No Audio with new Denon AVR

[catnap]

I posted here in the past about Deep Colour settings on a TV disabling audio from a HDR Fox T2. In a slightly different setup to the one referred to then, I have another TV in another room that had long been connected to a Denon AVR. The Humax was connected via the AVR using HDMI and all worked well. That AVR gave up its digital ghost last week and I replaced it with a newer model (Denon X 2800H) yesterday. There was then video but no sound from the Humax. Spent some time trying many combinations of settings but no change. The TV is an older one without any Deep Colour options. Contacted Denon Support who were very helpful. I was basically told that they don't concern themselves too much about compatibility with older legacy devices (Understandable. I'm already wondering which will go first - the Humax or me). They suggested adding an optical cable between the Humax and AVR. I did. It worked. It was necessary to assign the optical connection to the Humax Device - done in Denon AVR settings. The issue may apply more broadly across newer AVRs.

This probably won't be of much interest to most, but posting it here will reward some future searches.

 

[trog]

I have a Denon S760H AVR with my T2 and Aura connected to it and the Denon connected to a 5 or 6 year old Samsung TV with HDMI and have never had any issues however no matter what I tried I could never get the TV's audio to play through the Denon via HDMI even though both claim to have HDMI eARC and the leads I used were the latest spec, I also was forced to use the inferior optical lead option. Denon seem to have a long history of ARC and eARK connectivity issues as an internet search at the time yielded a vast amount with none giving me a fix that worked for me.

 

[Owen Smith]

All manufacturers have a long history of ARC, eARC and CEC connectivity issues. The basic problem is CEC is poorly specified resulting in every manufacture implementing it differently. ARC requires CEC hence has the same issues.

That said, the HDR Fox T2 playing audio out of HDMI is about as trivial as it gets. No CEC or ARC involved. All it is doing is either playing Dolby Digital (2.0 or 5.1) at 640kbps for FreeView HD channels (if multichannel audio has been selected in the HDR Fox T2) or LPCM at 16 bit 48kHz for SD channels. Both of those can be output by blu rays amongst other things.

 

[trog]

All manufactureres have a long history of ARC, eARC and CEC connectivity issues. The basic problem is CEC is poorly specified resulting in every manufacture implementing it differently. ARC requires CEC hence has the same issues.

That said, the HDR Fox T2 playing audio out of HDMI is about as trivial as it gets. No CEC or ARC involved. All it is doing is either playing Dolby Digital (2.0 or 5.1) at 640kbps for FreeView HD channels (if multichannel audio has been selected in the HDR Fox T2) or LPCM at 16 bit 48kHz for SD channels. Both of those can be output by blu rays amongst other things.

I also have my laptop connected by HDMI to my Denon amp, if I have the laptop on and then switch the source on the amp the laptop appears on my TV but every few seconds it cuts to a black screen for a second and the only way to stop it is to disconnect the HDMI from the laptop before changing the source on the amp, change the source on the amp then plug the HDMI back into the laptop. Maybe "All manufactureres have a long history of ARC, eARC and CEC connectivity issues" but in my case all manufacturers are not equal, my previous AV receiver was a SONY and with the same HDMI leads connected to the same TV and laptop I never had a single issue, never a black screen and no need for an optical cable with the TV's sound playing perfectly on the amp with eARC.

 

[Owen Smith]

Maybe "All manufactureres have a long history of ARC, eARC and CEC connectivity issues" but in my case all manufacturers are not equal, my previous AV receiver was a SONY and with the same HDMI leads connected to the same TV and laptop I never had a single issue, never a black screen and no need for an optical cable with the TV's sound playing perfectly on the amp with eARK.

Sometimes you get lucky and have a combination that works, sometimes you don't. I have CEC disabled on my TV, AV amp and other devices to avoid any faffing about.

And it's eARC, not eARK.

 

[trog]

A lapse in concentration just like your "manufactureres" . Now corrected, odd because I was correct in both the previous times I spelt it.