KD-49XF9005 - ARC issues

[crystalgipsy]

Ok just taken delivery of the 49XF9005 so far impressed but have an issue I need to ask the forum about.

My amps an Arcam FMJ AVR360 which is not UHD or HDR compatible so I am only using it fror HD sources and ARC. Currently I have my Virgin Media TiVo connected to the AVR and the HDMI connected to the HDMI3/ARC on the TV.

I am using the set to send audio via ARC to it, which works for internal sources and my nVidia Shield TV, which is connected to HDMI2 on the set, However as soon as I switch on the enhanced HDMI so I can get HDR and above 8 bit at UHD from the HDMI 2 in, I no longer get audio passed through, the arc seems to be switching over the AVR but I get no sound at all. I also can no longer send standard 1080p HDMI out from AVR to HDMI3/ARC, so I get no TiVo output. Both the cables from the TV to Amp and from Shield to TV are high bandwidth 4k compatible (or so they say).

Is this expected behaviour. I thought all HDMI 2.0 was backwards compatible with 1.4? So in theory this should work should it not regardless of having the advanced HDMI on or not or does it only except the advanced signal?

Confused. Am i missing something any recommendations.

[Vanilla_]

Hi crystalgipsy,

That seems interesting. Could you tell us what happens if you plug in your Viring Media box directly to the TV through one of the remaining HDMI ports?

Thanks,

Vanilla_

[royabrown2]

The problem is you are not looking for backwards compatibility, you are looking for forwards compatibility, and this can’t be done.

Without the enhanced HDMI, the TV sees that the Arcam is at HDMI level 1.4a, and accommodates it - that’s backwards compatibility working for you.

But when you put Enhanced HDMI on, you are ‘forcing’ the TV to operate at HDMI 2.0 level, and the Arcam can’t cope with this - even though you may only want the ARC back channel on the HDMI link, the TV and the Arcam don’t know this, so the TV tries to negotiate an HDMI 2.0 link, the Arcam can’t handle this, and so the negotiation fails. (Or maybe it’s the HDCP 2.2 the Arcam can’t do, but same difference).

But I thought on these sets - as is certainly the case on our big Samsung - that the enhanced HDMI was set individually for each HDMI input?

So you ought to be able to set it for HDMI 2, to take advantage of what the Shield can do, but not have it on for HDMI 3.

So, is this a global setting on your TV, or have you turned it on for 3 as well as 2, or are you saying that turning it on just for 2 is affecting 3? I’m not entirely clear on this.....

[Vanilla_]

Hi royabrown2,

I see where you're coming from. I've tried to enable the Enhanced format option on a Sony TV, and found that once the option is enabled, it affects all HDMI inputs. In other words, all HDMI inputs remain ready to receive 4K signals only. I guess the only solution in this case would be upgrading the receiver to another one that supports 4K.

Vanilla_