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Message
Sony TV / Vizio Sound bar Issue? Update
Posted on 1/5/24 at 3:24 pm
Posted on 1/5/24 at 3:24 pm
Good afternoon all, I'm hoping someone may have some insight on this that I haven't tried or researched yet. Sorry for the long post but I'm at my wit's end.
I have a Sony X930E TV and a Vizio SB3651-F6 sound bar / audio system. The TV has been working great since 2018 and the sound bar has been connected to it via ARC since 2019 and has had zero issues, other than the occasional instance of not automatically switching over to external speakers when turning the TV on.
Until about a week ago... Nothing has been changed on my end, no TV update, no change in HDMI port, cable, no power surges, etc.. but now the TV doesn't recognize that there's an audio system there. The TV audio / speakers work normally. It's acting strange. I'll go into detail of what I'm seeing and what I've done to troubleshoot so far:
The TV used to automatically switch to external speakers (audio system) once it detected it, which usually took me hitting the volume buttons on the remote (sound bar was being controlled by my DISH remote). When it would switch over, the HDMI-ARC lights on the sound bar would blink. Now it doesn't switch over by doing that, and when manually switching to external speakers, the sound bar HDMI-ARC lights don't blink. I can select the HDMI-ARC input on the sound bar with my sound bar remote, and the lights blink but nothing happens, it's like it's not even connected to the TV.
Also, to get a bit granular, on the quick drop down "Actions" menu on the TV there's the "Select Speakers" option, where I can manually select TV Speakers or Audio System. Before, when toggling that selection of TV Speakers or Audio system, that menu would remain open, and I could toggle back and forth. When selecting one of the options, the 'button' icon would turn blue when clicked on, then white with a dot in the middle showing which option was currently in use. Now, when I have that menu open and I select the other option (than what's currently selected) both dots turn blue (as if they are selected at the same time) and the menu closes. Not sure if this reveals anything but it's an odd behavior change that I noted.
I've checked for TV updates and it's up to date.
Cleared the cache in the ExternalInputService system app. No Change.
Factory reset the audio system. No change.
Unplugged power to the audio system for several minutes / hours and plugged it back in. No change.
Soft reset the TV several times, both with the audio system plugged into ARC, with it unplugged, etc.. No change.
Tried several different HDMI cables. No Change.
Switched the sound bar to a different HDMI port on the TV. No Change. I don't have an optical cable to try that, however I want to use the ARC port to enjoy the features that yields over optical.
Unplugged all HDMI cables from the TV except for the sound bar / HDMI ARC port. No Change.
Switched my Dish receiver HDMI cable to the ARC port on the TV and it worked with no issues, transmitting the picture and sound through the TV speakers. So the ARC port works.
Moved the sound bar to my bed room TV - Hisense R6, tried different HDMI cables, including the one that was being used for the sound bar, and it worked perfectly through that TV's ARC port.
Plugged my Dish receiver HDMI cable into the HDMI input on sound bar, then the HDMI ARC output from sound bar into the ARC port on my TV, and got no sound through the audio system OR the TV speakers. Picture worked fine though.
Sony calls the CEC on this TV 'Bravia Sync", and I've gone through everything I can to enable and recognize devices through that, but I don't expect it to since the sound bar is not a Sony brand device, and it's not listed on Sony's approved devices list for the TV. That said, I did go through the steps of the TV sending an "enable" signal to all HDMI devices and nothing returns as recognized. But they didn't before.
I've done all the steps in Sony's troubleshooting / help resources found on the TV itself and through internet search and no joy.
I've done everything I can think of except for hard / factory resetting the TV, which I've admittedly been trying to avoid due to all of the settings, apps, and logins I would have to bring back up to speed once that's done.
Does anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this and what a possible solution may be? As stated, everything was working perfectly until about a week ago, when we turned the TV on and the audio just wouldn't switch over.
I did order some new HDMI 2.1 cables just for the sake of upgrading them all with the times, but my troubleshooting has proven that it's not the HDMI cable.
I have a Sony X930E TV and a Vizio SB3651-F6 sound bar / audio system. The TV has been working great since 2018 and the sound bar has been connected to it via ARC since 2019 and has had zero issues, other than the occasional instance of not automatically switching over to external speakers when turning the TV on.
