Using my receiver as a switcher

[hello2dan]

Hello,
Currently I have a 5.1 set up with the Yamaha RXA860 receiver. However I just just purchased a Dolby atmos soundbar. I have used the sound bar into the earc of my tv to replace the Yamaha system but have left the old system in its place as all my hdmi cabling is into the receiver. Is there a way I can use my receiver just as a hdmi switch and leave sound output through the soundbar? I only manage to get it to work by allowing 4K pass through on the receiver and then choosing the HDMI I want and turning the receiver off, if I leave it on it doesn’t work. However constantly turning the receiver on and off to change HDMI isn’t ideal.
Thankyou for any advice.

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[DavidT]

Connect the devices to the TV to do the switching and take out the AVR as it has no use with a sound bar.

 

[hello2dan]

The cables are all correct length to go to the AVR not the tv so keeping the AVR as a switcher if possible is my best option

 

[dante01]

Simply ensure that STANDBY THROUGH is turned on within the AV receiver's HDMI configurations. This will allow you to passthrough HDMI sources including both the video and the audio signal while the AV receiver is in standby. Yoiu can also switch between the HDMI sources using the AV receiver's remote while the AV receiver is in standby. There's no reason to even power the AVR up out of standby if simply wanting to use it as an HDMI switch.

I'd suggest you simply buy a deicated HDMI switch as opposed to using an AV receiver as one.


Yamaha AV receiver also allow you to pass through both video and audio while in use. You'd need to set the AVR's AUDIO OUT AMP setting within the HDMI configurations to OFF and then set the HDMI TV option to ON. This will prevent the AV receiver from processing the audio and portraying it via the speakers connected to it and will facilitate the AVR passing the audio through and out along with the video signal. There are independ settings for both the HDMI 1 and the HDMIO 2 outputs on the A860. You'd need to dissable HDMI Control to utilise this feature and the AV receiver would need to be fully powered up in order to use the receiver as a switch. Note that the AV receiver's video processing would still be applicable to the video signal if using this method.

Again, I'd suggest you simply buy a deicated HDMI switch as opposed to using an AV receiver as one.