When playing videos using the Roku Media player (local or DLNA) or via Plex on TCL 55R635 connected to Samsung Q700A soundbar via HDMI EARC, I regularly get a high pitched and startling tone\beep\squelch when the playback starts on some files.
This only happens when Passthrough audio is set on the Roku. If I have Custom or Auto it doesn’t do the tone\beep but I get a second of silence instead.
I also noticed the silence issue with YouTube whenever an Ad would kick in or original video playback resumed.
If I set passthrough which avoids the silent audio gap I get the obnoxious beep\tone at the start of local file playback on some files.
I don't seem to have a good option.
I haven’t found a trend for consistency as it’ll do this beep\tone on the same two files while testing and then next day it’ll be fine … and then it’ll come back. It’s not all files and it’s not specific audio codecs (DTS and DD or DD+ all do it).
I’ve swapped HDMI cables, returned\replaced the soundbar, factory reset devices multiple times, tried wireless\wired network, pulled power in various combinations. I had no problem with an older TCL Roku TV with older Samsung soundbar (what this new setup replaced). I have no problem with another Roku device hooked up to another TV (not the same setup though); and no problem with iOS devices.
Occasionally ... the problem goes away and it'll be fine for awhile with no "beep" - but eventually it comes back again. I have no idea what is different between when it works and when it doesn't. I would prefer to use the passthrough option and not have to worry about the BEEP.
Here are two files I've used for testing that, when the problem is occurring, will regularly create that Beep\Tone including media info) in case it helps:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gq20i06a2gpneb7/TestFilesMediaInfo.zip?dl=0
Just looking to see if anybody else has experienced similar issues ... hoping to find a fix or track a possible bug for maybe a future software update.
Edit: A good description of the noise is how it sounds when you plug in an active speaker.
