Soundbar best connection

[James-1990]

I have just purchased a cheap sony sf200 soundbar and it is fairly decent for the price. I currently have it connected via optical cable and its sounds ok but i loose my volume control levels from the screen. When i connct via arc it seems quiet. Is there a way to connect the bar and see the volume level on the screen? 

[James-1990]

Or maybe control it all via the tv remote 

[royabrown2 · Accepted solution]

@James-1990 

Make sure that CEC (BraviaSync) is turned on for both devices, that the HDMI cable from soundbar to TV is plugged into the HDMI port on the TV marked ARC, and that the soundbar is set to play the ARC audio coming back from the TV, rather than optical or Bluetooth.

I would then expect that the soundbar will turn on when the TV is turned on, and that the volume control on the remote for either device will control the sound volume.

Dont worry about ‘quiet’, as long as you can turn the sound up loud enough for your needs; our TV runs at 20-25 volume level standalone, and 50-60 via the soundbar; but both numbers are essentially arbitrary.

[James-1990]

Thanks i have worked this out and your exactly right. Another problem is it is sluggish when turning up the volume and then the tv suddenly turns up loud 

[royabrown2]

@James-1990 

At a guess, this is when you are using the TV remote(?) so what has to happen is that the TV has to send these requests via CEC to the soundbar to action them, and perhaps they get stacked up waiting, and then are suddenly actioned?

As a test, try using the volume controls on the soundbar remote, and see if this still happens.

It could also be the sort of thing that happens when you hold a key down on a computer keyboard - it types once, waits, and as the key is still down, suddenly starts auto-repeating, very fast.

Observing my own behaviour - Samsung TV and Yamaha soundbar, over ARC - I find I am giving little stabs to the volume buttons on the TV remote, almost without realising it, instead of holding the button down, where mine does the thing you describe if I do, from the TV remote, but not from the soundbar remote.