Help connecting soundbar to projector

[GaryG87]

Afternoon all,

Just wondered if anyone could help with issue I am having connecting my Yamaha soundbar to my Acer projector. Currently using the single hdmi input as a wireless dongle to stream content too.

Projector connections are as follows:
Hdmi input x 1 (already used)
Rs232
VGA in
VGA out
Video (yellow RCA)
Audio in 3.5mm
Audio out 3.5mm

Soundbar connections are as follows
Analog 3.5mm
Optical Tv
Hdmi in
Hdmi out (arc)

Any help would be amazing. I have attached pictures for reference.

Thank you

 

[Lucid]

You should be able to get audio from the 3.5mm jack socket on the projector. The simplest thing then would be to make a connection from there to the same type of jack socket on the sound bar. You could do this with a long cable with stereo 3.5mm jacks on each end.

Alternatively, if you have the additional power sockets spare near each device, or somewhere to get USB power from, then you could spring for a Bluetooth transmitter/receiver set to make the connection wirelessly. Be aware though, basic (cheap) BT TX/RX sets introduce a small amount of audio delay so that lip sync might be affected. What you'd need is a set with low latency. Seek out something with AptX Low Latency tech built in.

Here's an example of the sort of thing that might fit the bill. LINK. You'd need two of these. The one at the projector would be set to TX for transmitter. The other on set to RX. I'd also recommend some USB charger plugs.

 

[SFK]

Not sure if this will work, but I would try:

Dongle into Soundbar 'HDMI in'.

HDMI Cable from Soundbar 'HDMI out (arc)' to Projector 'HDMI In'.

..but as the 'HDMI out (arc)' is meant for transmitting audio, I am not sure if it is also carrying video.
SFK

 

[GaryG87]

Thanks all, will give that a try later on your help is much appreciated

 

[Lucid]

Not sure if this will work, but I would try:

Dongle into Soundbar 'HDMI in'.

HDMI Cable from Soundbar 'HDMI out (arc)' to Projector 'HDMI In'.

..but as the 'HDMI out (arc)' is meant for transmitting audio, I am not sure if it is also carrying video.
SFK

BIB, as long as it is properly implemented, HDMI ARC isn't just an audio connector. It should pass picture to the display device and pick up sound from the ARC-equipped display, so it is bi-directional.

Going further than that, if the audio system has a feature called Standby Pass-through, then when the sound system is off it passes HDMI picture and sound from the source to the display. This feature isn't limited only to sound systems with ARC, but it must have the pass-through feature to work.

Connecting as you suggest with HDMI should work. There are some pros and cons with either method listed.

With the Dongle connected directly to the speaker system, it may be possible to benefit from Dolby Digital processing where the source signal is encoded for it and the Soundbar can decode it. The sound might be marginally clearer.

Set against that though is the challenge of hiding a fairly thick HDMI cable.

Keeping the Dongle in the projector means using that device to transcode from digital to analogue stereo. (It'll do this already if the projector has a built-in speaker.)

The analogue jack cable will be thinner, and so easier to conceal. The catch is that cable shielding quality becomes rather important on long analogue cables. Very few vendors say anything about the quality of the shielding, often because they don't know or are hoping you don't care. Just buying any shielded audio cable doesn't guarantee that the protection will be adequate to stop hiss or buzzing that the cable allows through.