Pass Thru Signal On AVR ?

[sawzalot]

Hey Guys/Gals, I am having an issue here, tore down system for a cleaning of sorts, only got the behringer set ups back into the cabinet (ep 2500 and DCX 2496) , I left the receiver Pioneer SC - 37 out on top of cabinet to try something different. I always went to the pioneer 500M with two hdmi's one from hd cable box and second from my blu ray and optical from both to receiver for sound. I now have Apple TV so thats three hdmi cables, I decided to go to the SC-37 with those and run one hdmi to the 500M using the AVR as the switch, however this will not work as I had hoped, sometimes wifey would not want the whole system up and running so I thought the signals would pass thru when the AVR is off so as the 500M is the source for audio and video but it will not do this, when I looked up the AVR before purchase the spacs said it offers pass thru if I had know it didn't have it I would of went in a different direction, I have read the manual till the eyes shut down, what am I missing here.

 

[Adam]

Hi, Sawz. That feature on the Pioneer is known as "Standby Through," and the settings are shown on page 73 of the manual. You need to have HDMI Control set to On in order for that to work.

I also did a quick search and saw this thread at AVS. Perhaps it doesn't apply to the 37, but here's a quote from one post:

This is the response I received from pioneer about the sc-35.

Thank you for contacting Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.

Along with HDMI Control having to be ON the source device and television must be equipped with the same version of the control capability as the receiver. If either the source device or television have a different form of control the pass through will not work the moment receiver is powered off. Only other thing to do would be to make an additional connection from the source device to the television.

So, it might be an incompatibility between the Kuro and the receiver.

 

[sawzalot]

I saw that as well and tried to no avail, it simply will not work. I am some what ticked off now because this was the main reason for an avr with five hdmi inputs and two outs, Receiver and Kuro are both elite series but the source codecs could be anything inside of the smaller units, motorola HD box, Apple TV and the oppo 83 , who knows. These companies really know how to screw up a guys plans. I should have checked on this many moons ago but I was too lazy back then to tear apart the entire cabinet to ground zero and now I did it for basically no reason as it may need to be hooked up with opticals as before.

 

[Adam]

Have you tried all of the inputs and outputs? On some units, that feature only works with some of the inputs and the primary output. On my Denon and Onkyo, it also only passed through the last selected source (I couldn't change sources without turning the receivers on, which makes sense).

 

[sawzalot]

I think pioneer dropped the ball on this and I would truly consider putting this out to the sale pasture, thats how ticked I am right now,ff uqqers !!

 

[Adam]

Oh, and if only to get in before Alex (oh, no...) - I'd be happy to take that SC-37 off your hands if you just can't stand the thought of looking at it's incompetence any longer.

EDIT: I was typing this as you posted the above. Looks like I might be on the right track. I'll cover the shipping, no worries.

 

[Adam]

I forget - do you have another HDMI monitor that you can try with this? Could be another TV or a computer monitor.

 

[sawzalot]

I have tried everything till 2.30 am and I am no closer than when I first attempted, it could be a simple setting or it could be just not available, it makes it frustrating. I will have some breakfast and check back in while trying again, thanks Adam I really appreciate your reply to my conundrum .

 

[sawzalot]

yes I have a sony 42 inch lcd, good idea. after omelette's and coffee lol

 

[Adam]

Also, if you haven't, try turning HDMI control on and off (try both) on the TV. After breakfast.

 

[RichB]

I have a 600M connected via the Yamaha Aventage RX-A820 and it works perfectly.
One nice thing about Yamaha is it uses very low power for pass-through:

Yamaha makes its receivers eco-friendly with a low standby power consumption of 0.1W in IR Standby mode (3W in HDMI Standby Through mode, 2W in Network Standby mode).

Yamaha also permits switching the HDMI input while in pass-through and does not require HDMI control to be enabled
(I have had handshake issue with it enabled).

Prior to the Yamaha I had an Onkyo TX-NR808 which had an ersatz pass-through, it turned off the lights but still used 70 watts.
I did the math and 24/7 @ 17 cents per KW comes to 12 cents for 1 watt used 24/7.
So for the old Onkyo's standby cost $8.50 per month. It's like renting a cable box.

The new Aventage is 36 cents. I think most newer receivers have efficient standby pass-through but I always check the specs.

- Rich

 

[sawzalot]

Also, if you haven't, try turning HDMI control on and off (try both) on the TV. After breakfast.

Hey thanks Adam, I did try this on my Sony and it did not work, I tried settings and settings and more settings, tried going off every port and still no pass thru, I need an HDMI splitter now to get four HDMI's into the two available ports on the Kuro and then send optical and coax audio signals to the AVR, sucks but its the only way and really makes a mess of the wires, I am not happy with this unit at all, I just looked at the one receiver I am liking that does pass thru and has two sub outputs l and r

maybe this should go back in the rack-ONKYO TX-NR929 9.2-Ch Network A/V Receiver | Accessories4less

 

[Adam]

Again...I'd be happy to try it out here.

 

[sawzalot]

I am back to the original connections , two HDMI cables into the Kuro and two Optical to the AVR. I can keep the HD Cable Box hooked to HDMI 1 on the Kuro and the Apple TV to HDMI 2 on the Kuro Now I need to come up with a solution for the oppo to the Kuro.

 

[Adam]

Question for you - does your wife use all of those sources? If this is being done just so that she doesn't have to turn on the receiver, then you only need to connect the sources that she uses to the TV.

Also, even if you can't get the standby through to work, you can have the Pioneer send the audio to the TV if she'd prefer to use the TV speakers. She'd still have to turn it on (and one of you would have to toggle the HDMI audio setting), but it might work out.

 

[sawzalot]

Thanks Adam, I like your idea to install everything thru the SC 37 and just set up to turn the amp off for each HDMI input that would allow the Kuro to supply the sound thru its speakers bypassing the sound from the AVR, then when I want sound thru the AVR I would just turn on Amp for the digital input for device of choice at that time. That is indeed a compromise of sorts that would be a way to bypass the whole HT experience for simple viewing. It just bother's me so that the AVR has to be powered up to allow signal pass thru in this higher end receiver that , in my opinion , falsely promoted signal pass thru.

 

[Adam]

Do you know if you have the latest firmware? They don't mention that function in their firmware revision history, but I thought that I'd ask.

 

[sawzalot]

Do you know if you have the latest firmware? They don't mention that function in their firmware revision history, but I thought that I'd ask.

I never tried to update the firmware only because of some horror stories posted in the "official thread" next door. There have been some folks saying after firmware updates their units have become unresponsive and even shut down so that makes me cautious>hesitant to update.

 

[Adam]

There have been some folks saying after firmware updates their units have become unresponsive and even shut down...

Even better. "But, honey, now I NEED to get a new one."

 

[itschris]

Hi, Sawz. That feature on the Pioneer is known as "Standby Through," and the settings are shown on page 73 of the manual. You need to have HDMI Control set to On in order for that to work.

I also did a quick search and saw this thread at AVS. Perhaps it doesn't apply to the 37, but here's a quote from one post:



So, it might be an incompatibility between the Kuro and the receiver.

Adam,
Do you think something similar could be causing my new issue? http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/general-av-discussions/89140-peculiar-new-issue-maybe-hdmi-related.html