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

  • 11 October 2021
  • 19 replies
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N
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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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19 replies

G
Userlevel 7

Do you have any other devices connected to the One Connect box?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
N
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Yes,

I have my Rogers Xfinity Xi6 cable (IP) box in HDMI1, Minix mini PC in HDMI2 and PS4 in HDMI4.

I’m aware that there could be a CEC conflict with other devices, so the Xfinity box has CEC disabled, but PS4 is still enabled. Disabling CEC on the PS4 does not fix the problem anyway.

Still it’s not really an acceptable solution to have to disconnect everything/disable CEC on everything, just to get eARC to work.

TV is currently coming up with ARC enabled (not eARC) mostly. Sometimes the sound just cuts in and out every few seconds though the TV speakers on power up (TV toggles between TV Speakers and Receiver(HDMI)), no sound from the Beam. If this happens, the only solution is a power cycle of the TV.

To get eARC (if it actually comes up in ARC), I just have to toggle eARC on the TV from “Auto” to “Off” and back to “Auto”.

There is something very wrong…

106rallye
Userlevel 7
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But is it wrong on your TV or on the Beam?

G
Userlevel 7

Have you tried disconnecting the three devices from the One Connect box just to see if it makes a difference? If it fixes the problem, connect each device individually and test, and maybe you can narrow down which device is causing the conflict. If you can narrow it down to one device, you might try either turning off CEC on that device, using a different HDMI cable, or getting a CEC-less HDMI adapter like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Lindy-HDMI-Adapter-Female-41232/dp/B00DL48KVI/

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
N
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But is it wrong on your TV or on the Beam?

It doesn’t matter. It’s Sono’s product that doesn’t work properly, so it’s their issue to fix. Samsung is a competitor of theirs in the soundbar market, there is no incentive for Samsung or any other company to “fix” anything.

But if you can’t turn the TV on and have Sono’s Beam work, then Sonos has a problem, not Samsung.

The Arc suffered from the same problem earlier this year, and Sonos released a patch to fix it (eventually). Looks like they didn’t learn much from that experience…

N
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Have you tried disconnecting the three devices from the One Connect box just to see if it makes a difference? If it fixes the problem, connect each device individually and test, and maybe you can narrow down which device is causing the conflict. If you can narrow it down to one device, you might try either turning off CEC on that device, using a different HDMI cable, or getting a CEC-less HDMI adapter like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Lindy-HDMI-Adapter-Female-41232/dp/B00DL48KVI/

I’ve already tried turning CEC off on all devices with no success, the HDMI cables are all 2.0 brand new cables (it’s a new TV).

Ill continue to fiddle with it (I’ll try disconnecting the various devices), I was more interested in seeing if anyone else has the same problem, as the Beam gen 2 is shipping now, and a lot of people have 2020/21 TV’s with One Connect boxes.

I’m sure Sonos knows what the problem is, as the Arc had the same issue earlier this year. They released a patch for it (for the Arc with Frame TV’s). I guess they need to do the same for the Beam.

Sonos says it’s a Samsung problem, but honestly, can they expect Samsung to work on an issue that makes their competitors sound bars not work? If I was Samsung I’d be “Project Sell More Sonos Soundbars” - priority: never.

106rallye
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@Nick_W My remark was not made to lay blame, but to get a start to a solution.

 

Though I do not agree with you that the last piece of equipment connected is always the culprit…..

N
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@Nick_W My remark was not made to lay blame, but to get a start to a solution.

 

Though I do not agree with you that the last piece of equipment connected is always the culprit…..

I never said that. I said Samsung has nothing to gain by working on this, so it’s down to Sonos to fix it.

N
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Update:

 

I’m working with Sonos support on it. It seems to be a timing issue to do with the amount of time that elapses between artMode coming on (from off) to the TV turning on.

The Beam recognizes artMode as an “on” event, and so starts the eARC handshake (which fails, as the TV is not “on” as such). Then, if you turn the TV on after a period of time (5 minutes or so), the Beam does not register a second “on” event, so it comes up in ARC mode.

I you go straight from off to TV on (short time in artMode), then the Beam comes up in eARC mode.

Unfortunately, the Frame TV turns itself off and into artMode based on ambient light levels, or motion detection, so usually you don’t know how long it’s been in artMode.

Part of the problem is that if you power cycle the Beam with the TV in artMode, it causes the no sound/TV speakers cycling issue, and part of troubleshooting the problem was power-cycling the Beam…

So don’t power off the Beam, and it’s not too bad a problem.

C

Hi I am having the same problem 

I have a 2021 frame and just bought a beam. When I go through the beam set up to connect to the tv the Sonos app stops as it can’t find an eARC. 
it seems to connect at random I turn it up and hdmi appears, then tv speaker is there instead. 
 The beam connects to my phone. 
I have only had it a few days and thinking what my return options are. 
I hope they sort the issue soon. 
does it work on optical?

N
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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

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
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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

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

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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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
M

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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