Warning - Using soundbar to pass Sky Q HDMI to Bravia

[ksaro1]

I have a KE-55A8 Bravia and HT-X8500 soundbar alongs with a Sky Q 2Tb main box. I initially connected the Sky Q main box to the HDMI In on the HT-X8500 and connected the HT-X8500 via eArc HDMI to the Bravia. All seemed to be fine.

However, I then checked the HDR configuration of my Sky Q box and the Bravia and found it was set to 8 bit HDR even though the Bravia supports 10 bit. So, I tried to configure the Sky Q to use 10 bit HDR from the Bravia and this failed with the Sky Q box reporting that my TV didn't support 10 bit. I then connected the Sky Q box's HDMI directly to HDMI 2 on my Bravia and lo and behold, when I retried to configure the Sky Q box to use 10 bit HDR this then worked.

So, I'm guessing that some information is being lost when the Sky Q box is connected to the soundbar instead of the TV. Perhaps this query is for the Audio forum? I do note that the manual for the HT-X8500 mentions that it supports HDR pass-through though.

[LightFoot · Accepted solution]

Hi @ksaro1 

I am not familiar with the HT-X8500 but my HT-ZF9 happily passes through Sky Q HDR (2160p 10bit) to my TV. Note I had to set the HT-ZF9 HDMI ports to Enhanced (the same as the TV). Is there an Enhanced settings on your HT-X8000 soundbar for HDMI passthrough?

[ksaro1]

I hadn't enabled Enhanced HDMI on the soundbar (missed that in the manual). Now that I've set the soundbar correctly my Bravia supports the Sky Q box as expected.

[Joe_Dohn]

Am I correct to assume that everything working as it should now? (slightly confused)

[ksaro1]

Yes, once I enabled the Enhanced ARC functionality on my HDMI interfaces on the HT-X8500, then all worked as expected. The default setting must be to not have this enabled.