Panasonic ETW60: Vierra Link settings do not keep audio volume settings and revert to TV speakers

[Jackie78]

Hello all,

since many years, I have a setup consisting of a Panasonic TX-L47ETW60 (2013 model), connected via HDMI to a Denon AVR 1912 receiver, and an Amazon fire TV Stick HD, connected directly to the TV using ARC to get the sound through the Denon. The reason why the Fire TV stick is connected to the TV directly is that when connecting it to the Denon, then the auto framerate feature of the Fire TV stick does not work properly, but for this problem here, it makes no difference.

So, what is the problem? Since a few weeks (before, my setup worked flawlessly), my Panasonic TV does not correctly remember that the VOlume control buttons on the remote should actually control the output on the Denon AV receiver rather than the TV speakers. For that Purpose, I use Viera Link in the Panasonic TV settings, and set the output to "Home Cinema". This works for a while, but every now and then (maybe once a day), after turning on the TV again, this setting is lost, and the volume control is set back to control the volume of the Tv speakers, and when I enter the Vierra links settings, the output is reset from "Home Cinema" to "TV".

This whole thing has started from one day to the other, and I have no idea why and whn this is happening. All I know is that it is so annoying always o reset the Vierra Link settings to match my audio setup :-(

Does anybody have a clue why Vierra link is working so unreliably, and how to fix that problem? Thanks for any hints or advice you can give.

 

[mikej]

This used to happen on my 2011 Panasonic plasma and also happens occasionally on my current Panasonic OLED, so I've resigned myself to it just being an annoying Panasonic 'quirk'.

I figured it may be a memory issue as it appears to be the TV 'forgetting' this particular audio setting, but no other settings are changed/forgotten - just that one.

In my case, it doesn't tend to happen when the TV is turned on and off from standby during the day, but mainly occurs when TV is switched off at the wall overnight and turned on the following day. If you tend to turn your TV off at the main switch or the wall, you could try leaving it in standby and see if this reduces the frequency of the problem.

 

[bat0nas]

It's a bit old topic but maybe you found a solution?
I'm suffering from the same with my plasma GT60 2013 +Denon 1912: audio changes to TV automatically.

It looks like it's related to HDMI-CEC. Somehow TV knows receiver is off and changes audio to TV. But doesn't change back yo AVR when AVR is on. So we have to change manually.

 

[mikej]

It's a bit old topic but maybe you found a solution?
I'm suffering from the same with my plasma GT60 2013 +Denon 1912: audio changes to TV automatically.

It looks like it's related to HDMI-CEC. Somehow TV knows receiver is off and changes audio to TV. But doesn't change back yo AVR when AVR is on. So we have to change manually.

If you've got things configured correctly then the TV should be sending a signal to the AVR to turn it on, so the fact that the AVR is in standby at time shouldn't matter... in theory at least !

One way to test your theory would be to get it all working (so turning the TV turns the AVR on and the speaker setting stays on 'Home Cinema'), then turn the TV off (into standby), unplug the amp, turn the TV back on and see if it defaults back to 'TV speakers'. If it does, then that's an indication that not having an AVR connected (or the TV not always recognising it for some reason) will force it to default to 'TV speakers' and if it stays on 'Home Cinema', then that would imply that the status of the amp doesn't matter.

 

[PIKO]

Hey, I was just trying to figure out the same issue. It's worth checking if any of your TV outputs have ARC (Audio Return Channel). Try using that output instead.

Using ARC will turn off the TV speakers, and if you're using the TV as the audio source, it will route the audio to the amp.

I'm still testing this, but if it doesn't work, then I'll need to commit some time and write a Crestron program to control everything instead of relying on CEC

 

[Ashketchup]

I had the same issue with my Panasonic JZ OLED. There's a HDMI CEC device somewhere in your setup causing it. Unplug all HDMI CEC devices besides your receiver, even those plugged into your receiver, and reintroduce them one-by-one until you figure out which device is the cause. My solution was to just leave the problematic device unplugged until I need it. For good measure, I've also disabled CEC on everything that stays plugged in besides the receiver. CEC is more trouble than it's worth, IMO.