Solution Found - Q950A eARC Problems

[Moralneeeick]

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.

[SP4CEINV4DERZ]

Hey, a little late to the party, just got my QN85C TV and already had the Q950A soundbar and had the exact same issues as you.  What got it working for me so far is using a digital optical cable instead of the hdmi ports.  Maybe it's my hdmi cable which can't handle it but at least I got it functioning.  Hope it helps someone. 

[ayhamkutit]

Optical cables can't do eARC...So not sure what you're talking about

[ayhamkutit]

Apple TV 5.1 and Atmos issue!

So I had my Apple TV 4K connected to my Samsung QN95A which had a Sony 5.1 home theatre connected over eARC...Everything worked on until I got myself a Samsung Q990B soundbar which supports atmos.
Now if I set ATV audio mode to "auto" then I lose proper 5.1 surround on non-atmos content.
If I set ATV to DD 5.1 then I get the surround working but obviously I lose atmos....
So wth? Can't I get both if I connect ATV directly to TV??

Now, if I connect ATV directly to the soundbar then everything works as expected - but I'd like to connect it directly to the TV to get Q-Symphony working.

[SP4CEINV4DERZ]

No they can't do eARC but Samsung Qsymphony does work with Opitcal cable.

[ayhamkutit]

eARC means no atmos...

[Scott P]

I know this is an old thread, but i found something interesting.

I bought my QN800A TV and HW-Q900T sound bar in 2021 and after getting a new breakout box 2 months later, I have been really happy. However, just about a month ago, my sound bar wouldn't turn on when I turned on my TV. I had to use the sound bar remote to turn it on and then choose the eARC with TV manually. I unplugged everything as most everyone has done and it worked a few times and then stopped again. I was resigned to just deal with it until I had time to do a full reset.

Then I had bought a Amazon Fire Stick to set up for my Dad and plugged it into the TV breakout box. I set up all the apps he wanted and then disconnected and took and installed for him. 

I have had NO other issues with my TV and sound bar since and that had been a few weeks! Something just clicked and all is good.

Has anyone else tried this? Sure was an easy fix for me.

Scott