Solved: Solution Found - Q950A eARC Problems - Page 8

Moralneeeick · ‎02-07-2021

I have spent 4 painful days trying to solve the issues with eARC on the Q950A when paired with a Samsung TV (I have QN800A). I have finally got the eARC connection to persist and have some explains below. Hopefully someone from Samsung reads this and fixes their software.

What you need to sacrifice to get this to work:

Samsung universal remote for everything except Q950A.

CEC functionality from a non samsung device.

What the issues are:

1 - any device connected in the chain which has CEC enabled can break the earc handshake

2 - if you use samsung universal remote it will not leave the appropriate delays when turning on devices causing earc handshake to break

Steps to get a perfect earc setup:

1 - on every device except for TV disable CEC or HDMI control. Apple TV, Sky Q, Xbox, PS5. Has to be all of them.

2 - unplug all devices from tv and Soundbar and hard reset both. 950A hard reset is holding volume up and down on bar until you see INT displayed and then it says BYE.

3 - During Samsung tv setup plug everything back in (nothing into Soundbar, all into TV)

At this point samsung setup pairs things with the smart remote. But it also defaults earc to ‘off’ which is helpful for next step.

4 - once the tv is set up - do not enable earc (yet). Go to sources and universal remote and delete all sources created by Samsung so they default to HDMI 1, 2 etc. You can still rename them and add them to home just don’t use the universal remote.

5 - Turn off all HDMI inputs and turn off Soundbar.

6 - now enable earc in the menu. If it doesn’t switch on the Soundbar after this you can. It should detect earc for the first time.

7 - now turn on Xbox or PS5 - you will have to change the input manually on Samsung remote. In samsung sound settings on tv once the input is up select pass through and leave it.

Now you have an earc connection which can’t be killed by external sources. One final point:

whenever you turn on tv - make sure you turn on tv first and no other device. Soundbar should come on automatically if you have a Samsung tv - if not turn that on after tv is on. Check you have earc - if so you’re safe to turn other devices on.

I don’t know if Samsung will fix this - but I know understand why it’s not totally within their control. However it is in their control to fix pass through for multi channel LPCM and DTS-X.

make sure Xbox is set to bitstream Atmos pass through and PlayStation set to Dolby. Also make sure to change blu ray app output to bitstream within the player to get lossless Atmos.

Hope this helps someone. And I hope Samsung read it.

SmartOnly · ‎25-01-2022

Call Samsung again. My QN800 75 just fixed yesterday. This was second time Samsung Technician visited my house. At first He changed one connect motherboard but earc problem didn’t fixed then he put the old one back to One connect Box, then he changed the motherboard inside the tv. Problem fixed. Now that it works. It’s a charm. I have apple tv, ps5 , switch all connected to the tv now with individual CEC on in all devices. No Problem at all.

Moralneeeick · ‎26-01-2022

Yeah that’s what happened to me - but then I got weird stripes on the screen when in game mode so had a new TV. Keep pushing for that tv main board replacement if anyone still has the issue - no point suffering with a broken product.

Luciano94 · ‎06-03-2022

Hello, I have a Samsung tv qned q95n connected with a Samsung q950a soundbar system. Unfortunately I have issues when I m using devices connected trough earc. For example I have a Nvidia shield connected to the tv via hdmi and the sound is being delivered via passtrough option. The same connection also with the Xbox series x. Main issue comes when I’m playing videos, movies, games on the devices and the sound suffers interruptions for a couple of seconds. Also on the nvidia shield when playing movies the sound and video is interrupted at the same time for a couple of seconds. These are very frustrating and happening only when is being used the earc passtrough function. Of course I ve disabled all the CEC functions on the devices but the issue persist. I don’t know what to do to correct it or somehow to solve it. How is possible to find these on the top gamma Samsung devices? Anyone in the meanwhile has a solution on it? Samsung ? Thanks. I’m very disappointed.

ramzyjk · ‎15-03-2022

hello guys.

i have a slightly bigger problem with my soundbar. i bought it yesterday and the won't connect to the tv via hdmi ... i spent 4 hours trying to fix it and changing settings and resetting the tv and soundbar but nothing worked .. any advise? my tv is a series 7 samsung and it have an arc hdmi port

NickGR · ‎31-03-2022

Hi,

I have a qn95a tv with the latest 1904 update and Q900A soundbar, with the same problem.

Did you find a way to solve it, without manually disabling (selecting off) and the enabling(selecting auto) the Sound->Expert Settings->HDMI-eARC Mode

Also in Sound->Expert Settings->Digital Output Audio Forma I have 3 options:

PCM
Auto
Pass-through

The Pass-through option is not available(with grey color). If i select it I get: This function isn't available.

Members_GDm92xn · ‎01-04-2022

After 3 remote hdmi Updates ans resets I received an Email from Samsung, I should send in my ocb for repairs...

On top of that 3 Weeks ago tv startet to shut down itself randomly

Members_9j3jDb7 · ‎25-04-2022

I have the opposite problem I with eARC: It keeps waking up my surround system even when I am not watching TV. It happens every 10 minutes (on the dot) . The sound system detects a signal for about 20 seconds or so (according to the app that controls the system) before it disappears. After about a minute it realizes that there is no signal and hence shuts down again. Then the whole thing starts again 10 minutes later.

I have the QN800A model with the latest FW. The latest FW (1903.0) came out on January 11, but not sure when it was pushed to my TV, it was done automatically in the background. This behavior started just a few days ago. Before that, it all worked perfectly for about 6 months.

My sound system is an Almando surround decoder to which I have my Bang & Olufsen speakers connected. One possible explanation could be that it is the Almando that misfires ever 10 minutes and not the Samsung. Maybe it thinks that there is a signal when there isn't. But, if I disconnect the two units, then the Almando remains off. This makes me think that the problem is on the Samsung side of the connection.

Any clues?

Moralneeeick · ‎25-04-2022

I would check if the almando has some sort of configurable power link or signal detection mechanism which is waking up the system. It sounds like it’s sending a +5v wake up command.

Try disabling all power link options and signal detection options in its app of it has one to eliminate that?

surplusjlo · ‎10-11-2022

Same issue whit QN95A. When I turn off the TV for a period longer than 5-10 minutes the return channel of Apple tv 4k 2022 no longer works and the option needs to be reactivated from apple tv. it's really frustrating. It seems to be not a problem of apple tv but of samsung ...I want to specify that I use a certified hdmi earc cable. Anyone have a solution?

SoAmusing777 · ‎20-11-2022

So, I have a s95b oled TV and have eARC issues. Go to Netflix and it can't do anything. Earc set to Auto and digital audio output for only options are auto and pcm. Auto just has constant issues. I can't even do Dolby atmos on YouTube. You can see in the TV menu it switching between hdmi and hdmi earc.. so my TV needs repair?