What do all the sockets on the back of a TV actually do?

The back panel is the one part of a television nobody reads before pushing the set against a wall, which is exactly when it becomes unreachable. Ten minutes spent understanding it before installation saves most of the problems that follow, because the majority of soundbar faults and console picture faults are simply a cable in the wrong socket.

Step by step

1. Find the HDMI group and count them.Usually three or four. These take the streaming stick, the games console, the set-top box, the disc player and a laptop. They look identical and are not, so read the small print printed beside each one before you plug anything in.
2. Identify the one marked ARC or eARC.Audio return channel. It is the only socket that will send sound backwards out of the television to a soundbar or amplifier, whatever the set is showing. If a soundbar is silent, this is the first thing to check.
3. Look for a socket flagged as the fast one.On sets that have one it is noted in small print near the socket, often mentioning a high refresh rate. That is the socket for a games console; using a slower one caps what the console can output and is invisible until you look for it.
4. Recognise the round threaded aerial socket.Marked RF, ANT or AERIAL. The coaxial cable from a rooftop or loft aerial screws or pushes in here and feeds the tuner that receives Freeview. Nothing else uses it. Some sets have a second, different round socket for a satellite dish.
5. Note the optical audio output.A small square door, often with a red glow behind it. It is the fallback route to a soundbar where ARC is unavailable or refuses to work. It carries fewer sound formats and does not pass volume control, so the TV remote will not change the bar's volume.
6. Use the ethernet socket if the router is nearby.A wired connection removes buffering caused by a weak wifi signal at the television, which is one of the most common streaming complaints. It costs a cable and nothing else.
7. Know what the USB sockets are and are not for.Playing photos, music and video files from a memory stick, and supplying power to a small streaming stick so it does not need its own plug. They will not connect a computer to the television — that is what HDMI is for.
8. Label every cable as you plug it in, before the set goes back.A strip of masking tape and a pen. Once the television is against the wall or on a bracket, working out which of four identical black cables goes to the console means moving the whole set.

Tips

• Photograph the back panel with your phone before you push the television into place. It saves pulling it out again to read a label.
• If the set is going on a wall bracket, plug in one spare HDMI cable and leave it coiled behind the set. Adding one later is far more work than leaving one there.
• A CI or CI+ slot is only used by certain pay-television services. If you do not have a viewing card, it does nothing and can be ignored.

Common mistakes

• Assuming all the HDMI sockets are the same — Only one does ARC, and often only one runs at the full speed. A console in the wrong socket and a soundbar in the wrong socket are the two most common self-inflicted faults on a new television.
• Opening the back of the television to investigate a problem — A television contains a mains power supply with components that hold a dangerous charge after it is unplugged. There is nothing behind that panel a householder should be adjusting. Faults inside the case are a repair, not a job.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask