Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Cannot use ARC (Audio Return Channel) between Onkyo TX-NR616 and Sony Bravia KDL-55EX500

Tags:
  • TV
  • Sony
  • Home Theatre
  • HDMI
  • Onkyo
August 2, 2014 8:27:18 PM

I bought an Onkyo TX-NR616 receiver last year and hooked it up to my Sony Bravia KDL 55EX500 TV. With the help of the instructions in the Onkyo manual, I was able to get ARC and the integrated control working (Sony calls it Bravia Sync, Onkyo calls it RIHD). This meant the Onkyo receiver switched on with the TV and the receiver volume was controlled by the TV remote. I didn't have to make any changes to the TV settings: they must already have been set appropriately. My Panasonic Blu-Ray player plugged into the receiver also played nicely in the mix.

All well and good until one day, I plugged my wife's new Macbook into the receiver via HDMI. This usually worked well with the sound also being sent down the HDMI but this time I had a lot of trouble getting the sound to come through. After poking around with the settings on the Mac and unplugging and replugging the HDMI, it finally worked.

But then when I switched back to watch TV, I discovered the ARC had stopped working and the HDMI control wasn't working either. By switching on and off all kinds of settings on both the receiver and TV, I was able to get the ARC and HDMI control back again.

But then it happened again and I have spent over 20 hours fiddling with settings, factory-resetting both TV and receiver, upgrading firmware, switching machines off then on in particular orders and nothing I do has restored the ARC and HDMI-control between the TV and receiver.

I'm at my wits end. Does anyone know how to restore ARC and HDMI-control between an Onkyo TX-NR616 and Sony Bravia KDL 55EX500?

Settings I've set:

On TV, enable Bravia Sync.
On receiver, enable HDMI-control (RIHD) with ARC set to Auto.
Turn everything off at the mains then turn on TV first, pause, then turn on receiver.

There's a paragraph about Bravia Sync in the Sony manual that confuses me:

"Automatically turns the connected AV amplifier on and switches the sound output from the TV speaker to the audio system when you turn the TV on. This function is only available if you have previously used the AV amplifier to output TV sound"

I don't understand how "this function is only available if you have previously used the AV amplifier to output TV sound" when this function switches on using the AV amplifier to output TV sound. Maybe the key word is "automatic" and I need to do it manually first, but I don't know how to get the TV to send sound to the AV amplifier via HDMI by any means except by enabling ARC. I can connect them via a standard analog RCA audio cable, but that does not make it work.

System details:
TV: Sony Bravia KDL 55EX500. Software Version: PKG4.077GAL-0108
Receiver: Onkyo TX-NR616. Firmware Version: 1161-3110--0500

Thanks for your help

More about : arc audio return channel onkyo nr616 sony bravia kdl 55ex500

!