Please help.. low volume on blu ray player-soundbar - Blu-ray Forum

AKORIS · 12-27-2017, 06:38 PM

I've researched this everywhere and cannot find an answer but there's got to be a solution.

I have a 65" SUHD Samsung 4k TV. It's got the dangly input box where everything gets connected to it... cable box, blu ray players, etc.

Recently I bought a SONY soundbar for my system. Costco model # HT CT790.

The sound is rich and pleasing but............

The volume is 2 times louder on the cable box versus my blu ray players. The volume goes to 50 on this soundbar and at 20-25 the TV volume is ultra loud... not the case on both of my blu ray players. I can MAX the volume at 50 and still there are times I would like it to be louder.

I am using the ARC connector on the input box from the soundbar. I am using a single HDMI connector as well as an optical cord (I have experimented both with the HDMI only as well as the optical only).

I have switched to every combination I can think of from PCM to DDS to DTS, etc... as well as switching HDMI cables. Nothing changed the lack of volume from the blu ray players...

It doesn't make any sense to me since everything is connected from one source (TV) to Soundbar... why would the TV have such higher volume???

Desperate for any input!!

chip75 · 12-27-2017, 07:13 PM

Does the cable box have a separate volume that's maxed out? Does it clip at the top end?

Just use the HDMI ARC connection, you don't need the optical as well. You can check your TV's sound options to make sure the TV doesn't have separate volume control for different outputs (or it thinks it's outputting to headphones). But you might just have to turn down the cable box to match the players to normalize the volume.

I'll have a look at the manuals to see if there's anything else ... what model is your TV?

Try Home > System Settings > HDMI Settings > HDMI Signal Format > Standard Format/Enhanced Format

AKORIS · 12-27-2017, 07:33 PM

SAMSUNG UN65KS800 (Costco model)

doesn't appear to be any separate volume control to the cable box...

chip75 · 12-27-2017, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKORIS

SAMSUNG UN65KS800 (Costco model)

doesn't appear to be any separate volume control to the cable box...

You can try:

Quote:

Home > Settings > Sound > Select Speaker

then try just selecting external speaker.

Unfortunately Samsung's on-line manuals are pretty much useless as they're so basic.

slimdude · 12-28-2017, 04:14 AM

Soundbars (in general) are limited in sound quality overall, and a wireless audio system doesn't sound near as good as the wired counterpart. I've tried wireless headphones, and I didn't like them at all so I returned them because, they sounded distant and very weak, compared to the wired, so this may be the case with the issue that you're having with the volume, due to the fact that it being a wireless system... If you prefer a soundbar, I would return and exchange it for a wired sounbar, and I'll guarantee you it will sound much better.

AKORIS · 01-01-2018, 12:10 AM

just thought I'd bump this to see if anyone else has any ideas or input?

Can a cable box put out a dramatically stronger audio signal than a blu ray player?

I just can't grasp how it literally has double the volume than not one, but 2 blu ray players

chip75 · 01-01-2018, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKORIS

Can a cable box put out a dramatically stronger audio signal than a blu ray player?

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKORIS

SAMSUNG UN65KS800 (Costco model)

doesn't appear to be any separate volume control to the cable box...

What model is your cable box? Does your cable box have a volume control (that's what I meant with my initial question)? If it does you should set it halfway to balance out the inputs to your sound bar.

AKORIS · 01-04-2018, 10:08 PM

well, I appear to have made some progress...

I got rid of the HDMI AARC connection entirely and simply hooked up a single Optical cable from the TV to the soundbar... that's it.

I also moved the "volume" button on the soundbar to a plus 1.....

Suddenly the bass is much louder and the volume has increased from what it was. Interestingly enough the cable box now seems to balance closer to the blu ray players now as well...

I only checked out 2 4k discs so far-- Baby Driver and Kong--Skull Island. My only disappointment is with Baby Driver which for some crazy reason seems to still have lower volume.... that's impossible right?

AKORIS · 01-04-2018, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip75

What model is your cable box? Does your cable box have a volume control (that's what I meant with my initial question)? If it does you should set it halfway to balance out the inputs to your sound bar.

I'm not at home to check on the cable box brand but I did go into the settings and switched the volume output to stereo from Dolby Digital.... it seemed to have a positive result based on my post above.....

