Sony TV & Soundbar - No sound via Digital Audio Out (Optical)?

duffers20

duffers20

duffers20

Associate
Joined
11 Aug 2005
Posts
160
Hi! Happy New Year! I'm not a regular poster in this sub-forum, but I'm hoping that the community can help me out.

I recently purchased a Sony sound bar (HT-MT300) to go with my Sony TV (KD49X83), but I'm having some trouble setting it up, as I cannot hear sound from the TV through the sound bar.

I have tried to list all relevant details below, as well as my troubleshooting steps tried so far:

Setup:
  • TV connects to an Apple TV and YouView TalkTalk box via HDMI. Both of these devices play sound through the TV's built-in speakers without any issue.
  • Sound bar is connected directly to the TV, via an optical cable. When I connect the optical cable to the TV, I can see a red light in the end of the cable, which I believe to indicate that the optical out from the TV is turned on.
Troubleshooting steps:
  • I have connected the sound bar directly to either the Apple TV and YouView box, via the same optical cable, and can hear sound through the sound bar from both devices.
  • I have tried setting the speaker settings on the TV to be "Audio system", rather than "TV speakers".
  • I have tried experimenting by setting the "Digital audio out" setting on the TV, from the default "Auto 1" (Output compressed audio without change), to either of the following without success - "Auto 2" (Output only compressed audio for multi-channel content without change) and "PCM" (Always output in PCM)
  • The TV's firmware is up to date.
  • After making a settings change, I restart the TV (via the options menu), just to make sure that a full restart, rather than a simple "Off - On", is required to apply the setting changes.
I hope I've included enough detail, if you need anything else, let me know.

I really hope to be able to get this sound bar working with my connected devices, as having to change each time I go from the YouView box to the Apple TV is a real pain!

Thanks in advance!
James
 
Have you got another optical cable you could try?

Have you made sure the sound bar has been configured to use the optical input from the TV?

Does you TV and soundbar have optical out and optical in, if so have you plugged them in the correct way round?
 
Harl0 said:
Have you got another optical cable you could try?

Have you made sure the sound bar has been configured to use the optical input from the TV?

Does you TV and soundbar have optical out and optical in, if so have you plugged them in the correct way round?
Click to expand...

Thanks for getting back to me.

I don't have another cable to try unfortunately, but the cable does seem to work as when I connect the soundbar to another device (Apple TV or YouView box), I can hear the sound output from the device.

I'm not aware of any configuration options on the sound bar. It has a few sound modes, but I don't think it can be configured in anyway which would mean that it would work differently when plugged into the TV, or directly into one of the boxes I have.

The TV only has a single optical connection, named "Digital Audio Out (Optical)", and the sound bar only has a single input (which works when connected directly to either of the boxes).
 
Do you have ARC on the TV, could it be that the sound from the TV is trying to use that rather than the optical cable because it is connected?
 
I was just thinking about this! Went to check my set up downstairs and my TV (Samsung) seems to use the optical connection by default, even if something is plugged into the ARC port.
 
It actually might be something completely different - its quiet at work this week so I did some googling and discovered that it looks like the Sony doesnt output audio over optical that has come from a HDMI source and only when the source is built in (ie normal aerial TV or the built in smart apps).

IMPORTANT: The optical jack is designed to output sound when the content you are watching contains digital audio. (PCM or Dolby Digital technology) This feature is available on select digital broadcasts and streaming video, and is not supported on standard cable or analog stations.

If the content does not contain a digital audio signal, then no sound can be heard through this connection. A secondary analog connection can be used to pass the audio signal in this situation. Additionally, sound sent to the TV through an HDMI connection or other input also may not output through the optical jack. In this case, the optical jack from the source device (Blu-ray Disc Player, DVD player, cable or satellite box) should be connected directly to the home theater or stereo system to get the sound.

So you may need to get an optical switcher and some extra optical cables and connect everything directly to the soundbar.
 
pepp77 said:
... Additionally, sound sent to the TV through an HDMI connection or other input also may not output through the optical jack. ...
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to do some research - I actually stumbled across the same info earlier today too.

Thanks again for replying - I'll watch something via the built in Netflix app, to see if it works, and will reply to let you all know the outcome.
 
Quick update for those who are interested :)

I tested the sound bar by connecting it directly to the TV, but instead of trying to get sound through one of the HDMI sources, I tried one of the built-in apps, as recommended by pepp77.

The sound bar worked fine, so I think the issue I was facing is down to the fact that the optical out can only play sound from an internal source, rather than a HDMI source. I'm slightly disappointed in this, but have connected the sound bar directly to the YouView box, which we watch almost 100% of the time.

Thanks to all those who responded :)
 
For about £15-£20 plus a couple more optical cables you could grab a splitter and connect both the youview and the apple tv to the soundbar
 
duffers20 said:
The sound bar worked fine, so I think the issue I was facing is down to the fact that the optical out can only play sound from an internal source, rather than a HDMI source. I'm slightly disappointed in this, but have connected the sound bar directly to the YouView box, which we watch almost 100% of the time.
Click to expand...

I've got a similar Sony TV the XD80 and my Sonos Beam is connected via Optical. DD 5.1 from all HDMI sources works fine.

The only setting I had to change on the TV was the Speaker setting to "Audio system" and in the advanced settings change Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital.
 
pcfarrar said:
I've got a similar Sony TV the XD80 and my Sonos Beam is connected via Optical. DD 5.1 from all HDMI sources works fine.

The only setting I had to change on the TV was the Speaker setting to "Audio system" and in the advanced settings change Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital.
Click to expand...

I think I tried this, but will check tonight when I get home. Thanks for responding!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom