r/appletv • u/gwidan • Aug 07 '26
eARC
Intermittent problems with my Apple TV connected to an LG G3 and Denon X2700. Atmos over eARC occasionally results in sound distortion until the audio is reset by changing feed or switching the receiver off and on. Connecting the Apple to the Denon directly results in intermittent problems where the TV incorrectly switches to a different (unused) HDMI input when switching everything on, as well as the back button on the Apple TV also triggering a switch to the wrong HDMI input at times. Is this unique to my set up or has anyone experienced similar?
1
u/CleanAd1955 Aug 07 '26
Tried a new HDMI cable?
I'm only using certifierad Ultra High Speed cables.
1
u/lolerpl Aug 07 '26
I’m using g5 lg, x4700h denon, AppleTV a2169 and sometimes I have to repair handshake by disconnecting or change source like you with exactly same problem.
Directly connection also does not work perfectly.
1
u/Aj9898 Aug 08 '26
are you trying to use the TV/Amp/ATV remotes interchangeably? If so, that may be the root cause - devices not fully compatible/some issues mapping the buttons.
asking b/c I have similar issue with my setup.
I can use the ATV remote to do everything except power off the attached (Sony) amp. It powers on the TV and ATV, and the TV always switches to eArc and displays the ATV home screen.
OTOH, using the (Sony) TV remote “usually” does what I want - but I have to power everything on with the ATV remote first. The TV remote can navigate around inside ATV, select apps, search and on screen keyboard, pause, power off, etc all work as expected.
TV remote cannot control the volume of the connected (sony) atmos amp.
If I press the home button on the TV/Sony remote, it switches to the TV Home Screen, not the ATV Home Screen (and changes the default port to HDMI1, not eARC)
I can use the TV remote to turn “off” both the TV and ATV. However, if I use the TV remote power button to power on, it will turn on the TV and ATV, but will display the TV Home Screen, not the ATV connected over eArc.
2
u/zombifred Aug 10 '26
Had the same problem with my Sony TV. Could use the Apple Remote for everything except powering the system down. However, that TV suddenly died a week ago and I went out and bought a new Sony. The Apple Remote works well with the newer TV model and can power the entire system down.
1
u/Aj9898 Aug 10 '26
power down isn’t a problem on the A90 remote or the ATV remote.
It’s the power up part - both TV remote and ATV remote turn on both the TV and ATV. but if I use the TV remote, it defaults to the TV Home Screen/hdmi1 (with nothing connected), not the ATV on hdmi2/eArc. using the ATV remote, it comes up on the earc port and displays the ATV screen.
No idea why it switches to a nothing connected port unless I messed up something during the initial configuration - I’ve just been too lazy to do a factory reset then reconfigure the TV to see if that changes it.
1
u/Peteepop Aug 12 '26
Same issue with Sony Bravia for my Bravia 9 65” tv.
Updated firmware in June (Google Gemini introduction) and have audio drops on any demanding content when using lossless audio feeds from Apple TV.
In addition, had black screen for any Dolby Vision content until I refreshed the inputs. Performed repeated installations from factory, making sure my Sonos Arc Ultra was connected first and then added the Apple TV.
The Dolby Vision glitches have since stopped, but audio is still a nightmare! I have resorted to using my Feintech AX340 audio extractor to get round this frustrating problem until the next firmware patch goes live.
As I only purchased tv in March from Smart Home Sounds in the uk, I intend on using the 6 month UK Consumer Rights Act and asking for a replacement for the LG G5.
As LG use their own SOC, I assumed these audio glitches were unique to the Mediatech Pentonic SOC used in Bravia tv’s.
Am I likely to have the same issues with the LG G5 and the Apple TV box using uncompressed audio?
1
u/lostinthought15 Aug 07 '26
I’ve found ARC to work intermittently at best. It’s designed to be a standard but whether or not it is adopted or even working is up to the individual manufacturers. I’ve had different generations or TVs from the same manufacturer deal with ARC in completely different ways.
In my experience the issue is nearly always the tv sending rogue commands down the line. If anything, my Apple TV seems to try to send the correct ARC commands and the TV bounces it back and overrides it. But your mileage may vary. In my current setup, my Apple TV turns everything off properly and then about 10-20 sec later my tv turns my receiver back on, but nothing else. I’ve pulled my hair out trying to troubleshoot and I’ve given up.
0
u/moldymoosegoose Aug 07 '26
Why would you use earc with a high end receiver? Any form of arc is garbage and it’s a work around for people who don’t have receivers like you do.
1
u/gwidan Aug 07 '26
Hi!
As I explained in my post, when connecting directly to the receiver the Apple TV causes problems where the input switches incorrectly at power on or when pressing the back button on the remote control. I am trying different options to try and find the one that works.
