User Manual Samsung HW-J6500R/ZA Curved Soundbar

Connecting your soundbar to a TV through HDMI will give you the best audio because HDMI cables transmit sound digitally. There are 2 ways to connect your soundbar with HDMI: you can connect a device to your soundbar (like a Blu-ray player) and then connect the soundbar to the TV, or you can use ARC (Audio Return Channel). The first method will give you the best possible sound from external devices you regularly use. ARC is the way to go if you want great sound from streaming apps on your TV and a soundbar.

Connect your soundbar and a device using HDMI

Turn off the TV, soundbar, and external device. Then, connect one end of an HDMI cable to an HDMI port on your TV (make a note of which one).

Connect the other end to the HDMI OUT port on your soundbar.

Connect a second HDMI cable to the HDMI OUT port on your external device. Connect the other end the HDMI IN port on your soundbar.

Turn on the external device and the soundbar. Press the Source button on the soundbar until "HDMI" appears on the display.

Turn the TV on and change its source to the HDMI port where the soundbar is connected.

Your TV will display images from the external device, and audio will play from the soundbar.

Instruction on where to connect the HDMI IN cable
Everything should be working now, but let's take it a step further and make this setup the best it can be.

Turn on Anynet + on your soundbar by pressing the Right navigation button on the soundbar's remote. This will make the soundbar turn on automatically when you turn on the connected external device.

Note: Some soundbars have a button labeled Anynet+ on the remote. If neither of these methods work, check out the user manual for your Samsung soundbar.

Make sure Anynet + (HDMI-CEC) is enabled on your TV. This will make the TV turn on when the device and soundbar are turned on. If you have a Samsung TV, navigate to Settings, and then select General. Select External Device Manager, and then select Anynet + (HDMI-CEC). Check the user manual for your TV if these instructions don't match, or if you don't have a Samsung TV.

Lastly, you should enable HDMI-CEC settings on your external device and set up universal control on your TV. To set up the HDMI-CEC settings on your external device, you will need to check out the user manual for your device. For universal control, check out our guide.

Note: If your external device is 4K-compatible, you need to make sure the soundbar supports 4K pass-thru. Samsung 2017 650 series or above all support 4K pass-thru, so you should be good to go if you have this model.

An optical cable (Tos-Link) is also another way to connect your soundbar to your TV. This type of cable is similar to an HDMI cable and transmits digital sound, so you can hear every detail. You can also connect your devices (cable boxes, video game systems, and Blu-ray players) to the TV, and have the sound output from the TV to the soundbar.

With the TV and soundbar turned on, connect one end of a digital optical cable to the OPTICAL OUT port on the TV.

Then, connect the other end to the DIGITAL AUDIO IN (OPTICAL) port on the soundbar.

Press Source on the remote or soundbar, and then set the soundbar to the D.IN. setting.

Finally, on the TV, you need to set the speaker output to external speakers.

Navigate to Settings, and then press Up on the navigation arrows to highlight Quick settings.

Press the right directional arrow to highlight TV Speaker and press select to change it to Optical (external speakers). The TV's sound will now play from the soundbar.


Note: If these steps don't work on your TV, or you do not have a Samsung TV, check out the soundbar's or TV's user manual.