Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected

petewud — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 11:58:11 GMT

Hi all,

I hope that somebody could help me with getting my sound bar to work when I have the PC connected via HMDI.

Equipment:

So until now I have had the TV connected to the sound bar via the ARC HDMI ports and I have the sound bar input set to TV. This has worked great as the sound bar powers on and off with the TV and I can control the volume using the TV remote. I also have a PS4 and Nintendo Switch connected to the TV which also work fine with the sound bar still set to TV.
Now I have decided to connect the PC to the TV using the above HDMI thinking it would just work like the consoles but it doesn't. As soon as I connect the HDMI to the TV, the TV switches to the TV speakers. I have gone in to the TV settings and switched it back to 'Audio System' but then I get nothing. I've also set the 'Digital audio out' to PCM and still nothing. I have tried a different HDMI port and that makes no difference. I have also tried connecting the PC to one of the HDMI ports on the soundbar, but as soon as I do that I can no longer get the TV to play through the sound bar, even if I keep the sound bar input set to TV.

I understand that the HDMI cable is one way and I do have it connected the correct way with the source end connected to the PC and the display end connected to the TV.

Oh, and it doesn't matter if the PC is on or off, it's still giving the same problem, so I think it's safe to rule out any PC settings.
The only way I've been able to get the sound bar to work with everything is if I remove the ARC HDMI cable and use an optical cable. Now this isn't the end of the world but doing it this way I have to use two remotes and manually power the sound bar on and off and I'd much rather continue to us just the one remote.

I'm hoping somebody has some idea of where I'm going wrong.

Re: Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected

Joe_Dohn — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 11:23:18 GMT

I've seen a similar issue in a different post, and the solution was to essentially use an HDMI CEC blocker between the TV and the PC.

Though, I'd recommend trying the basics (disconnecting and unplugging everything, updating the TV to the latest version, resetting them to factory settings, etc.) before trying a specialized device like that.

Hope this helps!

- JD

Re: Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected

petewud — Thu, 04 Feb 2021 16:00:26 GMT

Hi, thanks for the suggestion.

I already had a HDMI CEC less adapter on order water somebody at avforums suggested it. It has since arrived and works a treat.

Thanks again!

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Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected

Re: Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected

Re: Sound bar won't work through ARC when PC is connected