Help with connecting Sound Bar to Samsung UE43CU8000 TV

[davedee]

I have just purchased above TV from John Lewis who delivered it and set it up.  I am now thinking about purchasing a sound bar. However, my early research suggests that they are best connected via HDMI to the HDMI eARC port on the back of the TV.  However John Lewis has put the SKY+ HD box HDMI cable into that port. The HDMI 1 port on the back of the TV is being used by my DVD player HDMI.  The only other ports in the column of ports are 2 USBs and an Antenna port. There is however an HDMI 3 port on the back of the TV which is not in this column of ports, but just  off to one side.     

I am certainly not very techie minded, and wi fi is very much "alien" to me.   Should I take away the DVD player, switch the Sky+ box to the HDMI 1 port and therefore free up the HDMI eARC port for the sound bar ?   Or can I make use of the HDMI 3 port ?    Any help much appreciated. Thank, Dave. 

[Robin999 · Accepted solution]

You can indeed make use of the HDMI 3 port if you want. My set up (although different equipment to you) is soundbar (HDMI arc) to TV (HDMI arc) and then Virgin TV360 box into soundbar via HDMI 1. Bluray and xbox are both into HDMI 2 and 3 respectively on soundbar. Have you got a TOS link on the TV, sky box or soundbar as you can utiluse that too.

[JAMES4578 · Accepted solution]

@davedee   Yes your earc connection is the better option, it will produce better quality  with the higher bandwidth.  Earc also supports  lossless formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio which can be found on many Blu Rays  (files are compressed  without  losing any data).   Samsung set ups explained here https://www.samsung.com/us/support/SoundBars 

Some comparisons with the different methods in this article https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/learn/opitical-vs-hdmi 

[davedee]

I have not got a TOS link, but your comments have been very helpful. Many thanks.

[davedee]

Response very helpful. And links too. Many thanks.

[JAMES4578]

Glad you found the information beneficial, hope your Soundbar provides a great experience