Strange HDMI behavior with Yamaha 3080

[Cpt.America]

Hey all! I am having a blast with my new Yamaha 3080 receiver, but am also having one small, strange issue I cannot figure out.

Setup - Yamaha 3080 receiver (firmware updated). 8 series Samsung 4k player. Oppo DVD player. Samsung 82" 4k TV.

If I power on only the AVR and either of my players (or both of my players), I get VERY VERY inconsistent HDMI signal from the players to the Yamaha. The little red "HDMI" led light goes "ON.. OFF... ON.. OFF..... ON..... ON.... OFF...". Whenever the HDMI light goes out, I don't get audio from the receiver (of course). This happens regardless of what HDMI port on the AVR I use, regardless of which player I choose, and regardless of what type of HDMI cable I use. I have tried every generation HDMI cable from my originals all the way up to brand new 8k cables...

However, if I turn my TV on when I power on my AVR and players, this doesn't happen. I get perfectly solid HDMI to the AVR. I can even power my TV on and then power it directly back off again, and leave it off. Everything is fine.

So while this is no big deal if I power on my setup to watch a movie (cause the TV naturally goes on), It's a bit annoying when I want to only play music. I don't want to have to power my TV on, then off again, just to get HDMI to work from my players to the receiver.

Totally perplexed. Any ideas?

 

[KEW]

Hopefully you will get better informed answers soon, but you might try swapping HDMI cables. The HDMI conventions have been problematic and often cables do not meet the requirements of more modern gear like your 3080!

 

[Cpt.America]

Hopefully you will get better informed answers soon, but you might try swapping HDMI cables. The HDMI conventions have been problematic and often cables do not meet the requirements of more modern gear like your 3080!

Iv'e tried 10 different cables from both of my players. 3 different generations of cables, right up to brand new 8k cables.

 

[lovinthehd]

Well HDMI is somewhat based on the video display sink function......I do have my remote macros set up so that my display turns on along with a disc player even if I'm just using it for audio, and will toggle off the display if I don't want it on.

Curious, are you using HDMI control/ARC features at all?

 

[Mark E. Long]

Does the 3080 have a pass threw setting in the setup menu? Or a through mode in the menu ! I had problems with an earlier model till I set it to the right settings .

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I also use the video pass-through on my Yamaha.

What about the different HDMI Inputs on the Samsung TV? Is one of those HDMI Inputs ARC?

 

[Trebdp83]

It doesn’t seem like HDMI-CEC is enabled in the TV and all of the other devices or the TV would turn everything off when it is powered off. Making sure HDMI-CEC is off in every device and connecting the HDMI cable from the Yamaha to a non ARC HDMI input on the TV may fix the issue. But, just a guess based on the information. There could be a miscommunication if the TV supports ARC but not eARC like the Yamaha.

 

[pcosmic]

It is probably because of multiple HDMI control compatible devices (your players & tv) with conflicting settings fcking with your receiver.
In addition, the HDMI-CEC pain-in-the-neck in tvs are notorious for introducing glitches into your receiver.
Go to Setup/HDMI on the receiver and turn 'HDMI control' OFF! This is perhaps the first brute test you should do. Does that fix the issue? If it did, your receiver is still fine. If it doesn't, a glitch was introduced and you would need to do a factory reset of the receiver.

Later on, If you intend to use the HDMI-CEC feature, read/follow the HDMI control setup on the manual step by step.....They wrote down a lot more in that Yamaha manual than what you get on some other manuals!

You may need to tinker with pertinent settings on your players and tv.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hey all! I am having a blast with my new Yamaha 3080 receiver, but am also having one small, strange issue I cannot figure out.

Setup - Yamaha 3080 receiver (firmware updated). 8 series Samsung 4k player. Oppo DVD player. Samsung 82" 4k TV.

If I power on only the AVR and either of my players (or both of my players), I get VERY VERY inconsistent HDMI signal from the players to the Yamaha. The little red "HDMI" led light goes "ON.. OFF... ON.. OFF..... ON..... ON.... OFF...". Whenever the HDMI light goes out, I don't get audio from the receiver (of course). This happens regardless of what HDMI port on the AVR I use, regardless of which player I choose, and regardless of what type of HDMI cable I use. I have tried every generation HDMI cable from my originals all the way up to brand new 8k cables...

However, if I turn my TV on when I power on my AVR and players, this doesn't happen. I get perfectly solid HDMI to the AVR. I can even power my TV on and then power it directly back off again, and leave it off. Everything is fine.

So while this is no big deal if I power on my setup to watch a movie (cause the TV naturally goes on), It's a bit annoying when I want to only play music. I don't want to have to power my TV on, then off again, just to get HDMI to work from my players to the receiver.

Totally perplexed. Any ideas?

Your problem is that you bought a Samsung TV. It is now well know that Samsung TVs, have multiple issues with HDMI connectivity.

Samsung's response is that they did not design their TVs to work with receivers. Bottom line is avoid Samsung TVs. If you have one sell it.

 

[Cpt.America]

I also use the video pass-through on my Yamaha.

What about the different HDMI Inputs on the Samsung TV? Is one of those HDMI Inputs ARC?

I have the eArc output on the AVR going to the Arc input on the TV. What I don't understand, is that this entire issue only happens if I power on my AVR and my player and leave the TV off entirely.

Here is my issue now - I moved the HDMI cable to the normal HDMI1 on the TV.... turned everything off, turned on AVR and player, zero issues. Fixed?! So powered everything off, moved the HDMI cable back to the Arc input on the TV. Powered everything off, powered on just the AVR and player... issue is gone. Hooked back up the way it was, I can't duplicate the issue now. I'll try again tomorrow I guess.

