AVR-X3600H and ARC issues to TCL TV

Teetertotter?

Teetertotter?

Senior Audioholic
I did not go back and read other comments on problem with ARC/eARC

In the TV settings, is it set to ARC?
Hdmi cables high speed w ETHERNET?
Denon set to use ARC?
Maybe a bad ARC connector on TV?
Vanco International | Active High Speed HDMI® Cables with Ethernet (vanco1.com)
Maybe something wrong with Denon unit?

Just brain storming. No sense to be using optical cable. Might want to call Denon, if available. Download the PDF file for the Denon manual and look up the settings for you specific issue. The manual for my Denon printed both sides, is THICK. ......My thoughts.
 
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Panayoti3000

Junior Audioholic
yes, will go through the manual again. it is gigantic so was hoping to check easy answers online. the other suggestion was to use firestick and bypass the tv smart menus altjough weirdly when i got it working last i just rejigged the denon hdmi settings and it worked instantly. really buggy. man...... i may reset the denon again and start again. not sure.
 
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Panayoti3000

Junior Audioholic
everything works ie satellite, android box via denon except smart tv apps. Is it the smart tv then? incompatibility? maybe the firestick will fix the arc issue OR dl my netflix and prime to the android or the firestick to get full ARC capabilities? many questions...... too bad it did work but stopped after a few weeks. frustrating.
 
M

Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
many questions...... too bad it did work but stopped after a few weeks. frustrating.
Welcome to the world of "intermittent reinforcement."

I'm (mostly) joking, it is frustrating when you know the hardware and software are capable of working properly, but some arbitrary glitch keeps causing it to quit working.

>>>Psychologist B.F. Skinner (1956) discovered that while behavior is often influenced by rewards or punishment, there is a specific way rewards are doled out that can cause that behavior to persist over long periods of time, causing that behavior to become less vulnerable to extinction. Consistent rewards for a certain behavior actually produce less of that behavior over time than an inconsistent schedule of rewards. He discovered that rats pressed a lever for food more steadily when they did not know when the next food pellet was coming than when they always received the pellet after pressing (known as continuous reinforcement).

In laymen’s terms, when we know to expect the reward after taking a certain action, we tend to work less for it. Yet when the timing of the reward or the certainty that we’ll get it at all is unpredictable, we tend to repeat that behavior with even more enthusiasm, in hope for the end result. We relish the joy of a “hard-earned” reward that much more.<<<

 
CajunLB

CajunLB

Senior Audioholic
I tried because I have very sim equipment, but you still haven’t tried turning off the TV’s speakers to see if it helps. Also I have the same problem as you twice. Both times I simply unplugged the tv and receiver and everything started working again. Also both times were due to firmware updates for the TV or the receiver. Last week was a firmware update for the TCL 6 series. I have erac now so the update must have updated arc into erac.
 
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Panayoti3000

Junior Audioholic
I tried because I have very sim equipment, but you still haven’t tried turning off the TV’s speakers to see if it helps. Also I have the same problem as you twice. Both times I simply unplugged the tv and receiver and everything started working again. Also both times were due to firmware updates for the TV or the receiver. Last week was a firmware update for the TCL 6 series. I have erac now so the update must have updated arc into erac.
Thats such a great thing to hear but, yes, I turned off the tv speakers a few times and didnt work. last time it worked, I just reset the Denon menu settings for Earc and it went on, voila. I have unpluggrd both both a few times but will try that again with speakers off and see. weird.
 
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Panayoti3000

Junior Audioholic
great....... after the complkete shutdown its working again. hope it stays this way. sigh.....
 
CajunLB

CajunLB

Senior Audioholic
If it acts up again try unplugging everything a minute or so before you mess up any settings. It works for me. So far. Lol
 
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Panayoti3000

Junior Audioholic
If it acts up again try unplugging everything a minute or so before you mess up any settings. It works for me. So far. Lol
Yup, so after working for a week after the complete shutdown the mental case system stopped working. I' ve tried unplugging both the tv and receiver for an hour or more and nothing resets. Before it worked.... no longer. Piece of crap. lol. thoughts?
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Yup, so after working for a week after the complete shutdown the mental case system stopped working. I' ve tried unplugging both the tv and receiver for an hour or more and nothing resets. Before it worked.... no longer. Piece of crap. lol. thoughts?
On research it does seem the Sound United have significant issues with their receivers.

