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Our TV is on the out, so I'm hoping to buy a new one (yay!).
We have a surround sound system which uses a venerable Yamaha amp. It's always been set up set top box, Xbox, Blu-ray >> amp >> TV via HDMI.
Because of this it means we have lots of remotes and my wife gets annoyed with all of them around. The TV wasn't clever enough to switch automatically. We've tried a smart remote but it can be glitchy and annoying.
Anyway, looking at a new TV, now they have more HDMI inputs I was considering plugging the devices into the TV and then outputting audio to the amp.
The amp is quite old so doesn't do ARC.
I can connect the audio from the TV to the amp via optical output and that would be fine, as far as it goes.
I was wondering if I can connect a HDMI cable out from the TV's ARC one, into the HDMI input of the amp and would it work, or is it unlikely to work? I think I can probably guess the answer to that.
A new amp would be nice down the line but it's not really an option at the moment. We don't want to scrap the setup and get a soundbar etc either.
We’ve tried a smart remote but it can be glitchy and annoying.
Have you tried a Logitech Harmony? A bit pricey but mine work flawlessly.
I tried the hub based ones and it was terrible and sent it back. Would recommend something like Harmony 665
I still use my ageing Yamaha none ARC amo with my modern tv. I output the audio via optical and it’s all fine.
I still use a Harmony remote too (15 years and counting) they’re a palava to set up in the first instance but absolutely rock after that. And yes avoid the hub based ones (unless you need to control stuff which isn’t IR) buy the 665 or a second hand Harmony One from eBay
Is it all HDMI?
I used a harmony 555? For some years until some of the buttons started failing. Now using one of the hub based ones, no problems with that whatsoever.
I don't think your approach would work if the amp doesn't support ARC. the TV isn't outputting a full HDMI signal over the ARC socket - its just returning an ARC signal (and accepting HDMI inbound) - if the amp can't read ARC at all I'd be surprised if it can understand those signals - you might also run into problems with copy protection (not sure on that)..
fwiw I've got a logitech harmony elite and I find it a little flakey - sometimes when you pick it up the damn thing starts to sync (taking ~30 seconds) - sometimes the activities time out (which must be a problem within the hub itself, as none of the commands involve 2-way communication to my boxes - its just IR blasting). I've got a fire TV cube on the list next, hope it might be a little smoother..
Is it all HDMI?
It was - now up and running with all the external sources into the TV, and the TV optical out to the amp and just using the one input on the amp for everything.
I don’t think your approach would work if the amp doesn’t support ARC. the TV isn’t outputting a full HDMI signal over the ARC socket – its just returning an ARC signal (and accepting HDMI inbound) – if the amp can’t read ARC at all I’d be surprised if it can understand those signals – you might also run into problems with copy protection (not sure on that)..
Yep, that's what I thought.
As above, it all seems to be working fine at the moment using the TV as a sort of 'HDMI hub' so that is good. TV appears clever enough to control the external devices via HDMI so that cuts right down on the need for other remotes too.
Only downside is that I haven't yet figured out how to get the remote to control the amp volume - probably not possible but I'll keep playing.
Should all be fine until I can upgrade the amp and then I'll just get it all set up HDMI again.
Well, that's just silly. Put it all back as it was, you were right in the first place.
I have exactly the same setup, right down to the Yamaha AV receiver. There is a thing called HDMI-CEC, this is variously marketed as Regza Link, Viera Link and a supporting cast of thousands but they're all the same thing and cross-compatible with each other because it's a standard. HDMI-CEC sends control codes via the HDMI cable, no programming of remotes or such shenanigans required. You just need to enable it in the various settings menus of your devices.
So, I pick up (say) the Sky remote and power on the Sky box. The Sky box wakes up the amp and the TV and sets them both to the correct inputs with no further interaction required. The TV is muted and the volume controls work to control the volume on the amp. If I power down the amp it passes through audio to the TV instead and the volume buttons on the Sky remote (and indeed, on all the remotes) then automagically control the telly instead.
The one thing that doesn't work seamlessly with all this is the Xbox. Newer models may be different I don't know but for some barking reason the original issue Xbox One doesn't support HDMI-CEC. However I have a Kinect which doubles as an IR Blaster, so I can use that to automatically switch the telly on.
... and I don't know what your TV is feeding back through the TOSlink but it sure as shit won't be Dolby Atmos.
Optical can support Dolby Digital-era 5.1, but I'd be pleasantly surprised if the TV was passing that through from your sources.
What did master yoda say when he saw himself on a 4k tv?
HDMI
Yes, i know, already have my coat in hand 🙄
Well, that’s just silly. Put it all back as it was, you were right in the first place.
Hmm, seems to be working at the moment with the new TV! The amp is so old it pre-dated the last TV, which was bought in 2009. Amp seems to be seeing Dolby Digital. It doesn't have a chance at supporting Atmos etc, it's 7.1 tops and the speakers are set up 5.1 (actually 5.0 since the sub is buggered!).
Oddly my new to me TV didn't have any RCA outputs for my old arcam amp. So connected the optical up to a cheap ebay DAC and that then goes into the amp. Magically the TV remote volume alters the volume on the amp. I can see the numbers go up and everything on the amp display. Brilliant.
But yeah CEC for the win.