Need Advice on LG C1 + Denon AVR-2113CI Audio and Video Options

kkathman

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Greetings!

I just purchased a brand new LG C1 65" OLED TV just after Thanksgiving. I also have a Denon AVR-2113Ci receiver hooked to five speakers in my living area (2 Front, 2 Back and Subwoofer). I replaced an old Mitsubishi TV DLP that was about 15 years old (but still worked well). I figured it was time to come into the 4K world.

However, I have had nothing but headaches with this. I have been completely unable to get sound from the LG to my Denon Receiver, even following the connection rules for both eARC and Optical. I get NO sound for eARC and sound only to my Front 2 speakers with Optical.

I thought maybe I'd try using an Amazon Firestick or Apple TV as a source to the Denon, then push that via HDMI output to the LG, but I was again disappointed because the Denon won't do a simple passthrough of the 4K signal!

So I am now completely stuck wondering 1) Does the LG C1 have a defect in its Audio, 2) Will I need to discard 4 Bose speakers, a Polk Center speaker and a Polk Subwoofer and replace those with a soundbar? If so, will that even WORK! Seems by buying a $2000 TV I can't use $1000 worth of audio!

Maybe there's someone here that's gone through this with a C1 and a Denon AVR-2113 that can help?

Thanks!
 
The Denon AVR is 10 years old and does not support eARC or 4K 60hz.

It might work with HDMI-ARC but these are not strict standards so compatibility does break, especially with older products that may not be tested.

For regular ARC on the TV you must set it to
eARC = disabled
Digital Sound Output = Auto.

That will pass PCM 2.0 (stereo) and Dolby 5.1 only.

You can still use the Denon AVR with eARC if you purchase something like the Sharc which is an eARC bridge for old sound systems. However this will only add PCM 7.1 and Dolby TrueHD 7.1 to above supported audio formats, which would only be used by PC, consoles or Blu-ray (streaming services dont use them).

 
Thanks very much for your reply.
I am sure you're correct about only HDMI ARC for the 2113 as well as the 4K. Which is disheartning.

The LG TV DOES have an eARC HDMI (it is labeled as such). This is where I have connected the HDMI cable, and then it goes to the HDMI (OUT) Monitor ARC port on the AVR-2113CI.

I just went into the TV and it doesn't seem that I can set it up the way you ask. On the LG, the initial choice for sound is to choose whether you want audio to go to your TV speaker, Wired speakers, Wireless Speakers (ie Bluetooth soundbar) or Wired Speakers+TV Speakers. This governs the downstream options. So, the the first choice is always "Wired Speakers" here.

Next you have 4 choices: Optical Out, HDMI (ARC), Audio Out Device and Wired Headphones.

I assume you wanted me to choose the Audio Out Device, but this has no more options. Furthermore when you go back to the Advanced Audio Settings, it automatically greys out most options, including the option that allows pass through and PCM.

Is OPTICAL a better choice here since the LG and the Denon both support Optical? If so, I think that would be relatively easy to set up on the LG. However, as I mentioned, I could only get sound through my front 2 speakers (Front-L, Front-R) and nothing through the two back speakers, the subwoofer or the Polk Center speaker.
 
While the TV supports eARC your Denon AVR does not and only works with the older ARC.

So you need settings like this on the TV.
General->Devices->HDMI Settings->Simplink = enabled
Sound->Advanced Settings->eARC Support = disabled
Sound->Advanced Settings->Select HDMI Input Format = bitstream
Sound->Sound Out->Use Wired Speaker->HDMI (ARC)
Sound->Advanced Settings->Digital Sound Output menu which has three choices
PCM = stereo
Auto = ARC
Pass-through = eARC

So you pick Auto in your case.

The above should also apply if you chose optical output, optical and HDMI-ARC support the same formats PCM 2.0 (stereo) and Dolby 5.1.

If TV and AVR will not work with ARC then try optical with the above, digital sound output must be on auto to pass dolby 5.1 for optical.

Also go into support->software update and ensure the TV firmware is up to date.
 
While the TV supports eARC your Denon AVR does not and only works with the older ARC.

So you need settings like this on the TV.
General->Devices->HDMI Settings->Simplink = enabled
Sound->Advanced Settings->eARC Support = disabled
Sound->Advanced Settings->Select HDMI Input Format = bitstream
Sound->Sound Out->Use Wired Speaker->HDMI (ARC)
Sound->Advanced Settings->Digital Sound Output menu which has three choices
PCM = stereo
Auto = ARC
Pass-through = eARC

So you pick Auto in your case.

