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I'm torn as had an optical recommended and seems fine but the manual for the sound bar implies high speed hdmi/arc with optical as a second choice if that isn't supported. Any tv/audio experts around?
HDMI supports some newer high res audio formats.
ARC can help simplify the setup in some cases: www.tomsguide.com/us/hdmi-arc-faq,news-26262.html
I doubt you're missing out on much by using optical but HDMI will be the better choice usually and cables are cheap.
Doesn't matter. Both digital formats, it's audio only. Your limitation to being able to play the latest formats will depend not on HDMI or optical, but the software in your TV. I'd connect via optical if I were you saving an HDMI port for other things.
Running an uber Dolby Atmos 7.1 receiver, HDMI would be the way to go as it's higher bandwidth than TOSlink. A soundbar, meh, who cares, it's just a slightly bigger speaker than the one in your telly.