Yes, he is in trouble, and its a mess.
First, there is absolutely no access to the back of the tv. All wires from back of the tv go through the wall down to closet. There were two hdmi cables sticking out, maybe we can extract audio there. Plus all the network cables going to tv.
Soundbarr has hdmi input, and hdmi output. Nothing is pluged in any of those. Its communicating with tv thrue bluetooth. Maybe we can extract audio there. But even if we extract audio there, we would need to keep soundbarr on, which sounds dreadful. Is audio extracted from hdmi controlled by soundbarr remote? Or is it just line level signal?
In any case he ordered audio extractor. Then we shall see. I am going to give it a rest till then.
If the TV has no audio out, then you should use it as a video slave from a PC, etc. and take audio from the PC etc. Most TV today is streaming, and you can do that with a PC. The only advantage of a smart TV is its "all-in-one", and you don't care about audio quality, and maybe a couple of the integrated channels are worth watching. I have a Tablo tuner-recorder, but their windows app does not work (yet?) due to security features of Windows. Perhaps Silicon Dust is better? Besides OTA, the Tablo does include about 70 internet channels and the Tablo app works on Roku. Roku output is HDMI. In Europe, cheap software defined radio dongles support DVB OTA TV but in North America, ATSC devices are not so cheap. I do have an old Hauppauge ATSC tuner, but performance is poor. Note that "smart" TVs have a marginal CPU etc and are much slower than a PC with a modern CPU and lots of RAM. Some Pluto channels cut out/buffer on my smart TV but no problem on the attached PC (6th gen i5). Smart TV's come with a ~dozen radio channels but I'm not interested. If I want music, its my MP3 library or internet radio, vary rarely FM. I am not about to pay a subscription fee to watch maybe 3 movies a year that are worth watching. I have one subscription at about $8/month to satisfy the wife when we dropped cable channels.
Remember these? I had two of them.... Bought them in '87. I thought they were complicated then... I mean, I had two LDs, two Super Beta VCRs, an 8mm camcorder, an audio/video switch, one surround processor, ;-)
Heck, I could wire the whole thing in half an hour and not worry, I even had a cheat sheet taped to the rack to know which button to push to watch/tape...
Thinking about it... it was so damn simple...
Just an FYI. There is a chance he MIGHT get 5.1 digital audio on that cable.
A stereo extractor will not work with 5.1 and make nasty screeching noise.
A 5.1 extractor will work fine with plain stereo and 5.1.
G²
I run a Roku as source for our TVs.
They were smart... there's a headphone jack in the remote.... it's a touch of genius really. Just plug in the headset and you're off.
My TV also has bluetooth, so it will also drive my older BT earphones... but, as you noted, it's a lot of trouble.
As hijacking the audio from the soundbar, it doesn't make much sense... ideally you bypass it and connect directly to the source.
In this case, the best solution might just be a better soundbar. I know, I know... "better" you say?
Cheap optical to RCA available on ebay. Sold for the equivalent to US$8 here in New Zealand. This one even has a headphone socket. needs a 5v wall wart. I have a couple they are not brilliant but on a par with Bluetooth.
Update...
He purchased hdmi audio extractor box, but there was no audio signal out, so no go.
I made two cable adapters for him, with rca on one side, and capacitors in line, as well as in ground. Darn classD amps have isolated grounds, and if you connect them, they go nuts.
We opened his soundbar, as before. This time i soldered small connectors on speaker out. He can still use internal small speakers, or not. I suggested not, but he can do whatever wife says. Its all reversible. Small wires comming out of soundbar go to wall, then out of wall into small closet with 2x200 watts yamaha receiver. There are those rca connectors with caps on back of yamaha.
Now he can set his volume on soundbar with remote sub still perfectly working, plus big speakers as satelites through yamaha. Once yamaha volume is set, no need to touch it. All is controlled by soundbar remore. As wife was used to.
He is ok for now. Thats all i was able to do.
Cheers!
He purchased hdmi audio extractor box, but there was no audio signal out, so no go.
I made two cable adapters for him, with rca on one side, and capacitors in line, as well as in ground. Darn classD amps have isolated grounds, and if you connect them, they go nuts.
We opened his soundbar, as before. This time i soldered small connectors on speaker out. He can still use internal small speakers, or not. I suggested not, but he can do whatever wife says. Its all reversible. Small wires comming out of soundbar go to wall, then out of wall into small closet with 2x200 watts yamaha receiver. There are those rca connectors with caps on back of yamaha.
Now he can set his volume on soundbar with remote sub still perfectly working, plus big speakers as satelites through yamaha. Once yamaha volume is set, no need to touch it. All is controlled by soundbar remore. As wife was used to.
He is ok for now. Thats all i was able to do.
Cheers!
Adison, I see something interesting with some converters, the HDMI signal in has to be a source not a receiver. The receiver (like the TV or maybe soundbar) does not output audio but inputs it from HDMI source. I did not know this until I examined the one I have. Plugging it into my TV does not work, but plugging into the DVD player does.
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