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Audio lost when switching inputs with Harmony remote (1 Viewer)

jmejiaa

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I have a TV/cable box/Home theater system setup:
TV; UN60F6300AF
HT: HBD-N790W

Everything seems to work OK but when I switch an "activity" in my remote, sometimes I lose sound.

Going from TV to Smart hub for example, all it does is change the TV input from HDMI1 to Smart hub, it leaves the HT alone.

At first I thought it was the HT, but if I change the input on the TV I get sound, same with the HT, if I change input I get sound, this makes me think it's nothing actually wrong with them.. I have changed the Optical cable as well as the HDMI cables.

I'm not sure how else to describe or what else I could describe, I just wanted to post to see if anyone had any ideas.
 

ArmSC

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How do you have have everything hooked up? What sources are going to what device? What is an "activity" on your remote? I'm not understanding that.
 

jmejiaa

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ArmSC said:
How do you have have everything hooked up? What sources are going to what device? What is an "activity" on your remote? I'm not understanding that.
So the Harmony remote is a universal remote which you setup to control your system. An example of an activity is "Watch TV", when I select this on the remote, it makes it so the system goes to all correct inputs. So it'll turn on TV and put it on HDMI, it'll tun on the cable box and the HT system and put it in the right input.

I have the TV connected to the Sony HT through optical out. (TV sound set to external speakers)
I have the cable box connected to the TV through HDMI2
I have the HT HDMI out going to the TV HDMI3

The problem occurs when I change TV inputs from watch TV to the smart input, or the other way arround.

My current test is to not use the harmony universal remote, instead I will use the 3 remotes individually - this should let me narrow down list of possible issues.
 

ArmSC

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Does the "watch TV" button work successfully and then fail when you try to use another activity button? The way I understand it is you have a cable box and a HTiB with an integrated BR. So really you're switching from the TV/Cable to BR. However, the sound from the BR should come out the HT by default as it's the same unit. So the problem is when you're going from your BR back to TV? If that's the case you need for the action button to switch the input back to HDMI2 on the TV and put the HT back to the optical input.

Why don't you just put the cable box into the HDMI input on the HT? Then you can keep the TV input static on HDMI3 and just flip the inputs with the HT? That way it won't matter what source you're viewing you would always have the audio going through the HT. It sounds like you're using the HT full time for your audio anyhow as your speakers are set to external only. Just a way to simplify your setup.
 

jmejiaa

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I've thought about putting the cable box into the HT, but this won't keep the TV input static as the TV needs to switch to "Smart hub" input whenever I want to do stuff like Netflix/Plex..

So really, the TV just moves from HDMI2 to Smart HUB, we don't really use the HT for blu ray/music much and it stays in TV input all the time.
 

Jason Charlton

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Do you normally turn the cable box off when you're not watching TV? Have you tried just leaving the cable box on all the time?

Sometimes, with HDMI-connected devices, turning things on and off out of a specified sequence can mess up the HDCP (copy protection) and cause "handshake" issues. Though a handshake problem usually affects both audio and video, it might be worth a shot.

I'm also a little confused about how "smart hub" works with your TV. I looked briefly at the product info online, but don't get how it's a different input.

I think Tony's advice above is sound. You should connect the cable box to the HT via HDMI cable - this provides audio and video from cable to the HT.
You connect the HT output HDMI to an input on the TV. This provides video from the HT's Blu-ray player or video from the cable box, depending on which input is selected on the HT.
You connect the audio out from the TV to another input on the HT. This provides the audio from the TVs smart apps to the HT.

In this setup, the TV is kept on the one HDMI input.

Selecting the smart apps does not actually "change" an input - it simply shows the smart app interface instead of the video feed coming in via HDMI.

With everything connected this way, changing activities involves ONLY changing the input on the HT.

Vastly simpler.
 

jmejiaa

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Thanks, I will try this. I had my doubts about "Smart hub" being an actual input.. The remote software lists it as one and so does the remote.

leaving the cable box on is also another option, the downside is energy consumption - but I doubt it's anything that would impact my bill too much.

I will try hooking the cable to the HT today as suggested and playing with the settings on the remote accordingly..

Thanks !
 

Al.Anderson

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I also think you should connect the cable box to the HT via HDMI.

But you could also try going into the Harmony set-up and switching the order it turns on the devices.
 

jmejiaa

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I connected the cable box to the HT and I haven't been able to re-create the issue. It was fairly easy to get it to happen before, and it didn't happen at all last night so I'm hoping this was the issue and it's all fixed for now.

Thanks to all for the suggestions... Hopefully it's fixed now.
 

schan1269

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You need to read the owners manual on that craptastic (my pet name for all throw away HTiB).I'm not littering my computer with a download. Anyway, 99% certain the HDMI inputs on that craptastic only accept 2.0 PCM and 6.0 LPCM.Which means they are useless for 5.1 DD.
 

Robert_J

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jmejiaa said:
Thanks, I will try this. I had my doubts about "Smart hub" being an actual input.. The remote software lists it as one and so does the remote.

leaving the cable box on is also another option, the downside is energy consumption - but I doubt it's anything that would impact my bill too much.

I will try hooking the cable to the HT today as suggested and playing with the settings on the remote accordingly..

Thanks !
I'm not familiar with cable boxes, but DirecTV and Dish boxes have no real on/off settings. The when off, they just cut the video feed to the outputs while the brain of the box works just like it would if it were on. They have to do that to download the guide/record if it is a DVR and receive software updates.
 

jmejiaa

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Robert_J said:
I'm not familiar with cable boxes, but DirecTV and Dish boxes have no real on/off settings. The when off, they just cut the video feed to the outputs while the brain of the box works just like it would if it were on. They have to do that to download the guide/record if it is a DVR and receive software updates.
Yea, I did some searching and that seems to be the case. The issue is gone it seems, but I'll look into this so the box always stays in the channel it was left.
 

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