[Technology] Technical help - Surround sound

[mikeyjh]

In this way, I have all my external boxes plugged into my TV, and the receiver is constantly switched the the TV setting.
All surround sound then works fine though the receiver without faffing around with switching the receiver to different inputs all the time.

Doesn't that mean you just have to keep switching your TV rather than Amp? - I've found it much easier to have one cable hidden between TV and Amp than several. Surely the sound quality is compromised as the TV has to reprocess the data and send it to the Amp, which will do the same thing??!? Each to their own of course!

 

[1066familyman]

Thanks WBD!

Router is a BT Smart Hub, and it has automatically selected channel 11 as the least congested on the 2.4 GHz frequency and 36 for 5 GHz. I can overide to manually select the channels I want, but from the warnings that pop up when I poke around in the settings, I think I'll have to attempt this when I have more time and there are fewer things using WIFI (not least my work laptop ) as it's telling me devices might lose connection. Knowing my luck, it'll sort the Spotify/SONOS problem and f**k up something more important

I might also re-site one of the speakers which is right next to the router and an Alexa dot before I fanny around with the WIFI channels.

Thanks again!

I know it sort of defeats the object of wireless, but does the Sonos speaker near the router have an Ethernet port? (I've never used Sonos products). If so, could you perhaps just go wired with that speaker rather than wireless?

I have a Yamaha network amp, which, among other things, I also use for Deezer. Wireless connection was always a bit temperamental, but as soon as I used Ethernet from the amp to the router, everything has played with no problems at all.

 

[1066familyman]

Doesn't that mean you just have to keep switching your TV rather than Amp? - I've found it much easier to have one cable hidden between TV and Amp than several. Surely the sound quality is compromised as the TV has to reprocess the data and send it to the Amp, which will do the same thing??!? Each to their own of course!

I have an optical cable going from my TV to my amp. If I want regular TV sound then I just watch TV as normal, no changing of settings. If I want the TV to play through my hifi speakers then I simply turn on the amp and select optical as the source and mute the TV.

 

[1066familyman]

......

 

[bluenitsuj]

If I may unashamedly piggy-back on the thread...

Does anyone have an idea how to sort out Spotify to SONOS connection issues? Every so often (i.e. several times a day) while playing Spotify tracks or playlists through SONOS, it'll skip a track saying "connection to Spotify lost", or just stop 10 seconds or so into a track. It's particularly annoying when using it to play a carefully curated playlist of soothing bedtime songs for our 3 month old - she'll just be dropping off when the music stops or changes suddenly and it disturbs her!

No issues with other services via SONOS (streaming radio etc) and the broadband speed (and WIFI strength) is ample - it just seems to be the Spotify to SONOS connection. I have tried disconnecting and re-adding Spotify as a service within SONOS, all speaker software is up to date, as are the various apps (and phone OS), so it's driving me nuts! I can't see much advice other than updating speakers and disconnecting & reconnecting Spotify to SONOS elsewhere online, so I am hoping NSC comes up trumps - a very junior Albion fan will be eternally grateful, as will I!

Sorry/thanks to [MENTION=18657]bluenitsuj[/MENTION] for borrowing your thread (I have no solution to your problem I'm afraid)

No problem. All sorted now with the cable. Thanks to all those that helped.

 

[Robinjakarta]

Missing BG on posts like this ..

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

There is some really good stuff on this thread, I am now looking forward to messing about in the high anticipation that it will all spring into life after all these years.

 

[rbridd]

Doesn't that mean you just have to keep switching your TV rather than Amp? - I've found it much easier to have one cable hidden between TV and Amp than several. Surely the sound quality is compromised as the TV has to reprocess the data and send it to the Amp, which will do the same thing??!? Each to their own of course!

Yes. One cable between tv and amp.

As I understand it, the tv never does any DSP on the audio stream, it’s just a psssthrough down the HDMI cable to the receiver/amp.

 

[PeterOut]

There is some really good stuff on this thread, I am now looking forward to messing about in the high anticipation that it will all spring into life after all these years.

