New TV

[Dentman]

Oh, and I do blame you fuckers for part of this. Original plan WAS to upgrade the receiver, and just to use my Xbox One S for UHD playback, but no, some of you guys had to point out the good deal on the Sony player, which I thought would be easier than switching out a receiver and quite a bit cheaper.

They should be hung!
Gotta run............

 

[Huey]

Yeah, it sucks. Playing with the CEC settings might help, as could changing the audio format on the ARC connection.

Still, why run any HDMI sources to the receiver? You could get audio from your BluRay player for high quality content and audio via Toslink from the TV for everything else. Use the TV as the HDMI switcher. I know that's a ton of changes and makes remote programming a new exercise, but it would work.

If you are saying to run every HDMI cable to the tv, and then one cable back to the receiver, that won't work either as I have more sources than inputs on the tv. I haven't seen anywhere to change the audio format on the input that does ARC, I'll have to look into that. I'm sure, or at least hoping, it's just a setting somewhere that I have either overlooked or don't understand what the setting does. I can't remember the exact setting on the Sony player that I changed, but after I did, it was only outputting PCM. The setting I changed on the player though, didn't mention PCM at all, something like DSD if I remember correctly.

 

[PaulyT]

The player has a setting like "mix sound effects into surround" or something like that, IIRC, which when I turned that on made it send out only PCM. (I think - probably like you I tweaked a lot of settings.) I guess that means it's internally decoding the other codecs (dts, dolby) and then putting out pcm after doing its thing. I turned that off, so my pre/pro does the decoding, although it probably doesn't matter much. Mainly I want to see the "Dolby TrueHD" etc. light come on on the pre/pro.

 

[Huey]

That was probably the setting Pauly, and like you, wanted to see the Doly TrueHD and not PCM. I figured I was still getting a lossless format, but we paid extra for the logo and I want to see it! lol

 

[Haywood]

CEC can do some really weird things. I had to turn it off on my display, but kept it enabled on my receiver and NVidia SHIELD.

When I stepped into the world of 4K, I looked at a bunch of options, before concluding that the only one that made sense for me was a new receiver. The two biggest were keeping my multi-zone system functional and dealing with multiple UHD source components. I priced out work-arounds using a couple products from HDFury, but it ended up costing almost as much as a new receiver. I got my best deal by waiting for the new Marantz SR-6011 to come out and then grabbing a refurbished SR-6010 from accessories4less at what amounted to half price.

 

[Huey]

I'll probably eventually upgrade the receiver, maybe sooner than later, but I'm not unhappy with what I have right now. I try to keep things simple, so no second zone to worry about, although I wouldn't mind having Dolby Atmos as I have a couple of extra speakers that would work. Just dreading hooking up a new receiver. So hopefully I can this to work.

 

[Dentman]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but could someone sum up what's given up by running audio/video sources directly to your display and not your receiver/pre/pro?

I'm looking at some real steals on HDMI 1.4 pre/pro's.

 

[Towen7]

Don't mean to hijack your thread but could someone sum up what's given up by running audio/video sources directly to your display and not your receiver/pre/pro?

I'm looking at some real steals on HDMI 1.4 pre/pro's.

From and audio perspective the only thing you sacrifice is the ability to decode lossless audio tracks on Blu-ray discs.
From a video perspective you MIGHT be sacrificing a tiny bit of performance. My Vizio has only one HDMI 2.2 port and it’s capable of 4:4:4 color sub sampling. The other ports are 4:2:2 and since they aren’t HDMI 2.2 there is no garuntee that they’ll all accept a 2160 input at 60fps.

Both of these things are imperceptible to the average human.

 

[Dentman]

From and audio perspective the only thing you sacrifice is the ability to decode lossless audio tracks on Blu-ray discs.
From a video perspective you MIGHT be sacrificing a tiny bit of performance. My Vizio has only one HDMI 2.2 port and it’s capable of 4:4:4 color sub sampling. The other ports are 4:2:2 and since they aren’t HDMI 2.2 there is no garuntee that they’ll all accept a 2160 input at 60fps.

Both of these things are imperceptible to the average human.

Lossless audio from Blu-ray meaning DTS/DOLBY digital 5.1, and standard quality CD audio? Or just DVD-audio/SACD, and the new over the top surround stuff like Atmos?