The above should also apply if you chose optical output, optical and HDMI-ARC support the same formats PCM 2.0 (stereo) and Dolby 5.1.

If TV and AVR will not work with ARC then try optical with the above, digital sound output must be on auto to pass dolby 5.1 for optical.

Also go into support->software update and ensure the TV firmware is up to date.
Thanks for this, but afraid none of this worked with the HDMI. I do have Optical working, but again, only the front two speakers. My subwoofer, center speaker and 2 rear speakers are silent. I do have an option to use the TV speakers with the wired speakers attached to the Denon, in Pass-Through mode and this almost mimics the center speaker effect.

On the LG C1 OLED TV, once you choose OPTical OUT - everything else defaults so I don't get the option to set anything in "Advanced Settings" except a Screen Sync. On the Denon, I went to the Input Assign and set the TV AUDIO to D=OPT. That seems to be the only thing I had to do. However, I SHOULD be getting all speakers responding I thought.
 
Are you sure you are selecting TV Audio on the receiver?
I just got a G1 and same as you my receiver is non 4k. Spent ages trying to get ARC to work, but nothing. Until I realised you have to select TV Audio on my Marantz SR6008, then it worked perfectly.

Also in video options I think you need to enable HDMI control on receiver if your Denon is anything like my Marantz.
 
Yes I chose TV AUDIO for the input source. Under the Input Assign, there are a couple of settings, one of which pertains to what input source. You have 3 choices, OPT, COAX and None. Of course, for OPT you choose OPT. I'm not sure what you're supposed to set that for HDMI, but I think I've tried all three. Other pertinent settings on the Denon are that under Video->HDMI I have HDMI Control On. I also have CEC on and I know that's working because when I turn on the TV, the Denon comes on also..

What I'm afraid is that the DENON does NOT have eARC, while the LG TV DOES have eARC. The standards are not the same and I suspect that they are not communicating properly.

I'd love to get the Optical working on all speakers, but I'm worried there that the DENON again is only detecting a Stereo signal, not a 5.2 which should be coming from the TV. However, setting the TV to Optical OUT, pretty much greys out almost all other Advanced Settings.
 
Yes I chose TV AUDIO for the input source. Under the Input Assign, there are a couple of settings, one of which pertains to what input source. You have 3 choices, OPT, COAX and None. Of course, for OPT you choose OPT. I'm not sure what you're supposed to set that for HDMI, but I think I've tried all three. Other pertinent settings on the Denon are that under Video->HDMI I have HDMI Control On. I also have CEC on and I know that's working because when I turn on the TV, the Denon comes on also..

What I'm afraid is that the DENON does NOT have eARC, while the LG TV DOES have eARC. The standards are not the same and I suspect that they are not communicating properly.

I'd love to get the Optical working on all speakers, but I'm worried there that the DENON again is only detecting a Stereo signal, not a 5.2 which should be coming from the TV. However, setting the TV to Optical OUT, pretty much greys out almost all other Advanced Settings.

You could try a factory reset of the TV and AVR just in case there is some unknown issue but everything is configured the way it should be to work so I'm out of ideas.

I'd also contact Denon support and ask them what to try, if you have never connected the AVR to the internet, connect it and see if it has a firmware update available.

A possible cheaper workaround is get a HDMI audio extractor unlike the prior Sharc I linked to these are just plain old ARC/optical. The TV will think a different ARC device is attached and then pass the audio formats through that.
 
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On my input settings for TV Audio it just has a dash - which I assume defaults to the ARC hdmi return.
My receiver is only ARC not the enhanced and works fine with the tv from what testing I've done.
In advanced audio settings settings on the LG.
DTV Audio Setting is set to Dolby Digital Plus
Digital Sound Ouput is set to pass through
eARC support is turned off.
 
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Thanks for that. I'm thinking it might be time that I just upgrade my receivers and get one that supports 4K/8K, eARC etc. Denon makes a $499 unit (Model AVRS660H) that seems to support everything I need. They have one level up from that $849) that has a few more capabilities and upgrades from 75W to 90W per channel. Both are plenty for my system I believe.

The Optical cable seems to work fine to send the signal to the AVR2113, but by all accounts I thought I should be getting full signal send, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
You should get Dolby Digital (+) over optical that all the streaming services use.
What source are you playing when testing the optical cable?
 
The LG C1 OLED TV. It's just a direct connect. One output on the TV and one input on the Denon. Like I said before, I should be able to change the Output on the Denon from Stereo to 5 channel but I don't see how to. On my (older) Denon, I can do this using the knob. I might switch out and see how that goes. The older Denon doesn't have any ARC whatsoever (its around 15 years old)
 

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