Paperhunter2000@gmail.com wrote:
Why does Bose's HDMI ARC implementation work for some and not all TV's ?, Its tv dependent. One of my Sony's works consistently (year 2018 model x900) and the other Sony (year 2015 model xbr55) does not. For the latter just use optical and save your frustrations. It would be great if Bose can fix the problem but I've lost hope after all this time. At least they could publish an interoperability matrix for tested TV's utilizing their version of HDMI ARC.
The problem is not with HDMI ARC or HDMI e-ARC, the problem is with HDMI-CEC. HDMI ARC is standardised. Many TVs rely on HDMI CEC to turn on the HDMI ARC functionality and you should be able to override this. In the case of my Sony TV, I was able to turn off HDMI CEC and then turn on HDMI e-ARC which let the soundbar receive audio, but I had to control the two separate. However, when Bose addresses the HDMI CEC issue, I have not had to do this ever since.
The problem with HDMI CEC is every TV manufacturer has their own version, and the main reason is that they all manufacture their own audio equipment or something which is not implemented correctly so it ends up breaking proper support. My friend now owns a Bose Soundbar 500 which had the exact same issue where once the TV was turned off and back on, the two would not talk to each other. He found it was the Amazon Fire TV Cube causing the compatibility problem even if you went into the settings and turned off HDMI CEC on the Fire OS. He since switched to a Fire TV Stick 4K which has resolved the problem, but the only other resolution would have been to switch off HDMI CEC on the TV and if HDMI ARC stopped working, use optical.
HDMI ARC and optical are identical in the signal, the only difference is HDMI ARC includes HDMI CEC allowing the TV to turn the soundbar on and off and control the volume.
If you want to check if something is clashing in your system, it's pretty simple.
Disconnect everything from the power for 60 seconds. This wipes the HDMI CEC memory from all devices. Switch on the Bose Soundbar 500/700 and wait for it to start up. Then, switch on only one device such as your cable or satellite box and wait for it to power up. Finally, plug in your TV and switch it on. If you find it works across a few days, repeat this but instead work with two devices until you find a device which is clashing. From here, you will either need to find a way to switch off HDMI CEC on that particular device or perhaps a replacement for it.
