EE TV Pro with soundbar

[RichWallace]

Hi all,

I have recently switched from Sky to EE TV, and so far I am pretty happy. 

Haven't really lost anything I didn't use in terms of TV viewing, so that's all good.

I do have one gripe though, and I just want to make sure its not me missing something.

I have soundbar, a Philips TAB8405, hooked up to my TV, a TCL 43C645K, via eARC.

So setup is configures as follows:

Soundbar to TV via eARC

EE TV Pro box to TV HDMI input

I cannot get the EE remote to control the soundbar, as the sky remote did. 

I have tried all combinations of settings on the EE box, i.e. have it control EE box, or TV. 

I have the audio set to Surround as setting it to stereo is very quiet and poor clarity. 

As far as I can tell, when set to surround, it is by design that the EE remote cannot control audio devices? Is that right?

Additionally, I have noticed that the soundbar is constantly on - when I turn it off it comes back on, and this is with the TV  and EE box switched off - it is like the soundbar is receiving a HDMI signal to power on? This did not happen on Sky.

Is the EE box capable of CEC? Or poorly implemented maybe?

Quite often I power on the EE box via the remote, and it will not power on the TV?

[RichWallace]

Mini box is connected to Technika 24F22B-FHD

This TV also has CEC enabled. But it will show a list of connected devices...which is perpetually blank. Tried 4 cables. This has pretty much convinced me it's bad CEC on EE hardware. 

 

 

[Midnight_Voice]

@RichWallace 

You might want to try some other HDMI devices, such as your son’s Xbox, on these two TVs, see if they show up in the list, and behave as they should.

[RichWallace]

More testing done....

Surprisingly, inconclusive 😒

I removed the soundbar from the equation completely: EE box did not power on the TCL, did no switch inputs, cannot control TV volume. After removing the soundbar from the TV, I did a 'hard reset' of the TV (disconnect from mains power).

The Xbox can control both the TV volume, power and input switching.

I did notice something...With everything hooked back up: EE box to TV HDMI + soundbar arc to TV arc, the soundbar is permanently powered on, displaying "arc" (normally it shows "e-arc" when in use, and the EE box is powering itself on. If i turn the EE box off, it comes back on after a seemingly random, undefined amount of time. But we are talking seconds. 

It is almost like there is some phantom HDMI signal, or CEC signal ( ? ) being sent / getting 'stuck'

But whatever it is, I am now entirely convinced this is an issue with the EE box

There is literally nothing more I can do to try and remedy. I am confident I have tried everything, multiple time

And given I have a similar issue on a different piece of EE hardware (mini box), with both setups working flawlessly before introducing the EE box, I think it is pointing towards the CEC and / or HDMI implementation / hardware on the EE boxes. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@RichWallace 

My own CEC experience with YouView may be illuminating here.

If I turn on a YouView box, be it T2100, T4000 or Box Mini, when my LG GX TV and LG GX soundbar are off, the TV turns on and the soundbar turns on, but the soundbar comes up HDMI, i.e. it has been switched to its single HDMI input. However, it doesn’t turn on the attached UHD player, as it would if i chose the HDMI input manually.

So i have to turn the TV on first, which turns the soundbar on to eARC. And then if I turn the YouView box on, it switches to that input without further issue.

The EETV Apple TV box does not have the problem the Box Mini does, and just fires up the TV on its HDMI input and the soundbar come on eARC, as do my non-EETV devices.

The upstairs Box Mini appears to work OK, but there is just the LG C2 there that it is plugged into, so it has no opportunity to misbehave with a soundbar.

Something that slightly plagues me upstairs on the the (non-EETV) Apple box always fires up when the TV does, even if I don’t want it to, but that’s probably a separate issue. Maybe I should move it off HDMI 1, or something.

[RichWallace]

Sounds like you also have some issues with arc / cec....which again points towards the EE hardware.

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The EETV Apple TV box does not have the problem the Box Mini does, and just fires up the TV on its HDMI input and the soundbar come on eARC, as do my non-EETV devices.

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As here, you remove the EE hardware = no problems 

[RichWallace]

Well, still my problems continue

I have to say, I am bitterly disappointed that the EE hardware is not able to do such a basic task

Its 2025, and due to the EE hardware, I have to use 3 different remote controls to watch TV 🤦‍♂️

[robh661]

Won’t the TV turn on the Soundbar, before you turn the EE box on. That way you lose a remote, because that’s how I do it. 
But I do still have a standard Ariel attached to EE box using the pass through port on the back. 

[RichWallace]

@robh661 

Nope

Currently NOTHING works as you'd expect

And with the added problem of being unable to actually turn of the soundbar I am at a total loss of how to even half fix this...I have tried everything, and it all points towards crappy EE hardware 

[Midnight_Voice]

@RichWallace 

Disconnect the EETV box from the HDMI of the TV. Plug the aerial into the TV.

The TV and soundbar should now work together perfectly in all respects, off a single remote.

Is this the case? If not, what residual problems remain?

[RichWallace]

@Midnight_Voice 

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Disconnect the EETV box from the HDMI of the TV. Plug the aerial into the TV.

The TV and soundbar should now work together perfectly in all respects, off a single remote.

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Based on what? What has the TV aerial got to do with anything? Are TV aerials magic?

Why on earth would the TV aerial solve the problem of poor EE hardware? 🤔

I have no use for a TV aerial, not even sure I have an aerial on the house having been with Sky for 16 years prior to EE 

If there is, I highly doubt its wideband, or could even be considered 'modern'

As I have previously said, I have tried all possible permutations, and the only way to get the TV remove talking to the soundbar is too remove the EE box Pro. Disconnect the TV and soundbar from the mains, and power back on without the EE box connected.