Audio specialist needed! Sound issue after adding 5.1 Soundbar

I feel like I'm feeling in the dark, making a lot of guesses and not finding what's wrong.

Let me explain the audio landscape before telling you what the problem is...

TV: Samsung UN55JU6500

5.1 Soundbar + Subwoofer & Satellite Speakers: VIZIO SB4051-C0 40-Inch

Cable: Comcast XFINITY

Game System: XBOX One

My connections are all via HDMI as follows: Cable Box > XBOX One > 5.1 Soundbar > TV (ARC HDMI Port)

I have the Cable audio Box set to, Surround. The XBOX audio set to,
5.1 Surround Uncompressed and the TV audio set to, HDMI Audio Format Bitstream.

With all of the above in place, watching tv through the xbox, sound does come through the Vizio speaker system, but voices are like whispers coming out of the cent.re sound bar while music and effects literally boom out of the satellite speakers. Amongst
the whispering I can here sound being lost, almost like faint crackling, as if sound is just dropping and parts of words are not coming through. I can alleviate this by setting the audio output on the XBOX to Stereo (instead of 5.1 Surround Uncompressed) OR
by setting the audio output on the cable box to Stereo (instead of Surround). But of course doing this, doesn't give me surround sound, so I need to figure it out.

I'm really lost as to what might be going on, but if there's an expert out there I'd really appreciate your help. Thanks so much!

Nick

:)

 

Connection Sound Bar Using HDMI

For reference, HDMI ARC is meant for a TV to send the sound it receives from something like its digital TV tuner "upstream" to your soundbar.

The way you have it set up physically is correct, just that its not depending on ARC (Xbox One audio gets stripped from the HDMI cable by your soundbar and sends the video onto your TV).

Try changing the audio setting on the Xbox One to Stereo Uncompressed, make sure the soundbar isn't muted, etc. Maybe your Soundbar doesn't support 5.1 uncompressed, but 5.1 compressed Dolby Digital or DTS.

 

5.1 uncompressed no voice with Netflix

Hi I've got a Vizio 5.1 soundbar with arc hdmi I have my sat receiver connected by hdmi to the xbox one hdmi in....xb1 hdmi output to vizio soundbar hdmi in...vizio arc hdmi output to Sony hdmi arc input Xb1 audio set to 5.1 uncompressed Sound seems fine
for everything but Netflix on xb1 With Netflix there is no voice at all unless I chose stereo in the app but I lose 5.1 I have tried bitstream but my tv pulls an error with dts....dolby didn't sound great for some reason Need help?

 

Hey buddy,

I don't think that soundbar supports Uncompressed surround sound. You need to set your Xbox to Bitstream out through the HDMI and then try both Dolby digital and DTS since the soundbar supports both and see which you prefer. Also make sure your Cable box
is set to the same audio format as the console.

 

Wow, you are the man, that absolutely worked! thank you.

I have one question left though as a result. With the setup above, what sound settings should my TV have? currently it's as below, but I don't know what's best?

HDMI Audio Format: Bitstream (PCM is the only other option)

Audio Format: DTS (PCM is the only other option)

 

I shouldn't worry about the sound setting on your TV. Since everything is going through the sound bar anyway, it will extract all the audio so your TV shouldn't be receiving any audio channels. Though the settings you have will be fine for anything not going
through the sound bar and using ARC. TV's will generally set themselves to whatever audio is coming in anyway. For instance, Blu-ray will often have only Dolby or DTS sound, and everything should adjust itself accordingly.

Please like my posts if you've found them helpful and verify any answers that have worked for you.