HT-XT3 sound bar low volume through sky HD box

[Captainoats81]

Just setup my new ht-xt3 sound bar and having issues with the sky HD box not generating very loudly.

this is being hooked up to a new 65"4k Sony TV so the Bravia sync is on. 

The output is connected into the hdmi ARC socket input4. 

Xbox1, bluray player output the sound fine and very loud.

changed all the hdmi high speed cables between all and every input but still only the sky HD box volume is not very loud.

it is something wrong somewhere as watching the sky HD box direct through the TV speakers is louder than the sound bar!

bluetooth is loud so I must be doing something wrong but unsure where! Anyone else had these problems with the sky box?

thanks

[Captainoats81]

Yes.  The soundbar is working as designed.  As this is only impacting the Sky HD box connection it does depend on specific channels I am watching.  As per a previous commenters post it depends on the way the broadcaster has encoded their TV show/movie therefore the soundbar is converting it and outputting the way it has been broadcasted.  It all depends on the TV channel but also which sound mode you select on the soundbar.  I have found "movie" option is the best to leave it on at all times.

Now that I understand why this is happening I am happy the soundbar is working as per it's design.  I believe the fact that it is not the same volume through the TV speakers is due to the way the TV converts the sound through standard speakers as part of it's decoding feature as it isn't dolby digitial or DTS.  Through a home cinema receiver again would depend on how the receiver is decoding the broadcast.  For example an epsiode of Neighbours is quieter than say a Film 4 HD movie.  

Have a play with the different Sky HD channels and compare them to SD channels and change the soundbar setting to "movie"

[Shreddy_Steve]

Amazing.

Thanks for the super quick reply. 

I will have a play with the settings tonight and hopefully get my head around it.

Thanks, Steve.

[Captainoats81]

Let us know how you get on.

Just to confirm that your other inputs, blu ray / dvd player, games console, are all loud and good?

[mcnallysi]

i have the same problem, the only way around is to link Sky HD to soundbar xt3.    The ARC cable from Sony Bravia to xt3 should work......   please help

[Captainoats81]

Hi mcnallysi.  I am connecting the sky HD box into one of the HDMI sockets into the soundbar and it works just fine.  I have moved the soundbar to a Samsung 55" so I am not connecting it directly into the Sony (that's moved to a new home cinema setup) so I'm not having any issues at all.  From what I remember it depended on the channel that was transmitting the signal through so for example E4 and Film4HD was very good but something like ITV wasn't that good.  The Sky HD Movie channels were also very clear and loud.  Have you upgraded the recent firmware release (last week I believe)?

Might be as simple as this post - https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/home-cinema-projectors-players/ht-xt3-hdmi-arc-problem/m-p/2091495#M...

Or another post (Xt1 model but principle should be the same) 

"Sony suggested that I should remove AC power from the TV for 30 seconds and disconnect all HDMI inputs apart from the link between base/TV via ARC HDMI 2 and then power up. This instantly activated the sound system immediately. Then it was just a matter of connecting 1 x input at a time until the problem re-occurs, in my instance it was an android TV box I had connected that had CEC enabled this caused a communications failure between the TV and soundbase."

(Link - https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/other-tvs/bravia-connection-between-kdl50w829-and-sony-ht-xt1-soundb...)

[Captainoats81]

One more thing on my Sony TV there were more advanced settings regarding the ARC control function between the TV and the soundbar.  I would double check these settings and re-read the manual as I did have to play about with it a few times.  It wasn't a quick straight forward solution.

Failing all that try Sony tech support.  Or you could go back to the store and ask for advice - if it still doesn't work properly you have a right to return it to the store as faulty.

[mcnallysi]

all sorted, had to re cable all and change to dolby setting on Sky box for
HDMI

woohoo

thx for your help