I have recently been experiencing this intermittent static popping or glitching type sound with the Q990C soundbar. It seems to be specific to the earc port only. What happens is while playing content, regardless if it's streaming through TV, YouTube, or a third party device like Xbox etc you will get intermittent static type popping or glitching noises. Sometimes it happens, other times it doesn't. Unable to pinpoint specifically what's causing it after extensive troubleshooting.
In order to try to troubleshoot it I've done the following. None of it worked.
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Replaced all HDMI 2.1 cables. Existing cables were 8k 2.1 and a swap them for a completely different brand.
Tested streaming through TV apps like Netflix, YouTube and through Xbox and it happens on all content being played. That tells me it's not specific to a device or media platform.
Swapped out the power bar.
Removed all connections to the TV other than EARC to soundbar and HDMI from Xbox to the TV.
Power cycled all devices when it happens. Seems to temporarily fix it and then it sometimes comes back and other times it doesn't.
Manually updated the firmware on the soundbar to the latest version 1004. Updated the TV to the latest version of Tizen.
Reset the soundbar. Reset the TV.
Tried setting passthrough on/off.
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Sometimes when you shut off the sound bar and turn it back on it goes away and doesn't come back during that session. Then the next day you turn the TV on and it reappears. It's completely intermittent and I can't seem to pinpoint what's causing it and when.
My guess is it's related to the earc port on the TV or the earc port on the sound bar because it only happens on that port. Doesn't happen on optical, BT, wifi, etc. There really isn't anything left to test. I'll be testing it on a different TV with earc next week to see if it also happens, which would indicate TV earc port problem possibly.
