I have two setups ( Samsung Q8F - QN75Q8FNBFXZC connected to a K850 Soundbar; and a Samsung UN40MU6300FXZC connected to a N400 Soundbar).
The K850 soundbar HDMI Arc connection has always been spotty, I usually need to power cycle a few times (if I'm lucky) for the ARC to properly connect and the "TV Arc" displayed on the soundbar to turn to "D.IN" and output sound.
I went away for a month, and now both setups suddenly would not connect, the soundbars have the "D.In" displayed but no sound is coming out. The TV setting is set to output sound through them (they do not recognize the soundbar anymore as they only list a generic "Receiver (HDMI)" as an output option now, instead of the actual model name before. I have tried unplugging both power cables and hdmi for both setups to no avail. The TV recognizes the soundbar though, as when I unplug the soundbar power cable, I suddenly hear sound coming out of the tv as it automatically reverts to TV speakers. Samsung support has been unhelpful. I tried connecting through Wifi (for the K850) and it works, I am assuming optical and BT works for both still, but not my preferred method.
Any suggestions? Highly doubt they are because of the defective HDMI cords, they are both different brands, and have never failed (especially the smaller tv and soundbar setup). Looking at other factors or variables to consider as they are both in-wall setups and neatly wired and it would take a couple hours to fish them in and out.
I also have a Q8F but instead I have the MS650. All I did was plug the HDMI ARC from the soundbar to the HDMI ARC to the TV and it Auto-detects everytime I turn on the TV and powers the soundbar. It's possible your soundbar may have Anynet+ turned off. Try some of the steps in this video if you didn't already. Hope it helps.
Thanks ZenoKnite. Setup was previously working and was auto detecting like yours. Just suddenly stopped working. Anynet+ is both turned on in both tv settings.
I would give @ZenoKnite's suggestion a try (thanks for answering by the way!). This sounds like an AnyNet+ issue—you can follow these steps to see if it fixes anything:
1. Unplug all power and HDMI cables from the TV and Soundbar. Leave unplugged for at least 30 seconds. 2. Plug in power cables for the TV and Soundbar. Do not connect the HDMI cables just yet. 3. Ensure that Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) is enabled on your TV by going to the following TV menu: General > External Device Manager > Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC). If disabled, select it once to enable it. 4. Connect an HDMI cable to the HDMI IN (ARC) port on your TV. 5. Connect the other end of the cable to the HDMI OUT (TV ARC) on the Soundbar. 6. On the Soundbar or Soundbar remote, press the 'Power' button to turn the soundbar on. 7. On the Soundbar or Soundbar remote, press the 'Source' button one or more times to select 'D.IN'. 8. On the Soundbar remote, press the right arrow button (bottom right) and hold for at least 5 seconds. Toggle to 'ON - Anynet+'. NOTE: If you do not have a Soundbar remote, perform instead a factory reset on the Soundbar itself. Press together the Volume Up (+) and Volume Down (-) buttons on the soundbar and hold for at least 5 seconds. The Soundbar should display 'INIT', then 'OK.' Press the 'Power' button on the soundbar again to turn on. Finally, press the 'Source' button one or more times to select 'D.IN' 9. Go back to the TV menu: Sound > Sound Output > "Name of Soundbar"(HDMI). If not already selected, select it now. If working correctly, the Soundbar will display 'TV ARC' and you will now hear sound from the Soundbar. 10. Finally, press the Volume Up and Volume Down buttons to confirm you are able to adjust the volume on the Soundbar.
However, considering you were able to get the setup working before, this could be a separate issue. Let us know if this works for you—if not, we can troubleshoot further.
Thanks for this. Will try these steps in order a couple times today and let you know. Tried the steps here a few times, but never in order. Side question: will factory resetting my soundbar as you mentioned above help, is it worth a try if this 10 step method fails?
So...treated the soundbar to quite a drive to the "nearest" samsung authorized repair center. Both soundbars worked in the shop, of course.
Came home, tried them both again using the same setup. The smaller N400 took a couple power cycles but worked, and seems to work seamlessly now, at least in the 3 or 4 times I turned on and off the TV.
The larger K850 soundbar still did not work. But after playing around with it, I seem to have diagnosed the problem and can get it to work and not work at will. I have another media box plugged in directly to the soundbar (soundbar has HDMI ARC, HDMI 1, HDMI 2 inputs), and when I unplug this and power cycle, the TV Arc connects automatically. I tried both inputs, and they both seem to need to be empty for the TV Arc to connect.
Is this normal? Seems to be a big inconvenience to have to keep plugging in the media box whenever I want to use it, as I need the inputs to be empty most of the time to hear sound coming from the soundbar if I want to use those plugged directly to the TV.
