Help with connectng a Bravia TV,SkyQ box,Soundbar with no HDMI slots to a basic Sony DVD Recorder ?

[Trixie]

Help needed with connectng a Bravia TV (6 years old), SkyQ box, Soundbar with no HDMI slots to a basic Sony DVD Recorder ?, any ideas Folks?  ( Its just the DVD player connection I have problems with).

DVD player plays and the picture is fine but there is a noise like a Tractor going on all the time. DVD player is new and works fine on my small tv that isn't connected to Sky etc.

[LightFoot]

Hi @Trixie   The devil is in the details, we really need the TV and sound bar full model numbers. This will tell us what inputs are available etc.

[Trixie]

Hi Lightfoot, thanks for the reply. Well the Soundbar is a S6520, Atan Grech Technology Corpration and the TV is a Sony Bravia KD43X8309CBU if that helps.

[LightFoot]

Hi @Trixie   

In theory, you can connect your DVD Player by HDMI in to any spare HDMI port. Perhaps avoid the MHL port (I don’t even know if that matters).

I had a KD-43X8305C in a past life with excellent sound quality.

I assume that you have your Sound bar connected to the TV’s optical port. Personally I would dump the sound bar, is the sound so much better than the TV?

[Trixie]

Hi Lightfoot, the DVD player is fitted to one of the HDMI ports on my TV.

There must be others that have or have had this problem, I have the Soundbar as I found I needed it  when I had the flat screen TV otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

Has anyone  else got a solution ?

[LightFoot]

Hi @Trixie   

1. Are you using the same HDMI lead that worked fine on your small TV?

2. Have you tried all of the free HDMI ports?

3. Are you 100% sure that the HDMI leads are properly inserted both ends?

4. You mentioned the Sky Q box, that shouldn't make any difference, but to rule it out disconnect it temporary and see if it makes any difference. Perhaps connect the DVD Player to the same HDMI port. Perhaps use the same HDMI lead used by Sky Q.

5. Unlikely, but there may be a problem with signal interference. I assume it is in a different location to the small TV.

6. Sound noises are often caused by a bad mains earth.

It is simply a case of keep trying things, this will hopefully lead to a solution.

Lets hope somebody comes along soon, to suggest other things that you could try. To complete the picture, it may help to tell us the model number of your DVD player.

[royabrown2]

@Trixie @LightFoot 

Not much to add, except I would:-

unplug everything from the TV, except the mains, including unplugging the TV aerial;

plug the DVD player into HDMI 1, using the HDMI lead that works with the TV upstairs;

play a DVD.

Any tractors? If so, try the DVD player in each of the other HDMI inputs in turn.
All tractors? Your TV is faulty. One or more, but not all, tractors, your HDMI card is bad.

No tractors? Keep playing the DVD, and connect the other items in the following sequence:- 

aerial into aerial socket;

Sky Q box into one of the other HDMI ports, and switch it on;

Soundbar to optical output on the TV and switch it on.

If the input switches away from the DVD player at any step, switch back to it.

Stop if/when you get tractors, and let us know at which step.

My money is on the soundbar…

Where did you get it from? I can find a listing for Atan Grech, in Chinese, but I can’t find your soundbar, or indeed any other products from them, not on Google generally, nor on Amazon or eBay, the usual suspects.

So I can’t do my usual manual-reading thing 😢

What I do know though, is that if you stuff the wrong signal into a soundbar, it will sound like a tractor.

I presume the soundbar works OK with Freeview programmes from the TV? And perhaps with the Sky Q box? Yes/No?

So, at a guess, the DVD player is trying to feed it Dolby, or DTS, and the soundbar is having none of it. Somewhere in the settings of the DVD player, you can probably bust it down to PCM Only, which the soundbar should be able to cope with; but where exactly in the settings, I would need to know the model number of the DVD player, so I can look it up for you, unles you can find it for yourself, under Audio somewhere,

[Trixie]

Lightfoot. Thanks for your answers. 

[Trixie]

Thanks royabrown2