General Guide to Proper TV Setup
When Using SoundSend
Most SoundSend customers can plug in their speakers, plug-in SoundSend, connect to the ARC port on their TV, and call it good; their WiSA Wireless Home Cinema system will work perfectly without having to make any changes in any of their TV’s or Blu-ray player’s menus.
Just in case that is not your experience, the table below provides our recommended settings for your TV menus.
These settings fall into six categories:
- CEC Control
- Speaker Selection (TV Speaker or HDMI Receiver)
- ARC/eARC Control
- Audio Input Handling
- Audio Output Processing
- Down-mix Settings
The rest of this guide dives deeper into each of these settings as various TV brands and even models within the same brand may require different settings to provide the best audio experience.
Recommendations for TV Setup When Using SoundSend
|
Setting |
Recommendation |
Additional Info |
|
CEC Control |
ON |
|
|
Speaker Selection |
HDMI Receiver (TV Speaker OFF) |
|
|
ARC/eARC Control |
eARC On or Auto |
Auto if On is not available |
|
Audio Input Handling* |
Bitstream or Auto |
Auto if On is not available |
|
Audio Output Processing |
Pass-through or Auto |
Auto if Pass-through is not available |
|
Down-mix Settings |
Dolby Digital |
|
*With TVs that have a single, combined Audio Input/Output Processing menu, your best experience on eARC capable TVs is likely Bitstream or Pass-through, and on ARC-only TVs it could be any one of the following: Bitstream, Pass-through, Auto, or the highest quality Dolby Digital format available, and may require experimentation to find the one that suits your TV (and SoundSend) the best.
CEC
CEC stands for Consumer Electronic Control. This is the protocol that enables all devices in a chain of HDMI-connected products to operate together with any of the participating devices’ remote controls.
If you are having issues with your TV’s remote not changing SoundSend’s volume, it could be that CEC is not enabled on your TV. Controls for this setting are typically in a “General” menu or submenu, possibly under “External Device Control.” Different manufacturers have different “brand names” for the feature on their TVs, but they typically contain the acronym CEC. For more information on CEC, please see the Setting up CEC + ARC/eARC - Best Practices article.
ARC/eARC Control
ARC stands for Audio Return Channel and is a way for audio to be passed from a source (like your TV) to another device (like SoundSend) over an HDMI cable. eARC stands for Enhanced Audio Return Channel and offers greater capabilities, mainly involving bandwidth.
If your TV only supports ARC, then you can skip this section. If it supports eARC, read on!
Common settings for enabling or disabling eARC are Auto (selects eARC when needed), OFF (ARC only mode), and ON (eARC always on). eARC is generally required when playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus in 7.1 or Dolby TrueHD.
Some TVs work well leaving eARC on all the time, some work more reliably with eARC in Auto. Some TVs will drop audio for one to several seconds if eARC is left on and the content being played does not require eARC. For example, watching a movie with Dolby Digital Plus with eARC “ON” can cause those dropouts. Try leaving eARC ON at first and you’ll know pretty soon whether your TV handles this setting flawlessly -- or not.
Audio Input Handling
Some TVs have separate menu selections for audio input signal handling. These options are usually limited to PCM, Bitstream, or Auto.
PCM always converts the TVs input signal to stereo, uncompressed, digital audio. This applies to both internally generated signals (streaming apps) and external inputs like streaming devices, off-air signals, and cable/satellite signals.
Bitstream always allows the input signal to enter the TV in its original format (if the TV can handle that format).
Audio Output Processing
When audio passes through a TV, the path can be made to allow the audio to “Pass Through” with no modifications at all, or it can be set to Auto, where a secondary processing routine can be selected other than Pass-through, for example, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, PCM, or DTS. Please note that SoundSend does NOT support DTS decoding.
Pass-through mode is also called Bitstream. Pass-Through or Bitstream (non)processing is generally required when playing Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus in 7.1, Dolby TrueHD, or Multi-Channel PCM.
Pass-through or Auto is normally the best way to go, but on some TV brands, the only way to get Dolby Digital 5.1 through the system is to set Audio Output Processing to Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus.
Down-mix Settings
This category is less used but is more important if you are using a sound system with fewer speakers than audio channels contained in the audio content you are playing. For example, if you have a 3.1 system and 7.1 content, setting Down-mix to Stereo would work, but not take full advantage of the 7.1 content and your 3.1 systems capabilities.
Setting Down-mix to Dolby Digital in the case above would add all the Left Side & Left Rear content into the Left Front speaker, same with the Right Side & Right Rear content into the Right Front speaker, but you still get discrete audio channels for the Center and Sub speakers.
Speaker Selection
This should be the easiest to remedy – and the least likely to be an issue.
Since this is a “general” case set of instructions, the Speaker Setting/Selection is generally in the Audio or Sound Settings menu. Most TVs automatically switch to “HDMI Out” or “HDMI Receiver” when an ARC/eARC-capable receiver is detected.
If you are getting no sound out of your WiSA system, you want to make sure this is set to HDMI Out or HDMI Receiver. If the TVs’ internal speaker continues to make sound along with your WiSA system, you’ll need to find the menu to turn the TV speaker off.