HW-Q990C problem with D-IN and Spotify playback

[GrumblingJazz]

My setup is simple: only the TV (The Frame 65" from 2023) connected to the eARC port of the soundbar, and HEOS HS Link network player connected via optical Toslink cable to the optical in port of the soundbar.

There are two problems playing back music: 

1. when playing music over the HEOS (optical in), every 5 to 10 min the sounds gets interrupted, the display on the soundbar says eARC, then it switches back to D-IN.
2. when playing music over Spotify connect (WiFi), after 5 to 10 min the soundbar switches to eARC input and stays there until i manually switch it back with the remote or the app

Initially i had only the first problem, during my research on possible fixes, i upgraded the soundbar to the 1004 firmware. Now i have both problems.

[Members_FJAv7vE]

I recently noticed the exact same issue. 

Samsung TV and Soundbar, connected with eARC, both on latest firmware. 

TV: Samsung TQ65S95C / Soundbar: Samsung HW-Q700C

TV is off, I start music on the Soundbar from my phone using Spotify Connect. The music plays fine but after a few minutes the music stops and the soundbar is now on the "TV eARC"  input. The TV is still off.

The same exact issue happens if you play the music using Bluetooth instead of Spotify Connect. 

During diagnostic of the issue I found that disconnecting the HDMI cable from the soundbar to the TV prevents the issue from happening.

But this CANNOT be considered a fix. 

[Bartillo]

Same thing here, but it switches to eArc all the time (every 30 seconds or so). (TV is Philips 808). But... if I change HDMI Port to "Arc" (also using CEC which is probably the problem) - poof, problem dissapears. It's also can't be considered as a fix since I want full sound quality which eArc provides. Philips support asked to reset the TV but no way it will help since I can see many similar cases on other models.

[ElCeePee]

Same here. Both soundbar and tv are from Samsung and both have the latest software update. What could be the solution? Why is it that modern technology always just almost works?

[Smumovic]

Eventually i figured it out. It was indeed the TV making a regular "ping" (every 5-10 min) to the eARC HDMI, that ping prompted the soundbar to switch to eARC and stay there until manually switched to digital in with the remote.

How i fixed it: i went into the "service menu" on the TV, dug through the settings and found some setting (honestly cant remember which one) that had something related to HDMI protocol version, i changed it and with trial and error found the one that stopped the TV pinging the eARC and confusing the soundbar.

It is annoying that i had to do this. the 'service menu' is a bit dangerous as you can screw up and brick your TV if you are not careful. I even had to borrow a regular remote, as you cannot get into the service menu with the modern solar-charged remote supplied with the TV.

To learn about the service menu, google "Samsung TV Service Menu". In essence it is a key combination you hit on the traditional remote (the one with many buttons, not the one with the rocker keys and very few buttons). Then be careful when you walk the menu and look for something HDMI related, refrain from messing with other settings. Good luck.

Side note, i also fixed the missing option of recording live TV using the service menu. My TV is bought in a region where they disable the "Timeshift" function by default. There is a menu option there that enables DVR (a.k.a. "Timeshift").

[Anoviel]

Thank you for your solution!

Can you please clarify the name of the option?

Calling this menu dangerous and leaving us without the exact option name or option you set doesn't make this apply able to me.

Greetings

[Smumovic]

Uh, I'm a bit ashamed here, i forgot and did not record or write down the menu option i changed. I promise i will try to hunt it down. 

Let me start with some links:

• Samsung Service Menu: Samsung Service Menu - Factory-Reset.com 
• service menu explanation Samsung TV Service Menu Guide: Access And Ultimate Uses

Note that the service menu contains different options and might look different based on the specific model, revision and firmware you have.

In the next day i will attempt to locate the specific HDMI setting on my TV. Again, depending of circumstances that exact setting may be named differently or located in a different submenu on your particular device. 

Don't be that much afraid of the service menu, if you read up about it, and take precautions (like remembering or writing down what you changed so you can change it back).

[ElCeePee]

Well it looks like I solved it too. I plugged out the power of the tv for 30seconds and plugged it back in. At first it did not seem to work. However, when I restarted playing music via Spotify connect (just play music through the soundbar in the Spotify app) it is playing for over an hour now. Am I lucky? Didn’t I stop playing first when plugging out and in my tv and was that the reason it didn’t work at first? I don’t know. At least a lot easier than going deep into the service menu. 

[Smumovic]

In essence Its two issues. Mainly i had an issue with the sound switching from Digital-IN switching to eARC after 5-10 min of playing. That one i solved by digging trough the service menu. I also had the Spotify connect issue when playing on the soundbar, but i think that one went away with the digital-in issue as well as i don't have that issue anymore. 

I'm still digging through the menus but i'm afraid i can not be of much help, there are multiple HDMI settings strewn throughout the service menu. And the setting i now have is not the original one, so i would need to mess with the settings and see if i restore the original faulty behaviour by one of them. I'm rather reluctant to do that.

I would be glad to help if you ask me about to compare your setting to my setting.   

[Anoviel]

Thank you for this offer.

I have the same problem with playback switching to eArc d.in channel. So I guess our problems are related.

I will come back here after the holidays when I had time to check my settings.

Hopefully with some good news