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First Off - thanks very much indeed for the helpful responses, Quinicus, Royabrown and Roobb. Much appreciated.
I have copied the instructions I received from Cambridge with the sound bar to show I am not completely barking. There is a lot of overlap with the "How To" doc you linked to Royabrown but it does not include everything, and there is not a reference to the "How To" doc in the guide either. The "How To" does confirm that the soundbar only handles stereo. Having read the linked docs from Quinicus and your stuff Royabrown I am now happy that I am getting what I deserve from my £300 sound bar. At least this query can stay here to hopefully help others if they try to use the same TV with a Cambridge sound bar running with the default TV settings straight from the box. The "How To" doc wouldn't be much more paper than the "Quick Start" guide so Cammbridge could improve a bit, as could Sony with an explanation of what the sound output options mean. I am still not completely convinced the TV is spot on as the auto setting on digital sound should detect that the sound bar doesn't want the DTS etc and flip to PCM. Unless Auto means the user has to go into the settings menu and switch it over themselves 
I am actually running a Sony STR-DG820 AV Amp with a HW45ES projector and Mission speakers in my back room so I don't need much more for the telly, but I would have been a bit annoyed if I'd been left hanging with that lot.
Anyway, cheers all for the heads up, and I will def not be buying anymore AV equipment for a while. Not unless I have the Samaritans on standby on a secure landline.
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@preeder1963 wrote:First Off - thanks very much indeed for the helpful responses, Quinicus, Royabrown and Roobb. Much appreciated.
I have copied the instructions I received from Cambridge with the sound bar to show I am not completely barking. There is a lot of overlap with the "How To" doc you linked to Royabrown but it does not include everything, and there is not a reference to the "How To" doc in the guide either. The "How To" does confirm that the soundbar only handles stereo. Having read the linked docs from Quinicus and your stuff Royabrown I am now happy that I am getting what I deserve from my £300 sound bar. At least this query can stay here to hopefully help others if they try to use the same TV with a Cambridge sound bar running with the default TV settings straight from the box. The "How To" doc wouldn't be much more paper than the "Quick Start" guide so Cammbridge could improve a bit, as could Sony with an explanation of what the sound output options mean. I am still not completely convinced the TV is spot on as the auto setting on digital sound should detect that the sound bar doesn't want the DTS etc and flip to PCM. Unless Auto means the user has to go into the settings menu and switch it over themselves
I am actually running a Sony STR-DG820 AV Amp with a HW45ES projector and Mission speakers in my back room so I don't need much more for the telly, but I would have been a bit annoyed if I'd been left hanging with that lot.
Anyway, cheers all for the heads up, and I will def not be buying anymore AV equipment for a while. Not unless I have the Samaritans on standby on a secure landline.
Hi @preeder1963
We know you aren't doing dog impressions 😞
Here's the document you have, on the Cambridge website, As you say, it's like, but perhaps not quite as good as, the 'How To', which is why I referenced that,
Re 'Auto', this is the TV sending out the 'best' signal it can, and it will rate 5.1 over stereo. Expecting 'Auto' to imply a negotiation with the soundbar over what it can and can't handle is a big ask (even though this is what HDMI does with the 'up' video/audio) at present, for the something of an afterthought that ARC is.
(The people who designed HDMI clearly never looked at what SCART can do, or it would have been bidirectional, video and audio, from the start. In practice, bidirectional audio just about serves, though even here ARC is regarded as a bonus on certain HDMI ports, instead of the absence of it on every port being regarded as a negative).
So if your sound device can't handle the 'best' sound output, you have to take the sending device off Auto, as you have found,
Re buying any more AV, don't fret. As long as it is Sony, or hooked up to Sony, we are your good samaritans (small 's') on standby here, on a line as secure as your internet can manage 🙂
@royabrown wrote:
Re buying any more AV, don't fret. As long as it is Sony, or hooked up to Sony, we are your good samaritans (small 's') on standby here, on a line as secure as your internet can manage 🙂
Be a good Samaritan and get me one of those new OLED TVs. I wont be too fussy, the 55" model will be fine. 
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@Quinnicus wrote:
@royabrown wrote:Re buying any more AV, don't fret. As long as it is Sony, or hooked up to Sony, we are your good samaritans (small 's') on standby here, on a line as secure as your internet can manage 🙂
Be a good Samaritan and get me one of those new OLED TVs. I wont be too fussy, the 55" model will be fine.
I was kind of hoping you could get me one 🙂
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