0k so here's the deal, I have a Samsung sound stand (hw600) connected to my Samsung (ue6400) a Samsung blue ray player and a virgin media TiVo box. my head phones are Bluetooth paired with an Avantree Priva which I used to have plugged into my TV/amps..( Which has now been replaced with sound stage).. headphone output. I have set the up the TV and blue ray via arc, an optical lead from sound bar to TiVo, which of course is connected to TV'S hdmi1. Now either I'm missing the blinking obvious or I've set it up wrong, but basically, because of the shifts I work , I listen to tv late at night through the headphones. But the sound bar has no audio out,( I don't think) so headphones will only work when sound bar is off with audio lead in headphone jack on TV If anyone can help me, I would be very grateful, as I'm all out of ideas.

Many thanks in advance
M..

OK lets try and make some sense of this.

This is how I would have the devices connected.

Sound stand HDMI to TV HDMI with ARC.
Blu-Ray to TV HDMI
TiVo to TV HDMI

Can't see the point of the optical connection from the TiVo to the Sound stand. If the Blu-Ray audio gets to the sound stand via HDMI and ARC to the sound stand then so should the TiVo. Also saves faffing about changing sources on the sound stand. You just leave it set on TV ARC and let the telly handle switching sources.

The only way to connect the headphones is via the headphone out on the TV. This may or may not mute the built in speakers on the TV but shouldn't really affect the ARC feed to the sound stand.

But assuming it doesn't affect the sound stand simply leave it all hooked up like that and switch either headphones or sound stand on depending on how you want to listen. Both devices should get audio from whatever source the TV is switched to.

Thanks for your reply Chris. Really appreciate it...So did I set the arc up wrong? Only I was under the impression that the arc HDMI on TV, went to sound stand HDMI out and blue ray to the HDMI in, on the SB. Is that right?! Anyway just back home now so will try the set up you suggested. I'll let you know either way..
Cheers again..
M

The ARC should carry sound from any source being viewed on the TV. So it should be possible to plug everything into the TV and still send sound to the sound base.

Of course it is always possible Samsung have cocked up and do not equip their tellies with audio passthrough between HDMI ins and the ARC/Optical out on the TV. But you'd hope they get it right.

If ARC doesn't work try the optical out on the TV instead connected to the sound stand.

The point of ARC is that it's single audio connection for whatever is on the TV screen to get to the sound stage. The Tivo & BluRay will both play via the TV to the soundstage using just the HDMi from the to it.
If you have a headphone socket on the TV that's what you should use for the headphones but as chrisjr said this may mute TV speakers, which isn't a problem if the sound is going through the sound stage, however you'll probably need to turn the sound stage volume down if using the headphones as they'll probably run together at the same time.

Right, first of all, Thanks Chris, its now all working, using the method you described. You're a star. As for the headphones, there still plugged into the TV headphone Jack as before, only now, when I go to speaker settings, instead of it displaying TV speaker, it now says Receiver ..I've tried all the devices and sound comes through the headphones. As both yourself and skinj mentioned, It does mute the TV sound and all audio is coming from the sound stand, which I've also turned down the volume to zero,! Which I don't quite understand, as the sound is loud enough from the headphones?!, Anyway, thanks guys, for sorting it for me.
cheers
Mark

I'm not sure why you think the sound stand will have any effect at all on the headphones? After all the headphones are not in any way connected to it. The sound stand is a replacement for the built in speakers, completely separate from the headphones.

If you only ever listen on headphones then the sound stand is actually totally redundant. You could unplug it and chuck it out of the window if you wanted it would not affect using the headphones in any way if you did.

I'm not quite sure what you mean Chris. Without the sound stand the audio from TV to headphones is quite lame with no surround and a bit on the tinny side. Now the sound is much fuller it has depth and the bass is much deeper and the surround sound is pretty good too. so I don't see what you mean about the sound stand being redundant. Obviously on my days off the headphones come out and I watch TV, movies normally (as I did when I had my Denon amp) ..

