Solved! Samsung TV to Vizio Soundbar with optical audio

[Lindawson]

I'm not having any luck connecting my Samsung UN46C6400 TV with my Vizio SB3821 soundbar with the optical audio cable.

In the TV audio settings, I set "Speaker Select" to "External Speaker" and "Audio Format" to "PCM". On the soundbar I've tried auto-selecting the input and manually selecting the optical audio. I'm able to connect the soundbar to the TV through the 3.5mm cable but the sound isn't great as the 3.5mm port on the TV was damaged.

My next thought is there might be a problem with the optical audio on either the soundbar or TV but I don't have anything else with an optical audio connection to test the TV or soundbar with.

Any other thoughts on what to try?

 

[americanaudiophile]

Can you see a red light at the soundbar end of the optical cable? If not then the TV optical out isn't working. You can't turn it off on that TV.
Without another TV or soundbar to try you can't tell where the issue it. If you have another source with optical output such as a cable or streamer box or bluray try that.

 

[Lindawson]

No. With the optical cable plugged into the TV and the TV playing something with sound there's no light on the other end of the optical cable. I guess it's an issue with the cable or the TV then.

When first setting up the soundbar it turned on automatically when I turned the TV on. So it seems like some signal got through the optical cable.

Regardless, I'd guess it's a problem with the TV since it's 10 years old even though I've never used the optical out before so you'd think that piece should still be working fine.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Since you never used that output it may never have worked or because there is no way to turn it off it was on for 10 years.
Toslink optical cables are just plastic light pipes so they are pretty reliable.