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ARC just stopped working - how do I test it?

  • 16-03-2014 11:19pm
    #1
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭


    I have a Panasonic E6B LCD TV that I bought last year. A few months later I picked up a soundbar also a Panasonic HTB20.

    Up to today, everything worked fine, speakers recognized TV audio input from ARC output on the TV and I could control the volume with the TV remote.

    Turned it on this morning and the audio has defaulted to the crappy TV speakers. It doesn't seem to send the audio to the Soundbar at all.

    I switched around all my HDMI cables and there seem to be no problem there.

    Also, I tried using the BRay/DVD HDMI in on the speakers with another source and that seem to work fine.

    So the problem is either the TV is not outputting the audio or the speakers don't recognize it.

    How do I determine which part is at fault here?

    EDIT: Actually someone might answer this: Should the ARC out always output audio? ie, If I put the HDMI output from the ARC connection into the HDMI input on a soundbar, it should work right? Because I get nothing when I connect the ARC output to any of the inputs on my speakers. But if I put another source like a laptop or DVD then it seems to work.


Comments

  • #2
    andy1249
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭andy1249


    How do I determine which part is at fault here?

    EDIT: Actually someone might answer this: Should the ARC out always output audio? ie, If I put the HDMI output from the ARC connection into the HDMI input on a soundbar, it should work right? Because I get nothing when I connect the ARC output to any of the inputs on my speakers. But if I put another source like a laptop or DVD then it seems to work.

    ARC only works from ARC enabled ports to ARC enabled ports , So the ARC port on the TV must be connected to the ARC port on the Soundbar , otherwise ARC does not work.

    Vieralink must be enabled on both devices , or ARC wont work.
    Vieralink is Panasonics name for HDMI CEC control.

    ARC runs over two previously unused wires on the HDMI cable , its a stripped down , compressed , version of the soundtrack equivalent to spdif.
    Note that HD lossless audio formats such as Dolby Tru HD or DTS Master Audio cannot run over ARC , so if the content your trying to play only has soundtrack formats like this or otherwise cannot be compressed to fit the bandwidth of spdif , then that's an issue and you get nothing over ARC.


  • #3
    quarryman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,496 ✭✭✭quarryman


    Thanks for that info andy.

    Looks like I figured this out.

    I had 2 inputs going to the TV and one ARC output. I also had my Xbox and TV sharing one line through a HDMI splitter. My last input was from my PC.

    Anyway, I found that whenever the PC was plugged in, after that, the TV would power on but not enable the speakers of ARC or provide sound to them.

    I fiddled with the PC connection at the back of the PC (comes out of my graphics card) and then things started to work again.

    Really weird that it would interfere with the ARC out on the TV but that is what seems to have happened.

    Fingers crossed it is resolved now. This might help someone else if they discover a similar problem.


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