Surround Sound via ARC Samsung 55 AU8000

[Anonymous User]

Hello all,

Just got the Samsung Crystal UHD AU8000. Great TV for its price. 

However, I am trying to output Dolby Digital audio to my home theatre system, a Sony HT-RT40, via the HDMI eARC port. All I get when using the TV's Netflix app is PCM audio, 2.1 channels yet I have a 5.1 setup. I have turned on the HDMI e-ARC mode under Sound expert settings to no avail. Digital output audio format is set to 'Auto.' The 'Pass-through' option is greyed out no matter what I do. I have resorted to using optical audio for surround sound but the downside to this is that I have to control volume using the speaker's remote, not the TV's. Any ideas on what I can do or am I stuck like this? Would be quite the bummer. My previous TV, a Samsung UA40J5300, did not have ARC but I could at least change volume using the TV's remote when I connected the HDMI cable to it and used optical for digital audio. 

Also, how do I get 4K HDR HEVC content to play back properly? The colours are completely messed up. 

#AU8000

[antikythera]

Cross-brand ARC rarely works unfortunately, even within the Samsung ecosystem it depends on the age of the devices as to whether eARC works properly or not even if both say they are ARC compliant.

[Anonymous User]

Oh, man. 🥺 Isn't there anything that can be tried to at least see if it can work? Quite a shame this. 

[antikythera]

Apart from a different HDMI cable just in case it has a dodgy pin for control sharing.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for the reply. 

I tried a different cable to no avail. 

It seems I'm resigned to PCM audio for the TVs apps until, hopefully, Samsung releases an update on this. I don't think it's cool. 🥲

[ComoQ]

I am in the same boat with our new Q80, very frustrating 

[Munkeebutt67]

I only got DTS in stereo pcm, on q600b soundbar, no pass thru when set to auto, but played a DTS disc, Alita, and strangely pass thru became unshadowed, and the signal was read as multi pcm rather than stereo pcm. Always works now. Try it with a disc, and highlight the hdmi output again. Everything is up in the air though, because I use prime video app, which shows multi pcm for sound, but a 4k firestick shows Dolby digital on display. But they  both sound the same. It's frustrating, but is a case of manufacturers only working to connect their own brand. Good luck