[Smokin Joe]

A good friend of mine has pre ordered a new Samsung Q90A tv(Delivered By March 5) and bought the premium Q950T soundbar which he already has at home in the box waiting. I’m going to help set up everything together when the tv arrives but after looking at some reviews of the soundbar I was shocked at the fact that you only get two HDMI inputs for such a premium product I’d expect at least 4 inputs. Now I’m sure they did this to save space and that the ideal setup is run your sources direct to tv and use eARC for sound playback which is fine except ARC/eARC isn’t always reliable. Anyone with a soundbar have much trouble with eARC? I’ve always used a full H/T system so I have no experience with soundbars


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[Mike Lang]

Yeah even pricey soundbars can be skimpy on HDMI inputs. While I don't like eARC on more complex systems, it can be pretty reliable if there are just 2-3 components.

 

[ExDilbert]

The eARC port on the Q900T soundbar (Q950T without the surrounds) works well. I don't currently use the soundbar HDMI inputs as the TV inputs are sufficient. I find the soundbar to be most reliable if left to switch inputs on it's own as it only has sequential selection and not direct input selection.

 

[Smokin Joe]

That’s good to know as I think he has four components.
1. Bell 6131
2. 4K Apple TV
3. Samsung UBD-M9500
4. Xbox One X

Now what I’m not clear on is if the soundbar can deliver Dolby Atmos/DTS-X over eARC on the Samsung M9500 4K Blu-Ray player or will we have to split the video & audio via the duel outputs on the player, video to tv & audio to HDMI in on the soundbar? I think that’s what we will have to do but not totally sure. Maybe plug it in directly to the soundbar provided it passes through HDR10+


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[ExDilbert]

You basically have two options. If the TV has more than one 4K input, plug the soundbar into the eARC input and the DB player into another. The other option would be to connect the BD player to the soundbar and the soundbar to the TV's eARC input. Make sure eARC and CEC are on for all devices that have them.

In theory, turning the BD player on or turning the TV on and selecting the BD input should turn all three on and select the correct inputs. All three should also automatically choose the optimal audio and video modes. The TV remote should control the sound bar volume. The BD remote should control playback. If the TV and BD remotes are the same make or are universal and properly configured then only one should be required for most frequently used operations.

Not sure if the X-Box supports CEC but it should work in a similar manner, in theory at least. The Q900T seems to work quite well with CEC and eARC.

 

[mark_42]

Where did he order it from, and if you can PM me the price if you know it.

 

[ExDilbert]

The Q900T and Q950T were both on sale at BestBuy for Black Friday and Boxing Day. The Q900T was heavily discounted. I see they're on sale again on BestBuy and Amazon. That may just be the new street price.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Where did he order it from, and if you can PM me the price if you know it.

I believe he ordered it from a local retailer but I’m not sure exactly.


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