Until about a week ago... Nothing has been changed on my end, no TV update, no change in HDMI port, cable, no power surges, etc.. but now the TV doesn't recognize that there's an audio system there. The TV audio / speakers work normally. It's acting strange. I'll go into detail of what I'm seeing and what I've done to troubleshoot so far:
The TV used to automatically switch to external speakers (audio system) once it detected it, which usually took me hitting the volume buttons on the remote (sound bar was being controlled by my DISH remote). When it would switch over, the HDMI-ARC lights on the sound bar would blink. Now it doesn't switch over by doing that, and when manually switching to external speakers, the sound bar HDMI-ARC lights don't blink. I can select the HDMI-ARC input on the sound bar with my sound bar remote, and the lights blink but nothing happens, it's like it's not even connected to the TV.
Also, to get a bit granular, on the quick drop down "Actions" menu on the TV there's the "Select Speakers" option, where I can manually select TV Speakers or Audio System. Before, when toggling that selection of TV Speakers or Audio system, that menu would remain open, and I could toggle back and forth. When selecting one of the options, the 'button' icon would turn blue when clicked on, then white with a dot in the middle showing which option was currently in use. Now, when I have that menu open and I select the other option (than what's currently selected) both dots turn blue (as if they are selected at the same time) and the menu closes. Not sure if this reveals anything but it's an odd behavior change that I noted.
I've checked for TV updates and it's up to date.
Cleared the cache in the ExternalInputService system app. No Change.
Factory reset the audio system. No change.
Unplugged power to the audio system for several minutes / hours and plugged it back in. No change.
Soft reset the TV several times, both with the audio system plugged into ARC, with it unplugged, etc.. No change.
Tried several different HDMI cables. No Change.
Switched the sound bar to a different HDMI port on the TV. No Change. I don't have an optical cable to try that, however I want to use the ARC port to enjoy the features that yields over optical.
Unplugged all HDMI cables from the TV except for the sound bar / HDMI ARC port. No Change.
Switched my Dish receiver HDMI cable to the ARC port on the TV and it worked with no issues, transmitting the picture and sound through the TV speakers. So the ARC port works.
Moved the sound bar to my bed room TV - Hisense R6, tried different HDMI cables, including the one that was being used for the sound bar, and it worked perfectly through that TV's ARC port.
Plugged my Dish receiver HDMI cable into the HDMI input on sound bar, then the HDMI ARC output from sound bar into the ARC port on my TV, and got no sound through the audio system OR the TV speakers. Picture worked fine though.
Sony calls the CEC on this TV 'Bravia Sync", and I've gone through everything I can to enable and recognize devices through that, but I don't expect it to since the sound bar is not a Sony brand device, and it's not listed on Sony's approved devices list for the TV. That said, I did go through the steps of the TV sending an "enable" signal to all HDMI devices and nothing returns as recognized. But they didn't before.
I've done all the steps in Sony's troubleshooting / help resources found on the TV itself and through internet search and no joy.
I've done everything I can think of except for hard / factory resetting the TV, which I've admittedly been trying to avoid due to all of the settings, apps, and logins I would have to bring back up to speed once that's done.
Does anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this and what a possible solution may be? As stated, everything was working perfectly until about a week ago, when we turned the TV on and the audio just wouldn't switch over.
I did order some new HDMI 2.1 cables just for the sake of upgrading them all with the times, but my troubleshooting has proven that it's not the HDMI cable.
This post was edited on 1/29/24 at 9:42 am
3
Posted on 1/6/24 at 3:39 am to TheBoo
Starting to look like your TV's ARC port has crapped out. A Factory Reset may restore it, but from your troubleshooting it looks like you have tried everything but a different sound bar. Do you have a sound bar on another TV that you could try with this one? Seems to me that is the last step before the dreaded Factory Reset on the TV. I'd also unplug the TV from the outlet for at least 2 minutes (do this to the sound bar at the same time), then plug back in and try it.
This post was edited on 1/6/24 at 8:48 am
Posted on 1/6/24 at 10:35 am to TheBoo
My Sony has started doing this with my Yamaha sound bar. Must have been a software update or something. Unplug the power from the TV and the sound bar for a few seconds then back in. Should fix it for at least a little while.
Posted on 1/6/24 at 1:32 pm to LEASTBAY
I don’t have another sound bar to try. All I had was the dish receiver which worked fine.
I did unplug both for about an hour. That didn’t do anything. I’ll try again maybe.
I did unplug both for about an hour. That didn’t do anything. I’ll try again maybe.
