KD-65XD9305 - HDMI ARC problems

[chrisc383]

Hello everybody,

I have a new TV set, bought two weeks ago. I updated the Android before the setup to the current available version.

I'm having intermittent problems with outputting sound from TV to my Harman Kardon AVR370 amplifier. Sometimes they happen once a day, sometimes every hour. I tried switching between HDMI ARC and SPDIF, but it seems to make no difference. Sound seems to switch at random from audio system back to speakers. When playing some files with DD or DTS sound via Kodi, sometimes it plays for some time - like 20 minutes, then it switches off suddenly, giving either silence or random noise (especially DTS). Today, I had similar situation with material streamed from Amazon. I have tried few HDMI cables, but the amplifier was working before with older Sony TV without problems and as a test, I tried it also with 2014 Samsung TV, both are playing fine.

As a last resort, I tried switching from Ethernet to WiFi - which seems to make it only worse. I tried disabling Bravia Sync - but it is grayed out, I can only disable powering on/off. Some other settings over there which I mostly don't understand.

I tried Sony Support, but they only came up with idea to factory reset, which seems pointless, since I started fresh just two weeks ago.

The only solution so far - and hardly called solution, is to reboot TV or power cycle AVR.

Are there any other options which I could explore?

Happy New Year everybody!

Chris

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Your Issue sound very much like this one:

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/bravia-55xd8005-hdmi-arc-audio-dropouts/m-p/2273839

Which I will try and get more information next week once we clear this holiday period.

Cheers

[chrisc383]

Just to add few things, yesterday I had some time for testing and:

- if I turn on TV before AVR, 3 out of 5 times it locks out/hangs AVR, I mean - no remote, no buttons works, I need to power cycle it,

- in Plex, silence while playing files with DTS - could be unrelated,

- Kodi with some DTS files - only PCM is outputed - static noise via AVR, again, might be unrelated

- several times I've seen messages "failed to communicate with audio system" - or similar, despite audio playing via AVR all the time

- switching from ARC to SPDIF changes nothing

- turning off ClearAudio+ and changing from compressed output to standard seems to improve things a bit, but not entirely

- I forgot where was it, but somewhere there is setting auto1 or auto2 for ARC, auto2 seems to be worse and ARC stops working earlier then with auto1.

I still need to check if disabling HDMI control/Bravia Sync could improve those issues, but I need to find out how to do it, since for now it seems to be locked in "ON"

Sony Support "strongly suggests" doing factory reset - otherwise they will close the ticket, I hate to do it and loose most of afternoon to setup things again, but there seem to be no alternative.

Chris

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Sony Support will always recommend a factory reset - and so do I to be frank.  Also ensuring that you have the latest firmware installed.  Factory resetting the TV can and does fix many issues and it has become the first step in the troubleshooting process.  It also helps when problem solving as the party trying to assist you (i.e. Sony) know they are starting from a 'fresh' baseline.  The troubleshooting process also means co-operation between both parties - and such Sony could say that you are not 'helping' yourself etc etc.  Although on their case, closing your case is extreme in my opinion.

Factory resetting the TV also clears internal cache memory and other things that 'could' cause conflicts (i.e. installed apps etc). The thing is that if first line support cannot fix the issue, they will pass it onto technical support for investigation. 

I also recommend sufficiently 'shielded' HDMI cables, this helps with issues from EM interferrence.

Also have a read of this page, as I have listed some steps under the advanced troubleshooting process that may help?

https://community.sony.co.uk/t5/android-tv/hdmi-problems-troubleshooting-steps/td-p/2141941

Lastly, to assist in restoring your setting after a factory reset, I have created an excel spreadsheet with some settings on it.  Just download it to your PC, and fill it it.  Will save a lot of time later on.  Its still a work in process though.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0FRB6rQ2ePkMEZ2WDFIaUlZcEk

Cheers

[chrisc383]

Many thanks for this.

I did factory reset, but unfortunately I don't see any change in the ARC behaviour. Worse even, now it seems to develop another problem, after switching on TV and AVR, there is no sound at all from AVR, although TV says that Audio System is active. Sometimes it helps to unplug HDMI, sometimes I need to power cycle AVR.

I've sent another email to Sony Support yesterday, so far no response.

I'm using Sony HDMI cable, PN DLC-HE10BSK - which I got together with TV set. It should be good, but it is rather thin and I don't know how good the shielding is. One option which I'm considering, is to get another good quality HDMI 2.0 cable, I have bunch of them, but some are old and I don't know which ones are High Speed cables, apparently its not that easy to recognize.

You might be right with the interference, I have 6 devices plugged in to AVR, together with several power and Ethernet cables.

Anyway, if anything changes significantly, I'll try to keep this thread updated.

Chris

[Anonymous]

Hi there

Yes, please update this thread on how you get on.  I still recommend you separating the HDMI cables away from any aerial and power cables, as well as looking at the quality build of the HDMI cables.

Once done, the troubleshooting steps in this thread : HERE - should identify the 'rouge' device.  Its a long process, but as you have so many devices, it can be any one of them.

Cheers

[chrisc383]

An update after weekend of testing:

I've bought a new HDMI cable, which the sales man recommended as 105% HDMI 2.0. I know him for quite some time and most of the times his advices are sensible. The cable is Wireworld Island 7.

After replacing the cable (which isn't very easy when TV is on the wall), I did power cycle on all devices.

What's changed - now it seems that AVR powers up as it should when I switch on TV set. Over last weekend, I had only one case when streaming movie from Amazon (with DD 5.1 sound), it suddenly switched to TV speakers and I wasn't able to get it back. I checked, and my AVR had status "no signal" on this audio input.

In my mind, it suggests TV wasn't sending anything - and it is most like TVs fault.

I'll see what Sony Support will say about it (hint - TV is fine, blame AVR).

cheers

chris

[andelder1]

I seem to have a similar issue with same TV, connected to Bose 650. Without the Bose on sound is pefect through Amazon Google play TV speakers, turn Bose on and sound like a deformed cricket(s)

However if I turn all off, turn TV on and play say Amazon movie all ok, then turn on Bose most times sound OK! If using Google play I have to start the fil again.

Replaced BT router as thourght it could be internet, swapped ethernet cable ( I know long shot) and swapped DHMI no change.

Already done factory reset on TV (bloody pain) no change, feeling its all a waste of money to be honest.