Music only plays when TV is on. Bizarre problem! (1 Viewer)

Hi Gang,
When attempting to play a music CD on my Blu-Ray (Samsung EM57c) I am greeted with silence. Until, that is, I flip on my TV (Samsung LED 6000f). Then, I get music (out the theater speakers, NOT the TV speakers). HDMI power systemwide has been disabled.
This is a very simple setup with a Yamaha 373 receiver and 2.1 sound.
I called Yamaha...And stumped them. BTW, I get this oddness if I use my Harmony remote (play music) or just switch everything on myself manually.
But my workaround, which may be a clue for you guys, is that if I power off my Blu-Ray, then power it back on, I can play music WITHOUT the TV being on. What the hell is going on?
Any ideas? All this stuff is only a couple weeks old and can be returned/swapped out.
I'll BET one of you guys has seen this before : ) Thanks!!
-Paul
Sunny Colorado

It's a handshake problem and will have a simple cure if your player has the right connections. Just use the digital audio out from your BR player (hopefully it has one) and connect that to your receiver, then configure the inputs on the receiver to assign that input to "CD". When you want to play music, use that input instead if the hdmi. You can also configure that input to a different sound mode if you want.
I'll answer your next question before you ask it. Yes, you will get the same sound quality. either digital audio output (coaxial or optical) is capable of carrying the full resolution of CDs.

Yep, HDMI doesn't like "open ended connections"...
You can't, reliably, hook up a PC via the HDMI to your Yamaha and have it work either...if all you attempt to do is listen to Itunes...

Thank you, John and Sam. One simple RCA cable later and I'm back in business. Thanks mucho.
Sam, what is meant by "open-ended connections" in the HDMI world? And do you guys think some of the under-utilized features of HDMI (one device controlling another's on/off state, for instance) are sometimes to blame when we try to use it as a simple alternative to A/V cables?
Anyway, cheers for the fix. I owe you guys a beer.
-Paul Trantow
Sunny Colorado.

HDMI has this little feature called HDCP. Along with that is this thing called "handshake"...
Basically, the HDMI needs to know when the "loop is closed"(meaning a source on one end and a display on the other).
If you don't close the loop(ie, use a display)...HDMI won't work.
Under-utilization of features has nothing to do with it.
The HD part of HDMI is why it doesn't work for audio only reasons. HDMI isn't an audio format*.
However, there are SOME BD players that get around this because they have two HDMI outs...
The main purpose of that is because of the need to bypass a non-1.4 receiver for 3D. But, if you have one of these dual HDMI BD players...then yes, for audio playback, you can circumvent the "handshake" issue.
*SACD/DVD-A via HDMI is a different animal. (somebody out there using HDMI for these two, shed some light for me. I've not made the leap cause I am under the impression that the "lack of video" still causes an issue...Y/N???)