Posted on 1/7/24 at 6:00 am to TheBoo
Perhaps you could borrow a sound bar from your neighbor, or a friend just to run the test? I have to tell you though that there is a known issue with Vizio sound bars and their handshaking between TV's and the ARC port. Mine, from day one has given me issues when I turn the system on of not having any sound come through the sound bar, even though everything appeared normal. This has happened with three TV's now, two were Vizios, and now a brand new LG. The ones with the most issues vs. the sound bar were the Vizio TVs, go figure. Most of the time I can get the ARC to be recognized and connect by using the soundbar remote. I change the sound barr to HDMI-IN, and then change the Input back to HDMI-ARC and it will start working. On many occasions though, especially with the Vizio TVs, I would have to unplug the sound bar from the AC power, give it 20 seconds for the capacitors to discharge, and then plug it back in and it would work on the ARC INPUT. Sometimes I'd have to reboot the TVs this way. So far the LG has only required that a couple times, and switching from HDMI ARC to HDMI IN, then back to ARC gets it working with the LG. The hot reboot procedure was a weekly occurrence with the Vizio TVs. No, I will never buy another Vizio product. I was a fan boy, but their QC has gone to hell, and their tech support is non existent.
This post was edited on 1/7/24 at 6:04 am
Posted on 1/7/24 at 7:51 am to TheBoo
Interesting. I still convinced it's the tv. I don't think mine is called Bravia sync. Try to do a Google search with the problem and the word reddit behind it. I found a bunch of people with similar problems. I almost debated trying a Sony soundbar to see if it fixes some of the issues. I feel like when my son is watching YouTube or something and the TV gets turned off and back on that's when I have the most issues.
Posted on 1/7/24 at 8:05 am to LEASTBAY
One more thing but see if your soundbar has a firmware update. I guess some do and some don't have updates. Mine does through an app.
Posted on 1/8/24 at 10:32 am to LEASTBAY
quote:
I still convinced it's the tv. I don't think mine is called Bravia sync. Try to do a Google search with the problem and the word reddit behind it. I found a bunch of people with similar problems. I almost debated trying a Sony soundbar to see if it fixes some of the issues.
I did search reddit which is where a lot of the resources I found came from. I debated the same thing. Currently in my mind buying a whole new Sony sound bar is the extreme last step, and I'm trying everything to resolve this not to get there.
I get from my reddit reading that there's a handshake issue with Vizio sound bars, it's just odd that it was fine and stopped working all of a sudden. Would be happy just understanding what caused it to be honest.
I was able to ID that my sound bar's firmware needed a significant update (1.0.8 to 3.1.3) I'll install that and go through the resetting steps and see where that takes me.
Thanks y'all for the input so far.
Posted on 1/9/24 at 5:46 am to TheBoo
Did you by chance change any setting on your Sony TV prior to this issue occuring?
I have a Sony OLED (J model, so newer than yours), and my HDMI settings were always at dynamic or whatever it's called; that setting enabled HDMI at 4k/120hz. With this setting on, I always had intermittent handshake issues with my e-arc connected sound bar (basically the same problem you're having, but only 5-10% of the time).
By chance, I disabled the dynamic setting for all of the HDMI ports, and the handshake issue completely disappeared.
I have a Sony OLED (J model, so newer than yours), and my HDMI settings were always at dynamic or whatever it's called; that setting enabled HDMI at 4k/120hz. With this setting on, I always had intermittent handshake issues with my e-arc connected sound bar (basically the same problem you're having, but only 5-10% of the time).
By chance, I disabled the dynamic setting for all of the HDMI ports, and the handshake issue completely disappeared.
Posted on 1/9/24 at 9:31 am to 632627
Mines giving problems again. Will look for that setting.
Posted on 1/10/24 at 1:28 pm to 632627
quote:
By chance, I disabled the dynamic setting for all of the HDMI ports, and the handshake issue completely disappeared.
I'll check it out. as far as I can remember my HDMI ports were always set to "Enhanced 4k / UltraHD" or whatever it's called on my unit, which applies to HDMI ports 2 and 3, port 3 being my ARC port. ports 1 and 4 it doesn't apply to. That said, I'll change it to night to see if that impacts anything. That also said, wouldn't disabling that negatively impact my picture quality? One of the beauties of this TV is its 4k upscaling ability.
Posted on 1/10/24 at 2:02 pm to TheBoo
It wouldn't impact picture when using the TV's internal apps.
