# Help setting up Panasonic sc-xh150



## mrtubs (Mar 30, 2016)

Hi

I am new to home cinema and not very technical.

I have recently purchased a second hand Panasonic sc-xh150 but am having difficulty setting it up.

Playing a DVD is ok, although the audio sounds a little deadened.

I can only get the speakers to work on DVD though, when I watch tv through a aerial or the TV's inbuilt media player it doesn't work. I have an LG TV and I have hdmi and optical audio cables connected. If I set the tv source to the hdmi I cannot see or hear anything, if I have the source on the TV as aerial it just plays through the TV speakers.

Also the Panasonic has an usb port, but if I connect either an external hard drive or a USB stick I get the message "incompatible USB".

Thanks

Ian


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

Your TV needs to have audio out connected to the amplifier, or you need a more modern amp that has pass through, allowing connection from a set top box to the amp, then the TV.
Being an older model amp it most likely has media playback only through USB ports, an external drive cannot be connected. I cannot be sure without looking that particular model up.


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## mrtubs (Mar 30, 2016)

Hi 
Thanks for your reply.
I am a little confused, sorry I am not very technical at all. I thought the optical audio cable did that, do I need another cable?

Ian


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## Panther063 (Jul 13, 2009)

I'm not familiar with the television you are using, so cannot say if the optical audio cable is an input to the TV or output to the home theatre. If you look at the connection on the television or in the manual for it, it should tell you.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

It would help to know the TV model #

This is a typical HTiB (Home Theater in a Box) unit, which are often limited in how they can be used. Having said that, according to the User Manual ( ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/hometheater/om/sc-xh150_en_om.pdf ), if the TV's HDMI supports ARC, then the only connection needed will be the HDMI cable. If the TV does not support ARC, then you would use the optical cable (this assumes the TV has a optical OUTPUT). You would likely need to enable the optical output in the TV audio configuration. You would also need to select the TV input as the source on the Panasonic when attempting to use it.


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## mrtubs (Mar 30, 2016)

Hi Thanks for your help.

I am away from home for a couple of days and I do not know the TV model number but will post as soon as I can get it.

I don't think that my TV supports ARC, I have attached an optical cable (the labeling on the TV says "Optical Digital Audio Out") but haven't made any adjustments to the audio configuration.

I am also concerned that the USB stick gives the error message "incompatible USB" as this is how I watch almost all of my TV.

Ian


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

I don't see the USB input noted in the Panasonic User Manual, however, based on the fact that only DVD (video), VCD, jpeg, and mp3 are supported for CD/DVD disc playback, the USB, if functional, likely won't support more than jpeg and mp3 support as well. If the player supported video (file) playback, it would do so for disc and USB (not one or the other).


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## mrtubs (Mar 30, 2016)

Hi
I have had some success, I think one of the problems I was having was that when I changed the input setting it takes some time for the sound to start coming through. I thought it wasn't working so moved on to the next setting.
So now I have audio from DVD and TV through the speakers.
I am somewhat disappointed that the USB input is of no use to me, as I do not watch DVDs.
If I use the inbuilt media player on my TV the sound does come through the speakers, although I am unsure whether this supports surround sound or if I will just get the same sound through each speaker.
To be honest I normally download all of my viewing from file sharing sites and watch on the media player even standard tv programs, however I have tried two films with 5.1 sound and the message "unsupported audio file" comes up on the TV and I have no sound.
At least the sound is better than the TV speakers, but it's a shame that I will not get to experience surround sound.
Unless of course there is a cheap workaround?
My TV is a LG 37LD490.

Thanks for your help

Ian


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## bassfisher6522 (Jul 22, 2012)

Well the manual is quite useless.....but here you go.

Panasonic Product Support - SC-XH150

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/hometheater/om/sc-xh150_en_om.pdf

If this is your unit....it just has the basic connections.









When you're watch standard TV via antenna, you have power on the HT and use the source button on the remote to change it from DVD to TV. Do the same thing for any other input source ...ie USB, CAB Box/SAT Box.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Most TV's will only output stereo audio via the digital output. The exception being content that is turned via the internal tuner (ie: OTA or cable), which is of no use in this scenario.

As for the "unsupported audio file" error, the TV player doesn't support the audio type used in that file. Your only option is to get another file, or alter the audio track into a supported format. You can/will get similar errors for the video track as well. Most hardware players are limited in what they support.


If you want better support, get a standalone media player. There are numerous options available, USB models such as the Amazon Fire TV Stick or Chromecast and hardware models such as the WD Live or Roku (and many others). For surround audio support, you will want a hardware player with optical audio output.


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## mrtubs (Mar 30, 2016)

thank you for all your help
:smile:


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