XR-55A84K switching to HDMI

[sparkymarcopolo]

I have my SKY Q connected to my Denon Amp and Amp to TV

When I had a Panasonic it would auto switch to the HDMI...but it won't on the Sony, I have to manually select the input.

Is there a setting I've missed on the TV because I've trawled and cannot find anything...this only thing I can across what the control not to power on the AMP when I switched on the TV (which was annoying for my use) so I disabled it.

Thanks

[royabrown2]

@sparkymarcopolo 

The TV won’t switch to HDMI when you do what exactly? Switch on the Denon? Switch on the Sky Q when the amp is already on, or when it isn’t?

Do you have CEC enabled, where available, on all 3 devices? It’s called BraviaSync by Sony, HDMI Control by Denon, and HDMI CEC by Sky Q.

Though if you have disabled the thing that turns the amp on when you switch the TV on, you have possibly disabled BraviaSync, so you should turn that on again, disable HDMI Control on the Denon instead, and see if perhaps this works just as well at not switching the amp on automatically, but does make the TV switch to the HDMI input for the Denon when you manually switch the Denon on.

I guess you aren’t using ARC/eARC between TV and Denon, so you miss out on the amp sound when using the TV channels and apps, and anything else plugged into the TV?
Which is unusual; but I guess you have your reasons?

Panasonic TVs, by the way, have a unique feature that they detect and switch to HDMI 1 based on detecting a signal on that input, rather like SCART used to do, rather than using CEC. But everybody else uses CEC, so you won’t find any other makers’ TVs working like Panasonics do.

[sparkymarcopolo]

No, the TV won't auto switch to HDMI when Denon is off (HDMI Control Disabled by Passthrough enabled) and I power SKY on, which only has HDMI Control options.

Going by the settings of how I'm reading, they're correct.

I do have Bravia Sync disabled because how I'm using it I didn't what it to power on the Amp.

Even though ARC/eARC is reporting no device, the sound from my Amp is fine even though not sync'd and whatever is on the TV is perfect for us.

I only want the AMP on when I choose, not the TV or SKY decides but if that means I have to manually switch to HDMI then so be it.

[royabrown2]

@sparkymarcopolo 

It’s hard for me to figure this out, as I don’t know how you have things wired 😢

I know your TV has eARC, and I am assuming this unspecified Denon amp has eARC also; but maybe it’s an older one with only ARC?

But either way, I think you have the Denon connected to HDMI 1 on the TV, or at any rate not to HDMI 3 (or whichever the eARC-enabled port is on the TV). Or am I wrong here?

As regards the TV turning on the Denon, something you didn’t want, I think this needs both that the TV has BraviaSync enabled, and that the Denon has HDMI Control enabled.

So if you turn off either, the TV will no longer turn the Denon on.

You have achieved this by turning off BraviaSync on the TV, and leaving HDMI Control on, on the Denon.

I am surmising that if instead you leave BraviaSync turned on, and turn the Denon HDMI Control off, then the TV will still no longer turn the Denon on, but when you turn the Denon on manually, the BraviaSync will notice that this input on the TV has become live, and will switch to it, which is just what you want.

Have you tried this, and it doesn’t work for some reason? If not, please give it a try, and see if this arrangement does work for you or not. And please report back, either way!

[sparkymarcopolo]

I have the devices wired as SKY Q <> Denon AVR-X4500H <> Bravia eARC port. 

When I originally setup the Bravia sync while the Denon was on (I can see it in the enabled list in the Bravia sync screen)....I decided to disable BS because I noticed when I powered on the Bravia, the Denon would come on too....which is not what I wanted.

The Denon has HDMI passthrough enabled but HDMI control disabled

I have tried re-enabling Bravia control since disabling HDMI control on the Denon made and no difference which is what I would expect because the control is sent by the device that is being powered on to signal the other devices.

My understanding of the Bravia Sync is similar, you are setting up devices to power on when you power on the Bravia.

My requirement is when I power on the SKY Q, the Bravia auto changes to the HDMI port but when I power off the SKY Q I do not want it to power off the TV

[royabrown2]

@sparkymarcopolo 

Thanks for the clarifications, but I’m now more confused than ever. (Not your fault; possibly my faulty expectation of how things should work!)

We know your TV has eARC, but does the Denon? I’m sure it has ARC, but its spec says ‘eARC by future firmware update’. So has your Denon had such an update?

I don’t think so, because if both devices were eARC, you wouldn’t be able to stop the TV turning on the Denon, as they would just get on and do this, CEC or no CEC.

Unless you had the two devices linked with an old, pre-Ethernet, HDMI cable, that is.
Or that ARC/eARC/none is switchable on one or both devices.

So - does the Denon have eARC, or just plain ARC? And is the cable that connects it to the TV an ‘HDMI with Ethernet’ one or not? And is there any ARC switching on either device?

Assuming for the moment though, that the Denon is just ARC, and that ARC is not disabled on either device, then it needs CEC to operate, according to my understanding.

But that the TV, with BraviaSync enabled, can switch on the Denon, running without HDMI Control, contradicts my understanding. (Which I perhaps need to correct, as it may be stopping me thinking things through properly).

I can understand how then turning off the BraviaSync will then stop the Denon automatically turning on, though.

However, I would expect this to stop the ARC ever working; does it?

And if it does stop it, why have this cable connected?

Sorry to keep digging ever deeper, but please bear with me; a solution for you may yet emerge 💡

[sparkymarcopolo]

Thanks for your response but I think I'll stop there as what you're reporting is incorrect!

[royabrown2]

@sparkymarcopolo 

Sure, no worries, have your problem back 😛

Maybe someone more expert than me, or with a setup closer to yours can chip in?

[Edit] One last throw of the dice….

https://www.avforums.com/threads/arc-not-working-unless-cec-is-enabled.2376805/

“Conventional ARC (not eARC) is dependant upon HDMI CEC (Control) for its functionality. No, it will not work unless both the AV receiver's and the TV's implementation of HDMI CEC is engaged. More recent Denon and Marantz AV receivers do sidestep this though and allow it to be disengaged in a roundabout way and still retain ARC capabilities. Denon and Marantz are an exception though.”

Which would explain how come the Denon can still do ARC when its CEC is switched off, probably by always looking for a signal on the line, the way your Panny used to obviate the need for CEC.

[rooobb]

Maybe my memory is only related to older products, but these were the top features I remember on braviasync that should apply to your setup too:

. If you turn off braviasync (aka hdmicec) arc earc should not work too ( so in your setup you will still hear sound from skyq connected directly to the avr but nothing from the TV itself)

. There should be a setting in braviasync menu or audio setting defining if your preferred audio option is the avr. If set to on it will switch every time the AVr on otherwise it will set it accordingly to latest use (on if it was on and off if it was off )

[royabrown2]

@rooobb 

While ARC requires CEC at both ends (except on Denon and its sister make Marantz, apparently, as we learn above, which explains what @sparkymarcopolo is seeing), eARC does not depend on CEC at all.

I’ve just checked this by turning SIMPLINK off on my LG GX TV playing into its companion GX soundbar; the soundbar continues to output the audio from the TV.

However, without SIMPLINK to turn the two devices on and off in concert, this setup is so useless that the devices save me from myself by forcing SIMPLINK On again 😛