There might be a minor degradation of picture if using an external streamers for Dolby vision content. It will impact max video input for current generation gaming consoles.
Try setting all HDMI ports to standard and see if it helps. That's what solved all my issues.
There might be a minor degradation of picture if using an external streamers for Dolby vision content. It will impact max video input for current generation gaming consoles.
Try setting all HDMI ports to standard and see if it helps. That's what solved all my issues.
Posted on 1/10/24 at 2:30 pm to 632627
We either watch DISH (no dolby vision coming through that) or internal apps, so we should be fine. No gaming.
Will do. Thanks!
Will do. Thanks!
Posted on 1/12/24 at 9:20 am to 632627
Update: I changed this setting, re-cleared the system app caches and restarted the TV. Still nothing. I'll check for updates one more time then factory reset the TV this weekend while my kids nap. Hopefully that works.
Posted on 1/29/24 at 10:00 am to TheBoo
Quick update on this:
I factory reset the TV to no avail, and actually, as of yesterday, it seems that only one of the four HDMI ports is working. The input screen will show an icon next to HDMI inputs that have a device connected to them. I have devices connected in 2,3, and 4, but only HDMI 2 is showing the icon and giving any sort of activity, which is the DISH receiver. Even that one, as of yesterday, has no sound, and every 5 seconds the picture blinks black for about 2 seconds.
I moved the dish receiver HDMI cable to the other HDMI ports and it just shows no signal as if nothing is plugged in to them.
I turned on the blu ray player and switched to that HDMI input, and the screen is black with no activity.
I did all of this trouble shooting before factory resetting the tv last night, and the factory reset didn't change the issues at all.
The internal apps on the TV work great still, so I'm researching the prospect of replacing the main board on the TV. I'd hate to not give this thing some love as it's been an incredible TV until lately. It also seems like other than Sony's master class they still haven't produced a TV as good as this one., other than the recent X95K. It looks like a board is around $200. My brother is tech-handy and I'm a handy person as well. Is replacing the main board as easy as it seems or is there more to consider? It seems to be just disconnecting some ribbons and connections and unscrewing.
Never replaced a tv circuit board before, so any advice is appreciated.
I factory reset the TV to no avail, and actually, as of yesterday, it seems that only one of the four HDMI ports is working. The input screen will show an icon next to HDMI inputs that have a device connected to them. I have devices connected in 2,3, and 4, but only HDMI 2 is showing the icon and giving any sort of activity, which is the DISH receiver. Even that one, as of yesterday, has no sound, and every 5 seconds the picture blinks black for about 2 seconds.
I moved the dish receiver HDMI cable to the other HDMI ports and it just shows no signal as if nothing is plugged in to them.
I turned on the blu ray player and switched to that HDMI input, and the screen is black with no activity.
I did all of this trouble shooting before factory resetting the tv last night, and the factory reset didn't change the issues at all.
The internal apps on the TV work great still, so I'm researching the prospect of replacing the main board on the TV. I'd hate to not give this thing some love as it's been an incredible TV until lately. It also seems like other than Sony's master class they still haven't produced a TV as good as this one., other than the recent X95K. It looks like a board is around $200. My brother is tech-handy and I'm a handy person as well. Is replacing the main board as easy as it seems or is there more to consider? It seems to be just disconnecting some ribbons and connections and unscrewing.
Never replaced a tv circuit board before, so any advice is appreciated.
This post was edited on 1/29/24 at 10:04 am
Posted on 1/30/24 at 11:00 am to TheBoo
quote:
Is replacing the main board as easy as it seems or is there more to consider? It seems to be just disconnecting some ribbons and connections and unscrewing.
I can't comment specifically on Sony tv's, but I had to replace the main board twice on a Samsung plasma tv from 2010. It was exactly as you said - unscrew/disconnect the old board and install the new one.
Posted on 1/30/24 at 3:26 pm to Footbaw
Good to know! Thanks for the feedback. Guess I'll get with my brother and give it a shot.
Posted on 2/27/24 at 9:09 am to TheBoo
For the sake of completion, figured I'd give a final update:
Ordered a replacement main board from Ebay and it turned out to be a dud. Returned that one and bought a replacement directly from Sony. Installed it, installed the firmware update, and it's working like a brand new TV. All is well in the world.
Ordered a replacement main board from Ebay and it turned out to be a dud. Returned that one and bought a replacement directly from Sony. Installed it, installed the firmware update, and it's working like a brand new TV. All is well in the world.
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