problem with sound bar and amazon fire tv

**davemaden** · 20-01-2015, 12:10 AM

i have a sony HT-XT1 soundbar and ive had an amazon tv connected to it and a blu ray player , all has been working fine , then all of a sudden the sound for the tv channels wont come through the soundbar , but if i unplug the hdmi from the amazon tv , then sound for the tv channels comes through the soundbar , but when i plug the hdmi cable back into the amazon tv , i get a message on screen saying audio communication error . Why has this just started to occur and how do i fix the problem ? the amazon tv is from the USA , could the output from it be something to do with it ? thanks

**davemaden** · 20-01-2015, 09:49 PM

ive changed some hdmi leads , i can get the tv sound to come through the sound bar , but now the sound stutters every 5 seconds if i connect an hdmi lead to the amazon fire tv or an aple tv 2 , even if the devices arent plugged into the mains ? why and how does this happen and does it sound like the sound bar is faulty ? the sound from the tv is fine coming out of the sound bar until i connect the atv2 or the amazon fire tv . yet i have a blu ray connected and that doesnt affect anything . thanks

**TheBadger** · 21-01-2015, 10:22 PM

Sounds like a firmware update for one of the devices has changed the way in which one or more handles HDMI control. This is a stab in the dark as I have none of the devices you mention and none of them may have received an update.

**davemaden** · 21-01-2015, 11:40 PM

the sound is stuttering when any of the aftv or atv2 or blu ray are connected to an HDMI , meaning i have to have everything disconnected to watch digital tv channels . The soundbar i under gaurentee , so im thinking about taking that back . there has been a new s/ware update sent out for the sony kdl40ex503 , and im now wondering if this is causing the problem , as the last update they issued wouldnt let you access bbc i-player . is it possible to downgrade software ? to see if that works . thanks

**davemaden** · 23-01-2015, 08:25 AM

just an update , i originally had the sound bar connected by hdmi to the tv hdmi (ARC) port as this is correct according to the book . last night i took hdmi out of ARC port and put it in another port and connected the optical lead which came with the sound bar and this has stopped the sound stuttering . So the problem is with the HDMI (ARC) port . i have reported the issue to sony and asked them to look into it . thanks

**TheBadger** · 23-01-2015, 12:15 PM

Glad you got it sorted!

Why is it manufacturers have to "fix" things which are working?

**davemaden** · 23-01-2015, 06:22 PM

Thanks for your help Badger , i dont know if Sony will send out another update , im still waiting for a reply , but at least ive got it working again . Will it make any difference to anything because im not plugged into the (ARC) HDMI ? what does this actually do ? thanks again

**TheBadger** · 23-01-2015, 08:42 PM

I think it's mainly for syncing with Sony compatible devices like their Google box. I've got mine connected to this port and it switches the TV on with this port selected.

**davemaden** · 21-02-2015, 11:14 AM

more problems now with this system , ive had to connect soundbar to another hdmi port (other than ARC) and use the optical out lead and all has worked fine for a month now all of a sudden i cant adjust the volume with the tv remote , so have to use the soundbar remote , so ive gone into tv HOME menu and checked the "control for HDMI" and its greyed out as if its not connected , yet it is set to "on" . can anyone help with this ? thanks

**TheBadger** · 21-02-2015, 12:23 PM

Try disconnecting everything and then go into the "Home" menu and make changes. I know that if my Sky box is connected to the "wrong" HDMI input it affects the Home menu options.

**davemaden** · 21-02-2015, 01:58 PM

tried disconnecting but that didnt work , the "HDMI set up " in the home menu is greyed out and if i put HDMI lead in the ARC port i dont get any sound at all and last month i got the sound but it was stuttering , ive also noticed that when i select external inputs on tv remote , that av1 and 2 are in blue with an arrow on them as if there is something connected to them , yet there is nothing connected to av1 and 2 ? is there a way to do a factory reset on tv ? its like the tv isnt syncing with the soundbar , i will try soundbar on another sony tv i have over the weekend , so i will know if its tv problem or soundbar . i think its a tv problem though . thanks

**davemaden** · 22-02-2015, 02:51 PM

just an update i disconnected everything and did a factory reset on tv , then connected tv to sound bar and all works fine again , but if i connect the amazon fire tv to the sound bar and watch xbmc on aftv all is ok until i go back to tv and now there is no sound at all , if i turn tv and sound bar off and disconnect hdmi lead from aftv to sound bar , then turn tv and sound bar on the sound is back on , i think the aftv and soundbar arent compatible , yet when connected it plays ok ? why could this be ? thanks p.s. and i have unplugged the optical lead and put hdmi lead back into ARC port .

**TheBadger** · 23-02-2015, 07:33 PM

Could be the Fire TV is grabbing the sound channel and not releasing it when it's turned off.

**davemaden** · 23-02-2015, 09:45 PM

ive unplugged everything again and factory reset tv , connected sound bar to tv with hdmi lead in port number 2 of tv(not in ARC port of tv ) and optical lead , then connected amazon to a different port than before on the sound bar . And all is working fine again . How can this be ? its done my head in all weekend . lets hop it all stays working . thanks for your help

**cyprusdunc** · 25-02-2015, 11:52 AM

I have a Samsung sound bar connected to series 8 Samsung smart tv and every so often get the same problems as yourself,I have found that a full power down of all equipment tied into the system and then a reboot brings it back to normal just as you have found out.Why this happens I,m not sure,but remember all these things are like small pc,s nowadays and do get into problems via driver issues etc.
By the way ARC stands for audio return circuit,I use this for extra sat boxes and games boxes to work with audio coming from the sound bar rather than through the tv,s speaker system. Dunc.
p.s just back from 3 weeks in the UK so missed you posting this thread,I could have saved you some head scratching....lol

**Thepfy** · 08-12-2015, 11:42 PM

I know this is an old thread but I did find a fix after encountering the same issue.

On the Fire TV settings there are options to change the output from auto to a fixed value e.g. 1080p 60Hz instead of Auto. Once you do this, the communication error clears after a few seconds.

Unfortunately, I haven't got the link to the web page to hand to repost.