LG wireless sound bar requires cables to work with 4K TV

[Anderson48]

I just dropped $1700 on a 4K TV and "wireless" Sound Bar from LG.

The setup instructions of the sound bar (6 pictures in a manual 2 pages long), show how to connect them with
- optical cable
- HDMI
Those are the options.

How is this a wireless sound bar if it requires cables??

Not that it matters; it doesn't work no matter which way I slice it.

I hate hate hate hate hate technology.

What kind of sound bars did you buy?? tell me it will helps me a lot.

 

[rcgldr]

I'm old school, I hooked up the TV sound as well as the devices that send video to the TV to my stereo. I'm wondering how common it is for people to have stereos or home theater setups that they can connect along with the TV.

Best Buy has a fairly high turnover rate, and a fairly low percentage of the sales people know that much about the products they sell, and the products themselves change from season to season, adding to the confusion. Just watch out for accessories like cables, Best Buy tends to have a large markup on them.

- - -

About LG 4K TV audio - I bought a 4K OLED TV, the next to lowest model. At least in the case of LG OLED TV's, there's a potential issue with audio delay. DVRs and 4K blu-ray players already delay audio so that it is synced up with the video signal and typical video processing time. The LG TVs add an additional delay. You can go into the settings, and select a setting that let's you adjust the delay, and although the "delay" range is like from -4 to +10, this is an adjustment to the default delay, not the actual delay, so 0 translates into the default delay and -4 is still too much additional delay. I had to choose a third option which disables the audio delay completely. Using Dolby Atmos may also affect the audio delay, but I don't use it, since I'm sending sound from the DVR or 4K player to the stereo in parallel with the video being sent to the TV. If I'm using the stereo, I set the TV audio volume to 0.

- - -

About LG streaming services (NetFlix, YouTube, ...) - apparently the network cards used in LG TVs go out frequently enough that it is a known issue. Using the default fast.com benchmark, when the network card on our LG TV went out, the speed dropped from 25 Mbps to 0.8 Mbps. I checked this after noticing the streaming services stop streaming and had long delays and/or dropped to a low resolution format. I had the card replaced under an extended warranty, as LG's warranty people had me call 3 different service shops, none of which could replace the network card.

My impression is that the 4K blu-ray player's streaming services are better quality than what I get from the LG TV.

 

[russ_watters]

[ignoring likely spam setup in previous post...]

I'm old school, I hooked up the TV sound as well as the devices that send video to the TV to my stereo. I'm wondering how common it is for people to have stereos or home theater setups that they can connect along with the TV.

I've never had a rack stereo system, only the mini system I had in college. Since then I've done a "home theater in a box" setup. The downside is if you want to upgrade you're pretty much replacing the entire thing. Upside is they've gotten cheap.

I bought a 4K OLED TV, the next to lowest model.

I think that needs to be my next jump. I'm on my third LCD/LED and the improvements have been only incremental. My next TV needs a high dynamic range - that's the final frontier IMO.

 

[rcgldr]

I'm old school, I hooked up the TV sound as well as the devices that send video to the TV to my stereo. I'm wondering how common it is for people to have stereos or home theater setups that they can connect along with the TV.

I've never had a rack stereo system, only the mini system I had in college. Since then I've done a "home theater in a box" setup. The downside is if you want to upgrade you're pretty much replacing the entire thing. Upside is they've gotten cheap.

My stuff is truly "old school". Other than the receiver I bought a few years back, the power amp and speakers are 20 years old, which replaced the 30 year old stereo setup I now have in the "computer room". That receiver has a dial tuner. The speakers are heavy and bulky, but sound much better than the home theater systems you can get these days.

I bought a 4K OLED TV

I think that needs to be my next jump. I'm on my third LCD/LED and the improvements have been only incremental. My next TV needs a high dynamic range.

I went from a 2005 Mitsubishi rear projection CRT HDTV (three 9 inch "monitors", red, green , blue) to a 2017 LG 4K OLED TV. The 2K LCD TVs never had much of dynamic range (color palette) compared to the old CRT base projection TV's and it wasn't until the OLEDs came out that the 4K LCDs improved their dynamic range to stay competitive. They're still limited by being a shared back lit technology. Once I saw the OLED had resolved the dynamic range issue, I waited for the prices to come down before I bought one.

 

[sysprog]

"Properly connected" for a "wireless bluetooth-connected device" means "connected wirelessly by bluetooth".

The TV does not have bluetooth capability.

You shouldn't have to, but you can supply that deficiency with a
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D1JM5S9/?tag=pfamazon01-20 (this one sells for $36.99 at Amazon):

Perhaps you could try explaining the situation to the store manager, maybe with a hint at returning the TV (it's a discontinued model -- I imagine he wouldn't be too eager at that prospect), and see how much he might be willing to discount a Bluetooth transmitter.

 

[russ_watters]

Perhaps you could try explaining the situation to the store manager, maybe with a hint at returning the TV (it's a discontinued model -- I imagine he wouldn't be too eager at that prospect)...

After 2 years they are unlikely to accept a return...

 

[sysprog]

After 2 years they are unlikely to accept a return...

Touché -- I hadn't noticed the thread age...

 

[DaveC426913]

Hey, there's always hope...