CEC bug with receiver audio

Question

CEC bug with receiver audio

Apple TV will not play audio through receiver when CEC is enabled. This is not a receiver problem. It is an Apple TV problem.

Here are my devices:

Apple TV 4

Yamaha RX-V377 Receiver

Vizio TV

All connections are HDMI: ATV4 -> Receiver -> TV

CEC is enabled on both the receiver and TV so I can turn everything on/off using Siri remote.

Apple TV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Home Theater Control

Control TVs and Receivers: On

Volume Control: Auto

On initial configuration everything works and I can control receiver volume via Siri remote (control is via HDMI - not IR), but when I turn the system off and on again Apple TV does not detect the receiver, so the Volume Control "Auto" setting decides to use "TV via IR" instead.

If I set Volume Control explicitly to "Receiver via IR" and turn system off/on, then I completely lose audio since Apple TV does not detect my receiver after waking up even though it can turn the receiver on via CEC. After waking up the system, the settings look like this:

Apple TV: Settings -> Remotes and Devices -> Home Theater Control

Control TVs and Receivers: On

Volume Control: N/A via IR

I should mention that it occasionally does the right thing - perhaps 10% of the time it will detect the receiver. This seems like a race condition. Apple TV can power on the receiver and TV when I click the menu button on Siri remote to wake up the system, but it does not detect the receiver during its wake up procedures. The receiver only takes a couple of seconds to turn on, so it seems that Apple TV looks at the HDMI connection immediately on wake up but not after that. A hack solution would be to add a delay during audio setup to allow receivers time to turn on, but a better solution is that Apple TV should monitor the HDMI connection for changes rather than simply checking it once immediately on wake up.

For now, the only way to have consistent audio is if I disable CEC on receiver and configure ATV to explicitly use "Receiver via IR". This means my receiver is always on, which is not acceptable. I specifically bought this new receiver so that I could control my home theater through Apple TV using only the Siri remote, so this bug is infuriating to me.

PLEASE RELEASE A PATCH FIX FOR THIS!

Apple TV, tvOS 9.0.1, 4th Generation

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 12:07 PM

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Answer 1

morrispe

Level 4

1,224 points

Dec 1, 2015 4:24 PM in response to JimAppleDanYell

Yes there are issues with CEC and using the ATV 4 with some AV receivers and TVs. In Apple's defence though it was impossible for them to test tvOS against a myriad of home theatre equipment combinations. Especially given the new hardware had not been released yet and there was no public beta possible.

On top of that many manufacturers have different names for CEC and may not adhere to the implementation spec in the same way.

The Apple tvOS is currently in 9.1 beta 3 so I'm hoping it gets released soon and that it will help with some of the worst CEC related issues.

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Answer 2

Jan 13, 2016 9:46 AM in response to JimAppleDanYell

Samsung TV (2012) with HDMI-CEC (Anynet+) and ARC HDMI Input

Vizio Soundbar SB4051-C0 with HDMI ARC Input and Output

Apple TV 4 with tvOS 9.1

I have AT4 > Soundbar (HDMI in) > Soundbar (HDMI Out) > Samsung TV.

As an aside, I have had 100% success with aTV wake/sleep powering on/off the TV and Soundbar. I know others have had issues with power, but not me.

But I had all sorts of issues similar to the OP. aTV Volume control was on Auto and I could get it to control volume of the Soundbar via HDMI, but after sleeping aTV and everything power off and then waking/powering everything on, things got weird.

The volume controls on the aTV would sometimes use IR for the Soundbar, sometimes IR for the built in TV speakers, sometimes nothing (N/A via IR).

The Samsung TV sometimes would show that the Soundbar was disconnected, which probably contributed to above.

I found a workaround that has been working for a few days now. Before, as soon as I woke the aTV, I would try to control the volume, which gave me problems.

My workaround is to wake the aTV, and then just wait about 15-20 seconds. Now everything works the way I want:

-aTV remote controls Soundbar via HDMI

-Samsung TV does not lose connection to the Soundbar

I do believe that there are problems with the HDMI-CEC on both the aTV and older Samsung TV. Throwing in the Vizio soundbar probably doesn't help.

Let's hope the forthcoming tvOS 9.2 helps with this.

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