Bought a TV need audio help

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

Soldato
Joined
22 Mar 2009
Posts
7,754
Location
Cornwall
hi, so I bought a cheap TV 'Samsung PS43F4900 3D Plasma' which is being delivered in the week, have just realised though it doesn't seem to have any audio out other than the digital optical out. The problem is, my stereo doesn't have an optical connection, so was thinking of getting something like a cheap 'Digital Optical Coax Toslink to Analog Audio Converter '. Are these any good? seen one on the bay for £10.43 so not going to be the best quality I know, but do they work?
 
ok cool will order one. wasn't one of the things I thought about checking, assumed all TV's would have a headphone out at least, appears this one has nothing.

EDIT : reading reviews on several sites people suggest getting a soundbar as the built in speakers are not great, how would a soundbar connect if there are no audio out, or do soundbars generally have optical in?
 
Depends on the soundbar. Most have optical in.

What sort of distances are you putting between yourself and the plasma? It will be interesting to see if you can notice that it's 1024x768.
 
Caged said:
Depends on the soundbar. Most have optical in.

What sort of distances are you putting between yourself and the plasma? It will be interesting to see if you can notice that it's 1024x768.
Click to expand...

3-4 meters tops, I know its not true HD, but I watch through my skyHD box which I believe only does 1080i anyway which im sure I read in the Samsung stuff this tv will upscale to.


EDIT : I currently have a bush lt42m1cfa so it cant be much worse lol
 
Last edited:
If it had ARC it would tell you in the specs or on the HDMI port itself. It's not a feature people tend to include and not mention.
 
cant see it on the Samsung site at all and don't have the TV yet to check. was looking at ordering a home cinema system (Samsung HT-F5500 Smart 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema System) as that would look a bit neater than the stereo I use now, but if it doesn't support ARC I'm assuming I can connect the optical out from the TV to the optical in on the home cinema system and it would then play everything that goes through the TV via the surround sound?
my other thought was a Samsung HW-F350 Soundbar with Subwoofer, but I'm not sure how a soundbar will sound really, I'm assuming the F5500 will give a better sound overall.

also Caged, do you think the picture will be poor being 3-4meters away as you seemed to suggest a 720p picture might be suspect
 
Last edited:
I think you'll be fine at that distance. There's a graph kicking around somewhere which says what distances it becomes impossible to see the differences. If you get it and you're happy then that's what matters - I'd rather have an HD ready TV and some money left over to buy some acceptable sound for it than a Full HD set with rubbish audio.
 
Caged said:
I think you'll be fine at that distance. There's a graph kicking around somewhere which says what distances it becomes impossible to see the differences. If you get it and you're happy then that's what matters - I'd rather have an HD ready TV and some money left over to buy some acceptable sound for it than a Full HD set with rubbish audio.
Click to expand...

that was my thought too. which would you suggest the home cinema or soundbar?
 
I would'nt worry about ARC unless you're going to use the inbuilt tuner on the TV.
You say you're using sky, so just get a sound bar or 5.1 amp and speaker package that has HDMI inputs.

Then just plug all your external stuff ie sky blu-ray ect into the amp/bar then run one HDMI lead to the TV.
That TV only has 2 HDMI sockets anyway so if you use 1 for ARC that only leaves you a single input.
 
Last edited:
are soundbars really any good? never heard one so unsure if you get a decent sound from them. is it better to get Samsung to match tv, or does it not really matter?

the Samsung HW-F550 has a wireless sub which would be nice, only has one hdmi in though, would I be able to use my hdmi splitter/switch to get around this?
 
Last edited:
I used to have one of these in my bedroom.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/Yamah...view_yamaha-yht-s400_Page-3#tr-review-summary

It did sound great although it's only 3.1, it sounded good enough that as soon as my dad heard it he went out and got one himself.

I think this is close to that one, it should be better as it's a newer model.
3.1 and 3 HDMI inputs, 1 optical.
I'd take this over the Samsung myself.
http://www.richersounds.com/product/soundbars/yamaha/yhts401/yama-yhts401

I ended up giving mine to my brother though as I still wanted 5.1:)
If you don't mind running speaker cable then an amp and speaker package will sound so much better.

Something like this, 6 HDMI and decodes all HD sound formats.
http://www.richersounds.com/package/system-savers/home-cinema-separates-bundle-deals/pah011443
 
Last edited:
i didn't really want to spend that on a soundbar, the only reason I was looking at going for the 5.1 was the blu ray player had all the VoD built into it which the TV does not, so thought that would be worth the extra. I don't mind running cable if the sound is worth it, but cant justify £300-£400 on just speakers right now. I have a Technics SH-EH750 which everything went through with my old TV and that sounded pretty good considering my room isn't huge, just looks a bit bulky
 
paradisiac said:
i didn't really want to spend that on a soundbar, the only reason I was looking at going for the 5.1 was the blu ray player had all the VoD built into it which the TV does not, so thought that would be worth the extra. I don't mind running cable if the sound is worth it, but cant justify £300-£400 on just speakers right now. I have a Technics SH-EH750 which everything went through with my old TV and that sounded pretty good considering my room isn't huge, just looks a bit bulky
Click to expand...

The Samsung you quoted is £300 but nowhere near as good as the Yam I linked.

You can get cheaper just shop around.
 
yeh the second one was, I was asking if it was better than the first, was about 200w higher and wireless sub, but im not 100% sure if I will like a soundbar/sub combo
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom