it's infrequent.

Because of that it's not practical to plug it into the downstairs TV.

It's not hdmi leads as I bought about six, 

All inexpensive but curious if there was a difference.

I think I still have traces of my past audiophile obsession.

It IS an issue that my Brother has had although apparently it happens 50% less on his new LG.

Before he had Samsung Qled like me.

All the blu ray UHD player settings are correct.

Soundbar is connected to eARC 

SOUND settings on Q60T

Hdmi -eARC - auto

Digital output audio - auto

Dolby Atmos compatible - ON

External Device Manager Anynet+ HDzmI-CEC ON

Thanks for mesh I will look into it.

As mentioned I'm VERY impressed with the sound quality and the " spatial effects " as I realise it's not real Atmos but great Value for money. 

Regards Richard 

The method to submit a diagnostic can be discovered by clicking on the underlined words in the reply.