# Audio question about Samsung PN60F5500



## Ge0 (Nov 6, 2007)

I purchased this television a few weeks ago as part of a package deal at a furniture store. It's an impressive television for approx $1000. This set will serve a secondary role in my man cave. Kids will be banished to the basement to play video games on it. I'll watch sports while the wife is watching the latest dancing show or bachelor in the primary home theater.

Right now the TV only has a comcast cable box hooked up to it. The TV came with an IR Blaster that can control the TV and cable box (volume and channel up/down). I LOVE the Samsung touch pad remote. One remote = less clutter...

The built in speakers leave something to be desired. I want to add amplified sound + subwoofer to gain audio impact. I connected a 2ch amplified audio speaker set to the cable boxes analog outputs. However, I have a few problems with this:
1.) The remote does not control cable box volume. It only controls internal speaker volume. If I turn off the TV's internal speakers the TV remote volume no longer functions.
2.) I need to use the cable boxes remote to adjust volume. This adds a second remote and complexity for the young ones. However, I could live with this if need be.
3.) I recently started streaming media from my networked server to the TV. This is pretty slick since the TV becomes a limited function HTPC. However, the amplified speakers are connected to the cable box. I get no audio on streamed content unless I turn on the TV's internal speakers. This is a show stopper.
4.) I want to add another source (video game console) in the future. However, I won't get audio again unless I utilize the TV's internal speakers. The amplified speakers are connected to the cable box.

Most would say add a home theater receiver to route audio for you. However, I don't want to add this cost / complexity. I'd rather attempt to use the TV to switch audio. I would only need to use one remote (the TV's remote) in the process.

The TV has two options for audio output. One is a S/PDIF optical digital port. The second is an ARC capable HDMI port. I'm thinking about buying a sound bar (with sub) to supply audio since this TV has no analog audio output capability. You can buy sound bars that have S/PDIF inputs. You can also buy them with HDMI ports. 

My questions:
1.) Will the TV adjust volume level prior to sending audio out of these ports? I want to use the TV's remote to adjust volume. My HTPC on my primary home theater does this (HTPC --> Receiver via S/PDIF). However, software is much more flexible on a computer vs. TV. In most systems digital audio streams are fixed at line level and you can't adjust volume (aka DVD player).
2.) If I turn off the internal speakers will the TV's remote control audio level on the S/PDIF or HDMI ARC port. Or, is the remote only capable of adjusting the TV's internal audio amplifier? 

I hope you can decipher my ramblings and can help. Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Ge0




In the near future perhaps a Xbox or PSx.


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## WooferHound (Dec 8, 2010)

Can't your TVs remote be programmed to control other devices like a universal remote ?


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## Ge0 (Nov 6, 2007)

WooferHound said:


> Can't your TVs remote be programmed to control other devices like a universal remote ?


To be honest I'm not sure. The remote is quite a bit different than what I have used in the past. It has a few basic buttons + a laptop style touch pad to manipulate just about everything. A really cool design but poorly documented.

The user manual is about as sparse as you can get. It describes basic connections to a cable box and home theater receiver. Then it goes into pages upon pages on how to use the built in pay-per-view service and Facebook / Twitter account crud. Doesn't begin to touch on the true potential of the TV. The included manual urges you to go online for the fine details. However, the user manual is not available yet on Samsung's site.

I tried Samsung's "live chat" today on the website in an attempt to gain some answers. However, whatever / whomever I was chatting with seemed like a robot who wanted to sell me additional Samsung products. Answers outside of the "buy Samsung" scope seemed contradicting and didn't make sense. I don't trust the information is accurate.

So, this leads me to my original question. Can the TV adjust volume in the digital domain prior to sending audio packets out the HDMI ARC or S/PDIF ports? And, can this be controlled using the TV's included remote?

Many thanks for any advice you can offer...

Ge0


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

Of your tv has a headphone jack (many do), run headphone out of the TV to powered speakers.


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## Ge0 (Nov 6, 2007)

No analog audio outputs on TV. This includes headphone jack. However, I answered my own question now that my ARC compatible receiver is in place. All audio/video sources routed to the TV. TV does source selection / switching pretty elegantly with the built in GUI. TV ARC input routed to the receivers ARC output. TV can control the receivers volume with the TV remote just as I wanted. There is a little bit of latency and large steps in volume take a while (volume only adjusts in small steps) but I can live with that for now...

Ge0


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