Your receiver was introduced in 2019.

Audioscience did a review and were quite pleased with it. However they did not that the amps in the center got too hot, and were not well ventilated, but measurements were above average.

Now I find Amazon generally a good place to asses reliability.

6% had total failure like you in short order, with one respondent having the replacement promptly fail. A full 16% found the receiver buggy with numerous soft ware issue.
So among that group 21% found the receiver unacceptable. Some were kind giving 4 stars when the faults in my view justified a much lower rating.
Many noted that the unit got very hot if played loud. I suspect this is related to ventilation.

This is totally unacceptable performance in units that cost north of $1000.00

I have been concerned about the layout of receivers and the number of amps for a long time.

Personally my best advice is to avoid receivers if at all possible. If you do buy a receiver then get one with preouts, and use external power amps to power the front three. I think that will a long way to increasing longevity and protecting your investment. I think with current layouts, external fans are mandatory.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
On research it does seem the Sound United have significant issues with their receivers.

Your receiver was introduced in 2019.

Audioscience did a review and were quite pleased with it. However they did not that the amps in the center got too hot, and were not well ventilated, but measurements were above average.

Now I find Amazon generally a good place to asses reliability.

6% had total failure like you in short order, with one respondent having the replacement promptly fail. A full 16% found the receiver buggy with numerous soft ware issue.
So among that group 21% found the receiver unacceptable. Some were kind giving 4 stars when the faults in my view justified a much lower rating.
Many noted that the unit got very hot if played loud. I suspect this is related to ventilation.

This is totally unacceptable performance in units that cost north of $1000.00

I have been concerned about the layout of receivers and the number of amps for a long time.

Personally my best advice is to avoid receivers if at all possible. If you do buy a receiver then get one with preouts, and use external power amps to power the front three. I think that will a long way to increasing longevity and protecting your investment. I think with current layouts, external fans are mandatory.
Fortunately my 2015 model Denon AVR-X4200W is still working, but I added fans in 2018 and use ECO auto mode with moderate listening for the majority of my listening. I'm has a 5.2 setup, though.

The 2016 model AVR-X4300H added two extra amplifiers, from seven to nine, and added a HEOS board (with big heat sinks). The heat sink for the amplifiers was beefed up and two fans added, but the case is still the same size. My thought was that heat for sure could be a serious problem, even for those that just have a 5.x setup.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
On research it does seem the Sound United have significant issues with their receivers.



Now I find Amazon generally a good place to asses reliability.

6% had total failure like you in short order, with one respondent having the replacement promptly fail. A full 16% found the receiver buggy with numerous soft ware issue.
So among that group 21% found the receiver unacceptable. Some were kind giving 4 stars when the faults in my view justified a much lower rating.
Many noted that the unit got very hot if played loud. I suspect this is related to ventilation.

This is totally unacceptable performance in units that cost north of $1000.00

I have been concerned about the layout of receivers and the number of amps for a long time.

Personally my best advice is to avoid receivers if at all possible. If you do buy a receiver then get one with preouts, and use external power amps to power the front three. I think that will a long way to increasing longevity and protecting your investment. I think with current layouts, external fans are mandatory.
Interesting idea but I think such products may be getting a little too complicated for the Amazon ratings to be too meaningful because:
- we don't know if the owners have their units long enough to discover the real bugs.
- many may think their units are buggy when in fact in many cases it could have been operator's errors, or settings related.
- sample size are generally not big enough, not too bad for AVRs but you won't find too many for AVPs

If you do want to use Amazon to assess, then be fair, don't just look at one particular model. So let's take a look of a few AVRs and AVPs as follow:

AVRs:
AVR-X1600H (292 reviews)
5 star............78%
4 star............13%
3 star............ 4%
2 star............. 2%
1 star............. 4%

The AVR-X6700H (241 reviews) has similar results:
5 star............ 80%
4 star............ 11%
1 star ........... 5%

AVPs:
AV7706 (only 10 reviews)
5 star..............62%
4 star............. 33%
1 star ............ 5%

AV8805 (only 14 reviews)
Price: $4499 (Crutchield)
5 star ........... 83%
1 star ........... 17%

May as well look at the $4,000 Monolith HTP-1 as I can't found any for Yamaha"s. There are only 6 reviews for the HTP-1:
5 Star............ 54%
1 star.............13%

So again, interesting idea, but I think those Amazon ratings are not indicative of the brands/products long term reliability. If the sample size are big, like the AVR-X1600H's then may be okay to some extents, otherwise anecdotal at best.

