Connect Optical Soundbar to HDMI ARC TV

[DrBrianHouser]

I purchased a generic BYL soundbar that has an optical input but I want to connect it to my HDMI ARC port on my TCL 65S425 so I can use my TV remote to control the volume. There are many audio converters on Amazon to choose and I have no idea which one will work for my needs. Can somebody please help me? Or will any of these work, or provide a better option?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CJ96MQV/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A36PN40E750046&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P7SKWY7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3GE4HK1J73CN8&psc=1

Thank you

 

[TLS Guy]

I purchased a generic BYL soundbar that has an optical input but I want to connect it to my HDMI ARC port on my TCL 65S425 so I can use my TV remote to control the volume. There are many audio converters on Amazon to choose and I have no idea which one will work for my needs. Can somebody please help me? Or will any of these work, or provide a better option?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CJ96MQV/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A36PN40E750046&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P7SKWY7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3GE4HK1J73CN8&psc=1

Thank you

Pick one and try it. Then please let us know.

HDMI is touchy and these type of units advertised to work may not, as they can fall foul of the fact that HDMI is touchy and has a lot of inbuilt digital rights management. Especially the latter means you can never guarantee success with any course of action.

If you look at the reviews, then you can see both worked to some degree 75% of the time. For the rest it did not work or there were significant issues.

You should know that the legality of those units is questionable as it strips the HDCP codes, which is part of digital rights management. The industry has threatened, and has taken, legal action against those type of devices. They are known collectively as HDMI audio strippers.

Basically the industry wants only HDMI to HDMI connections, and continues to ramp up actions against other connections. In short they continue to try and enforce the HDMI handshake between devices.

Your best option is to get a soundbar with a certified HDMI input. Lastly even if your solution works now, it could be silenced down the road with a firmware upgrade.

 

[TLS Guy]

Pick one and try it. Then please let us know.

HDMI is touchy and these type of units advertised to work may not, as they can fall foul of the fact that HDMI is touchy and has a lot of inbuilt digital rights management. Especially the latter means you can never guarantee success with any course of action.

If you look at the reviews, then you can see both worked to some degree 75% of the time. For the rest it did not work or there were significant issues.

You should know that the legality of those units is questionable as it strips the HDCP codes, which is part of digital rights management. The industry has threatened, and has taken, legal action against those type of devices. They are known collectively as HDMI audio strippers.

Basically the industry wants only HDMI to HDMI connections, and continues to ramp up actions against other connections. In short they continue to try and enforce the HDMI handshake between devices.

Your best option is to get a soundbar with a certified HDMI input. Lastly even if your solution works now, it could be silenced down the road with a firmware upgrade.

I have looked into this further. In order for the devices you want they must not strip the HDCP codes. So at the price they are you can bet that they will not be HDCP certified, as that is very expensive. So it then becomes which ones will work with which TV. So in other words, these will work with a TV that sends HDCP codes the converter can recognize. So that is where you can be lucky or not. Problems can be on the TV end or both.