I have the kd49x8505bbu TV and the ht-ct770 sound bar (both Sony). I can get TV sound (I.e. when using tuner or online sources) out of soundbar using optical cable. I can view devices plugged into HDMI on soundbar on the TV. And sound works as expected then. However my understanding is that I don't need the optical cable and should be able to use ARC, the soundbar is connected to HDMI 1 on the TV marked as ARC. When going into the home theatre control option in the TV I just get a message about the supported models, of which ht-ct770 is listed. Cable being used is a 1 metre hdmi1.3+ high speed cable.
Not sure why ARC and home theatre control don't seem to work.