Samsung HDTV + Samsung receiver and Anynet issues/annoyances

oscahie

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I've recently purchased a Samsung HDTV UE46D7000 and a Samsung home theater HTD6500, thinking they would inter-operate better together being of the same brand. However I'm running into several issues or annoyances, mainly related to the audio:

1) I can't manage to have the TV and the sound system to turn off and on simultaneously. Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC) is enabled on both devices and the "Auto turn off" is set to "Yes" in the TV configuration. When I turn off the TV, the sound system also turns itself off, but when I power on the TV again, the receiver does not follow it, and therefore there is no audio unless I manually turn it on every time with its own remote. I assume this is not intentional but a software issue? Otherwise it'd be ridiculous that I need to keep the receiver on 24x7 just to avoid this annoying thing.

2) When I use the TV's remote to change the volume I see an on-screen HUD, but it's quite useless as it does not indicate the current volume level, only displays an animated volume bar which does not provide any feedback as to what level is the volume being set to. When I use the BD's remove there is no HUD at all. In both cases I can see the volume indicator in the receiver's display though, but that is just too small and not necessarily always on sight. This is quite inconvenient. The Anynet+ documentation I've found around shows that it should be possible to display at least the current volume level in a numeric format on screen (and it actually does it when I mute and un-mute with the TV's remote). Anyway to get this working as it should?

3) I also have many audio synchronization issues, i.e. lip sync is not good in some channels/HDMI inputs while it is on others. But it gets much worse when I use a media center (Boxee Box) connected to the TV via HDMI. Sometimes the audio is ahead and sometimes it lags with respect to the video. I've tried playing with the audio delay setting in both the TV settings and the receiver settings, but it seems an impossible task to get it right for all the scenarios. Note that I'm currently using the ARC feature on the HDMI port 2 to send the audio to the receiver. Any suggestions to mitigate the issue? Perhaps using an optical cable for the audio instead?
 
when I power on the TV again, the receiver does not follow it

You wouldn't expect it to. Just because you want to watch telly doesn't necessarily mean you want to watch a DVD from your home theatre. It will turn the home theatre on when you select the HDMI input on the TV that the home theatre is connected to - but only if you select that HDMI input. Any other source means you don't want to use the home theatre - so why would it switch the home theatre on automatically?

2) When I use the TV's remote to change the volume I see an on-screen HUD

What is a HUD?
 
You wouldn't expect it to. Just because you want to watch telly doesn't necessarily mean you want to watch a DVD from your home theatre. It will turn the home theatre on when you select the HDMI input on the TV that the home theatre is connected to - but only if you select that HDMI input. Any other source means you don't want to use the home theatre - so why would it switch the home theatre on automatically?


Yes I would. The TV is configured to output the audio to the home theater's receiver and not to its built-in speakers, so it makes total sense that both turn on simultaneously, don't you think? Otherwise I need to do it manually, and I thought that was precisely the point of having Anynet, to take care of this automatically so that I don't have to.


What is a HUD?

I mean the thing that appears on screen when you press the volume buttons, not sure what the right word for it is but HUD sounds appropriate to me (perhaps because of my background as gamer :laugh:)
 
Yes I would. The TV is configured to output the audio to the home theater's receiver and not to its built-in speakers, so it makes total sense that both turn on simultaneously, don't you think?

No, I don't think. I think the home theatre should turn on when you select its input to the TV - but I don't think it should turn on regardless. Many times I want to watch my Samsung TV without having my Samsung Anynet+ kit connected to it turned on as well. If it automatically turned the home cinema on, it would then auto-select the HDMI input that the home cinema is connected to (that's another feature of Anynet, to auto-select that source as input when it switches on) - and that would be a real pain if you wanted to watch Freeview or Sky or something other than the home cinema.

Otherwise I need to do it manually, and I thought that was precisely the point of having Anynet, to take care of this automatically so that I don't have to do it.

No you don't - as already explained, all you need to do is select the HDMI input on the TV that the home cinema is connected to, and it will start the home cinema automatically. You need never turn the home cinema on or off via the home cinema on/off button again.

