My TV has sound problems

[Kili01]

My TV is producing good pictures, but in the last few weeks the volume of sound that it provides has decreased, and often is very intermittant. The set also makes a low buzzing sound. A friend has looked at it and thinks that there may be different volume settings on the set top box (triotech zoomtak) and the actual TV? What I am hoping to find is a technician who understands tv's and set top boxes who may be able to advise me on what can be done to sort this out?

Any useful advice would be much appreciated, please.

Dee

[Dominic]

I would say first establish what is causing the problem.

You have a TV
You have a set top box.

Both will have volume controls.

What you need to do is test one or both in isolation.

In your shoes, this is what I would do:

First, check that the volume controls on the TV and set top box units both work.

Second, try plugging something else into the TV. If you have a laptop, it should have an HDMI port. Try connecting the laptop to the PC, then watching a youtube video or similar, and seeing what that sounds like.

If it sounds good, the problem is with your set top box.

It it still sounds bad, the problem is more likely with your TV. However, bear in mind that the problem could be with your HDMI cable itself, so if you reach this point, try a different HDMI cable as well.

This sort of trouble shooting is just a process of elimination. The key thing is to only change one variable factor at a time.

Once you have isolated what exactly is the problem, people will be better able to help.

[Uncle D]

I remember some years ago, a work colleague of mine had two old CRT TVs, one had the picture and no sound and the other had sound and no picture, he stacked one on top of the other and had them both running at the same time.

[Kili01]

Hi Dominic, Austin7 and Uncle D,
Thanks for your comments/ suggestions.
A friend came to help me this morning. He tried plugging the set top top box into another TV. It worked perfectly, no problem with the sound. So, it seems that the problem with the intermittant sound volume is due to my TV. Probably a problem with its speakers.
He is suggesting that it is probably time to replace this TV now, w
ith another new one.
So what do you all think?
Thanks for any useful info/suggestions.

Dee

[STELIOSBWFC]

Buy a set of speakers if the TV is still working well. You may have blown them with all that dance music on.

[Uncle D]

I got some speakers from Stefanis, they have their own built in amplifier and plug into the earphone socket of my laptop, these could be used on the TV the same way.
http://www.stephanis.com.cy/nqcontent.c ... stomrpp=10

[PolemIan]

Dee, you could 100% eliminate the triotech box as the problem by playing a dvd through the tV if you have one. Agree with others comments about a sound bar. They are a good price these days and generally pretty good even with a new tv - there is so much emphasis on super thin screen etc these days that the sound is almost an afterthought it seems to me. We just switched to a jag box so I can hook it up via HDMI to my cinema system -sooooo much better!

[Kili01]

I just bought a new LG tv today, got it home and a friend came over to set it up.
Imagine my dispair when the only HDMI socket proved not to be working....
So it will be back to where I bought it tomorrow!

Dee

[PaphosAL]

Dee- was the HDMI lead supplied new with the telly (doubt it), or was it your old one re-used?

LG are are a top quality and highly trusted brand. It may well be that the HDMI lead is suspect, rather than the new TV itself...

AL

[trevnhil]

I just bought a new LG tv today, got it home and a friend came over to set it up.
Imagine my dispair when the only HDMI socket proved not to be working....
So it will be back to where I bought it tomorrow!

Dee

I hope that the firm it came from will just replace it. Some firms send electrical goods (inc TV's) away to a repair / assessment centre in Nicosia to see if they are faulty and can be repaired..
I am surprised there is only One HDMI socket.

[Kili01]

Hi Al,
The HDMI cable was mine and had been recently purchased. One wasn't supplied with the TV.. We also tested it on another tv set where it worked fine. It appeared when my friend checked the TV using its English setting up instructions, that there was no power coming from the HDMI socket on the TV to the set top box.
He also thought that it was very unusual with an LG product.
Dee

[PaphosAL]

Silly as it sounds, but you may need to put the LG TV into HDMI mode for it's source input, perhaps?

[Kili01]

Hi Al and Trev,
Unfortunately we were unable to get the LG tv to work, or a replacement which the same shop provided. The particular model sold by this shop (situated in Chloraka) only had one port for an HDMI, these tv's worked in the shop on live greek tv, with an aerial. But that was no use to me as I wanted a tv ot work with my clearstream box abd also a DVD player.

[exodus]

Hi Al and Trev,
Unfortunately we were unable to get the LG tv to work, or a replacement which the same shop provided. The particular model sold by this shop (situated in Chloraka) only had one port for an HDMI, these tv's worked in the shop on live greek tv, with an aerial. But that was no use to me as I wanted a tv ot work with my clearstream box abd also a DVD player.

It is most unlikely that 2 brand new TVs would not work using the HDMI input socket. In any case it makes no difference if they had 1 HDMI input or more than one.
Something else is wrong - probably your input HDMI cables.
I am surprised the shop could not test the HDMI inputs, which would have nailed down the cause of the problem.
Amos.

[Kili01]

(Cont) Incidentally my HDMI lead was nearly new, plus we also tried another new one, still no result.
So, eventually the shop gave me a refund. We then went to another large shop on Ag Pavlos Ave, where a very helpful assistant showed us several 24" TV's. I chose a Toshiba TV which is now working perfectly with my set top box. So it all ended happily. But am also wondering why the LG tv wouldn't work in these conditions.
Wonder If LG allow their TV's to be made (maybe under license) somewhere in or near Greece for the local market?
Dee

[trevnhil]

It does sound as though the HDMI socket on the TV was not 'live' Whether this just needed switching on or not will never be known.. Well done for getting refund

[JimX]

You normally do not need to activate any HDMI socket on your TV you may need to rout your sound through it though, but not always, sounds as if there is a small fault.You could easily get a sound system I always use one myself, huge improvement of TV speakers and they are not expensive (plugs into your TV headphone socket). Just a small point, when you buy a new TV no matter what your choice of model and make, do make sure it has more than one HDMI socket.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... nd+systems

I use two of these systems, excellent too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGwKSC5zIcc

[exodus]

It does sound as though the HDMI socket on the TV was not 'live' Whether this just needed switching on or not will never be known.. Well done for getting refund

We have a 32" LG TV we bought this year, it has 3 HDMI input sockets.
You select which one of these you want to use (or Antenna, or AV1, or RGB, or component) by pressing the "input" button on the remote control. You can "lose" the sound by pressing the Mute button, or TV/Rad button.
Like I said in my earlier post it is most unlikely 2 brand new LG TVs are both having a sound fault.
Amos.

[trevnhil]

Like you Amos I have to select which input wire I want to use by selecting it on the remote control..