Samsung HW-Q990B/995B passthrough question

[Muyfa666]

I'm getting my Samsung HW-Q995B this week and was wondering if there are any pros or cons to connecting my UHD-player to the soundbar with passthrough instead of having it plugged in directly in one of the TV HDMI's?

The player is a Panasonic DP-UB820, so the 4K@60hz limit of the soundbar should be enough for it I think?

[chip75]

It won't make much difference, but generally I'd connect the player to the TV and send audio to the sound bar. That way if you have multi devices in the sound bar you can keep your picture settings for your player separate.

Just do what's most convenient.

[Ruined]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

I'm getting my Samsung HW-Q995B this week and was wondering if there are any pros or cons to connecting my UHD-player to the soundbar with passthrough instead of having it plugged in directly in one of the TV HDMI's?

The player is a Panasonic DP-UB820, so the 4K@60hz limit of the soundbar should be enough for it I think?

Does your TV support both ATMOS and DTS-HDMA passthrough w/ eARC? If not, when you use passthrough it may default to the lowest common denominator. Most 2021 models could pass through Atmos but many had issues with passing through DTS-MA. You need a pretty recent TV (i.e. 2022 model or later) to do passthrough with all sound formats with no issues or downconversions.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by chip75

It won't make much difference, but generally I'd connect the player to the TV and send audio to the sound bar. That way if you have multi devices in the sound bar you can keep your picture settings for your player separate.

Just do what's most convenient.

By connecting to the soundbar, I would free up a HDMI port on the TV, that I could use if I were to connect another modern gaming console.

I guess it's not really an issue here and now thou, as I have a HDMI-switch that fully supports 4K@120hz, and I have a free HDMI on that one.

Originally Posted by Ruined

Does your TV support both ATMOS and DTS-HDMA passthrough w/ eARC? If not, when you use passthrough it may default to the lowest common denominator. Most 2021 models could pass through Atmos but many had issues with passing through DTS-MA. You need a pretty recent TV (i.e. 2022 model or later) to do passthrough with all sound formats with no issues or downconversions.

Good point. I have a LG OLED77CS6 that's very new. Not sure how it handles DTS. Any reliable way to find out? I guess I can just connect it and see what happens.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

Good point. I have a LG OLED77CS6 that's very new. Not sure how it handles DTS. Any reliable way to find out? I guess I can just connect it and see what happens.

LG abandoned DTS a good few years back.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by chip75

LG abandoned DTS a good few years back.

So I will have to connect everything directly to get DTS:X etc? Passthrough not possible at all?

EDIT: I completely missed that LG will not do DTS:X even with a soundbar that supports it. So weird.

I'll look into getting a HDFury Arcana to get around it, and if all else fails, PCM will of course make me play the DTS:X tracks.

Annoying, but can at least be fixed.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

So I will have to connect everything directly to get DTS:X etc? Passthrough not possible at all?

You won't be able to passthrough any of the DTS codes through ARC or eARC.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by chip75

You won't be able to passthrough any of the DTS codes through ARC or eARC.

Yes, you’re right. I got DTS-X working by connecting the UHD-player to the soundbar, so all is good, no adapters needed. :-)

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Muyfa666

Yes, you’re right. I got DTS-X working by connecting the UHD-player to the soundbar, so all is good, no adapters needed. :-)

You'll should get the same result if you just output the audio to your sound bar.

The DTS thing is annoying, my old plasma actually supports DTS playback.

[Muyfa666]

Originally Posted by chip75

You'll should get the same result if you just output the audio to your sound bar.

The DTS thing is annoying, my old plasma actually supports DTS playback.

How do you mean?

EDIT: I understand, no real point in doing that thou, as I lose one more HDMI port that I can use for something else.