Thunderbolt 2 to HDMI Adapter Issue

[RealMintyfresh]

I recently bought a Thunderbolt 2 to HDMI adapter for my Mac mini (Late 2014), to enable me to have an output of 60Hz, to play media on my LG tv. I know I am very late to the show, haha. The adapter was delivered today. So, I plug it in and hey presto, I can know play 4K media on my tv, without it stuttering at 30Hz, from my external storage. However, this has completely knocked out the LG soundbar I have connected through the HDMI ARC port on the TV. I have no idea what's going on.

Any suggestions on what's happening and if I can fix this, to get things back to how they were, running together?

Or, is this not a Mac mini issue and more to do with the LG tv?

 

[Chancha]

What do you mean by "knocked out the LG soundbar"?

There was a brief period that a miniDP to HDMI conversion could only carry the picture but not the sound. It was a long time ago like ten years at least, nowadays most cables should have the chip that do both which is rather common and cheap.

 

[RealMintyfresh]

Sorry, my initial post wasn't very clear.

Everything did, and should, run through the TV. The Mac mini plugs into the TV's HDMI 1 port, in order to use it as a display. The TV then plays the sound, via the soundbar, that is connected to it's HDMI 2 port (the ARC port).

When I use the Thunderbolt 2 adapter, to connect the HDMI cable to the Mac mini, it stops the HDMI 2 port form working. When I leave out the adapter and plug the HDMI cable direct into the Mac mini, everything works together. The only variable is the miniDP to HDMI adapter, which is why I've posted my issue on here. I am/was hoping it's a historical problem that I am coming late to the show for, to get the answer. Otherwise, if this is hasn't been covered before, I thinks it must be a TV issue, that I'll have to raise with LG.

 

[salamanderjuice]

Have you checked that the Mac Mini sound device is correctly selected when using the adapter? If you plug something else into another input on the TV does the soundbar still work?

 

[RealMintyfresh]

Yes, have checked that the sound will be played through the LG TV.

How interesting, ok, I just checked to see if the other HDMI ports work with the soundbar. Even when the Mac mini isn't even turned on but I have HDMI cable plugged into the miniDP, the soundbar doesn't work. This must be something to do with the TV, then. Maybe, as the TV has HDMI 2.0 ports, the miniDP isn't compatible? Seems a bit strange, seeing as its been out for years, before HDMI 2.1 was released.

 

[RealMintyfresh]

Alright everyone, I've loaded the query with the LG technicians and they're investigating the issue. According to them and their manuals/technical notes, it should work just fine. If there is an applicable answer, I'll post it here.

 

[Chancha]

This is a long stretch: I am not sure how ARC works in full, but I know that eARC requires HDMI 2.0 where HDMI 1.4 only does regular ARC. It does seem unlikely since the TV's connection to the mini and to the soundbar are supposed to be independent, but if HDMI is only capped at 1.4 not 2.0 at the mini's end, the TV may have trouble passing through this audio to the soundbar. This is the only scenario where I see this can happen.

 

[RealMintyfresh]

Oh, ok. I think that's what the customer service representative was trying to tell me. He says the TV's manual and technical notes tell him it should work with no issues, which is why he's created a case file for the technicians to investigate as "they've never had this issue come up before." I'll wait for their phone call and post what conclusion that draws.

 

[Chancha]

Oh, ok. I think that's what the customer service representative was trying to tell me. He says the TV's manual and technical notes tell him it should work with no issues, which is why he's created a case file for the technicians to investigate as "they've never had this issue come up before." I'll wait for their phone call and post what conclusion that draws.

Does your soundbar have other means of input, especially optical? Not ideal as it may be very confusing in changing sources, but at least if it can accept other inputs, you can get the mini's sound to it that way.