Fitting a Soundbar

Nontech

Member
I have a HDR-Fox T2 & am thinking of fitting a sound bar.
Should I connect the Soundbar to the TV or should I connect to the Humax?
Or should I connect it to both?
 
I have a HDR-Fox T2 & am thinking of fitting a sound bar.
Should I connect the Soundbar to the TV or should I connect to the Humax?
Or should I connect it to both?
Assuming you are connecting to TV via HDMI, I would suspect the TV, because:
- the TV is decoding the digital sound not the Humax
- the output from the humax may be out of sync with TV (you would have to adjust the sound sync to sort that)

Mind you I'm sure somebody with a sound bar will be along to answer soon, from a position of knowledge!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
It depends on how you use your current set-up.

Speaking personally, we use the TV as a monitor. Everything we watch is via the Humax (or other connected AV equipment), either live or recorded. This way we make use of the ability to pause live TV etc and the added bonus is that we generally view only HD channels (with the odd exception).

We also have other AV equipment connected to the TV, a BluRay player and a Topfield 5810 PVR.

My sound system is connected to the TV, not the Humax. This enables any sound that is fed to the TV from ANY connected AV equipment, to be routed to the sound system.

The Television's native volume is turned to zero.

I guess I am lucky as my Philips TV has audio out RCA connectors that are synced to the picture (from whatever source), so I do not get any picture/sound sync issues.

If you connect the sound bar to your Humax, then you will only hear sound from it when you are using the Humax. If you were watching anything from another piece if AV kit, or even the TV tuner itself, then the sound bar would not be in the equation.

HTH.
 
It depends on how you use your current set-up.

Speaking personally, we use the TV as a monitor. Everything we watch is via the Humax (or other connected AV equipment), either live or recorded. This way we make use of the ability to pause live TV etc and the added bonus is that we generally view only HD channels (with the odd exception).

We also have other AV equipment connected to the TV, a BluRay player and a Topfield 5810 PVR.

My sound system is connected to the TV, not the Humax. This enables any sound that is fed to the TV from ANY connected AV equipment, to be routed to the sound system.

The Television's native volume is turned to zero.

I guess I am lucky as my Philips TV has audio out RCA connectors that are synced to the picture (from whatever source), so I do not get any picture/sound sync issues.

If you connect the sound bar to your Humax, then you will only hear sound from it when you are using the Humax. If you were watching anything from another piece if AV kit, or even the TV tuner itself, then the sound bar would not be in the equation.

HTH.

Thanks to you both.

We use the set up slightly differently.

Generally we have the Humax turned on, but sometimes we do not, so I assume that the best connection is Soundbar to TV, correct?

Also what is the point about Native sound, does it mean switching off the TV's internal speakers?

At the moment I have to have the TV sound turned up hight & then use a reading of about 13 on the Humax sound red out, is this normal?
 
When I said native sound I was referring to the sound that is output from the television's built-in speakers.

As all my sound is fed via my sound system and it's speakers, if I had my television's speakers turned up, the sound would clash and be ever so slightly out of sync with my surround sound.
 
At the moment I have to have the TV sound turned up hight & then use a reading of about 13 on the Humax sound red out, is this normal?
You will get the best quality by setting the Humax volume to maximum and then making any volume adjustments at the last point in the chain - ie the TV. What I do is compare the sound level between the Humax source and the TV's internal tuner, and adjust the Humax to equalise them. This works out at about 18 or 19 for me.
 
Thanks I will try that setting, am I correct on this assumption re Soundbar connections:-
Generally we have the Humax turned on, but sometimes we do not, so I assume that the best connection is Soundbar to TV, correct?
 
Depends what you want to do. Obviously, if you connect the sound bar to the Humax, it will only be producing the sound that comes from the Humax.
 
Thanks, but if I connect to the TV & have the Humax I will get sound ?
& if I have the Humax off I will still get sound?
 
Depends on your TV. One would expect it to route whatever source of video is selected so that the accompanying sound goes to the sound bar. Some TVs will only output sound as long as the internal tuner is the source.

By the way, if you buy from the Internet you can try it and then return it within a week if it doesn't work out.
 
The TV is a Sony KDL-V40A12U, it has 2 RCA connections on the back & has the ability to turn off the TV speakers, any idea if this will be OK?

PS thanks for tip re Internet purchase
 
At the moment I have to have the TV sound turned up hight & then use a reading of about 13 on the Humax sound red out, is this normal?

I have found that Max. volume (e.g. 20) on the Humax is sometimes too high for the input to my Samsung TV causing distortion, so although keeping the Humax volume towards Max. is the normal procedure, I have settled on vol = 15
 
All I can say without actually 'getting my hands on one', is that according to the television's manual, (page 36), it does show audio out connectors. Whether the sound output from them is synchronised with the picture, I don't know for sure but I would guess it is.

Have you got a stereo player or other AV equipment to hand with an audio input you could connect it an test before you buy the sound bar?
 
I got a free soundbar with my Samsung TV last August - not yet tried it out as I'm a bit put off at using yet another remote control...

Mick
 
Use the money saved by getting a free soundbar to buy yourself a nice multi-activity universal remote control: One remote to rule them all!
 
Use the money saved by getting a free soundbar to buy yourself a nice multi-activity universal remote control: One remote to rule them all!

Nice idea, Gomezz, but that would entail showing my long-suffering wife yet another change in remote controls; she's only just got over last August's triple purchase of TV, Humax and Blu Ray player!

Mick
 
That's easy to resolve.

Get rid of 'the wife' and buy a universal remote. Simples. You know you will save in the long run. :) :)
 
Back
Top