AKORIS · 01-12-2018, 02:36 PM

so, if anyone is interested I thought I'd give an update. Sound is now somewhat even between everything from cable to blu ray player. I can get good volume even at the 25 to 30 mark on the soundbar which is great.

The one piece that's still coming up short is the 4k player and after testing that out I've determined that it's on 4k discs only, not with regular blu rays on the same player.

On 4k I have the volume at 40 and can go to MAX level of 50 without it being too loud.

My conclusion is that 4k discs have ATMOS audio and most do not even give you the option of choosing "regular" DTS or DDS 5.1. For some reason this audio format is not translating the same way as other audio options to a soundbar...

Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I'm a little disappointed in this revelation but also somewhat happy that I'm at least figuring everything out... and I can live with slightly lower volume on 4k by appreciating the superior picture.

WinterBox · 01-26-2018, 07:57 PM

Just saw this thread. Having the same problem.

Sony TV, a Sony Blu-ray, with a Polk Soundbar hooked up Digital Optical Cable only, not HDMI.

Ok, when I'm watching Cable TV, everything is at normal volume. Dialog is clear, all is clear, doesn't matter watch channel I'm watching. The Music Channels are clear, and I can crank them up loud. With the Polk Soundbar , let's say I normally listen to anything on cable about 30% volume.

Ok, when I'm watching a Blu-Ray (Sony player hooked directly to Sony TV via HDMI) I have to to crank the volume up to about 70% to hear low dialog films. Example, just watched Django Blu. I swear I needed like 80% to hear some dialog scenes comfortably. If I had that same volume for cable watching , it would blow my room away. LOL Not this matters, but I telling the truth when I say I have very sensitive hearing and can hear excellent. So my hearing is not a problem.

Also, my TV has Speaker Settings. BUT the Sony TV greys them out when choosing the Sound Bar. When you pick use Audio System instead of TV Speakers, everything gets overridden. I can't adjust any sound setting within the TV. If I keep TV Speakers connected, then I could I guess adjust things. But then it's gonna have that echo effect conflicting with the sound bar. I actually never tried to adjust any setting before anyway, everything was left standard. Not using the Digital Optical cable is not an option. I have to. All 4 HDMI are being used.

More info. I recently just got this Polk Soundbar. Before everything was hooked up the same.(except for the soundbar) I listened to everything through the Sony TV Speakers. AND My Sony Blu-ray player played movies low volume too. My Sony TV uses numbers. My regular cable viewing was around 10 to 15 out of 100. Any Blu-ray , I'm cranking it to a 30 range to hear clear dialog.

Can't for life of me find or fix the problem. Maybe it's Sony Blu- players. Iv'e heard some things hear and there about the volume. LOL This thread. I would buy an OPPO, the reviews are excellent. But I'm not spending $600 for the sound to be low again. ZERO reason that there should be this poor volume issue especially with Blu's. I don't have a crappy player and TV.

P.S. - I have a DVD player hooked up too. Panasonic(it's about 12 years old) The volume level is not a problem. It's hooked up using component cables. Mind blowing.

snflwr777 · 10-16-2018, 05:17 PM

I have an outdoor movie screen that i use an epsom projector to play movie from a smart blu ray player so i can stream the movies from netflix. the blu ray supports blu tooth so i have a JBL charge 3 connected through blu tooth to the blu ray for volume. When i play an actual blu ray in the player the volume is great on the JBL but when i stream a movie through the blu ray the volume is super low. Does anyone know why the volume would be so low when streaming through say NETFLIX if the volume is loud for a blu ray disk? I cant figure this out. I also have a wifi extender for the outdoor use.

thanks,

wesleyisme · 02-26-2022, 07:23 AM

Sorry to add to such an old thread but I am having similar issue as original poster...

I have Samsung TV hooked up to Samsung Soundbar via HDMI ARC. I have cable box connected into 1 input on my TV and have a Kinivo HDMI Switcher connected to another HDMI input on my TV. I have a Firestick, 4k Player, and PS5 connected to the switcher.

The volume when watch cable is great... but when watching something thru the Firestick or 4K Player, I always find myself having to turn the volume up.... I don't understand why. I haven't tried using the optical cord yet, but I don't see why that'd make difference if sound from cable box is perfect....