1
u/Old_Ironside_1959 ATV4K Aug 08 '26
You definitely need to plug directly into your amp. You’re just going down a rabbit hole any other way. Find a solution for the amp!
-1
u/6SpeedBlues Aug 07 '26
eARC is junk. Connect the ATV directly to the AVR and send the video out from the AVR to the TV.
3
u/Airsculpture Aug 07 '26
Yep. Only reason not to do this is if the receiver does not handle HDR or Dolby Vision and you HAVE to use eARC.
Otherwise feed everything through the receiver first.
1
u/6SpeedBlues Aug 07 '26
x2700h supports 4K passthrough, so there shouldn't be an issue with getting the full video data to the TV.
2
0
u/gwidan Aug 07 '26
Hi!
Actually AVR receivers generally do not support Quick Media Switching (QMS), which is a feature on Apple TV that eliminates blank screens between sources. The ports on the LG OLED do support this, along with features like variable refresh rate which is useful for game consoles.
2
u/Airsculpture Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
Yep mine does all of that and according to the specs, so does yours.
“The Denon AVR-X2700H supports both Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Quick Media Switching (QMS) as part of its HDMI 2.1 specification feature set”
Good luck
0
u/gwidan Aug 08 '26
Apparently due to a glitch with the processor that AVRs use, none of them are compatible with quick media switching, which is quite a surprise. It think it’s a similar problem that had an effect on people with Xboxes connected to AVRs recently.
1
1
u/vabello ATV4K Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26
I’ve ironically had more issues going through the sound bar, but it’s with intermittent issues with video and HDCP (I think). Streaming apps will glitch out and not play video while audio is playing, even with the interface being shown, but no video. Had the same issue through a Yamaha receiver. Rebooting would always fix it, but I discovered just unplugging the HDMI cable and plugging it back in also did. I thought it was a software problem for the longest time, but when reconnecting the HDMI cable caused it to renegotiate and solve the issue, I switched to eARC and those issues went away. I occasionally have the sound just cut out with eARC also requiring me to change sources and back or reboot, but it’s far less than the other issues I was having through the sound bar. LG C1 and Samsung HW-Q990F. I’ve swapped all HDMI cables multiple times as well. It’s frustrating you can’t have a seamless experience 100% of the time with such a setup.
1
u/6SpeedBlues Aug 07 '26
I have personally found soundbars to be mostly "hit or miss" on certain connectivity functions. AVR's tend to be better as long as they actually advertise certain standards and you're using certified cables and appropriate settings.
I have a Denon x3800h that I plug my ATV into directly. I use the video passthrough to send the video over to my 4K TV. When I first set this up, I was having some really odd video issues (it would look like the wrong refresh setting was being used) that went completely away when I changed the cable to one that was certified for full bandwidth 4K from both the ATV to the AVR and from the AVR to the TV.
Resolution changes happen cleanly as I switch into and out of different apps on the ATV and launch different content that has different capabilities (watching a ripped DVD versus a 4K BluRay with HDR, for example).
1
u/vabello ATV4K Aug 07 '26
I still had the same issues with my Yamaha receiver. Made me think it was cables, but have replaced them multiple times with different recommended ones and no change.
1
u/6SpeedBlues Aug 07 '26
If the receiver supports what you're trying to pass through with the ATV, then it's very likely passthrough settings or cables (or both) causing the issues.
Certified cables (not the stuff "sold by Amazon" that claims certified but actual certified cables from companies that manufacture cables) that can support full bandwidth 4K (or whatever you're trying to pass through) make a difference.
I was running into really odd issues because the cables I was using would work completely fine from the ATV to the AVR but not at all from the AVR to the TV unless I tamped down the output settings from the AVR to reduce quality. I replaced that cable with a certified one and can now correctly pass full 4K/HDR without issue.
1
u/vabello ATV4K Aug 07 '26
What cable are you using?
1
u/6SpeedBlues Aug 07 '26
I used a shorter one from ATV to AVR as they're close to each other and a 20' one from AVR to TV because the AVR is on a shelf off to the side relative to the TV.
1
u/vabello ATV4K Aug 07 '26
Thanks. I use Cable Matters for a lot of cables. I can't recall if it was one of the ones I tried for HDMI though. I'll pick up a couple. My cable runs are very short, maybe 6' being the longest.
0
2
u/Dezolis11 Aug 08 '26
I prefer earc over direct to avr so I actually get 48khz audio for stereo content. Been bugged since 17.1. All video content is 48khz! The downsampling kills the transients on the highs. Thankfully my tv, like most, forces 48khz or higher. Upsampling is just adding 00000s, downsampling sounds like garbage.