Do you feel like your smart TV’s sound quality falls flat, lacking the full impact of theater audio?
Connecting an external soundbar can provide a booming, layered sound that transforms your smart TV viewing.
Let’s explore the benefits of adding a soundbar to your smart TV, along with step-by-step instructions for popular brands and seamless volume control.
Benefits Of Using A Soundbar With A Smart TV
Enhancing your smart TV’s audio with a soundbar can significantly improve your overall viewing experience. Soundbars offer more powerful and immersive audio than your TV’s built-in speakers.
Adding a soundbar provides a louder, clearer sound with better bass. It gives you theater-like audio for movies and more impactful sound effects for sports and video games.
Soundbars also have multiple audio modes to optimize sound for different types of content.
Overall, a soundbar boosts the audio performance of your smart TV for all your entertainment.
Connecting a soundbar to your smart TV also streamlines your setup. You can listen to all your TV’s audio sources through one external speaker, rather than relying on your TV’s internal speakers.
Soundbars are designed to be conveniently placed right below your TV, so you don’t need additional space for speakers.
This creates a clean, minimalist arrangement around your TV. In addition, using HDMI ARC or optical cable connections can allow your TV remote to control soundbar volume and settings.
This simplifies control compared to separate TV speakers and an AV receiver. In summary, adding a soundbar enhances your smart TV’s audio in an easy, seamless way.
Instructions For Connecting A Soundbar To A Samsung, LG, Vizio, Sony smart TV
The process for connecting a soundbar to popular smart TV brands like Samsung, LG, Vizio and Sony is straightforward.
Here are the step-by-step instructions:
For a Samsung smart TV, connect the soundbar using an HDMI cable to the TV’s HDMI ARC port. This supports an audio return channel for sending sound from the TV to the soundbar.
Menu settings may be required on the TV to enable HDMI ARC output. Optical cable connection is another option if HDMI ARC is unavailable.
LG smart TVs also feature an HDMI ARC port for connecting a soundbar. Use an HDMI cable for this connection so the LG TV remote can control the soundbar volume.
You may need to enable HDMI-CEC in the TV’s settings for the remote to work with the soundbar. Optical connection is also possible if HDMI ARC is not available.
Vizio smart TVs have a dedicated HDMI ARC port specifically for soundbars. Simply connect a soundbar to this port using an HDMI cable.
The TV’s audio output settings may need to be changed to use digital audio out rather than the built-in speakers. No other adjustments are required for the TV remote to control soundbar volume.
For Sony smart TVs, locate the HDMI port labeled ARC to connect your soundbar. Use the TV’s settings to enable HDMI control, which allows the TV remote to handle soundbar volume.
If the ARC port is already in use, optical cable connection is an alternative option.
The key for all brands is finding the correct HDMI ARC port on the TV. Consult your smart TV manual if you have trouble locating this port.
With HDMI ARC, you can directly connect and control your soundbar for an enhanced home theater setup.
How To Connect Soundbar To Smart TV Apps Like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
When you connect your soundbar to your smart TV via HDMI ARC, the soundbar will output audio from all sources, including smart TV apps like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, etc.
You do not need to do anything special to get soundbar audio from these apps – it happens automatically.
Here is how it works:
When you open an app on your smart TV, the video is displayed on the TV while the audio is sent over HDMI ARC to your soundbar.
So if you launch the Netflix app and start a movie, you will see the video on the TV but hear the audio from the soundbar.
The same applies to Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, and any other media apps on your smart TV platform.
HDMI ARC creates a two-way audio link between the TV and the soundbar, so all audio is routed to the external soundbar speakers rather than the TV’s internal speakers.
This gives you enhanced sound quality from all your streaming content and smart TV apps when using a soundbar.
The only time you would need to adjust audio settings is if you notice lip sync issues between the video and audio.
Your TV may have an audio delay adjustment to resync the soundbar audio if needed. But in most cases, you can simply enjoy your smart TV apps with better audio through your connected soundbar.
Tips For Controlling Soundbar Volume Using The Smart TV Remote
When you connect a soundbar to your smart TV via HDMI ARC, you can use your TV remote to control the soundbar volume and mute. This offers a streamlined experience compared to using multiple remotes.
One tip is to ensure HDMI-CEC is enabled on both the TV and soundbar. HDMI-CEC allows devices to communicate over the HDMI connection.
With this enabled, you can program your TV remote volume and mute buttons to control the soundbar audio. There is usually a setup menu in the TV settings for assigning audio control capabilities to the remote.
Once setup, you can simply use the volume up/down buttons on the TV remote as you normally would to smoothly adjust the soundbar volume.
This feeds the volume commands through the HDMI ARC connection to the soundbar. To mute the soundbar audio, press the mute button on the TV remote, then press again to unmute.
If any issues arise with the TV remote not controlling the soundbar volume, check for firmware updates on both the TV and soundbar.
Updates can often improve the functionality of HDMI-CEC by allowing the TV remote to adjust the soundbar volume.
Another option is using IR pass-through on the soundbar if available. This allows infrared signals from the TV remote to directly control the soundbar volume and mute.
As an alternative if the TV remote volume controls still do not work reliably, you can connect the soundbar to the TV via optical audio cable instead of HDMI ARC.
However, this loses the benefit of the TV remote being able to control soundbar volume.
With the convenience of HDMI ARC, adjusting your soundbar volume can be as simple as using the existing volume buttons on your smart TV remote.
This provides a unified, streamlined experience for controlling both TV settings and your connected soundbar.
Conclusion
In summary, adding a soundbar can greatly enhance your smart TV viewing experience.
Connecting a soundbar is a straightforward process – simply use the HDMI ARC port and compatible cable. This allows your TV remote to control soundbar volume for a unified setup.
With a soundbar added, you’ll enjoy louder, clearer audio from all your smart TV’s apps and sources.
Follow the instructions for your TV brand, and you’ll be set up to hear more immersive, theater-quality sound from your smart entertainment.