 

[Towen7]

If you connect your sources directly to the TV and connect your TVs audio output to the receiver via toslink or HDMI (ARC) you’ll get a Dolby and DTS digital 5.1 surround formats. But Blu-ray Discs also have “lossless” tracks in Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio formats. The new Atmos format also requires HDMI directly from the source to the receiver.

 

[Flint]

If you connect your sources directly to the TV and connect your TVs audio output to the receiver via toslink or HDMI (ARC) you’ll get a Dolby and DTS digital 5.1 surround formats. But Blu-ray Discs also have “lossless” tracks in Dolby True HD or DTS Master Audio formats. The new Atmos format also requires HDMI directly from the source to the receiver.

When eARC is commonly available you can get lossless hi-rez an ATMOS via HDMI.

 

[Dentman]

Awesome, thanks Towen.
I have zero interest in any of that. DOLBY digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 will be all I might require in the near future.
This is really a 2-ch audio room that happens to have a 75" tv in it. 2.1 channel audio and movie watching for now. A probability of 2 rear channels and use of "phantom" for the center channel in the near future.

I love the idea of buying an outdated HDMI 1.4 Pre/Pro that was over 2k a couple years ago for peanuts.

 

[Towen7]

Awesome, thanks Towen.
I have zero interest in any of that. DOLBY digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 will be all I might require in the near future.
This is really a 2-ch audio room that happens to have a 75" tv in it. 2.1 channel audio and movie watching for now. A probability of 2 rear channels and use of "phantom" for the center channel in the near future.

I love the idea of buying an outdated HDMI 1.4 Pre/Pro that was over 2k a couple years ago for peanuts.

I was at All Star Audio today. They changed locations again. Anyway ... they had several demo pro pros for sale pretty cheap. I think I saw an Integra 9.8 for $300.

 

[Dentman]

I was at All Star Audio today. They changed locations again. Anyway ... they had several demo pro pros for sale pretty cheap. I think I saw an Integra 9.8 for $300.

Wow, is that the place off 69?

 

[Batman]

If the timing was right I’d sell you my Marantz Preamp if you were interested. I’m just not quite ready to replace it yet. Maybe another 6-12 months

 

[Dentman]

If the timing was right I’d sell you my Marantz Preamp if you were interested. I’m just not quite ready to replace it yet. Maybe another 6-12 months

Actually that's more my time frame as well. I won't buy without talking to you first

 

[Towen7]

Wow, is that the place off 69?

Yeah. Their showroom has gone downhill since they moved and I think 90% or more of their business is installation and service. The only speakers they had on hand were from Golden Ear and based on the demo I got today I wouldn’t trust the salesman’s hearing ability (he told me the surrounds and sub were off but they weren’t) but I’ve done business with them before and they stand behind what they sell.

 

[jomari]

one word - optical all the way.

 

[Huey]

So 2 out of my 3 daughters, when the first see the new tv, they both commented it looks smaller. It is 3 inches smaller than my old set, and the cabinet is more stream lined, but I can't say I notice the three inch difference in playback. Still fighting the HDMI problem, but it really is just unplugging and plugging a cable in, but eventually I'll call Vizio to get it fixed.

Jomari I think mentioned something about HDMI switchers somewhere in this thread, and it got me thinking. If for some reason it just won't work, is there a HDMI switcher that can be turned off remotely? Basically I would have the receiver HDMI going into the switcher, program the Harmony to turn off the switcher when watching a Bluray, and that should work, I think. Or not, could be just the act of having something plugged in there could cause the problems. Either way, I'll call Vizio, who from the reviews I've read, has pretty good customer service.

 

[Towen7]

... is there a HDMI switcher that can be turned off remotely? Basically I would have the receiver HDMI going into the switcher, program the Harmony to turn off the switcher when watching a Bluray, and that should work, I think. Or not, could be just the act of having something plugged in there could cause the problems. Either way, I'll call Vizio, who from the reviews I've read, has pretty good customer service.

Yes.
I have used ViewHD 3x1 switches ($40 at Amazon) and 4x2 matrix switches ($60 at Amazon) for several installations for work. They handle UHD and lossless audio and have SPDIF outputs too.