Are you wondering if the Vizio Soundbar you just purchased will connect with your Samsung TV? It’s not always straightforward, but if you follow the steps in this easy guide, you’ll have the two connected in no time.
Vizio Soundbars do work with Samsung TV. You can connect them with an HDMI or using an Optical Cable. You can also use your Samsung TV Remote on your Soundbar if using HDMI. There are additional options but result in audio quality loss.
We’ll go over everything you need to know about connecting the Vizio to your Samsung TV in this post.
How To Connect Vizio Soundbar To Your Samsung TV
There are two good options for connecting the two: an HDMI or Optical cable are best. Between Optical and HDMI, we’d say the HDMI is the better choice. Though, as you’ll see below, other options aren’t as good.
Both HDMI and Optical are better options than analog RCA cables, which are incapable of transmitting high-res audio.
So let’s take a look at those two methods (Optical and HDMI) in some more depth and learn precisely how to connect the Vizio Soundbar to your Samsung TV.
HDMI Connects Vizio Soundbar to Samsung TV
Connecting your Vizio Soundbar with an HDMI ARC is probably one of the best methods to use. This enables you to control both your TV and your Soundbar from the Samsung Remote.
Simply follow these steps:
- Purchase an HDMI cable
- Plug one end into the Vizio Soundbar HDMI port
- The other side goes into your Samsung TV
- Turn both on and use the controller to go to the Input menu on the Soundbar.
- Select HDMI from the menu
- Don’t forget to toggle the audio-output to HDMI as well
After that, it’s simply a matter of testing it all out to ensure everything is connected okay and the audio is coming from the Vizio and not your TV speakers.
Troubleshooting HDMI Options
If you’ve done all of the above, ensured each setting is toggled to their correct positions, and your still not hearing any sound from your Vizio Soundbar, don’t worry, we have a solution for you.
Either you won’t hear any sound at all coming from your Vizio Soundbar or your Samsung TV speakers. Or, you will still hear sound coming out of your TV speakers, but nothing from your Soundbar.
To fix this, first, go over the above steps and make sure you’ve installed the HDMI correctly and switched the input button to HDMI.
Failing that, go to your Samsung TV settings. Go to the sound settings, where you will see an additional option: Expert Settings.
Click that. In Exper Settings, change the HDMI and DAO options to PCM. PCM stands for Pulse-Code Modulation, a standard audio format used by digital audio applications.
Once you make this change, you should be able to hear audio coming only out of your Vizio Soundbar. If that still hasn’t fixed the problem, you will need to verify the source of the audio output or contact Vizio or Samsung for customer support. They will be happy to help you resolve your audio issues.
Optical Cable Connects Vizio Soundbar To Samsung TV
Optical cables, AKA Toslink cable, are another excellent method of connecting your Samsung TV and Vizio Soundbar if you don’t have an HDMI cable and you will not get one.
Here are the steps for connecting your TV and Soundbar with an Optical Cable:
- Acquire Optical Cable from an electronics store.
- Ensure you remove any plastic or packaging.
- Plug one side into the appropriate port of your Samsung TV.
- Connect the other side of the cable into the optical port of the Vizio Soundbar.
- Turn on the Samsung TV and Vizio Soundbar.
- Use the Input button on the Vizio remote to select Optical.
- Click the menu on your remote and turn off the audio from your speakers.
- In the Audio menu, switch Digital Audio Out either DD or Bitstream.
After that, all you’ll have to do is watch something to test out whether your Samsung TV has connected to your Vizio Soundbar.
Troubleshooting Optical Cable Options
What happens if you’ve followed all of the steps presented above and you still don’t hear sound coming from your Vizio Soundbar?
We’ll cover some common problems people encounter when connecting the Soundbar and TV with an Optical Cable.
Either one of two things will be happening if the sound is not coming from your Vizio Soundbar.
- No sound coming out at all
- Audio still coming only from the Samsung TV’s speakers
You will need to try toggling some extra settings to resolve this issue.
- On the TV settings go to Expert Settings
- Once there, change “HDMI” and “DAO” to the PCM option.
- With those settings changed, your audio will be coming from your Vizio Soundbar.
Additional Options for Connecting Vizio Soundbar with Samsung TV
Other than HDMI and Optical Cable, there are additional options for connecting your Vizio Soundbar with your Samsung TV.
The first of the two is to use an RCA Cable. These are the color-coded cables that connect to the red, yellow, and white cable connectors at the back of your TV and Soundbar.
Tethering your TV and Soundbar with Bluetooth is another option. But if you’re looking for the best audio quality, we recommend trying an HDMI connection followed by an Optical Cable. We only recommend using Bluetooth/RCA cables if you have no other option. They will give you lower sound quality.
Final Thoughts
On their own, the Vizio Soundbar and the Samsung TV are two standout products.
Put them together, and you have everything you need for maximum home entertainment. But it can be a bit confusing getting it all set up correctly if you’ve never dealt with audio equipment before or you are simply not tech-savvy.
We hope this comprehensive guide has shown you the two best options for connecting your Samsung TV and Vizio Soundbar with HDMI and Optical Cable.
We’ve also gone over some standard troubleshooting options, such as what to do when audio is not coming out of either speaker or continues to come out of the TV speaker.
HDMI and Optical Cable are the two best ways two connect your Samsung TV and your Vizio Soundbar.
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