Weird Hdmi issue

[Greg66]

I’m hoping this is the right sub-forum for this question…

I’ve got an Apple TV, a BD player and a PVR all feeding into a Yamaha RX-2050. The Yamaha feeds a Panasonic plasma screen.

Each of those components are connected by HDMI cables.

Every has been working fine until recently. I had to dismantle everything to do some decoration. I took the opportunity to replace the old thick as you little finger HDMI cables with some new thinner 4K ones (I don’t have or use 4K content).

Now on powering up, I have no sound at the speakers connected to the Yamaha - at least initially - from any source.

I can fix this, consistently, by (leaving everything on), pulling the HDMI cable out of the back of the TV and plugging it in again. Presto - sound returns.

Anyone have a clue what on earth is going on? The best I can come up with is that the sound from the sources is passing through the Yamaha completely and being sent to the TV, which is muted. But I’m struggling to understand why, and so what did I can apply that doesn’t require pulling cables (which isn’t a solution I can sell to Mrs66 to adopt when I am not there).

 

[dante01]

What happens if you go back to using the old HDMI cables?

From first impressions, I'd suggest the new cables you've got aren the issue and may not be as reliable as the ones you've replaced?

The only way in which you'd be able to pass audio through the AV receiver is if specifically configuring it to allow this. The AV receiver does include an option to pass audio through via HDMI soI'd ensure that you've not engage that option. Pulling the cables and then reconnecting them wouldn't negaye such a setting so it is unlikely that the AV receiver is configured to pass audio through via HDMI? It is more l9kely that you are simply reinstigating a new HDMI handshake?

You could try a factory reset of the AV receiver and reconfigure it from scratch? If the issue persists after this then I'd again suggest the cables or a more serious hardware fault or issue with the AV receiver.

 

[Joe Fernand]

As dante01 suggests the AVR does have a setting to pass audio to the TV - though that usually takes a few button pushes to get to the correct Sub Menu to make a change.

It may be that when you have been resetting kit the system has enabled CEC if you have connected the AVR to the eARC or ARC Input on the TV.

Two changes you can try. 1. Change which Input on the TV you are connecting the AVR HDMI Output to (avoid the Input labelled eARC or ARC on the TV) or 2. go through the TV and AVR settings and disable CEC.

Another possible cause is which HDMI Inputs you have connected the external Source devices to - are they connected to the same AVR Inputs you used previously.

One ‘cable’ related cause could be that the cable you previously used between the AVR and TV was not wired/supported CEC so it didn’t matter if it was enabled/which HDMI Input on the TV you used.

Joe

 

[Greg66]

Thanks chaps.

A bit more fiddling around revealed that the audio signal was indeed bypassing the AVR and going straight to the TV: upping the TV volume uncovered that.

The AVR has two HDMI outs, so I switched to the second (non-ARC) one and that has re-established audio the receiver speakers. So everything is working fine again.

I may tinker around seeing whether I can get to the bottom of this, just because. I am loath to swap inputs on the TV as the remote is a programmed Harmony, and if that is the solution I will need to reprogram the remote - ugh.

Trying the old cables out is quite so easy as it might seem as the whole set up is in a unit with quite fiddly and inaccessible cable management. It’s something I need to devote a bit of time to during the day, so may have a go this weekend.

One additional wildcard in this: for reasons I can’t now remember, I have an optical cable running from the TV to an AV input (AV3) on the AVR. When the AVR is running, the display shows AV3 (top left). I’m not entirely sure why I have a cable apparently feeding audio back to the AVR - like many of these things I probably had good, thought through reasons for doing this initially and have now long since forgotten them because everything was working fine. Those optical cables can, I find, not seat securely and/or just be a little bit temperamental.

As you suggest, the fact that pulling the HDMI cable from the TV and reconnecting it re-establishes sound suggests handshake issue. And I am tempted to suspect that the new cables are capable of something that the olds ones weren’t, which may simply be confounding and not something I can sort out that easily.

 

[dante01]

If you do not use ARC or HDMI Control then simply turn them off via the settings in the AV receiver's HDMI configurations.

ARC wouldn't cause the AV receiver to passthrough audio anyway and only conveys audio from a TV to an AV receiver if both devices are ARC coenabled and if ARC and HDMI CEC are engaged on both devices.

When you say that the TV remote alters the volume, what is the source and are you sure that the audio is actually eminating from the TV and not the AV receiver's speakers? If HDMI CEC is engaged then your TV's remote will control the volume on the AV receiver if the TV is configured to use the AV receiver as opposed to its own internal speakers.

Again, if you don't use or need ARC or HDMI Control then simply turn these features off onboard noth the TV and the AV receiver.