Solved! Soundbar works with Roku but not Blu-ray player audio - how to fix?

[BonAmiCambur]

Hi All,

I’m having trouble getting my blu-ray player to talk to my soundbar. The soundbar works fine with the Roku, but when I switch to the blu-ray player, the sound only comes through the TV speakers, not the soundbar. I’ve tried messing with the settings and cables but so far, nothing has worked. I’m hoping someone with more knowledge can pinpoint what exactly needs to be done?

Equipment:

• TV: Sharp LC-32SB23U
• Soundbar: SONY SA-S350
• BluRay Player: SONY BDP-S1700
• Roku Express

How they’re connected:

• TV is connected to soundbar with HDMI and Optical cable
• Roku to TV with HDMI —> sound comes through soundbar fine
• BluRay to TV with same HDMI cable as Roku (switch from Roku to BluRay player) —> no sound from sound bar, only TV speakers. Tried adding a digital audio coaxial cable but that didn’t do it either.

TV Audio Settings are close to nonexistent (pretty much just adjusting treble/bass, etc.). BluRay settings - no matter what I choose (RCA, auto, stereo, surround, etc.), I get the same result: sound through TV speakers only, nothing through the soundbar.

Thanks!

 

[americanaudiophile]

You can't connect the soundbar to the TV with HDMI. The TV doesn't support ARC and only has one HDMI input.
Use the optical output of the TV to the optical input of the soundbar. Select that as your input on the soundbar. You may need to turn the optical output on in the TV menu. You may also have to turn the TV speaker off.
Connect the BD player to the TV with HDMI.
If changing the audio type in the BD player set up menu and the TV audio menu doesn't help then I would suggest getting an external HDMI input selector with audio extraction. That will give you more HDMI inputs and an optical audio output to connect to the soundbar bypassing the TV for sound.