In recent years, it seems that companies are beginning to eschew the whole “proprietary” route when it comes to their products, allowing them to be useful to everyone universally. With that in mind, if you own a Sharp TV, you may be wondering if it is compatible with Samsung Soundbars.  

Samsung Soundbars can be used with Sharp TVs as well as many other smart TV brands on the market.

Samsung Soundbars aren’t restricted for use with just Samsung smart TVs; beyond Sharp TVs, they’re also compatible with TCL, Hisense, Sony, and more. This is because Samsung allows its products a level of interchangeability that is far broader than competitors, which is a major benefit for Sharp TV users. Read on to learn more.

How to Connect a Samsung Soundbar to a Sharp TV

If your Sharp TV has an HDMI input, an optical input, or an AUX, then you can hook up your Samsung Soundbar. In fact, you can hook up just about any soundbar.

Of course, you can always use Bluetooth, and we’ll even walk you through setting it up. However, the problem is that Bluetooth isn’t always the most reliable with soundbars and TVs, regardless of the brand name on the front of each device. Bluetooth is easy to interfere with and is slower in unpacking your compressed audio, creating audio-video lag.

Using an HDMI Connection

An HDMI connection is the best way to take advantage of the performance capabilities of your Samsung Soundbar and is always the way you should connect them if the capability to do so is available.

There are two ways to do this, assuming you have a cable or satellite box. If you are streaming only, the simplest method will work by connecting the HDMI input labeled “HDMI ARC.”

If you have cable or satellite, you will have to link all three of your devices together through HDMI cables:

  • Turn off your TV, soundbar, and cable box.Plug one HDMI cable end into an HDMI port on your Sharp TV.Plug the other end of that HDMI cable into the “HDMI Out” port on your Samsung Soundbar.With a different HDMI cable, plug one end into the “HDMI Out” port on your cable box.Plug the other end of the HDMI cable into the “HDMI In” port on your Samsung Soundbar.Turn on the soundbar and the cable box.Use your Samsung Soundbar remote or the panel controls to change your “Source” to “HDMI.”Turn on your Sharp TV, and under the audio settings, set your audio output to HDMI as well.

If your Sharp TV is a 4k resolution TV, you will probably be okay, like most Samsung Soundbars from 2017 to the present support 4k. However, if you have an older Samsung Soundbar, it will play, but the sound may be distorted, or the quality will not be high quality.

If you have a Sharp Smart TV and all you are doing is streaming, you will want to use the best HDMI audio possible and that is through the HDMI ARC.

  • Turn on both devices and plug one end of your HDMI cable into the “HDMI ARC In” port and the other end into the “HDMI Out (TV-ARC)” port.On your Samsung Soundbar, change the “Source”  setting to D.IN.

Using an Optical Cable Connection

An optical cable connection is considered to be the second-best audio connection type, and you can get a high-quality level of sound through your Samsung Soundbar by using it.

  • Connect one end of the optical cable to the “Digital Audio Out” port on your TV.Connect the other into the “Digital Audio In” port on your Samsung Soundbar.On your Samsung Soundbar’s Settings, change the “Source” to D.IN.On your Sharp TV, go into your Settings > Audio.Set your audio output to “External Speakers.”

As you can see, the optical connection is a little easier, and it works great regardless of whether or not you have a cable or satellite box hooked up as well.

Using an AUX Cable or Bluetooth Connection

This should really be your last option, as this will be the least reliable connection out of all of them available. However, if you still want to connect your Samsung Soundbar to your Sharp TV using this method:

  • Connect your AUX cable to the “AUX In” jack on your Samsung Soundbar.Connect the other end to “Audio Out” on your Sharp TV.Set your Samsung Soundbar Setting to AUX.

Setting up Bluetooth will require you to get into your Sharp TV’s settings and set your TV’s Bluetooth to “Pairing Mode.” Note: Refer to your manual as Sharp TVs can be drastically different in terms of locating the Bluetooth settings.

  • Press the “Pair” button on your Samsung Soundbar remote.Once it switches to “searching,” your Sharp TV will pop up.Select your Sharp TV and allow the pairing to complete.

Final Thoughts

Samsung Soundbars are very high quality and will significantly change the audio atmosphere in your room. You want the best connection to get the maximum benefit from both your TV and soundbar, so always go with HDMI if possible and Optical if not.