I cannot see how the sound stand can be having any effect whatsoever on the headphones. The only connection is that both are plugged into the TV. But that is it. The headphones are not connected in any meaningful way to the sound stand so I'm struggling to see how it can be having any effect at all.

Also as far as I can see the Bluetooth device you are using is stereo only so not exactly sure how you can get a surround effect from that.

So when listening on headphones alone the sound stand is redundant in the sense that it is playing no part at all in what you are hearing through the headphones.

Obviously if you are not using the headphones then that changes.

I appreciate what you're saying Chris, but I can only tell you what my ears here. If I understand correctly, the TV is the main hub for outputting sound, without the sound stand connected, the sound comes from the TV speakers itself and only offers pcm. (I think).. But as I said before the TV sound source now says Receiver. If I am wrong then obviously I'm a dick and the jokes on me. if that's the case I will sell the sound bar and buy a new Denon amp as my old one was ancient. but at least I could see what my phones were being fed. The phones do actually pick up surround, with sounds coming from left to right, noises in the distance, from the back and front and up and down. As I said there certainly seems to be more depth to the audio. unless of course my brain is trying to convince me that's what I'm hearing. But hey ho..These are the phones I'm using..
http://www.avantree.com/product-blue...affp-1001.html

The entire headphone system, from TV to your earholes is stereo. So any surround effect you are hearing is "virtual" as there are not enough channels or speakers in the headphones to generate a true multi speaker surround effect.

The TV appears to be able to decode various surround sound formats which it would have to downmix to stereo the feed the headphones. It is possible that this process is generating a virtual surround effect in the headphones. You can certainly do clever tricks with the sound fed to each ear to create the effect of sound coming from all sorts of directions. After all we only have two ears yet hear naturally in surround sound.

There is a possibility that the sound stand is influencing the Blu-Ray and TiVo to output a surround format rather than PCM stereo. And it is the result of downmixing those formats that is creating the effect you are hearing. But I suspect you could get the Blu-Ray and TiVo to output a surround format without the sound stand being connected.

Might be interesting to compare what audio formats the Blu-Ray and TiVo output with the sound stand connected and disconnected from the TV. See if it changes from surround to stereo and if that has any effect on the headphones. If the sound format does change when you unplug the sound stand then see if you can switch it to the sound stand connected format and see if that affects how the headphones sound in the same way.

Me again. Ok right, did I mention that the sound stand has 2 HDMI'S? 1 in and 1 out. Now the diagram I'm looking at, shows a pic of a TV and a digital device. The TV's HDMI in. goes to the HDMI out on the sound stand. It then shows that the digital device's HDMI out, going to the sound stands HDMI in. which I tried , before posting my question as I wasn't getting sound from the headphones. I then read your post and set up the way you explained, with a successful result, (or so I thought.)..Now then, when I use the TV remote to turn up volume an on screen speaker appears and says sound stand, when I turn up the volume it controls the sound stand volume. when I press mute on TV remote, the sound stand mutes...Now, the audio source displayed on front of Sound stand says d.IN, then changes to TV arc after a few seconds. Even though I'm only using the one HDMI, on the sound stage... Anyway my head hurts and I need food..

To use ARC with Samsung products you have to turn Anynet on which is what Samsung call their version of HDMI control. So having the TV remote control the sound stand volume is perfectly normal in this context.

And the input display changing is probably because it was selected to the optical input (D-In) and is auto switching to HDMI ARC as soon as it detects audio on the HDMI connection. If you set HDMI ARC on the sound stand you probably won't see this change of input.

But it is obviously going to be a problem if the same remote volume control operates both the headphones and speakers at the same time. Even more so if pressing the volume control deselects the mute function. So you have both headphones and speakers working all the time.

There may also be a problem that if the sound stand is put into standby it may wake up as soon as you press the volume control.

If that is the case the only option could be to remove the HDMI cable between the TV and sound stand and use an optical cable instead.

