# Connecting a TV, sound bar and Direct TV box



## Janbod

I just purchased a Definitve Technology W Studio sound bar and wireless woofer. It was to be connected to the Sony Bravia TV via the Direct TV box. Well, the Geek Squad hooked it up and the sound is exactly as the speakers from the TV, no improvement at all. They used HDMI cables. So far, they have not returned to work on it and won't return my phone call. I think they are baffled. What can I try? The Direct TV box is for an High Def. TV, but is not the Genie version. The fellow at Direct TV said I don't need a Genie box for the sound bar to work as advertised. I am ready to return the whole thing and get my money back. I wish I had the boxes the merchandise came in to make it easier.


----------



## Beerstalker

Just to make sure it is set up right there should be an HDMI cable going from the DirecTV receiver to the soundbar, and then another HDMI cable from the soundbar to the TV, is that how it is hooked up?

Then you need to make sure your TV's speakers are turned off in the menu, or at least turned down all the way. You will control volume with the soundbar's remote, or program your DirecTV remote to control the soundbar's volume (if it can be programmed for it).

One other setting to check is if Dolby Digital is turned on in the setup menu on the DirecTV receiver.


----------



## Janbod

I just checked the cables. One cable went to the TV and the other to a Blu Ray player, none to the sound bar. I did make the change and the soundbar sounds a lot better. I hope they still come out to the house because I now have no connection to the Blu Ray player, which I am sure I need. I thought the Geek Squad would know all the answers. That is what we pay $200 for, to set it up properly. I checked whether the Dolby Sound is on or off. It is on, but when I turned it off, it sounded the same. Should there be a difference?


----------



## Beerstalker

Yes, you should get better sound with Dolby Digital on (the volume level might be different though). Notice that not all channels and not all programming have Dolby Digital, or at least not 5.1 surround sound, so you might not notice a huge difference.

You didn't mention a Blu-Ray player before. You will need another HDMI cable running from the Blu-Ray player to the soundbar. Then when you want to switch between watching DirecTV or a Blu-Ray you will need to switch inputs on the soundbar, you won't switch inputs on your TV anymore.

The same is true if you have any other devices you want hooked up (say an AppleTV, Roku, Chromecast, etc. The best way would be to hook them up over HDMI to the soundbars inputs. It looks like the soundbar has 3 HDMI inputs so you should be able to add one more device. If you have more than one, or if they don't have HDMI then you need to let us know what else you have and the model number of your TV in order to give better advice on how to hook them up.

Yes, if you paid that much to Geek Squad they definitely should have hooked it up this way and explained everything to you. But in my experience those services are a total ripoff and the people that they have doing it don't know much at all other than how to carry something and open a box sometimes (this is coming from someone who used to do deliveries for Circuit City in college).


----------



## Janbod

Thanks for the advice. I will have to buy a cable to hook the Blu-Ray player up to the sound bar. I have a diagram that shows how that is to be done. Funny, the techs (2 of them) didn't hook it up that way and couldn't figure out why the sound didn't come out of the sound bar like it should.

The menu button on the sound bar doesn't bring anything up on screen so I am waiting for them to call me back and come out to see why that doesn't work as it should. I will also tell them and show them what you told me to do. I will have to re-think help from the Geek Squad!


----------



## STEVEN-H

Taken from Definitve Technology W Studio sound bar web page.
https://www.definitivetech.com/products/wstudio

*Digital + Analog Connections (including HDMI):* The W Studio soundbar speaker has a full-array of inputs including HDMI (3), digital optical (1), and analog (1) allowing you to connect your Blu-Ray player, cable/satellite tuner, gaming console as well as a legacy source such as a VCR. The three HDMI inputs support both audio (up 5.1ch) and video (up to 1080p) signals for convenient hookup and neat wire management. There is also a HDMI output that feeds the audio/video signal (up to 5.1ch/1080p) from your AV source through the soundbar speaker to your flat-panel TV. The optical (toslink) digital input supports 2.1ch to 5.1ch audio. The analog (3.5mm) input supports 2ch audio only.

This indicates there are 3 HDMI inputs and one out to TV. So you would have one HDMI in from Direct box and one in From DVD and a spare and one HDMI out to TV. Your inputs would be switched by sound bar remote. Definitve also has a help chat listed on there home page you probable should give them a shout.


