Best way to connect AppleTV 4K to TV and Soundbar

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Level 1

11 points

Best way to connect AppleTV 4K to TV and Soundbar

So right now I have a new Vizio 4K tv with the AppleTV and I have the AppleTV set to control the tv volume with the Apple remote. I am getting a Vizio soundbar to match the TV and wanted to know the optimal way to connect the soundbar so I can still control the audio from the AppleTV Remote. Both the soundbar and TV have HDMI ARC, so this should be pretty simple.

Here is what I am thinking of doing and correct me if this is not right.

Option 1

AppleTV 4K to TV 4K HDMI port.
TV HDMI ARC to Soundbar HDMI ARC Port.
Change sound output in TV settings to not use TV speakers and only use soundbar.

Option 2

AppleTV 4K to Soundbar HDMI In.
Soundbar HDMI ARC to TV HDMI ARC.
Change sound output in TV settings to not use TV speakers and only use soundbar.

Technically both of these will work and get sound and picture to the TV and Soundbar. But...... I only want to use the AppleTV remote to turn the TV on and off and control the volume of the soundbar. Right now I can turn the TV on and off with the AppleTV remote. I would assume it would all work the same with the soundbar, just need to know which option would work best.

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 11.2

Posted on Dec 8, 2017 7:36 AM

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Answer 1

rickkp

Level 1

23 points

Jan 18, 2018 12:12 PM in response to photosbynick

Minor twist to my issue. I have the Apple TV from earlier 2017, not 4K. I have a Vizio Smart LED TV 60" from 2014. Always have the latest tvOS, but after an update in Oct 2017 I began having some weird problems that did not involve the Samsung Crystal HW F450 sound bar (was still able to use the Siri remote to control the volume on the sound bar) I use.

So to fix the problem (not volume control) I reset the Apple TV and of course had to redo everything.

BUT, now the Siri remote will not control the sound bar volume as it had previously.

Original set up: Apple TV HDMI > TV HDMI input#2.

Sound bar Optical digital cable to the TV for audio.

Nothing I did, even after searching for clues all over, allowed the Siri remote to control the volume.

I have the Harmony Remote which still works, so I am not lost. But at times I prefer using the Siri remote.

So I am trying the HDMI inputs thing: Apple TV HDMI > Sound bar HDMI In.

Sound bar HDMI Out > TV HDMI In (which used to be from Apple TV HDMI).

Yes, I switched the Sound bar input to HDMI, from Dig In when using the FO cable previously for audio.

Harmony still works. when I tried altering the volume using the Siri remote, pressed the "+" key I got the message to use the TV and it went to the Settings for Audio. So I redid the Sound bar remote as a different article suggested to make the Siri remote "learn". Well in short it didn't.

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