Question Viera CX40TX802B, Marantz NR-1200 AVR, Netflix Issue...

Muth

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Recently bought a Marantz NR-1200 network receiver, and have set it up in my living room, and am generally pleased with it, excepting one (as yet) insurmountable issue.

Before going into great detail I'd like to mention that it's partnered with a Panasonic Viera (Firefox OS) Television, and a pair of Monitor Bronze speakers (I may add a Sub Woofer in due course). I want the Marantz to take over the audio from the Panasonic Viera, as well as act as a standalone radio tuner and streaming music (USB music) client with either HEOS, or by using the Deezer App built into the Panasonic Viera TV. The firmware on the Marantz, and on the Viera, are both bang up to date.

I have it connected by HDMi (ARC) and audio throughput is working great with terrestrial TV, with the Deezer app in the Viera, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video. In other words the audio signal is apparently making it through to the Marantz just fine.

However when it comes to Netflix, silence prevails! I have already tweaked the HDCP and HDMI settings in every permutation imaginable. By that I mean in both units. I have made sure the Netflix audio coding is set to English (original). The Netflix default setting is English 5.1 Audio (that doesn't work for the Marantz either!) I am paying the top flight Netflix subscription and am well below the permitted number of receiving devices. Netflix help couldn't help, they have no idea what was causing this issue.

I have also changed the HDMi cable three times. Swapped ends over. Added a Toslink cable (on it's own the Toslink cable exhibits the exact same behaviour as the HDMi cable).

Like anyone, it's at this point I turn to other owners (and to the more savvy) for a heads-up as to what's happening, or more to the point, isn't.

I'm not very well up on the abbreviations or jargon in current use for this sort of gear, so go easy on me please :)

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Edit/... If I use a 3.5mm audio cable that splits to two phono type plugs, and connect that from the headphone outlet on the Viera to the CD Input on the Marantz (and disconnect the HDMI ARC cable) then I can establish a weak audio signal - but it appears I'd need some kind of a secondary amplifier to boost the signal strength...
 
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I think that the amp only accepts stereo audio via its HDMI inputs. Does Netflix give you the option to select a stereo soundtrack? If not, can you set the audio output of the TV to stereo?
 
Netflix audio is governed by the TV's app and the Panny's own output. If you usually get audio with the TV's speakers then it could be that the Panny itself has a problem with Deezer in allowing the audio to pass via HDMI or toslink.

Perhaps you should post this in the Panasonic forums and there may be an answer there. I can move it for you if you wish. Change the header to reflect the Panny model and problem.
 
I should mention that I have a Panny FX OLED with a Neflix app and full subscription and I get no problems with audio to my Denon receiver.
 
@Rambles - The NR-1200 is uniquely a stereo unit, plus a low frequency output for supplementary bass. Whatever the original encoding, in theory it should be able to 'interpolate' the signal to stereo when the input is HDMi, and it already successfully does this with all sources (inc' external Blu Ray) except Netflix.

My suspicion is that Netflix causes the problem because I understand they encapsulate their signal into three separate components (audio, in various languages and formats being the first... the video feed is the second component, and user selectable subtitling is the third). However this is not something new, and my TV came with embedded Netflix, and the Marantz receiver is a current model, so I figure that both ought to be able to handle the Netflix format.
 
@gibbsy - thank you, my dilemma is that I am uncertain whether it is a Panasonic issue, or a Marantz issue... and therefore I am happy to do what you suggest if that's the best option :)
 
From the Marantz NR1200 manual:

Only the PCM 2-channel setting can be used to play sound from a TV via the ARC function. Set “PCM 2ch” as the audio format in the TV settings.
 
I think it's a source issue, either the Deezer app and how Netflix work with it as the Marantz should be more than able to process the signal for audio. Your connection shows it's working for you. The Panasonic forum may very well be the best place for this. You could also contact Panasonic themselves.

In view of Rambles' last entry I'll hold off from moving until you come back with a reply.

Oh and welcome to the Forum.
 
@Rambles suggestion would be the first place I'd look as well.
 
@Rambles - Marantz do say that, but the only option for PCM in the Viera is under Optical Output, and is either PCM or AUTO. I have already found it must be set to PCM for Amazon el al to work. There isn't an option for "PCM 2ch" in the Viera.

@gibbsy - I'm inclined to agree it may be a Viera issue, so am editing the thread title :)
 
Moving for you.
 
There isn't an option for "PCM 2ch" in the Viera.
What options do you have? You could just use optical, as 2.0 audio would be the same whether it was relayed via optical or HDMI ARC.
 
I've got no options left, every possible permutation of settings in the TV has been tried. Including hooking up an optical cable, which altered nothing. That worked for everything but Netflix, which is exactly the same issue as experienced with HDMi. If there's anything in the TV which can be changed then I'd imagine there must be a patch, or firmware fix - but I have found nothing of the kind.

Slapping a 3.5mm audio cable into the headphone port, with dual RCA plus on the other end, does allow the audio from Netflix (and everything else) into the Marantz on an analog basis - but that lacks body and the THD must be around ten percent, thus entirely defeating the objective.
 

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