Tearing what’s left of my hair out here!

[the other bob wilson]

How on earth do you connect an optical cable to a sound bar? I’ve been trying to do it for an hour and looked at videos on You Tube which tell me that’s there’s only one way the cable will “take”, but when you’ve found it, it will click into place quite easily - will it f*ck! I’ve been fiddling about with the cable trying to find this one angle that will fit, but, although the cable I’ve got looks exactly like the ones I see in the videos, the housing for it on the sound bar doesn’t look the right shape.

[bluesp]

Do you have to use an optical cable for it? There are usually other options

[life on mars]

Try just a HMDI Arc cable

[splott parker]

Have you tried switching it on, then switching it off, then switching it on again :shrug: that’s the limit of my technical knowledge.

[the other bob wilson]

I treated myself to a new telly on the weekend and thought I’d go the whole hog and get a sound bar as well. The sound bar came on Friday and I fitted it up to my old telly fine using the red and white aux cables and it worked fine. However, because it’s a new telly you can only connect it to this sound bar using optical cables - I’ve connected the cable to the telly and the red light comes on to show there’s not a problem there but, as I say, the optical connection on the sound bar just doesn’t look right for the cable (the manual confirms that I am trying to connect it to the right place).

[Cowbridge Blue]

I'm similarly stymied; the TV is on a wall with the sound bar below on a unit. It's been useless for nearly 2 years now - I think I can get it to partner the Tv but I don't want to see a cable hanging between one and the other. Apparently it's supposed to connect via Bluetooth but I'm buggered if I can get that to work.

[John Buchanan]

I treated myself to a new telly on the weekend and thought I’d go the whole hog and get a sound bar as well. The sound bar came on Friday and I fitted it up to my old telly fine using the red and white aux cables and it worked fine. However, because it’s a new telly you can only connect it to this sound bar using optical cables - I’ve connected the cable to the telly and the red light comes on to show there’s not a problem there but, as I say, the optical connection on the sound bar just doesn’t look right for the cable (the manual confirms that I am trying to connect it to the right place).
Why can you only connect with optical, surely the TV has HDMI port, does the soundbar?
According to Ms Google, hdmi arc is the better option and, if you are having trouble connecting using optical it is probably due to the TV settings not recognising the optical connection and it needs to be fiddled with. That's all I got. Good luck.

[Cardiff-Cal]

Have you taken the little plastic protector off the end?

[North Cardiff Blue]

How on earth do you connect an optical cable to a sound bar? I’ve been trying to do it for an hour and looked at videos on You Tube which tell me that’s there’s only one way the cable will “take”, but when you’ve found it, it will click into place quite easily - will it f*ck! I’ve been fiddling about with the cable trying to find this one angle that will fit, but, although the cable I’ve got looks exactly like the ones I see in the videos, the housing for it on the sound bar doesn’t look the right shape.

Something must be wrong it is pretty easy, from memory it even has a little light so you can slot it in, google it again and get a different video.

[North Cardiff Blue]

How on earth do you connect an optical cable to a sound bar? I’ve been trying to do it for an hour and looked at videos on You Tube which tell me that’s there’s only one way the cable will “take”, but when you’ve found it, it will click into place quite easily - will it f*ck! I’ve been fiddling about with the cable trying to find this one angle that will fit, but, although the cable I’ve got looks exactly like the ones I see in the videos, the housing for it on the sound bar doesn’t look the right shape.

Ths might help

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe1EKFRL6iw

Or this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6slRT2PfnX4

or this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFPXgzAKu6g

[The Bloop]

Might sound daft but is there a clear plastic cover over the tip of the cable that needs to be removed?

[John Buchanan]

Might sound daft but is there a clear plastic cover over the tip of the cable that needs to be removed?
We will probably never know. Surely nobody would fess up to that one.

[chris lee]

As others have mentioned, has to be the the protective cover, they are very common on optical cables.

[the other bob wilson]

The little plastic caps fooled me for about five minutes until I discovered that they were detachable- for a few seconds I thought it was problem solved, but no. I’ve been told that the TV I’ve bought only came on the market last year and that most recently produced televisions will only accept optical cable connection to a sound bar (this is backed up by what I’ve seen on the Internet), but what I should have done and have not done yet is look at the manual for the TV to see if that is the case here. If it is, I’m at a loss to know what to do next, the TV is fine and the sound quality from it is good enough for me, but it’s so frustrating to buy a piece of equipment and not get it to work, especially for such a daft reason.

[ToTaL ITK]

you cant beat a scart cable. they don't feel pain

[the other bob wilson]

Looking at the television manual, the people who fitted the telly were wrong when they told me it only had optical cable connection with the sound bar. The problem is with the sound bar which does not have the facility for HTML cables - one of the videos North Cardiff Blue posted confirms that there are modern day sound bars that are like that. So, unless I can get the optical cable to fit into the sound bar, it looks like I will need to get another sound bar, but I won't be doing that - I'll go down the Cowbridge Blue route of having a sound bar that doesn't work or, more likely, I'll use it with my old telly (which is now in the bedroom) using the aux cable.

