topic Re: Optical link problem in Audio & Video

Optical link problem

HarrisTweed — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 11:20:43 GMT

I've just bought a HWMS360 soundbar to run with my Q7 TV. The sound is great, I'm really pleased with it.

But I have a problem with the optical connection. The TV often stops recognising the soundbar and reverts to the internal speakers. When the TV has been off and switched back on, sometimes it sees the soundbar and sometimes it doesn't.

I've replaced the optical lead, but this makes no difference. How can I fix this please?

Re: Optical link problem

AndrewL — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 11:39:20 GMT

@HarrisTweed: To troubleshoot the issue lets start with your TV Speaker Settings. Connect your soundbar as you would normally and go to Home > Settings > Sound > Sound Output > Select the Soundbar from the list of available devices. On the Soundbar itself please press the source button on the right side of the device until D:IN shows on the display. Auto Power Link is enabled by default so the soundbar should switch on when you turn on your TV, although you can enable and disable this feature by pressing left on the soundbar remote for 5 seconds (button is situated left of the 'Play' button.

Re: Optical link problem

paul1277 — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 11:40:45 GMT

@HarrisTweed wrote:
I've just bought a HWMS360 soundbar to run with my Q7 TV. The sound is great, I'm really pleased with it.

But I have a problem with the optical connection. The TV often stops recognising the soundbar and reverts to the internal speakers. When the TV has been off and switched back on, sometimes it sees the soundbar and sometimes it doesn't.
I've replaced the optical lead, but this makes no difference. How can I fix this please?

Is there not a HDMI connection on the soundbar as HDMI gives DD+ rather than just DD with optical. You should connect via the ARC HDMI port on the back of the telly to the soundbar.

Paul

Re: Optical link problem

HarrisTweed — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 11:58:39 GMT

Thanks for those two quick replies!

AndrewL - I did follow this procedure carefully when setting it up. But I will go through it again.

paul1277 - I used the optical cable because all of the HDMI connectors were in use for other devices. If I can't get the optical method to work reliably I will have to rethink things.

Re: Optical link problem

paul1277 — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 12:08:52 GMT

@HarrisTweed wrote:
Thanks for those two quick replies!

AndrewL - I did follow this procedure carefully when setting it up. But I will go through it again.

paul1277 - I used the optical cable because all of the HDMI connectors were in use for other devices. If I can't get the optical method to work reliably I will have to rethink things.

Its worth trying the ARC HDMI as you do get a better sound and the TV audio should auto switch when the speaker is switched on.

Re: Optical link problem

HarrisTweed — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 12:21:36 GMT

Thanks paul, I'll bear that in mind.

Re: Optical link problem

HarrisTweed — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 22:54:25 GMT

Just thought I'd follow up on this.
I reset the sound bar and reconnected it in the approved manner using the optical lead. At first it was fine, but then I started to lose the connection to the sound bar and it reverted to the TV speakers.
It seems that this was related in some way to when HDMI inputs were switched and/or the TV was turned off with certain inputs.

So I'm now going to follow the advice to use the ARC HDMI feed to the soundbar and see how that works. It means that I will lose one of the HDMI device feeds, but there are ways round this if necessary.

Re: Optical link problem

HarrisTweed — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 22:55:55 GMT

Final update

I've had the HDMI connection going for a couple of days now, and it seems to quite reliable.

Thanks for the help!

Re: Optical link problem

HulkingJester — Sun, 14 Jul 2019 17:07:30 GMT

@HarrisTweed

thanks for your original post. I’ve been having the same exact issue with the Q7 and Samsung soundbar

Re: Optical link problem

Luisbarrios86 — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 23:11:46 GMT

tried the HDMI ARC and same issue as with the optical any ideas?

Re: Optical link problem

Toffee47 — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 21:56:41 GMT

I had the same problem. I needed a new sky box when I reconfigured the sky remote, I set it to control the tv and an external speaker. Since doing this my tv has not dropped optical from the sound bar once … hope this helps