Sharp Sound Bar HT-SBW182 performance

[Hysteresis]

Can you not see if your son can send it back, I know sometimes these things can be fraught with fragile family politics but really I think you're on a hiding to nothing here, the sound quality is poor because it just is. You should be able to plug the optical cable in the back of the soundbar and away you go, absolutely no need for all of this high jinks. Buy a better one, buy secondhand if you want, if you're in no hurry look on Marketplace, at least you can hear them before you buy that way.

I dont really want to send it back, it's rather like 'the gift horse in the mouth' issue. The sound is noticeably better with the cheap Sound Bar but I can't help thinking that it could be better with a bit of knowledgeable tweaking. The problem is my very limited knowledge of what to Tweak. The amount of user adjustments on the LG TV is bewildering and laden with unrecognisable Jargon. Mr Lucid is very knowledgable on these things, I am keeping my fingers crossed he comes up with a solution .

 

[Lucid]

@Hysteresis , thanks for the model number. Now we have that I can see the appropriate user manuals and better understand the issues you're having.

The first thing to say is that LG's user manuals are about as much use as a chocolate teapot. It's irksome that in talking about one thing they reference other features without explaining what they are or do, and that leaves you either in the dark or going around in circles trying to gather up all the relevant info. The other thing they do which I really hate where it throws in disclaimers about some features not being supported on all models. Grrr! You have my sympathy.

Simplink is LGs name for HDMI control. (A.K.A. HDMI CEC). This allows one device to control another. In your case the TV will (or should) control power on/off and volume of the Sharp sound bar from the LG TV remote. Things such as the sound mode settings of the sound bar are beyond the scope of HDMI control. This is the same for me with my Panasonic TV and Yamaha AV receiver, so it's not a limitation of your TV & sound bar combo. Simplink needs to be switched on to enable the HDMI ARC / eARC feature. Without it, you wouldn't get sound from the TV to the sound bar via HDMI.

I have downloaded the web page version of the TV's built-in eHelp, and also the pdf version of your TV user manual that should have come in the box. Bear in mind though that these are direct from the LG web pages, so if they've made any updates after printing your paper manual then what I'm seeing could be different to your printed version.

Paper manual. Page 86. The setting you want is PCM.

Paper manual. Pages 82 and 83. Use wired speaker, set to HDMI(ARC) Device

Paper manual. Page 87. Digital Sound Out -> PCM

Give that a whirl and see how you get on.

 

[Hysteresis]

Hi Lucid,
Thank you so much for your help and advice. I was relieved to read your valued opinion of LG User Manuals. I was beginning to think that age was catching up on me regarding the understanding of what is supposed to be usable operating instruction.
I have downloaded LG latest version of the appropriate manual, I can't recall one being in the box when the TV was delivered, and relied on the built in Manual, which is not very user friendly. The manuals are OK if you know what you are looking for but rubbish when you are looking for a problem solution. Clearly the version I have downloaded is identical to your attachment.
The route through the settings is simple enough,and I had been fiddling around with those sound settings. What I get from my TV is not exactly when the Manual suggests. I had the Sound set to WIred Speakers-HDMI-ARC, but when addressing Advanced Setting, a Digital Sound Option does not display, only the one I mentioned in an earlier mail giving the options of MPEG/Digital Dolby/Digital Dolby Plus/HE-ACC/Auto. The Option for PCM does not appear. Based on our earlier discussions, I tried MPEG which made no difference to the Sound Bar performance.
I have contacted SHARP for their input but I have not had any reply as yet.
I think either my expectations of a £100 Sound Bar are unreasonable, I have Cloth Ears or the Sound Bar is defective. If the latter I doubt SHARP will agree or admit such a conclusion.
Thank you so Much for your invaluable advice, knowledge and considerable time.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

I think either my expectations of a £100 Sound Bar are unreasonable, I have Cloth Ears or the Sound Bar is defective.

They are, I don't really know why Lucid is still attempting to get something from these, they are crap and that is it. You generally get what you pay for. I guess I'm on ignore by now.

 

[Hysteresis]

They are, I don't really know why Lucid is still attempting to get something from these, they are crap and that is it. You generally get what you pay for. I guess I'm on ignore by now.

Lucid is being helpful and constructive in his communications as opposed to dismissive and opinionated.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You have a £1700 TV and you're connecting a £100 sound bar and expecting the earth, nuff said.

 

[Hysteresis]

A few years ago, We used to have an annoying contributor to DIYnot using the title Joe 90. He was totally unconstructive, annoying and Unhelpful. He was ruining a fantastic web facility. It would not be you using another title by any chance?.
You have missed a very basic fact, the Sound Bar was a Present and also the TV was NOT £1700 it was £950.
I am learning an awful lot from Lucid regarding LG Settings which is very useful in other areas other than cheap Sound Bars.
If you have nothing constructive to add, just don't bother to post .

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

No I'm not Joe, he left in a huff years ago I recall, whether it was a present or you bought it is irrelevant, you said the TV was once on sale £1700 ergo it's a £1700 TV. Whilst Lucid's posts may be very interesting your soundbar still sounds as rubbish as it did at the beginning of the thread, your cheap as chips soundbar is crap and that's it, I can't help it if you only like pointless advice.

 

[Hysteresis]

Thought you said "nuf said", now that was encouraging!!!!!!!

 

[Lucid]

They are, I don't really know why Lucid is still attempting to get something from these, they are crap and that is it. You generally get what you pay for. I guess I'm on ignore by now.

If this was a "what should I buy?" thread, then I think your comments about the price disparity would have some merit. In the general way of things, a £90 sound bar is rarely paired with a £1,000 TV where a person takes the time and effort to ask for advice before purchasing. However, as @Hysteresis said, this isn't the case. The sound bar has been bought as a present, and despite your view to the contrary, that is an important factor in this case.

