No HDMI connection on my Soundbar

ricky47

I can't connect my BluRay player because my Soundbar which was purchased from Dish TV doesn't have a HDMI port. Am I screwed?

tonyb

Your Blu-ray player connects to the TV with HDMI, use the digital out on the TV to connect to the soundbar. Usually a toslink connection....and make sure you use the proper setting in the tv to activate that digital output.

ricky47

Thanks our problem is probably with the Dish Controller and not the TOS link which is already set up. The Blue Ray sound is coming from the speakers in back of the TV and not the Polk Soundbar.

ricky47

Tony, any suggestions?

tonyb

Lets start from scratch here, what type of gear/electronics are in the chain currently and what exactly is it your trying to do ?

Do you have a receiver in the mix ? Some TV's will only output 2 channel sound, if your TV is on the older side, this may be the case.

How many speakers are you trying to run, and off of what ?

tonyb

Maybe this will be more helpful to you if your equipment looks like this from DTV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7ZatQVdEWw

ricky47

The Soundbar and Samsung BluRay player are already set up. The problem is that the TV sound comes through the Soundbar and SubWoofer fine but when we play a DVD the sound comes from the speakers behind the Samsung TV screen only. I'm trying to get the Digital BluRay sound to come thru the Soundbar.

tonyb

What speakers behind the TV ? hooked up to what ? We have to know how you have things wired up and the gear your using to troubleshoot for you.

If you don't have a receiver in the mix, then the problem lies within the setup of the bluray player and TV. Make sure the audio out is set to dolby digital. Make sure you have a HDMI connection from the player to the TV's input....usually labeled by numbers. When watching a bluray disc, you have to turn the tv to the input that the player is plugged into. The TV's audio output should also be setup and you have to do that for each input your using on the TV.

When you put a disk in the bluray player, a menu option should pop up before the movie starts after all the coming attractions for Audio setup. This has to match what is setup on the TV. Select Dolby Digital on the disk, you will not get the newer DTS HD Master audio sound because TV's are not equipped to pass that.

So lets say you have the Bluray player connected by hdmi to the TV's hdmi input number 2 or one labeled DVD or BDP. The Bluray players audio out option should be set to Dolby digital, NOT Dolby digital plus or DTS HD Master audio because your TV can not pass those surround codecs.

In the TV's menu, you have to setup input # 2, audio out should be also set to dolby digital. When watching a movie, you turn the tv to input #2, and on the movies disk itself you may have to adjust the audio output when that option pops up on the disk before the movie starts.

tonyb

Also, would be nice to see the connections available on the back side of the soundbar and the Bluray player. Though I assume the Bluray player only has HDMI and toslink.

polkfarmboy

Try checking your bluray players audio output settings in the menu, enable pcm. Don't enable bitstream to rule out hdcp protocol or other decoding settings and report back.

ricky47

Tony, I have a Samsung 55" TV and a Samsung BluRay player. The TV has built in speakers behind the TV Screen and that is where the BluRay DVD digital sound is coming from. Sounds terrible. We use HDMI 2 setting for DVD's and HDMI 1 for TV viewing. When watching TV the sound comes through the Polk Soundbar and Subwoofer installed by the Dish Technician but I can't get the BlueRay - DVD sound to come thru the Soundbar. I'll check the settings on the BluRay which worked with our old Entertainment System when we were with Time Warner Cable but since going with Dish it hasn't worked at all.

ricky47

Tony- Farmboy
Boy do I feel stupid. I have been using the wrong controller and of course, I have been getting the wrong results. The Polk System came with a small controller and when I use that to adjust the sound from the DVD, the sound works fine and is coming from the Polk Soundbar system. Please forgive me for wasting your valuable time but all works very well now.

polkfarmboy

Ricky I'm the unoficialy crowned king of of stupid on here so need for the apology. Tony loves helping to, especially new members so I am sure he had a good laugh like me when he read this. As long as your enjoying your sound bar and it's all up and running is the main thing that counts, happy listening holidays brother!

tonyb

LOL....no problem Ricky. Heaven knows we've all done bonehead things in this hobby of ours. Heck, one time I practically torn my system apart to see why a certain piece wasn't working.....until I noticed it wasn't plugged into the wall. lol