12-27-2017, 06:38 PM	#1
AKORIS Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Beautiful Pacific Northwest 4K collection:662 Blu-ray collection:3655 Blu-ray reviews:19	Please help.. low volume on blu ray player-soundbar I've researched this everywhere and cannot find an answer but there's got to be a solution. I have a 65" SUHD Samsung 4k TV. It's got the dangly input box where everything gets connected to it... cable box, blu ray players, etc. Recently I bought a SONY soundbar for my system. Costco model # HT CT790. The sound is rich and pleasing but............ The volume is 2 times louder on the cable box versus my blu ray players. The volume goes to 50 on this soundbar and at 20-25 the TV volume is ultra loud... not the case on both of my blu ray players. I can MAX the volume at 50 and still there are times I would like it to be louder. I am using the ARC connector on the input box from the soundbar. I am using a single HDMI connector as well as an optical cord (I have experimented both with the HDMI only as well as the optical only). I have switched to every combination I can think of from PCM to DDS to DTS, etc... as well as switching HDMI cables. Nothing changed the lack of volume from the blu ray players... It doesn't make any sense to me since everything is connected from one source (TV) to Soundbar... why would the TV have such higher volume??? Desperate for any input!!

12-27-2017, 07:13 PM	#2
chip75 Blu-ray Grand Duke Top contributor Member since:Oct 2010 Location:Wales 4K collection:304 Blu-ray collection:3100 DVD collection:1782 iTunes collection:230 Trading Score:9	Does the cable box have a separate volume that's maxed out? Does it clip at the top end? Just use the HDMI ARC connection, you don't need the optical as well. You can check your TV's sound options to make sure the TV doesn't have separate volume control for different outputs (or it thinks it's outputting to headphones). But you might just have to turn down the cable box to match the players to normalize the volume. I'll have a look at the manuals to see if there's anything else ... what model is your TV? Try Home > System Settings > HDMI Settings > HDMI Signal Format > Standard Format/Enhanced Format Last edited by chip75; 12-27-2017 at 07:19 PM.

12-28-2017, 04:14 AM	#5
slimdude Banned Member since:Apr 2009 4K collection:- Blu-ray collection:- DVD collection:- Blu-ray reviews:8	Soundbars (in general) are limited in sound quality overall, and a wireless audio system doesn't sound near as good as the wired counterpart. I've tried wireless headphones, and I didn't like them at all so I returned them because, they sounded distant and very weak, compared to the wired, so this may be the case with the issue that you're having with the volume, due to the fact that it being a wireless system... If you prefer a soundbar, I would return and exchange it for a wired sounbar, and I'll guarantee you it will sound much better. Last edited by slimdude; 12-28-2017 at 12:52 PM.

01-26-2018, 07:57 PM	#11
WinterBox Senior Member Member since:Jul 2017	Just saw this thread. Having the same problem. Sony TV, a Sony Blu-ray, with a Polk Soundbar hooked up Digital Optical Cable only, not HDMI. Ok, when I'm watching Cable TV, everything is at normal volume. Dialog is clear, all is clear, doesn't matter watch channel I'm watching. The Music Channels are clear, and I can crank them up loud. With the Polk Soundbar , let's say I normally listen to anything on cable about 30% volume. Ok, when I'm watching a Blu-Ray (Sony player hooked directly to Sony TV via HDMI) I have to to crank the volume up to about 70% to hear low dialog films. Example, just watched Django Blu. I swear I needed like 80% to hear some dialog scenes comfortably. If I had that same volume for cable watching , it would blow my room away. LOL Not this matters, but I telling the truth when I say I have very sensitive hearing and can hear excellent. So my hearing is not a problem. Also, my TV has Speaker Settings. BUT the Sony TV greys them out when choosing the Sound Bar. When you pick use Audio System instead of TV Speakers, everything gets overridden. I can't adjust any sound setting within the TV. If I keep TV Speakers connected, then I could I guess adjust things. But then it's gonna have that echo effect conflicting with the sound bar. I actually never tried to adjust any setting before anyway, everything was left standard. Not using the Digital Optical cable is not an option. I have to. All 4 HDMI are being used. More info. I recently just got this Polk Soundbar. Before everything was hooked up the same.(except for the soundbar) I listened to everything through the Sony TV Speakers. AND My Sony Blu-ray player played movies low volume too. My Sony TV uses numbers. My regular cable viewing was around 10 to 15 out of 100. Any Blu-ray , I'm cranking it to a 30 range to hear clear dialog. Can't for life of me find or fix the problem. Maybe it's Sony Blu- players. Iv'e heard some things hear and there about the volume. LOL This thread. I would buy an OPPO, the reviews are excellent. But I'm not spending $600 for the sound to be low again. ZERO reason that there should be this poor volume issue especially with Blu's. I don't have a crappy player and TV. P.S. - I have a DVD player hooked up too. Panasonic(it's about 12 years old) The volume level is not a problem. It's hooked up using component cables. Mind blowing. Last edited by WinterBox; 01-26-2018 at 08:10 PM.

