Audio distortion with Samsung SoundBar + Vero remote / HDMI

Hi, connected the hdmi again, got cec control back including volume which generates the issue, and voilà: the logs https://paste.osmc.tv/itejofurul (I enabled logging of cec component)

Actual CEC settings:

<settings>
<setting id="activate_source" value="1" />
<setting id="button_release_delay_ms" value="0" />
<setting id="button_repeat_rate_ms" value="0" />
<setting id="cec_hdmi_port" value="1" />
<setting id="cec_standby_screensaver" value="1" />
<setting id="cec_wake_screensaver" value="1" />
<setting id="connected_device" value="36037" />
<setting id="device_name" value="Kodi" />
<setting id="device_type" value="1" />
<setting id="double_tap_timeout_ms" value="300" />
<setting id="enabled" value="1" />
<setting id="pause_or_stop_playback_on_deactivate" value="231" />
<setting id="pause_playback_on_deactivate" value="0" />
<setting id="physical_address" value="0" />
<setting id="power_avr_on_as" value="1" />
<setting id="send_inactive_source" value="1" />
<setting id="standby_devices" value="36038" />
<setting id="standby_devices_advanced" value="" />
<setting id="standby_pc_on_tv_standby" value="36028" />
<setting id="standby_tv_on_pc_standby" value="1" />
<setting id="tv_vendor" value="0" />
<setting id="use_tv_menu_language" value="0" />
<setting id="wake_devices" value="36038" />
<setting id="wake_devices_advanced" value="" />
</settings>

Don’t know if this is relevant but I can’t control the soundbar volume through CEC without the TV powered on or without TV settings set to “audio system” instead of “tv speakers”.

Can’t see any obvious in the logs for the issue your soundbar produces.

What is the soundbar’s input mode when this happens?

  • ARC (HDMI OUT) input
    or
  • HDMI input

(I think you tried both for tests, already)

generates audio issues when cec is activated:
vero > soundbar HDMI IN then soundbar ARC HDMI > TV HDMI ARC
vero > soundbar HDMI IN then soundbar ARC HDMI > TV HDMI
vero > TV HDMI IN then TV ARC HDMI > soundbar ARC HDMI

I don’t get sound from the soundbar for this:
vero > TV HDMI IN then TV ARC HDMI > soundbar HDMI IN

soundbar has only 1 hdmi “input”, it’s showing TV ARC when I first connect tv to the vero, in other cases it’s just “hdmi”
I uploaded to a cloud the manual if needed

That means the Vero is connected to the TV instead of an amplifier/AVR device (which the soundbar is). If you set it to amp/AVR it should show value 36038.

Could you try to correct this at GUI->Settings->System->Input->Peripherals->Input->Perihperals->CEC Adapter->Connected to HDMI Device (so is the path using OSMC skin). If you don’t see that entry, reset the CEC settings to standard at the bottom. Any change in the CEC settings requires a restart of the mediacenter or the Vero device.
To be sure I suggest to power down all devices and sequentially start them

  1. soundbar
  2. TV
  3. at last Vero/OSMC

I set up a similiar configuration for tests

Vero4k <— AVR HDMI input —> Sony AVR <— TV Arc HDMI on AVR —> Panasonic TV

and can control the AVR sound volume using the OSMC Remote by this without any issues or distortion.
If that does not change anything in your environment, I’m running out of ideas what can be done on the OSMC side.

Thanks again for your help!

I reset the configuration in GUI so came out the “connected to”, changed it to AVR, used the procedure you suggested with sequential powering but unfortunately the issue is still present.

I noticed this: the “tv_connected to avr” setting never stays, after second reboot it’s back to tv code, possibly the soundbar never listened to vero and instead gets vero cec commands after having passed through TV. Reminds me I never achieved to connect cec from vero to soundbar alone to try volume control tv powered off.

Anyway, browsed osmc forum and others and saw many people are having this kind of endless struggle, often blocked by hardware incompatibilities, cec bugs so thank you again for your patience.