chonobael wrote:
Does the receiver terminate the connection? Does the EDID come from the receiver? Or is it passed through from the connected sink / monitor?
I think it comes from the receiver, since my mac reports the monitor type as a Denon-AVR.
In theory, the receiver should simply pass through EDID info from the monitor to the the Mac
if the receiver acts as a simple (pass through) video input switcher. However, your AVR-2809CI contains video converters so that you can use a single HDMI cable between receiver & monitor. IOW, the various possible analog & digital input signals are all converted to the HDMI format in the receiver & output on the single HDMI 1.3a receiver-to-monitor output connection. The specs also indicate it provides an HDMI Audio/Video Repeater function, which means it must output its own A/V capabilities on the back channel that handles EDID info to comply with HDCP requirements. IOW, it acts as the sink, at least for some video inputs, which is probably why the Mac sees the display type as Denon-AVR.
You probably need to contact Denon (or possibly the owner's manual) for the details, but unless the receiver has some mode that acts as a straight through video switcher or otherwise allows the monitor to send its EDID info directly to the Mac, you may be out of luck, or you may have to be careful about what other A/V inputs & outputs you attach to the system (to avoid HDCP related restrictions on HD signals), or be careful to switch the Denon to the Mac input before powering the Mac up (so that the Mac always sees the passed through EDID info from the monitor at startup time), or some combination of these things.
As an aside, even when using receivers or other devices with simple pass through A/V switching, users probably should switch the device to the Mac input before powering the Mac up to ensure that the display device's ID & capabilities are read by the Mac, & to consider the possible HDCP conflicts of any HD-capable devices connected to the A/V system (including to the monitor/display device itself). Basically, any device that receives passed on A/V signals (especially HD-capable recorders or signal splitters) may restrict what the signal chain will output in the presence of HDCP protected content. And despite what hdmi.org says, the CEA EDID Timing Extensions now support +Audio Data Blocks+ containing Short Audio Descriptors describing among other things the details of the audio bitrate/resolution capabilities of connected devices as well as their video capabilities. Since HDCP standards allow some audio resolutions to be protected HD content, it is not impossible that the audio content of HDCP encoded signals alone will affect what can be passed to or through receivers or other downstream devices.
Remember, the HDMI Organization; CEA; & Digital Content Protection, LLC (the licensors of HDCP) are all separate entities. The first two promote "it just works" interoperability among A/V devices which benefits both consumers & equipment makers, but the third in some very real ways exists to thwart that on behalf of the interests of content providers. This conflict of interest makes true, uncomplicated "it just works" interoperability more of a dream than a reality for everyone, & may help explain why Apple keeps trying different implementations.
