HDMI ARC between my Philips TV and Uniti Star has never really work, or at least for longer than 10sec after which it cuts out. So I’m using SPDIF. Now all I’ve read is about similar issues from others, which might simply be because people for whom it works perfectly don’t post about it, only people for whom it doesn’t complain.
I have also read the whole mantra about everyone having their own extensions etc. So my question is, with which brand’s devices does it work perfectly with then?
And perhaps the same question, whose implementation is Naim using, That would help people like me search for possible workarounds/solutions.
I use it with a Samsung TV, and when I first set it up, it was pretty flaky. After a few Naim firmware updates, it then started to work reliably and with no lip sync issues, and it’s been fine ever since.
Main benefit is that I can control the volume using the TV remote. With AV bypass enabled on the preamp it simply outputs the volume I choose on the TV.
When I had an optical cable from the TV into my ND5 XS streamer I was forever adjusting the delay to correct lipsync. With the HDMI solution lipsync is no longer an issue.
I’m assuming that if the Naim only works with some brands (which they should be more honest up front about!) then the same is likely to be true for cheap chinese devices? I mean if it turns out you can get something that just works for only 15 quid, I’d be quite annoyed considering what I spent on the Naim.
It’d be good if this thread could at least result in a list of known working devices so others can reference it before buying new TV’s etc.
If this doesn’t work with certain TVs, it is very likely to be because the TV manufacturer has implemented a non-standard version of HDMI ARC. This may vary between models, and may change over time with firmware updates. You can’t really expect Naim to constantly monitor every TV on the market for compliance with a standard that manufacturers are notorious for failing to adhere to.
@ChrisSU All very fair, I think you may have misread my reply. Al I said was that it would be good to compile a list of brands (models?) so people can check before they buy a new TV and then find out it doesn’t work (like happened to me). If there would been such a list I might have bought something different. Naim could (should?) play a role in this.
That is of course assuming that indeed it is that difficult, and a Chinese device costing 0.3% can’t do it either… Which I also think is a fair caveat.
I hadn’t tried using another HDMI port, hadn’t even occurred to me they could be different. But I just turned the input back on and can’t reproduce the issues. The only other thing I did was turn EasyLink off and back on in the TV settings.
I also turned it on to check before creating this post, which was shortly after installing the latest software updates, wanting to check whether they fixed anything. And the issues were still there…
I’ll keep testing it for a few days now and will report back. @BillyBudapest, @Mike_S Would you guys be willing to test if any of the above makes a difference for you as well?
Tried everything except the factory reset as it’s more hassle than it’s worth to re-calibrate the picture. Happy to stick with optical as I don’t t need the input for another source