----------



## Rich

Anybody here really trust the Geek Squad? I don't.

Rich


----------



## sigma1914

$1,300?? Good Lord!


----------



## Rich

sigma1914 said:


> $1,300?? Good Lord!


Wow! I wouldn't let anybody from the Geek Squad near that expensive equipment. I've seen them in action. A year ago, we vacationed at the beach in a condo that had a cheap sound bar in the living room and I was surprised at how well it worked. For $1300 it ought to blow you away.

Rich


----------



## dennisj00

Late to this thread, but first mistake was letting the Geek Squad install. . . and paid them extra?


----------



## Rich

dennisj00 said:


> Late to this thread, but first mistake was letting the Geek Squad install. . . and paid them extra?


My thoughts exactly. How hard could it have been?

Rich


----------



## Janbod

What is a 70+ year-old lady to do to get some sound equipment hooked up? Digital and analog don't mean a thing to me. The last stereo equipment we had was a Sony system where all of the pieces stacked on top of each other and all hooked together in the back with one cable to the TV or Direct TV box. It is all very intimidating to look at the back of this new equipment and figure out which cable goes where. The young guys in the store (Best Buy) talk in their own lingo, and I have to act like I know what they are saying. I will ask for my installation money back ($200) and hope I get it. I got more information off this blog than I did from any of the techs. from the store. They still haven't called me back. I did buy another HDMI cable and hooked the Blu-ray player up to one of the slots on the back of the sound bar so that is working and the sound is coming through the sound bar. The sound from the Definite Technologies sound bar is great. The menu button on the D.T. remote doesn't do anything so far so I will question them further, if they ever call or come out to the house.

Thanks for all of the advice.


----------



## dennisj00

Certainly not to be offensive, but I don't think I've ever heard a good result or recommendation of the Geek Squad. And not impressed with the ones I've talked to. I've also cleaned up some of their messes.

There are lots of resources around. . . friends, neighbors, relatives, contact the high school principal or community college for a recommendation. The local Senior Center? There should be someone that's reliable and trustworthy to hook it up for a 20 or $50 gift card.

I'm nowhere near Colorado but I do provide lots of IT support for friends and relatives - both younger and older than I am. (and no gift cards!!)


----------



## Rich

dennisj00 said:


> Certainly not to be offensive, but I don't think I've ever heard a good result or recommendation of the Geek Squad. And not impressed with the ones I've talked to. I've also cleaned up some of their messes.
> 
> There are lots of resources around. . . friends, neighbors, relatives, contact the high school principal or community college for a recommendation. The local Senior Center? There should be someone that's reliable and trustworthy to hook it up for a 20 or $50 gift card.
> 
> I'm nowhere near Colorado but I do provide lots of IT support for friends and relatives - both younger and older than I am. (and no gift cards!!)


Well, she did find her way to the right place for correct information.

Rich


----------



## Rich

Janbod said:


> What is a 70+ year-old lady to do to get some sound equipment hooked up? Digital and analog don't mean a thing to me. The last stereo equipment we had was a Sony system where all of the pieces stacked on top of each other and all hooked together in the back with one cable to the TV or Direct TV box. It is all very intimidating to look at the back of this new equipment and figure out which cable goes where. The young guys in the store (Best Buy) talk in their own lingo, and I have to act like I know what they are saying. I will ask for my installation money back ($200) and hope I get it. I got more information off this blog than I did from any of the techs. from the store. They still haven't called me back. I did buy another HDMI cable and hooked the Blu-ray player up to one of the slots on the back of the sound bar so that is working and the sound is coming through the sound bar. The sound from the Definite Technologies sound bar is great. The menu button on the D.T. remote doesn't do anything so far so I will question them further, if they ever call or come out to the house.
> 
> Thanks for all of the advice.


Now I'm curious. How did you find us? I've received so much help from this site that I rarely bother with technical support from any other source.