But this has it's own set of problems. Without the HDMI lead connected the TV speakers may well spring back into life, unless plugging the headphones in mutes them. And you will need to use the sound stand remote to control the volume as the TV optical out will most likely be fixed level.

Unfortunately this is all part of the compromises you have to put up with with this sort of kit. A fully featured AV amp and speaker system would do everything you need and more with far greater control over how it all happens but at the expense of greater complexity.

The type of device you have is a lot simpler to set up and use but may not be as versatile as you would like it to be. Making it harder to do everything you want it to.

Yes, you're right about the anynet , that is switched on and acknowledged the sound stand, The headphones aren't a problem as they have volume control. what I don't understand is that the HDMI 2 on the TV is marked arc and on screen it shows the blu ray player. As I said earlier, there are 2 HDMI's on sound stand but when connected using the guide, it doesn't work. So the BR player's HDMI lead now goes into HDMI 3 on the TV. Confused yet? Cos I bloody am! pmsl..Anyway Chris thanks for your input. much appreciated.I'm sure it will all get sorted one way or another...and if all else fails. A new Denon amp will do the job..
cheers
M

If you have something connected to the HDMI in on the sound stand then it is possible that the sound stand is not passing on the audio from that device to the TV. That is why no audio comes out of the headphones plugged into the TV, there isn't any!

With everything connected to the TV all the audio from the external devices is getting to the TV so it can be fed to both the headphones and sound stand. I may be missing something here but was under the impression that you understood the significance of HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel)? That is how the TV is sending audio to the sound stand.

As for what the telly says is connected to what HDMI socket. It has no real idea, those are just a bunch of default labels it gives to the sources. There is probably a section of the menu system where you can change those to match what is actually connected.

I had no idea, about arc until, I read up on it about a week ago...before I used optical out. Here is the diagram I was using to set up things,

http://i894.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps6bqv0p2o.jpg

As you can see, This is how it should be set up...if what you are saying is right then I either need to use a better HDMI lead or I need to change something in the blue ray settings.
Anyway once I've woke up proper, Ill have another bash..
M

That is A way of setting it up. Not the only way.

The problem with connecting everything to the sound stand is ensuring that the correct audio gets to the TV. By connecting to the TV you guarantee that everything will produce audio that will be available on the headphone socket.

It also simplifies things as you only need change source on the TV to get whatever pictures and noise source you want. If you had things connected as you originally had you would need to select sources on both TV and sound stand separately, with all the potential to have sound from the Blu-Ray and pictures from the TiVo or any other combination you care to imagine.

Changing HDMI lead will have sod all difference as long as it is of reasonable quality. Unless you are one of those brainless idiots with more pound coins than brain cells who believes spending £1000+ per metre on a bit of wire will improve your pictures.

So it may mean experimenting with the output options on the Blu-Ray and TiVo to find the best sound. And don't forget that many Blu-Ray disks also have alternative audio tracks just to add to the complication!

No I'm not some one who spends xxx amount of money on hdmi' leads. I have plenty downstairs, I think I read somewhere, than any HDMI lead post 2009, should be sufficient...last cupper then Ill have a look..

Any HDMI lead that passes the digital data unmangled in any way from one end to the other will look and sound exactly the same as any other lead that does the same. Makes no difference if it cost 1p or £1,000,000. Nor does when it was made make any real difference.

The only difference a lead made before the date ARC came into effect might have is that it might not have the additional pins that ARC uses wired up so stopping ARC working.

If the lead is working properly changing it will make absolutely no difference whatsoever to the sound. If it does it is all in your imagination

Well everything seems to be working now, I swapped out the HDMIi cable and replaced it with another, but it still refuses to play ball when I connect DVD to S- stand's HDMI in. So its now plugged into HDMI 3 on TV, which is exactly how I had it last night.. So I'm still in the dark about why the other port on s-stand does nothing. Anyway that's it, not faffing over it anymore.
cheers Chris,
M