[BLUETIT]

WTF are you all on about ?

[PontBlue]

What's the make and model of the TV and the soundbar?

Also there's a little notch on the optical cable which means it'll only fit one way. Rotate the cable 90 degrees between each attempt to plug it in.

Also some optical inputs, not the end of the cable, have a dust cap that needs to be removed before you can insert the cable.

[the other bob wilson]

What's the make and model of the TV and the soundbar?

Also there's a little notch on the optical cable which means it'll only fit one way. Rotate the cable 90 degrees between each attempt to plug it in.

Also some optical inputs, not the end of the cable, have a dust cap that needs to be removed before you can insert the cable.

It's a Sony Bravia 50 inch telly and a Majority soundbar (called Snowdon I think). I've been fiddling about with the rotatable end of the cable and tried what you say with it, but to no avail - I don't think there's a dust cap on the optical cable, but I'll check that now.

[PontBlue]

Looking at the manufacturers website there is a flap but it should retract when you insert the cable.

The flat edge of the optical cable needs to be at the top when inserting the cable. The semi circles will be on the left and right and the tapered side at the bottom

[KingOfSiamIAm]

I treated myself to a new telly on the weekend and thought I’d go the whole hog and get a sound bar as well. The sound bar came on Friday and I fitted it up to my old telly fine using the red and white aux cables and it worked fine. However, because it’s a new telly you can only connect it to this sound bar using optical cables - I’ve connected the cable to the telly and the red light comes on to show there’s not a problem there but, as I say, the optical connection on the sound bar just doesn’t look right for the cable (the manual confirms that I am trying to connect it to the right place).

Could it be the case that technology has moved on, and the youtube videos are showing the “old” type connector?

Does it indicate in the soundbar manual, what the connector type number is?

[Michael Morris]

Can you post a picture of the optical socket on the sound bar.

[life on mars]

HMDI Arc is yer answer it acts as optical and sound .

[Cardiff-Cal]

You can connect soundbars in lots of different ways.
Optical is quite old fashioned these days.

The main drawback to connecting via optical (if you ever manage it) is that to change volume you will have to use the soundbar remote.

The best option is something called HDMI ARC or on newer/better tvs eARC

To connect this way you need an ARC HDMI port on your tv, most TVs have one HDMI labeled as ARC, it looks just like and functions just like the other HDMI’s but it’s the only one that will work for connecting to a soundbar. It’ll usually say next to the hdmi ports on the back or side of the tv.

For example it’ll look like this

HDMI 1
HDMI 2 (ARC)
HDMI 3

Your soundbar also needs to have a HDMI ARC port. You run a hdmi between the two ports and it should automatically register and the sound should switch to the soundbar. You may have to change the audio output in the settings to ARC and you may need to change the soundbars input to arc.

It should then turn on and off with the tv and also you should be able to control the volume of the soundbar with the tv remote.

If your soundbar doesn’t have ARC I would look at returning it and getting one that does.

[the other bob wilson]

You can connect soundbars in lots of different ways.
Optical is quite old fashioned these days.

The main drawback to connecting via optical (if you ever manage it) is that to change volume you will have to use the soundbar remote.

The best option is something called HDMI ARC or on newer/better tvs eARC

To connect this way you need an ARC HDMI port on your tv, most TVs have one HDMI labeled as ARC, it looks just like and functions just like the other HDMI’s but it’s the only one that will work for connecting to a soundbar. It’ll usually say next to the hdmi ports on the back or side of the tv.

For example it’ll look like this

HDMI 1
HDMI 2 (ARC)
HDMI 3

Your soundbar also needs to have a HDMI ARC port. You run a hdmi between the two ports and it should automatically register and the sound should switch to the soundbar. You may have to change the audio output in the settings to ARC and you may need to change the soundbars input to arc.

It should then turn on and off with the tv and also you should be able to control the volume of the soundbar with the tv remote.

If your soundbar doesn’t have ARC I would look at returning it and getting one that does.

Thanks for that, but the problem is that the soundbar doesn't have any HDMI ports - I've used it with AUX cables on my old telly, but it's optical or nothing with this new television and it's just become a matter of getting the bloody thing to fit into the the bar now for me. I wasn't looking for anything fancy because it would be wasted on me, it was just that I'd never had one before and it seemed a good time to get one with a new television. I did my research and the Majority Snowdon was chosen by a few as the best option at the cheap and cheerful end of the market. I've bought stuff from Majority before which I was satisfied with and decided to go with it, I wouldn't be bothered about the lack of HDMI options if I could just get the cable to fit into where it should do - it obviously does normally because of the good reviews it gets, but it's not happening for me.

Here's a picture of optical port on the sound bar (it's upside down because the view of the port seemed a bit better that way) and a not very good photo of the cable.

5753

5754

[Re-sign Carl Dale]

That looks like a standard optical cable and port - as others have said, it will only go in one way as it’s an unusual shape with a line. It’s not usually a firm “click” like other connections and doesn’t need to be pushed in very far to connect. Is it possible that it’s inserted fine but you’re trying to push it in further than needed?

