Sony S-Force front surround sound

[howtoon]

I have a Bravia 46NX703 TV and a Sony HT-CT350 soundbar.  The subwoofer is connected to the TV via an HDMI cable into the HDMI slot marked "ARC".  The sound is loud and rich, but I cannot say I have noticed any pronounced surround sound effect, either from using the Sky HD set top box, the Sony S570 Blu Ray player, or the soundbar's radio tuner.  Could one of you tell me please if there may be a TV setting or a soundbar setting that I have overlooked?  The TV speakers and the soundbar are mutually exclusive, ie they do not both play simultaneously as one knocks out the other.  Obviously I always listen via the speakers in the soundbar.  Can anyone offer any guidance please?

[howtoon · Accepted solution]

For the benefit of others, I now have the answer to why I was not getting s-force surround sound.  Quite simply, Sky HD Set Top Boxes (STBs) do not output Dolby Digital signals through their HDMI outlet sockets.  It is necessary to use an Optical Audio cable in parallel with the HDMI cable.  The optical cable runs from the optical outlet on the back of the STB to the optical input on the back of the sub-woofer.  It is also necessary to change the Audio option on the soundbar system to "OPT" (page 50 in the guide) and then, as long as the programme you are watching has a Dolby Digital soundtrack, you should see this indicated in the subwoofer display window and you will definitely hear very impressive sound effects from the system.

I hope this helps somebody.