Novice question on connections between tv, blu-ray and speakers

Ceist_Beag

I'm a complete novice when it comes to what connections to use between devices so before I make a purchase of a speaker kit (looking at a soundbar), I want to check what connections I can use. I have a tv which has a hdmi input (but is not HDMI ARC) and which has no optical connection (so I presume I cannot use a digital optical cable with it). I have a blu-ray player which again has a hdmi connection but no optical connection. How would I connect a soundbar to this setup? Would I have to use the standard audio inputs in the tv (the L-R red and white connections) and if so does this mean I would be wasting my money buying a soundbar that offers dolby or that uses hdmi or digital optical connections?

cnocbui

To get a soundbar to work, it needs an audio input. So for it to work, the TV needs an audio output - which a lot of TV's lack.

So the first thing you need to know is what audio outputs your TV has. If it has no optical connections, obviously that is ruled out. You might find the only audio output the TV has is the headphone socket. If that is the case, you are only going to want a soundbar that has electrical left/right inputs as optical and all the other fancy stuff would be redundant. You would want a soundbar with a volume remote as many TV sets have the headphone volume as an afterthought and it can be very tiresome to access it via a remote via menus.

If you connect the blu-ray to the TV via hdmi, and the TV to the soundbar via the headphone socket. That should work.

Ceist_Beag

Thanks cnocbui, it sounds like the headphones socket is my only option so - you've just saved me wasting a lot of money buying something fancier!