Rich


----------



## Janbod

I was just surfing around, possibly looking up information about surround sound and soundbars and which is best for my situation. There must have been a recommendation on one of the sites that I clicked on. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known about this site. I am very glad to have found it. By the way, no one from the Geek Squad or Best Buy has contacted me still and it has been over two weeks. I think they must be embarrassed. Two techs in two Geek Squad trucks and they didn't hook up the equipment correctly. It isn't even a very complicated set-up--three pieces of equipment and two cables. I returned two more cables they thought I needed and then had to buy one more to do the job right. it is all working like it should, even got the menu to work on the soundbar remote. A little more description in a pamphlet regarding the remote would be good. I will do more research on the Definitive Technologies website and should find out more about the purchase I made. It is a good sounding soundbar, and I did trust the fellow at Best Buy who recommended the soundbar that I bought. There were as lot of good recommendations on the Internet also. There are a lot of soundbars that are cheaper, but salesmen like to sell the more expensive ones, I'm sure. I don't usually buy the cheapest of anything, but I don't splurge either.


----------



## Rich

Janbod said:


> I was just surfing around, possibly looking up information about surround sound and soundbars and which is best for my situation. There must have been a recommendation on one of the sites that I clicked on. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known about this site. I am very glad to have found it. By the way, no one from the Geek Squad or Best Buy has contacted me still and it has been over two weeks. I think they must be embarrassed. Two techs in two Geek Squad trucks and they didn't hook up the equipment correctly. It isn't even a very complicated set-up--three pieces of equipment and two cables. I returned two more cables they thought I needed and then had to buy one more to do the job right. it is all working like it should, even got the menu to work on the soundbar remote. A little more description in a pamphlet regarding the remote would be good. I will do more research on the Definitive Technologies website and should find out more about the purchase I made. It is a good sounding soundbar, and I did trust the fellow at Best Buy who recommended the soundbar that I bought. There were as lot of good recommendations on the Internet also. There are a lot of soundbars that are cheaper, but salesmen like to sell the more expensive ones, I'm sure. I don't usually buy the cheapest of anything, but I don't splurge either.


Sounds like you got everything worked out. Good for you. Stay away from the Geek Squads of the world, the info you need can usually be found here and it's free. Age or sex don't matter, it sounds like you're learning at a good rate.

Rich


----------



## bobnielsen

That sounds more complicated than most sound bars. I bought a fairly inexpensive ($150) Yamaha and the only connection I use is the optical from the TV. The TV itself has 5 HDMI inputs so I do the switching there (only one is HDMI 2.0 but that's all I need for now). I'm 76 and practically deaf in one ear so even this is probably overkill, however it does sound a bit better than the TV's speakers. I also use bluetooth from my iPhone to play music from the sound bar.


----------



## Nick

I also use the optical out from the TV, connected directly to the my Vizio 2.1 sound bar.
When I switch inputs on the tv, the audio output to the sound bar switches automatically.


----------



## Dilma

I got DIRECTV dvd and fire stick a connect to the tv .. and a digital cable from tv to the sound bar .. but when I connect the digital cable from DIRECTV box to the sound bar the sound is amazing But them I can’t hear the dvd.. fire stick just get picture What can I do ?


----------



## harsh

Dilma said:


> I got DIRECTV dvd and fire stick a connect to the tv .. and a digital cable from tv to the sound bar .. but when I connect the digital cable from DIRECTV box to the sound bar the sound is amazing But them I can't hear the dvd.. fire stick just get picture What can I do ?


Without knowing considerably more about the TV and sound bar, it is difficult to say.

Most TVs strip off the advanced sound from outside sources (the DVD player, the Fire Stick and the DIRECTV receiver) so that's why using your TV as the feed to the sound bar really takes the stuffing out of the sound.

If the sound bar has HDMI pass-through, using an HDMI switch for input selection can bypass the TV. This only works if your TV isn't a source since it must be downstream of the sound bar. The downside here is that you need either a smart remote or a second remote to switch between sources.

If you use the TV as a source (either the TV's tuner or some smart TV features), then your sound bar needs to be able to choose between the HDMI input and the TV's input.


----------



## Rich

Dilma said:


> I got DIRECTV dvd and fire stick a connect to the tv .. and a digital cable from tv to the sound bar .. but when I connect the digital cable from DIRECTV box to the sound bar the sound is amazing But them I can't hear the dvd.. fire stick just get picture What can I do ?


Tell us what you did so far and try to explain your setup a little more clearly. From what I've read you are using a DVD player, a Fire Stick, and a D* DVR, all hooked up to your soundbar. Is that correct? Explain how you hooked up the devices to the soundbar. In detail.

Rich


----------