If you want to watch anything other than the home cinema, all you need to do is select an alternative source, and it will switch it off - again automatically. That is what Anynet does - turns things on for you when you indicate you want them on, turns them off when you indicate you don't. Without you having to do it manually.
 
I'm not sure if I'm not explaining myself correctly or it is that we have different expectations as to what Anynet should "normally" do.

Here is what I want (or would like) it to do: Say I'm watching some cable TV channel, so the TV is in "TV" mode and the audio goes through the receiver using the return channel (ARC). When I decide to turn off the TV for a while I press the corresponding button on the TV's remote and walk away. At that moment, the TV switches off and so it does the home cinema (because "Auto turn off" is set to YES in the TV configuration menu). Now if I wanted to return to watching TV, I press the button again in the remote and the TV switches on and changes to the last cable channel I was watching before automatically. However, the receiver is still off and thus there is no audio whatsoever. At this point my only options are:

1) Manually turn on the receiver either with its own remote or with the "physical" button
2) Go to the TV options menu, select Anynet, then Receiver and then switch it from Off to On, which will use Anynet to turn on the receiver and change the audio input to the corresponding one.

Now, is it too much to ask that Anynet does 2) automatically for me? All I want is to be able to turn the TV with one single damn touch of the remote, exactly like I would be able to if using the TV's own speakers. Seriously, are you telling me this is not supposed to work this way? :eek:
 
Seriously, are you telling me this is not supposed to work this way? :eek:

Correct.

Turning on the TV should not automatically turn on things which are connected to it via HDMI CEC (the general term for Samsung Anynet, Sony BraviaSync, Panasonic Vieralink etc etc etc). Turning on the home cinema first will then turn the TV on (because the manufacturer wouldn't expect you to have the home cinema on without also having the TV on) but turning the TV on would not be expected to automatically turn the home cinema on. You are expecting Anynet+ to work in a way it has not been designed to work. Many people want their TV on without wanting their home cinema on also - and it would annoy more people than it would placate if the home cinema did turn on automatically every time you turned the telly on.

If you want both to turn on from one key press, turn the home cinema on. This will turn the TV on. But don't expect turning the telly on to switch the home cinema on - cos this will never happen automatically. But selecting the home cinema source HDMI on the TV will switch it on, if you really can't be bothered pressing the on/off switch of the home cinema yourself.
 
Well, in my case it doesn't even work that way around (I had already tried). When both things are off and I turn the home cinema on using its remote, the TV remains off... unless you need to blindly begin the playback of a DVD to make this happen, which I have not tried.

In any case, I still think this is not correct. It should be trivial for the TV to be smart enough to decide whether the home cinema must be on when the audio output is configured to go through it and hence power it on automatically. In the worst case I'd be happy is this were at the very least a configurable behavior that one can turn on somewhere in the configuration.

I'm already in touch with Samsung's support service via email and I'll sure give them a call. Probably won't get anything out of it but maybe if many of us complain loud enough... because I'm not alone in this, or am I?

Ultimately this is encouraging me to disable the auto turn off feature and leave the home cinema on 24x7... not nice at all for the energy bill and for the environment, but Samsung is forcing me to it.
 
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because I'm not alone in this, or am I?

I would have thought so, yes. Can't imagine anybody else wanting the home cinema to turn on each time you turn the telly on.
 
So how about the volume level indicator? is it also "normal" that it does not show a numeric indicator and that you need to look at the home cinema's super small led display to know that?
 
I have no idea about that. Don't even know whether it is your home cinema which is displaying this volume level on screen, or whether it is your TV showing you that it is adjusting some kind of volume. Not sure how much more accurate it needs to be in all honesty - do you specifically aim for (say) volume level 32 rather than approx 1/3 of the maximum range. I adjust it until it sounds right to my ears - I don't set it to a certain digit between 1 and 100. So, I have no interest in numeric displays for volume levels.
 
I think it is the TV showing that it is using Anynet to adjust the home cinema's volume level, because when used with the TV speakers it shows a different thingy with the numeric volume, etc.

I'd like it to show at least some form of visual cue of the current level, whether numeric or a bar or dots or something. At the moment it only shows an sliding animation and the + or - sign, depending on whether increasing or decreasing, but it doesn't provide enough feedback as to what the current level is. It is not a bit deal because I also adjust it until it sounds right, but still it is somewhat annoying to me that something so basic is missing.
 
