A84L centre speaker sync

[DillDough]

Hi all. Recent owner of an A84, paired nicely (so I thought) with the A5000. I’m struggling to get centre speaker to work with anything other than Bluetooth (phone to the soundbar) outputting audio through both tv and soundbar. If I watch normal TV, Netflix etc all I get is static out of the tv.. I’ve tried all settings and got no where. Both tv and bar are up to date and I’m rather frustrated at the fact I was sold the setup on the basis of how good it sounded in store, all I’m getting is audio from the soundbar and static from the tv. I’ve got the wiring all setup correctly, 3.5mm in the right places as well as the hdmi in e-arc, all cables supplied with tv are being used. 

please help! Is this common? Have I done something wrong? Thanks in advance 

[royabrown2]

@DillDough 

• If centre audio is not output from the TV, enable [Settings] — [Display & Sound] — [Audio output] — [TV centre speaker mode].

https://helpguide.sony.net/tv/kaep1/v1/en/04-04_05.html?hl=s-center

There doesn’t seem to be any extra configuration needed on the soundbar:-

https://helpguide.sony.net/ht/a5000/v1/en/contents/TP1000381202.html

[DillDough]

Hi, I’ve already gone through my settings and that is enabled. Like I said, I have centre speaker output when selecting Bluetooth input on the soundbar to play music from my phone, as soon as I select any other input such as tv, the tv centre speaker outputs static and audio is only coming from the soundbar itself. 

[royabrown2 · Accepted solution]

@DillDough 

Might be an odd suggestion, but can you try another HDMI cable from TV to soundbar, check it’s a ‘with Ethernet’ cable as you will no doubt(?) be using eARC, make sure CEC (BraviaSync) is on on both TV and soundbar.

When (re)connecting the HDMI cable,  make sure both TV and soundbar are in standby, and preferably off at the mains. (Strictly, HDMI isn’t hot-pluggable. Not that hot-plugging is liable to cause any damage, but it can disrupt a proper handshake).

For some reason I don’t understand, the Sony manual makes it very clear that the HDMI connection between TV and soundbar is involved in S-CENTER-IN working, so make sure that connection is as right as it can be.

Sony will tell you to factory reset both devices. Might not do any good, but Sony know their kit is so flaky that this is the first thing they always suggest.

As you said ‘store’, it sounds like you had a demo of these two bits of kit working together, and hopefully that’s where you bought the 84L, if not perhaps the A5000. But I think you are quite entitled to call the store and ask them to make your 84L do what the one they demo’ed you did. Maybe by just saying what settings they used, but if push comes to shove, via a call-out.

They might wind up telling you the A5000 has gone duff, which, if they didn’t sell it to you, is somebody else’s problem, but at least you will know.

[DillDough]

I purchased both items from the same store, yes. I shall try a factory reset although the soundbar has already been done and made no difference. I’ll go through my settings again. Thanks for your advice so far. 

[DillDough]

Just an update. A factory reset of the TV seemed to resolve my issue, I also noticed on certain films depending on the application such as Netflix as the main culprit I lose the tv centre speaker, I suspect this is due to the programme/film being stereo not 5.1 output. But again, a tv reset and update fixed my issue. Thanks for your help