By the way, I couldn't find any Amazon reviews on the AVR-X3600H, was it Amazon somewhere in Europe?
Amazon UK does have 8 reviews on the unit and the results were great:

5 star...............90%
4 star.............. 10%,
but only 8 reviews so that is not a reliable indicator of reliability at all regardless.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Interesting idea but I think such products may be getting a little too complicated for the Amazon ratings to be too meaningful because:
- we don't know if the owners have their units long enough to discover the real bugs.
- many may think their units are buggy when in fact in many cases it could have been operator's errors, or settings related.
- sample size are generally not big enough, not too bad for AVRs but you won't find too many for AVPs

If you do want to use Amazon to assess, then be fair, don't just look at one particular model. So let's take a look of a few AVRs and AVPs as follow:

AVRs:
AVR-X1600H (292 reviews)
5 star............78%
4 star............13%
3 star............ 4%
2 star............. 2%
1 star............. 4%

The AVR-X6700H (241 reviews) has similar results:
5 star............ 80%
4 star............ 11%
1 star ........... 5%

AVPs:
AV7706 (only 10 reviews)
5 star..............62%
4 star............. 33%
1 star ............ 5%

AV8805 (only 14 reviews)
Price: $4499 (Crutchield)
5 star ........... 83%
1 star ........... 17%

May as well look at the $4,000 Monolith HTP-1 as I can't found any for Yamaha"s. There are only 6 reviews for the HTP-1:
5 Star............ 54%
1 star.............13%

So again, interesting idea, but I think those Amazon ratings are not indicative of the brands/products long term reliability. If the sample size are big, like the AVR-X1600H's then may be okay to some extents, otherwise anecdotal at best.

By the way, I couldn't find any Amazon reviews on the AVR-X3600H, was it Amazon somewhere in Europe?
Amazon UK does have 8 reviews on the unit and the results were great:

5 star...............90%
4 star.............. 10%,
but only 8 reviews so that is not a reliable indicator of reliability at all regardless.
The US site has 628 customer reviews. They are not encouraging. A brick rate of 4% is not close to acceptable.

Our advice is different, but mine is to avoid receivers if you possibly can. Peter Walker gave the right advice, back in the seventies and its the right advice now, even more so.
 
M Code

M Code

Audioholic General
The TCL display is not HDMI certified...
So certain control and interoperability functions are hit or miss...

Just my $0.02... ;)
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
The TCL display is not HDMI certified...
So certain control and interoperability functions are hit or miss...

Just my $0.02... ;)
I think it is more serious than that, as the POS seems to be now totally bricked.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Then again Amazon reviews are among the least reliable, they're often not even for the product you're looking at reviews for, and are often from the technically deficient, particularly for av products I think.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Then again Amazon reviews are among the least reliable, they're often not even for the product you're looking at reviews for, and are often from the technically deficient, particularly for av products I think.
I think most know when they are bricked, and that is what I pay most attention to. I can tell you the brick rate is climbing and my hunch is that the cause is too many power amps packed too tight.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I think most know when they are bricked, and that is what I pay most attention to. I can tell you the brick rate is climbing and my hunch is that the cause is too many power amps packed too tight.
Still don't see how you can derive any meaningful statistics from Amazon reviews....GIGO

e.g. 4 percent of what exactly?
 
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Mr._Clark

Audioholic Samurai
Yup, so after working for a week after the complete shutdown the mental case system stopped working. I' ve tried unplugging both the tv and receiver for an hour or more and nothing resets. Before it worked.... no longer. Piece of crap. lol. thoughts?
Do you mean your AVR quit working completely, or do you mean ARC is not working?
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
The US site has 628 customer reviews. They are not encouraging. A brick rate of 4% is not close to acceptable.
Would you post a link please, I went to Amazon.com and cannot find any ratings on the AVR-X3600H, in fact the model wouldn't even show up at all.
 
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