I agree with oscahie. I bought a Samasung UE40D6530 yesterday. I have a Panasonic home theatre system that I used with my previous TV, a Panasonic LCD. It used the Viera Link to turn the home theatre system on and off in tandem with the TV. This made sense since the setup was to output sound through the home theatre system and not the TV speakers.

The Samsung seems to work in the same way provided the Anynet+ settings are as follows:
Anynet+ is set to YES, Auto Turn Off is set to YES and Receiver is set to ON.
With these settings the TV will direct sound through the Home Theatre or AV receiver and power it off when the TV is switched off.

However it will not switch the Home Theatre on when the TV is switched on. Worse than that, when the TV is switched on it has undone the Anynet+ setting that confirms control of AV receiver. ie Receiver is now set to OFF.
 
I'm with oscahie and gaultd - I have a Samsung TV and HT, and I have all audio from the TV (i.e. TV channels, consoles) playing through the HT speakers (via the ARC on the HDMI cable connecting the HT to the TV), so it's annoying to have to turn on the TV and HT separately.

Granted, I can think of a specific instance where I'd want the TV without sound (if I decide to use my TV and not my computer, phone, camera, etc. to display photos - and in that instance I'm more than willing to turn off the HT manually or just ignore it since it'll be turned off when I'm done with the TV) - but watching TV or playing games is much more enjoyable with sound, so it's a bit of a hassle to have to turn on the HT separately just so I can get some sound.
 
I knew I could not be so rare as to be the only one surprised by this stupid implementation :)

Are you guys also annoyed but how the volume control works? I'm thinking of perhaps switching from ARC to the S/PDIF interface, hoping I can get the normal audio HUD (with numeric volume level, etc) and at the same time perhaps solve some of my audio sync issues...

Any other suggestion?
 
I'm not so bothered about the volume indicator on the screen but it is a short coming.
The really bad aspect is having to reset the Receiver option back to On every time because the TV won't
Retain the On setting and sets it back to Off every time the TV is powered down to Standby.

I don't use ARC because of sound sync problems. E.g. sound from Sky box goes to TV then to HT while sound from a Bluray disk
Doesn't leave the HT but goes straight to speakers.

I use 2 optical cables to an optical selector switch. One cable from TV to switch for playing freeview sound through HT.
Second cable from Sky box to switch for playing sound from Sky stations through HT.
The switch is in turn connected to the HT with a 3rd optical cable.
Selecting the sound source through the switch is the only way I've found to fix sound sync problems.
 
I'm not so bothered about the volume indicator on the screen but it is a short coming.
The really bad aspect is having to reset the Receiver option back to On every time because the TV won't
Retain the On setting and sets it back to Off every time the TV is powered down to Standby.

Weird, this does not happen to me... so far my workaround is to keep the HT on 24/7 and disable the Anynet AutoOff setting in the TV.

I use 2 optical cables to an optical selector switch. One cable from TV to switch for playing freeview sound through HT.
Second cable from Sky box to switch for playing sound from Sky stations through HT.
The switch is in turn connected to the HT with a 3rd optical cable.
Selecting the sound source through the switch is the only way I've found to fix sound sync problems.

That's kind of the setup I was thinking off. So when using an optical cable for the audio output (TV to HT), do you still not see the normal volume level indicator? (i.e. the one that appears when using the TV built-in speakers)
 
I don't fancy leaving the HT on 24/7. The whole idea of Anynet is it should be able to power on and off other devices as required. Problem here is Anynet always remembers to power off the HT but doesn't remember to power it back on again.

I don't get the HT volume level shown on the TV with my setup through the optical switch. This might be different if you link the TV and HT directly with an optical cable.
 
I don't get the HT volume level shown on the TV with my setup through the optical switch. This might be different if you link the TV and HT directly with an optical cable.

Really? I'd have thought that there should be exactly the same when running it by the switch or directly... am I wrong?
 