Am I not supposed to run the eArc output on the AVR to the Arc input on the TV?

 

[Trebdp83]

The eARC feature works without having to activate HDMI-CEC. This is an added benefit of eARC aside from increased bandwidth to pass Dolby TrueHD. ARC is reliant on HDMI-CEC being activated to work. Firmware update 1209.3 recently added atmos streaming capability to some older Samsung TVs. Before the update, they were passing DD+ without atmos metadata. How it will work from model to model and app to app I do not know. My TV is now passing atmos when viewing atmos content on Amazon Prime app but not on Disney+ or Netflix. So one option is to use an optical cable from the TV and be rid of HDMI-CEC glitches and also potentially lose atmos over ARC. Or, endure glitches and keep atmos capability over ARC. Trying to use a device and the receiver without the TV on while HDMI-CEC and ARC are activated will result in some glitches.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Back when I had my Denon AVR-5308CI, I used that HDMI ARC feature w/ my Sony TV, and ARC had a mind of its own.

So when I replaced the AVR-5308 with the RX-A3080, I didn’t even use ARC. I am not messing with that again.

 

[Cpt.America]

Thanks a lot for the replies, everybody. I went in and checked my AVR, and all HDMI control has always been disabled. That must be the default. I have left it off. I went into my samsung TV settings, and could not find ANY setting related to HDMI controls.

Yesterday I got a call from Yamaha support. It was a bit strange. He said that HDMI glitches just happen like this, and is usually related to anti-fraud technology. Why it goes away the moment the TV is turned on... no idea. He said it has nothing to do with using the arc output or a normal output. He also said he didn't think there was anything wrong with the AVR, but also said he wouldn't' rule out HDMI engine issue... which wasn't very reassuring. My Pioneer Elite I upgraded from never did anything like this...

Long story short, I believe the DAC on my oppo player is at least as good as the DAC in my 3080 (somebody correct me if that is wrong), so I am simply running analog out of the oppo to the AVR. I tested some audio and it's as clear glass. And since my TV is always powered on to watch movies when I power on my 4k player, the issue... while it may still exist somewhere... is now moot.

I both love, and hate HDMI.

 

[Trebdp83]

I've had similar problems with an older player and a Samsung TV and Yamaha receiver. Older HDMI spec devices and newer TVs and AVRs will have handshake issues. Samsung calls HDMI-CEC "Anynet+". To see if it is on, bring up your smart hub, go to settings tile, click, then scroll down the menu to General and click, scroll down the next list of items there and click on external devices. The Anynet+(HDMI-CEC) feature should be there. If it is on, the circle will be filled in with a green light. You can try a couple of things for the older Oppo. Some older devices do not pass a signal properly if UHD color is enabled on the Samsung TV. This has to do with older devices' HDCP spec. You can turn UHD color off but this will also turn off HDR. You can also go into the Yamaha to the input settings and change the HDCP spec for the input in which the Oppo is connected. Change it to HDCP 1.4 and try it. It may work if UHD color is still enabled in the TV. Try them one at time and then together to see if anything helps. Hopefully you can get it to work without having to turn UHD color on and off whenever switching devices.

 

[Cpt.America]

I've had similar problems with an older player and a Samsung TV and Yamaha receiver. Older HDMI spec devices and newer TVs and AVRs will have handshake issues. Samsung calls HDMI-CEC "Anynet+". To see if it is on, bring up your smart hub, go to settings tile, click, then scroll down the menu to General and click, scroll down the next list of items there and click on external devices. The Anynet+(HDMI-CEC) feature should be there. If it is on, the circle will be filled in with a green light. You can try a couple of things for the older Oppo. Some older devices do not pass a signal properly if UHD color is enabled on the Samsung TV. This has to do with older devices' HDCP spec. You can turn UHD color off but this will also turn off HDR. You can also go into the Yamaha to the input settings and change the HDCP spec for the input in which the Oppo is connected. Change it to HDCP 1.4 and try it. It may work if UHD color is still enabled in the TV. Try them one at time and then together to see if anything helps. Hopefully you can get it to work without having to turn UHD color on and off whenever switching devices.

fwew!... that's some homework for this weekend, for sure. I will give that a look and see what I get. The good news is really... that I only use the oppo for CDs anyway, so it's no REAL loss to use the analog outs.

any insight into the quality of the DAC in the oppo as compared to the 3080? They both sound flawless to my ears.

 

[lovinthehd]

I'd be more surprised if you could hear a difference between your avr's dac and that in the Oppo. I can't with mine....but no hdmi issues so that's what I use.

 

[Trebdp83]

Some might argue the virtues of one over the other but it doesn't seem you are hearing a difference. It's a shame that the 3080 omitted 7.1 analog inputs. You could have compared multi channel audio disc analog output versus HDMI output. If you cannot work out the HDMI connection, the Yamaha can convert and upscale an incoming component connection and output it via HDMI.

 

[Cpt.America]

Some might argue the virtues of one over the other but it doesn't seem you are hearing a difference. It's a shame that the 3080 omitted 7.1 analog inputs. You could have compared multi channel audio disc analog output versus HDMI output. If you cannot work out the HDMI connection, the Yamaha can convert and upscale an incoming component connection and output it via HDMI.

right, but when my TV is on, it doesn't have any issues. So there are no issues at all running my 4k samsung player to play 4k disks. I can't think of any time I would want to watch a movie with my TV off

 

[Trebdp83]

I meant a component video connection from the Oppo. If the Yamaha had 7.1 channel analog inputs, you could connect to the Oppo’s 7.1 channel analog outputs and not worry about any HDMI hiccups.