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2020 Frame 55" and JBL Bar 9.1 soundbar randomly stops working

(Topic created on: 06-01-2021 11:58 PM)
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froggles
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The sound output from my Samsung Frame via the JBL Bar 9.1 soundbar randomly fails. I think there's a couple of "modes" of failure:

 

The most regular failure is to just stop producing sound over HDMI-eARC:

 

It'll be working fine, and then suddenly it stops. Often this is between episodes on the ABC iView app or less commonly just randomly mid-episode (it may not be specific to the app, just that we use it a lot). There's no visible indication that it shouldn't be making sound (i.e. it's not muted, volume is up, the sound output is still set to HDMI-eARC, everything is still plugged in fine). But I have to switch the output to TV Speaker and then back to HDMI-eARC again in order to get it working.

 

Sometimes the HDMI-eARC output will become delayed and skips

 

This only seems to happen when I'm using the HDMI input from my PC. The sounds get delayed by about a second, and the sound will often 'skip' or glitch every few seconds. Very noticeable for gaming (sounds don't match events) and speech (words are skipped or shortened weirdly). Again, this is generally resolved by switching the sound output to TV and back to HDMI-eARC.

 

Sometimes eARC specifically appears to stop working or being recognised too:

 

The TV stops reporting the HDMI output as HDMI-eARC and it shows up as a regular HDMI sound output. This requires more fiddling to get it working again, but is rarer so can't remember exactly how I fix it (turning everything off & on again, though I think I did once get it to resolve by fiddling with settings).

 

I'm on the latest firmware for both the Samsung 2020 Frame 55" and JBL Bar 9.1. I've tried a factory reset and still get the issues.

 

I think the 2020 Frame had serious eARC issues on an earlier firmware, but from what I read that was more an "all or nothing" issue (you just had to turn off eARC and forego its features). The issues I'm seeing now are that it seems like it's  "bugging out" and unable to recover on its own.

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jhorne4
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Something very similar is happening to me. I have the ATVK plugged into the tv via high speed hdmi and then e-arc high speed hdmi to jbl e arc port. It seems to just cut out after 30 min or so and then I have to constantly reboot it. It seems to only be atmos, but even more recently it’s just standard PCM. I guess I could try streaming through the tv to see if it cuts out then. 

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froggles
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Is your ATV plugged into the JBL directly? or into the Samsung box?

 

After a bit more investigation (watching the sound source read-out on the JBL 9.1) it seems most of the issues happen with PCM sources (PC and iView app are both PCM). Netflix has been generally more reliable (which uses Atmos or Dolby surround I think). I've disabled eARC (again) to see if this helps... will see how we go.

 

Another issue (maybe related) is the TV seems to regularly switch the sound source for the JBL Bar 9.1 back to TV, even when it's in Art mode. If I play something on Chromecast directly to the JBL Bar 9.1, sometimes the TV will just keep switching the source back to TV unless I turn it off (long-press art-mode button). It seems like the HDMI-CEC or similar feature is constantly telling the sound bar the TV wants to use it... even though it's not making any noise.

 

This worries me a bit if the TV is keeping the soundbar 'active' all the time, rather than in standby! This whole HDMI connection seems super buggy!

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Friman
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I also had to turn off HDMI-CEC or the soundbar will instantly switch back to TV mode.

As far as I know, the AppleTV must be connected to the soundbar HDMI due to the lack of support of Atmos of the TV. Well now it works, but I wish I could use just the TV remote, which isn't enough now since I have to switch between TV and HDMI och the JBL remote.

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