Try the site below - in my view, it explains things clearly and simply.
Make sure to read to the end of the article, where it mentions connecting external sources such as BT boxes, PS4s and similar -

https://www.lifewire.com/connect-tv-to-external-audio-system-1846816

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Morning

Just had to get a new TV which is a Roku TV.

I use a BT box which has all TV netflix etc and the sound comes through the surround perfect. When I switch to the smart tv menu, and select Roku channel (for example) the sound only comes through TV.

I have 1 hdmi from dvd player/surround sound to TV
1hdmi from BT box to TV.

What am I missing apart from turning it off and on

I read that very carefully to see if I might belittle your grammar but I can't. So I'm out.

On a more serious note, I have had no end of sheenanigans with the hdmi cable from my laptop to my mate's TV when we are planning to watch football. Turns out you really have to make sure the sodding cable is proper in before you press go. It could be a simple as something like that. Good luck

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Firstly, You need to ensure that both your TV are ARC (audio Return channel), enabled.
Next, you need to ensure that the HDMI cable between the TV and your surround sound Receiver is plugged into the Receiver socket marked ARC.
Then you need to go into settings on the TV, and ensure that ARC is turned on
Then you need to go into the Receiver settings and ensure that ARC is turned on.
Then, when playing anything on your TV (broadcast, apps, or anything plugged directly into the TV inputs), , if you switch the receiver to "TV" it will play the ARC audio stream from the TV.

In this way, I have all my external boxes plugged into my TV, and the receiver is constantly switched the the TV setting.
All surround sound then works fine though the receiver without faffing around with switching the receiver to different inputs all the time.

I hope you are still around, I have made advances but still not there, this is where I am.
Managed to get surround sound from TV rather than DVD only but only through Freeview not through BT Box.
I have HDMI1 (ARC) from TV to surround sound, but I have had to remove the HDMI cable from the TV to BT box from 1 to 2 to be able to do this so I can't have sound or vision from BT box with surround sound. To get BT I assume I have to go to input and change from HDMI 1 to 2.
I have simplinx??
I have an optical cable from TV to surround sound.
How do I get BT, with surround sound through HDMI1(ARC)
ARC is ON on the TV but I can't seem to get into surround sound set up to check if ARC is ON on the surround sound.
The TV and surround sound (home theater) are both LG and purchased together so totally compatible.
I have also looked at the website kindly supplied above but still not quite there.
Hope you can get me over the line

 

[rbridd]

I hope you are still around, I have made advances but still not there, this is where I am.
Managed to get surround sound from TV rather than DVD only but only through Freeview not through BT Box.
I have HDMI1 (ARC) from TV to surround sound, but I have had to remove the HDMI cable from the TV to BT box from 1 to 2 to be able to do this so I can't have sound or vision from BT box with surround sound. To get BT I assume I have to go to input and change from HDMI 1 to 2.
I have simplinx??
I have an optical cable from TV to surround sound.
How do I get BT, with surround sound through HDMI1(ARC)
ARC is ON on the TV but I can't seem to get into surround sound set up to check if ARC is ON on the surround sound.
The TV and surround sound (home theater) are both LG and purchased together so totally compatible.
I have also looked at the website kindly supplied above but still not quite there.
Hope you can get me over the line

If you are getting surround sound when you are watching free view on tv, then ARC is turned on on both tv and receiver. All is good.

If you are not getting surround sound when tv is switched to hdmi2, (BT Box), and receiver is switched to tv, then something is incompatible.
You will probably have to return to the traditional method of connecting the BT box to an HDMI input on the receiver, and switching to that input using the receiver controls. In this case the tv should be switched to HDMI 1.

Im no expert though, just repeating what I’ve read in the manuals for my devices, and the experiments I’ve done to get my rig working.

Good luck.

 

[Mortdecai]

I have a Philips tv and sound bar that are connected only by an optical cable. Once the sound bar is set to optical input and I turn the tv’s volumn to zero it matters not one jot what I plug into my tv via hdmi. All audio comes out through the sound bar. I currently have just the two items connected to my tv, a gaming pc and a PS4 pro. Even the android smart tv part of the tv plays through the sound bar. It all works great.

So I’d suggest just connecting an optical cable from your tv to your surround system and select it as source.