The big question here is whether the sound bar is working correctly. All the effort is going in to troubleshooting that, not into trying to 'improve' the sound bar. Matters are not made simple by the LG TV sound menus and their poor user manuals. That's what we're working through. It's quite a common complaint from sound bar users that dialogue is drowned out during action, or that subs either boom or can't be heard, or that certain modes don't make much of a difference. Some of that is down to sound bars using in-house audio processing algorithms that aren't particularly effective. Room acoustics is another issue, and so is the dynamic range limitations of some audio gear. We need to establish if possible whether the sound bar is dealing with just a stereo signal. I suspect it is, but I can't be 100% sure.

If I happened to be on site, I'd swap out the source for something where I'd know that the bar is getting a PCM 2.0 signal. I could do that with a simple Freeview box and an optical cable. In under 20 minutes I'd have a proper answer. As it stands though, I'm not on site, and the owner is my/our remote eyes on this, so things take a little longer.

It may well turn out that we are dealing with the limitations of the sound bar. If so, then @Hysteresis will have a choice to make.

People's opinions on quality are mostly subjective. My son uses a £30 Bush sound bar with a 32" TV and a games console. In his words, it's okay. He has it as a way to get Bluetooth playback and for gaming. I bought a used Yamaha YSP800 for a little project, and it happened that the seller lived close to where my son is stationed, so my boy picked it up for me. He tried it in place of the Bush, said he couldn't hear much difference. I listened to it when he returned, worried that it might be broken. It wasn't (phew), and it sounds rather good, especially paired with a small sub. The steering of surround effects works well, and it's decent for music too. His "couldn't hear a difference" was more an expression of it being more difficult to fit in his room without rearranging things. For him then, sound quality on base is a lower priority than size and space, particularly when he could be posted somewhere new at quite short notice. What people say doesn't necessarily translate to what they really mean.

 

[Lucid]

The route through the settings is simple enough,and I had been fiddling around with those sound settings. What I get from my TV is not exactly when the Manual suggests.

Some of this could be context sensitive menus. For example, if I go into the settings on my TV, the Freeview tuning menu only appear if the TV is in DTV mode. I know that may sound really obvious, and begs the question why anyone would want to access the Freeview menus when a HDMI input is being displayed. I'm simply offering it as a very clear example of context setting the menu options.

In the case of the LG TV, some of the audio menu settings mention DTV as part of the breadcrumb trail. Just a thought.

I had the Sound set to WIred Speakers-HDMI-ARC, but when addressing Advanced Setting, a Digital Sound Option does not display, only the one I mentioned in an earlier mail giving the options of MPEG/Digital Dolby/Digital Dolby Plus/HE-ACC/Auto. The Option for PCM does not appear. Based on our earlier discussions, I tried MPEG which made no difference to the Sound Bar performance.

I have seen that list in the manual as well as in your previous post. This menu relates to the sound that the TV receives via broadcast. It's a sort of parallel to setting the sound preference for a HDMI input. IMO it's less useful though.

You see, with the HDMI sources it's possible to set a maximum ceiling level for the sound format. PCM is the lowest common denominator, and whilst it's good sound, it is also limited to being either decent quality pure stereo, or a form of surround sound that lacks the precision of Dolby Digital. The sound format is Dolby Surround, and it is decoded by Pro Logic processing. Generally, this setting of a ceiling level is done at the source device, and that might be a Sky receiver, Virgin box, Fire TV stick, Freeview recorder etc. One common complaint with sound bars is the audio being delayed when listening to a Dolby Digital encoded signal. Reducing the sound format to PCM often fixes this.

With TV broadcast, your TV gets what they send. There isn't an option to get the broadcaster to send something else. In many cases the broadcast audio format is HE-AAC. The TV decodes that internally, and then it creates an output in the sound format required by the HDMI ARC or optical connection. The common choices are PCM and Bitstream (Bitstream = Dolby Digital)

In the absence of PCM as a separate choice, the fallback option is Auto, and then keep fingers crossed that the HDMI handshake works correctly to identify the sound bar as stereo so that the TV sends PCM 2.0

 

[Hysteresis]

In the absence of PCM as a separate choice, the fallback option is Auto, and then keep fingers crossed that the HDMI handshake works correctly to identify the sound bar as stereo so that the TV sends PCM 2.0

Based on your comprehensive reply, I will reset the audio back to Auto.
I think we may have exhausted the TV setting options and reached the conclusion that either the Sound Bar is Faulty or that what I've got is as good as I can get for £100 and My expectations unreasonable which what the thread was addressing and in that sense has reached its objective. I have opened a a discussion with Sharp which will probably come to the same conclusion. I will be happy with that, all I was concerned about was exactly your thoughts and that is that the TV settings were set correctly and that maybe the Sound Bar is faulty.
My knowledge of such things is now infinitely more that it was at the beginning of this week.
Thanks so much for your considerable time, patience and effort in addressing my concerns. I'll see what Sharp have to say and of course let you know if they have anything positive to offer.

 

[securespark]

You have a £1700 TV and you're connecting a £100 sound bar and expecting the earth, nuff said.

To be fair, I got my Mum a Roku Streambar (combining Roku functionality with a soundbar).

I bought it to give Mum access to catch-up and to boost the sound for her failing ears. It was £120 and I wasn't sure what to expect.

In fact, I was pleasantly surprised and found it gave a real boost to that available through the TV and it really helped Mum.

So, I wouldn't discount (no pun intended!) cheap soundbars based just on their price.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

No but we all know that in life you generally get what you pay for.