Sony a90k with Sony HT-S40R

[srjohnston80]

I have just got the Sony A90K 48" TV.  I am very happy with it.  I decided to get the Sony HYT-S40R sound bar to go with it.

I have the sound bar plugged into the HDMI 3 earc port on the TV.  I also have a Sky Q 2tb box plugged into HDMI 1.  If I have the sky box turned on and watching TV, then decide to turn on the  sound bar, it turns on and a toast message appears say it has connected.  The problem is when it connects the screen goes black for a second or 2 with the toast message.

It is a little annoying.  It doesnt happen if I use bluetooth, the toast message appears over top of the screen.  Is there any recommend settings to stop the black screen happening while the soundbar connects.

[Elodin]

Hey @srjohnston80, check if your TV is running on the latest software version via this link. I believe this message indicates that the external sound bar is connected is that correct? Providing us here with a picture of the message would make it easier for us to help and assist regarding this. 

[srjohnston80]

Hi @Elodin 

Sorry should have mentioned that I am on the latest firmware.  But what happens is when I am watching something from HDMI, for example I have my sky q box connected to HDMI 1 and PS5 connected to HDMI 4. When I turn on the sondbar, the screen goes black.  While it is black a toast message says Audio System Active for a second or 2 then the picutre appears again.  I also go high end 8k hdmi cables with ethernet as well.  Same thing.  I have an official Sony HDMI cable plugged into the sub and into HDMI 3.  I have HDMI 3 configured as standard.

I also have loads of issues posting here.  I get either too many redirects and other errors as well on this site.

[srjohnston80]

After that message appears, the screen comes back on again after a second or 2

[daveyh64]

It is perfectly normal for the screen image to disappear momentarily (about 5 seconds in my case) whilst switching audio outputs.

My 90K does exactly the same thing when switching from TV Speakers to Audio System (Marantz AV),

and vice versa.

[srjohnston80]

Thats a little disappointing, but I can live with it.  It doesnt happen if I use bluetooth, just the soundbar.  If I use bluetooth and am watching something on HDMI say the sky box, the same toast message appears on the screen without it going black.  

I came from the Samsung qn90a.  Did not like that tv too much and they broke bluetooth on the latest firmware update.  I can easily live with the screen going black for a few seconds, but it would be nice if it did not do it at all

[srjohnston80]

Here you can see, when I connect my Sony MK5's via bluetooth to the TV, watching Sky on HDMI 1, the toast message just appears on the screen.  The screen does not go black at all.  It would be nice if the same could happen using the soundbar.  

As I said very minor issue.  I love the TV, just got the PS5 yesterday and it is amazing with it!

Is there a way of using the optical cable from soundbar to TV and have it auto connect when I turn on the soundbar?  If I use optical I think from memory I have to go into settings menu and connect manually. 

[srjohnston80]

Ok I have found the issue.  I decided to swap back to my Samsung Q950A bar to see what the difference was like between it and the HT-S40R.  

On the Samsung I was playing my playstation and all was fine.  I then decided to test my PS5 and a 4k UHD disk with it.  I got weird popping sounds as it was opening the blueray app and starting to play the dvd.  Once playing the dvd the popping stopped.  But if I decided to go to the TV menu it would pop as well.

So googling it I found a guy had a similar issue with his ps5.  He said after troubleshooting he turned off earc and just used arc.  So I did the same, no more popping. 

Plus the big thing is, now when I am watching something say on my sky box, or PS5, if I turn on the soundbar, I just get the toast message to say the speaker input has changed!  No more black screen.  

I wonder why earc was causing the screen to go black on hdmi and arc isn't? 

[Elodin]

Hey @srjohnston80, can you try and set the HDMI signal format for port number 3 to enhanced format and enable eARC on your TV and test the performance?

[srjohnston80]

Hi,

I tried that, no difference.  Still get the black screen with that toast message.  Plus with eARC on I get popping sounds from the PS5 specifically when I load the media player app.  Turn off eARC and the popping sounds stop,

I tried with these cables from amazon, but they are not certified cables.  They helped a little.  Now the screen only goes black sometimes.  I have ordered certified cables from amazon that will arrive tomorrow,  So will see if they perform any better.,

I do think the issues are down to the cables,  It does not happen when watching say something on VLC player for example.  The toast message appears, without the screen going black.  I might try fibre hdmi cables next.