[the other bob wilson]

That looks like a standard optical cable and port - as others have said, it will only go in one way as it’s an unusual shape with a line. It’s not usually a firm “click” like other connections and doesn’t need to be pushed in very far to connect. Is it possible that it’s inserted fine but you’re trying to push it in further than needed?

That thought did occur to me once or twice, but I’ve not felt anything remotely like a click yet and the cable would be dropping out with the smallest of vibrations if it was supposed to be like it is when I try to connect it.

[Michael Morris]

That thought did occur to me once or twice, but I’ve not felt anything remotely like a click yet and the cable would be dropping out with the smallest of vibrations if it was supposed to be like it is when I try to connect it.

you should feel it click. They sometimes need a reasonable amount of pressure to click them in to place but make sure it is in the right orientation before pushing it in a bit harder.

[Michael Morris]

Oh, another question, did the other end click into the TV OK?

can you swap the ends of the cable around. If both click into the TV OK and neither click into the sound bar then maybe it's a fault on the soundbar port.

[PontBlue]

The picture of the optical port makes it look hollow as if the innards have been pushed in

[Cardiff-Cal]

Optical port on soundbar looks damaged to me but I may be wrong.

[Sloop_Jon_Bee]

Have you tried switching it on, then switching it off, then switching it on again :shrug: that’s the limit of my technical knowledge.

:hehe::thumbup:

[splott parker]

:hehe::thumbup:

My old man used to bang the top of the telly with his fist, always cured the horizontal hold.

[John Buchanan]

My old man used to bang the top of the telly with his fist, always cured the horizontal hold.
That took me back a few years...

[the other bob wilson]

And some poor sod had to stand out in the kitchen waving the aerial around while the rest of the family shouted to them when there was a decent picture :hehe:

[the other bob wilson]

Oh, another question, did the other end click into the TV OK?

can you swap the ends of the cable around. If both click into the TV OK and neither click into the sound bar then maybe it's a fault on the soundbar port.

Yes, I did that this afternoon, so I’ve had the red light on now with both ends of the cable, so the problems not there. I still couldn’t get it to connect with sound bar using the other end of the cable, so it does look like it’s a problem with the optical port.

[John Buchanan]

And some poor sod had to stand out in the kitchen waving the aerial around while the rest of the family shouted to them when there was a decent picture :hehe:

True, but they didn't have to worry about the state of their optical port. Always a silver lining eh?

[The Bloop]

And some poor sod had to stand out in the kitchen waving the aerial around while the rest of the family shouted to them when there was a decent picture :hehe:

Did anyone else have 2 aerials - one pointing at the Mendips transmitter, the other picking up the Welsh channels. The better picture was always from the English transmitter so had a switch to select the Welsh transmitter for the news.

[splott parker]

Did anyone else have 2 aerials - one pointing at the Mendips transmitter, the other picking up the Welsh channels. The better picture was always from the English transmitter so had a switch to select the Welsh transmitter for the news.

Points West with Bruce fecking Hockin!!!! Or a grainy Wales Today with someone like Vincent Kane’s image going up, going down, lines across the screen and eventually an ‘Ah, f*ck it, let’s see John Galley’s goals from the weekend’.

[the other bob wilson]

Points West with Bruce fecking Hockin!!!! Or a grainy Wales Today with someone like Vincent Kane’s image going up, going down, lines across the screen and eventually an ‘Ah, f*ck it, let’s see John Galley’s goals from the weekend’.

Brian Hoey was the first Wales Today presenter I can remember and there was David Stradey Jones doing the rugby, but it was nearly always Bruce fecking Hockin in our house - he must have presented Points West for about fifty years :hehe:

[Michael Morris]

Alan Taylor. Mr & Mrs.

Didn't he used to live in Wenvoe?

[the other bob wilson]

Alan Taylor. Mr & Mrs.

Didn't he used to live in Wenvoe?

You must be too young to remember Tinker and Taylor - you didn’t miss much :hehe:

[Rjk]

Did anyone else have 2 aerials - one pointing at the Mendips transmitter, the other picking up the Welsh channels. The better picture was always from the English transmitter so had a switch to select the Welsh transmitter for the news.

yes we did and my gran did too, I think we ran both aerials down the same cable though

[poc]

Did anyone else have 2 aerials - one pointing at the Mendips transmitter, the other picking up the Welsh channels. The better picture was always from the English transmitter so had a switch to select the Welsh transmitter for the news.

we did have one socket of each on the windowsill you would have to plug the lead into either one to watch wales or england:hehe:

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Alan Taylor. Mr & Mrs.

Didn't he used to live in Wenvoe?

He also lived in Cathays at one point. Just around the corner from where I lived for a short while.

[Hot Shot Hamish.]

I remember AlanTaylor starting a new kids programme Orbit on a Saturday morning. It must have been the start of Saturday morning kids programmes ,a good few years before Swap Shop and Tiswas.