Re: Q950T soundbar won't hold D.IN input when eARC HDMI is connected to 2020 43" The Frame TV

pahill · ‎19-10-2020

I have a new Q950T soundbar (HW-Q950T/XU). This is connected via HDMI eARC to a new 2020 43" The Frame TV (QE43LS03TAUXXU) just for the sound inbound from the TV - there's no video passthrough on the soundbar. I also have an old Denon Hi-Fi sound system connected via Optical cable into the D.IN port.

I have found that whenever the TV is switched on it is not possible to change to the D.IN source input to hear the sound system. The display very quickly flicks to D.IN then immediately changes back to eARC. If the TV is turned off D.IN can be selected to hear the sound system, but within 10 minutes eARC is somehow reasserting itself and changing the audio feed back to eARC - even though the TV is off - and so cutting off the audio as there's no audio coming in on eARC. So the D.IN input source just will not hold to be on as the source when HDMI eARC is plugged in.

At first I thought maybe the optical cable was damaged and losing sync so I replaced it with a new one, with no improvement. Only when the HDMI eARC port cable is removed from the soundbar will D.IN stay connected and outputting the Hi-Fi's sound. There is nothing plugged into input ports HDMI1 or HDMI2 when this happens. Also, I am talking about eARC synchronisation - not regular ARC.

I have just updated the soundbar's firmware from 1016.0 to the latest 1017.5 with no improvement. The TV's firmware is also on its latest version which is 1402.6.

Is this a known issue that will get fixed in a future firmware update? Maybe it's the TV's firmware that's at fault by keep waking up the soundbar when it should be off and outputting nothing. Thankfully the TV's sound is more important to me right now so I am able to wait without being to use the Hi-Fi.

I am unable to get through to anyone on the Chat support. It just keeps saying ...really busy...nobody available... try the support forums.

Edit - PS: As a test, It makes no difference if I plug the HDMI source in through HDMI1 of the soundbar to pass through the video; eARC is still grabbing control with the TV switched off (in standby). With a hard power off of the TV then D.IN holds as that's the same as unplugging the eARC HDMI cable.

RutgerS · ‎01-12-2020

Same problem here with the Q90R soundbar. Frame 2020 55" is connected using eARC and a Squeezebox Touch is on optical. D.in is not selectable unless the connectbox is removed from power.

HansRoelofs · ‎24-12-2020

Same issue here, soundbar q950T connected to samsung tv q90 via EArc . When Tv is off and I play music from my Sonos Connect, connected via Toslink to Digital In , the connection automatticaly switches to eArc after about ten minutes every time. Maybe toslink input on thid soundbar is only designed for connecting a tv without EArc? That’s very dissapointing! Samsung, please fix. Thank you !

super_rattie · ‎28-12-2020

I have the same issue here. I have the latest firmware on the q950 ver 1017.5 release October 12 2020.

This is now becoming a very disappointing product that if this does not get resolve in next 15 days , will have no other recourse but to return it.

dnguyen1393 · ‎29-12-2020

I am experiencing this issue as well. I have connected a karaoke machine and my soundbar will not hold d.in if earc is input. Is there any workaround? Or will i have to just unplug eaec because of this bug? Exy

ChrisVice · ‎31-12-2020

I have the same issue. I have to set my expensive new TV from EARC to the ancient ARC Standard so it wont switch from D.IN to EARC even though the connected TV (EARC) is in Standby. This is not an option for me as I can't use Atmos anymore because of this. I can't use my turntable connected to the optical input anymore. This is almost fraud as it is stated nowhere that you can either use EARC or Optical. Please everyone, let Samsung know of this problem. They should resolve this as fast as possible. The best thing would be to let us choose D.IN or EARC just like the other inputs!

I have a Sony A8H OLED TV by the way so it is certainly the Soundbar (I have the HW-Q80R) which is at fault

ChrisVice · ‎01-01-2021

I think I've found the problem (but not the solution, Samsung fix this!):

- Smart TV's are never in deep sleep so they wake up constantly (semi Standby)

- With ARC the Samsung Soundbar doesn't seem to react (or receive) an HDMI Handshake while the TV is in "Semi Standby" and therefore stays in D.IN (ARC works without CEC)

- With EARC the Soundbar seems to react to an HDMI Handshake while the TV is in "Semi Standby" and therefore the Soundbar switches to EARC every time (EARC has it's on kind of CEC which I think can't be deactivated)

- I have a Sony TV with Android which wakes up more than 10 times an hour, your Samsung TV might do the same.

- At least an Android user can minimize those wakeups by blocking WIFI/LAN access to the TV

- My Soundbar is staying in D.IN for most of the time now as the TV is not able to search for updates or whatever in Standby and therefore seldom wakes up.

This is not a real solution. What Samsung should do is make the EARC Soundbars not react to react to HDMI Handshake when the TV's wake up (wake up means staying in standby by doing background stuff like searching for updates).

It still wakes up though

HansRoelofs · ‎02-01-2021

This sounds to me as a logical explanation for this problem, thanks for sharing this info. I hope someone at Samsung picks this up and takes the appropriate actions.

RutgerS · ‎06-01-2021

This might be a partial solution for other smart TVs, but The Frame is always "on". Don't know what it's like with other TVs but with The Frame it's not an intermittent thing, D.IN is immediately replaced by eARC.

pahill · ‎06-01-2021

Not quite the case with The Frame.

If it's in art-picture-standby yes, but if it's in total-picture-off mode it goes into a deeper sleep. But within around 10 minutes D.IN flips back to eARC in the picture-off standby mode. It's likely that the TV is behaving as it should and not causing the problem when in picture-off standby mode according to ChrisVice's post saying it happens with a Sony TV as well. So that points to the soundbar's firmware being the problem when any TV's eARC mode is enabled.

Since my original post I discovered that switching eARC off in the TV's settings solves the problem - but that's not a proper fix as you then of course lose the HD audio formats like Dolby Atmos on the return leg from the TV's inbuilt apps like Netflix.

Unfortunately, I have given up with customer so-called-technical support as they keep treating my like an i d i o t consumer and point blank to refuse to put me in direct contact with a back-office technical specialist who I can have a proper engineering conversation with. I'm an IT engineer myself so could quite easily have that kind of conversation but they won't put me through.

First response, try resetting the settings to default and switch it on off again (yep, really); second response, try updating the firmware (despite having told them that's the first thing I did in my opening response); third response (switch eARC off and on again from the TV and see if that fixes it); fourth response (try replacing the HDMI cable for a high quality one [nope, it's already a £50 8K-capable Belkin cable, not some cheap tatty cable]). F F S. I give up. They point blank refuse to replicate the build and see the problem for themselves.

So the fault still goes unrecognised, unacknowledged and unreported. As far as development in (I assume) South Korea will be aware, there is nothing wrong with the product and nothing that needs to be fixed!