10-16-2018, 05:17 PM	#12
snflwr777 New Member Member since:Oct 2018	volume issue I have an outdoor movie screen that i use an epsom projector to play movie from a smart blu ray player so i can stream the movies from netflix. the blu ray supports blu tooth so i have a JBL charge 3 connected through blu tooth to the blu ray for volume. When i play an actual blu ray in the player the volume is great on the JBL but when i stream a movie through the blu ray the volume is super low. Does anyone know why the volume would be so low when streaming through say NETFLIX if the volume is loud for a blu ray disk? I cant figure this out. I also have a wifi extender for the outdoor use. thanks,

12-27-2017, 07:33 PM	#3
AKORIS Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Beautiful Pacific Northwest 4K collection:662 Blu-ray collection:3655 Blu-ray reviews:19	SAMSUNG UN65KS800 (Costco model) doesn't appear to be any separate volume control to the cable box...

01-01-2018, 12:10 AM	#6
AKORIS Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Beautiful Pacific Northwest 4K collection:662 Blu-ray collection:3655 Blu-ray reviews:19	just thought I'd bump this to see if anyone else has any ideas or input? Can a cable box put out a dramatically stronger audio signal than a blu ray player? I just can't grasp how it literally has double the volume than not one, but 2 blu ray players

01-04-2018, 10:08 PM	#8
AKORIS Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Beautiful Pacific Northwest 4K collection:662 Blu-ray collection:3655 Blu-ray reviews:19	well, I appear to have made some progress... I got rid of the HDMI AARC connection entirely and simply hooked up a single Optical cable from the TV to the soundbar... that's it. I also moved the "volume" button on the soundbar to a plus 1..... Suddenly the bass is much louder and the volume has increased from what it was. Interestingly enough the cable box now seems to balance closer to the blu ray players now as well... I only checked out 2 4k discs so far-- Baby Driver and Kong--Skull Island. My only disappointment is with Baby Driver which for some crazy reason seems to still have lower volume.... that's impossible right?

01-12-2018, 02:36 PM	#10
AKORIS Blu-ray Prince Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Beautiful Pacific Northwest 4K collection:662 Blu-ray collection:3655 Blu-ray reviews:19	so, if anyone is interested I thought I'd give an update. Sound is now somewhat even between everything from cable to blu ray player. I can get good volume even at the 25 to 30 mark on the soundbar which is great. The one piece that's still coming up short is the 4k player and after testing that out I've determined that it's on 4k discs only, not with regular blu rays on the same player. On 4k I have the volume at 40 and can go to MAX level of 50 without it being too loud. My conclusion is that 4k discs have ATMOS audio and most do not even give you the option of choosing "regular" DTS or DDS 5.1. For some reason this audio format is not translating the same way as other audio options to a soundbar... Anyone else experiencing anything like this? I'm a little disappointed in this revelation but also somewhat happy that I'm at least figuring everything out... and I can live with slightly lower volume on 4k by appreciating the superior picture.

02-26-2022, 07:23 AM	#13
wesleyisme Member Top contributor Member since:Feb 2021	Sorry to add to such an old thread but I am having similar issue as original poster... I have Samsung TV hooked up to Samsung Soundbar via HDMI ARC. I have cable box connected into 1 input on my TV and have a Kinivo HDMI Switcher connected to another HDMI input on my TV. I have a Firestick, 4k Player, and PS5 connected to the switcher. The volume when watch cable is great... but when watching something thru the Firestick or 4K Player, I always find myself having to turn the volume up.... I don't understand why. I haven't tried using the optical cord yet, but I don't see why that'd make difference if sound from cable box is perfect....

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