Soundbar Connection Issues with Sky Stream

[mooremy04]

I've just bought a Majority Sierra Plus 2.1.2 Dolby Atmos to use with my new Toshiba Fire TV and Sky Stream.

For some reason, as soon as I turn the setting of the soundbar to ARC, Sky seems to get confused and the connection goes. It states that there is a technical fault/error (it's as though the wifi is completely cut off when I connect the soundbar). 

I have followed multiple online instructions: soundbar hdmi Arc port to tv Arc port with HDMI cable. I've changed the Sky stream HDMI cable port numerous times. I've switched all appliances (tv, soundbar, sky steam) off at the mains and reset them. I've also changed the audio settings on sky stream from Auto to Dolby Digital (doesn't work on either).

However, as soon as I turn the soundbar on and put the input on ARC, Sky has a meltdown, the picture stops and the technical fault error displays on screen.

Any help on this would be massively appreciated. I feel as though this soundbar should be working and it's not about compatability issues with Sky Stream. I don't want to send this one back and get another one for the same thing to happen. 

[BenJoBanjo]

@mooremy04 

It might be worth trying a CEC blocker - I had issues with my Stream puck sending spurious HDMI CEC commands even when it was in standby which basically screwed up every other device connected to my amplifier. As soon as I added the blocker everything worked. 

This is the one I got from Amazon. 

[mooremy04]

Thanks - how do I use it? 

[BenJoBanjo]

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@mooremy04 wrote:

Thanks - how do I use it? 

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It's basically a little connector that goes between the puck and the TV - the HDMI cable plugs into it and you then plug the connector into the TV.

There's no guarantee it'll work for you, but it might be worth trying if it's just the puck which is causing your issue. 

I assume all other devices and the TV's built-in apps can send audio via ARC without any issue?

The other thing to try is connecting the puck direct to the soundbar and seeing if it will passthrough the video signal to the TV. I'm not sure if the soundbar is capable of full 4K passthrough - the manual is pretty vague about it - but there are a couple of HDMI inputs on it so try setting the video output of the puck to 1080i first and connect it to the soundbar. This should (hopefully) decode the audio directly on the soundbar and pass the native 1080i video signal to the TV via the ARC connection. If this works then you can try switching the output of the puck to 2160P and see if 4K passthrough is achievable. 

[CoffeeDrinker]

@mooremy04 There looks to be two ways of connecting your Stream box and TV according to the Sierra Plus manual at https://www.majority.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Sierra-Plus-Collection-Manual-2025.pdf

First is Sky Puck > HDMI IN 1 or 2 on the Sierra Plus soundbar > HDMI OUT (ARC) on your soundbar to the ARC enabled HDMI port on the back of your Toshiba Fire TV.

Second is Sky Puck connected to one of the non-ARC enabled HDMI ports on your Fire TV, then connect the HDMI ARC on the Fire TV to the HDMI OUT (ARC) on the soundbar.

The first relies on your soundbar being able to passthrough the video component of the signal from your SKy Puck to the Fire TV. Having skim read the manual, it makes no mention of video passthrough. The soundbar doesn't look to be firmware upgrable, so if there are any passthrough issues, there is no means of applying a fix.

Safest bet is the second method Sky Puck > Fire TV then Fire TV ARC out to Sierra Plus HDMI OUT (ARC). Also, on your Sky Puck go into settings ? Sound and picture > sound and set the HDMI sound output to Passthrough. This will cut down on the need for your Sky Puck, Fire TV & soundbar to negotiate a mutually supportable sound format. The Sky Puck will simply out the Dolby Digital Plus sound stream and hopefully your Fire TV will also passthrough the sound data without issue.

[mooremy04]

Thanks! So the hdmi from the puck plugs into the cec adapter which then goes in to the normal hdmi port of the tv? My soundbar is then connected to the tv via the eARC port? 

To answer your question, the soundbar works when I turn off sky and use it for any of the fire tv apps (prime, iplayer etc), so it's definitely a puck issue I think. 

Tried the puck hdmi to soundbar ports 1&2 (none arc) with the recommended picture settings but that didn't work.  

[BenJoBanjo]

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@mooremy04 wrote:

Thanks! So the hdmi from the puck plugs into the cec adapter which then goes in to the normal hdmi port of the tv? My soundbar is then connected to the tv via the eARC port? 

To answer your question, the soundbar works when I turn off sky and use it for any of the fire tv apps (prime, iplayer etc), so it's definitely a puck issue I think. 

Tried the puck hdmi to soundbar ports 1&2 (none arc) with the recommended picture settings but that didn't work.  

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Yes, that's exactly where the cec blocker would go. It may not work but it's worth a try. You can always return it to Amazon easily if it doesn't. 

[mooremy04]

Hi - tried all of your advice but just now but unfortunately none of that worked either. I have ordered a cec blocker which will arrive tomorrow. If this doesn't work, I'll probably have to send the soundbar back!

Thanks for the input.

[BenJoBanjo]

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@mooremy04 wrote:

Hi - tried all of your advice but just now but unfortunately none of that worked either. I have ordered a cec blocker which will arrive tomorrow. If this doesn't work, I'll probably have to send the soundbar back!

Thanks for the input.

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No problem. Hope it works for you.