KDL40NX803 problems trying to set up the "Optical Out" socket

[theracles]

As an old git, and getting even older, my ears have never been particularly enamoured of the sound equipment on this set.

What was once marginally OK, is now so poor that I spend more time reading the subtitles than watching the picture. I think both the set and my ears are probably equally to blame!

I have attempted to improve matters by investing in a Soundbar which will at least fire the sound forward rather than downwards!  

Attempting to set up the Optical link, I eventually managed to plug the dratted cable into the fiddly socket in the recessed chamber at the rear of the set and tried to coax some noise from the Soundbar!

"Set up" tells me that I can only use the Optical connection when the speakers are set to "Audio System".

following that advice, I achieve total silence from both TV and Soundbar!

Can someone tell me how to activate the Soundbar using the "Toslink" cable I have purchased especially since the other options for connection involve RCA plugs or Jack Plugs which protrude horribly from the side of the TV!   

[Marino.Manolo]

Try this:
https://helpguide.sony.net/gbmig/ADL31001/egb/2a-2/opticalout.html
Settings > Sound > Optical Out
Select “Auto” for equipment compatible with Dolby Digital, or “PCM” for equipment not compatible with Dolby Digital.

Try set to PCM...

[theracles]

Thanks @Marino.Manolo , I've followed the manual and tried both the advised PCM setting and also the Auto setting out of desperation but neither setting will produce sound!

[Marino.Manolo]

Are you sure you have inserted the Pin well and have removed any Rubber Cap? I ask you because unfortunately years ago I happened to see this too.

[theracles]

Hi Marino, I've never used Toslink connectors before and found the simple act of "plugging it in" to the TV difficult.

I couldn't really see because the connector is so small and the connections are in a recess.

I didn't want tpo break anything but it seemed to "snap" in once I found the correct orientation for the connector.

I didn't try to push it any further in as it seemed to be firmly gripped by the socket.

Are you supposed to twist the connector to lock it in?

[Marino.Manolo]

The Connector has a verse, I don't think you could have been wrong and if you are wrong it means that you have forced the insertion.

The ideal would be to be able to check if a red light is put from the Optical Output, but I think you would have difficulty to verify...

[royabrown2]

@theracles 

As @Marino.Manolo describes, the optical connector only goes in one way round.

Like him, I wonder if you popped off the rubber cap on the connector that shields the end of the cable? (Check both ends).

A strong light and a magnifying glass are also your friends here. I have a magnifying glass with the light built in - wouldn’t be without it.

I take it your soundbar doesn’t have an HDMI connector for ARC or eARC? If it does, it would be much better to use that, with an HDMI cable from there to the one HDMI port on the TV marked ARC.

[royabrown2]

(Duplicate, please ignore(

[theracles]

Hi @royabrown2 No, I didn't leave the rubber protectors on, they are tethered to the cable (to prevent loss) so are hard to miss!

I just don't understand why the "PCM" option is inaccessible until you set Speakers to "Audio System".

Maybe it means it won't work with a soundbar?

My set up really doesn't use the TV Tuner, I have a TalkTalk YouView box which receives, processes and pushes out the signal to the TV, so the internal Sony tuner etc is not used.

Because the box is connected to the TV via HDMI, there is no other "out" provision other than the passthrough for the Ariel.

Having googled for anything related, I found this, which doesn't seem to bode well!

whilst typing this, I decided to look for an optical out on the YouView box and lo! I found an SPDIF labeled socket which has the Soundbar working with the output from the YV Box and it seems to be in lip-sync with the Picture on the Sony TV!

Not what I would call a tidy solution, requiring juggling three remotes!

[royabrown2]

@theracles 

Good spot, I’ll add that to my ‘Reasons you couldn’t even give me a Sony TV’ list 😢

The poster there, unhelpfully, did not give a link to where this advice came from, but my Google-fu is strong today 😛, so:-

https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/support/articles/00027069#

Possibly updated since that poster read it, but the limitations are still there.

There are a number of other linked articles there that may or may not be relevant.

You don’t get the PCM choice on the internal speakers, as the TV decides how these are to be handled. So the choice only arises when you are passing the digital audio out from the TV, to be decoded by a further device, here the soundbar.

With ARC/eARC, the source device (TV) and the sink device  (soundbar) can potentially negotiate the best sound format to use, but over Optical, nothing passes but the digital audio, so you have to set the TV to send something the soundbar can handle.

The ‘out’ provision you are looking for is on the TV, not on an input device; it’s the HDMI port labelled ARC.

Always assuming it’s actually labelled ARC; but it’s HDMI 1 on your TV.

https://helpguide.sony.net/gbmig/ADL31001/egb/2a-2/hdmi_aep_2a2_2a3.html

But I need to know what make and model your soundbar is, so I can check if it can handle ARC or not; but if it can, that’s the way to go.

So please post what it is, and I can check it for you. In the meantime, though, look to see if it has any HDMI connections, and look for ARC, or possibly just HDMI OUT, stencilled above one of them if so.