Ok, i have a samsung LE46C650 and have just bought a HT-D5500 home theatre system (which is superb). Initially, I had the same confusion as you guys expecting the HT to turn on when turning on the TV. But, after a little more thought, I came to the conclussion that I was happy for it to operate this way because sometimes I just want to watch my TV without using my HT. So, I checked with Samsung and they told me that this is definitely by design.

I think it would have been a better implementation if Samsung had included an option in the settings to enable Anynet to turn on the HT when turning on the TV. This way everyone would be satisfied. Maybe a future firmware update will add this option (but this is Samsung so don't hold yer breath:rolleyes:)

Anyway, When I turned on the TV there was no sound coming from it because the HT was off (optical cable between TV & HT +HDMI cable). This was odd I thought - I don't want to have to run my HT just to have sound when only watching the TV. So, I solved the problem by going into the TV settings and setting the speaker settings to "TV speakers" instead of "external speakers" and VIOLA:smashin:, now, when I turn on the TV sound is output from the TV speakers with the HT remaining off. If I want to turn on the HT I just press tools and select anynet and then turn the HT receiver on and the sound immediately changes from TV speakers to HT speakers and 5.1 sound.

Only prob I have, like others, Is constantly having to fiddle with audio sync settings when switching from 1 source to another. Pain in the ass.

So, to sum up, set your TV speakers to on and let Anynet switch them off automatically when turning on HT system.

Hope this helped someone.;)
 
If that works for you then fair enough carlos67, but Samsung should definitely have included a switch for both options. In my case I pretty much use the HT only for the 5.1 sound, I seldom play DVD's (got a Boxee box for playing movies and shows). And after having spent 450€ on the HT I wouldn't conceive watching TV with the TV speakers, to be honest, so my idea is to have TV + HT always simultaneously on and off.

I've also contacted Samsung's customer support service, both by email and phone, and yes, they say it is this way by design, unfortunately. They gave me an email address though to contact some other department where I could make suggestions that might (or might not) be considered for future firmware updates, so I guess I'll just do that.

Meanwhile the HT will have to remain on 24/7. Thanks Samsung for increasing my electricity bill :p
 
If that works for you then fair enough carlos67, but Samsung should definitely have included a switch for both options. In my case I pretty much use the HT only for the 5.1 sound, I seldom play DVD's (got a Boxee box for playing movies and shows). And after having spent 450€ on the HT I wouldn't conceive watching TV with the TV speakers, to be honest, so my idea is to have TV + HT always simultaneously on and off.

I've also contacted Samsung's customer support service, both by email and phone, and yes, they say it is this way by design, unfortunately. They gave me an email address though to contact some other department where I could make suggestions that might (or might not) be considered for future firmware updates, so I guess I'll just do that.

Meanwhile the HT will have to remain on 24/7. Thanks Samsung for increasing my electricity bill :p

I agree a choice should be available, then everyone wins. Sometimes I can't figure the idiots at Samsung (and other firms for that matter). Surely an option to be able to do this would take maybe 15-20 lines of simple code. So why don't they give us this?:facepalm: I reckon it would take one of their hot-shot coders 10 mins to insert into a new firmware. Result= tens of thousands of happy users like you. It's a no brainer for me and you but apparently not for good old Sammy.

Can you post the email address for Sammy so I can make the same request because, even though I'm happy with it as is, I would like to take issue with them about the lack of provision/choices for the end user.
 
Sure, will post it tomorrow, I wrote it down in a piece of paper at the office and now I'm home.

Thanks a lot, the more feedback they receive the better the chances :)
 
I hate to say it but my D7000 turns on my Onkyo amp when I turn the TV on!

Have you guys installed the latest firmware on your TVs and tried it?
 
I hate to say it but my D7000 turns on my Onkyo amp when I turn the TV on!

Have you guys installed the latest firmware on your TVs and tried it?

Yes, I certainly have, on both the TV and the HT, and it makes no difference.
 
Can you post the email address for Sammy so I can make the same request because, even though I'm happy with it as is, I would like to take issue with them about the lack of provision/choices for the end user.

The email address they gave me is [email protected] (because I live in the Netherlands but you can probably send it also to .com). They also gave me a post address but the support guy said it was essentially the same.
 

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