Arc stops working when I turn lights on

[Myvet]

I have a strange one. I have a dedicated theater room with LG projector and Pioneer elite AVR. The theater room was built 3 years ago. Had issues with ARC (actually eARC) since the beginning. We are far in the country, so no audio pros are around to come out. When I hooked my ROKU to the projector, everything is fine until I turn on the lights. The sound stops. Turn the lights off, the sound comes back (unless the lights are on for over 10 minutes, then need to restart everything to get the sound back). When I hook the ROKU to the AVR, all is OK (no sound issues, picture comes through the eARC - but the AVR only supports 4k 60 - so don't get full 4k when hooked this way)

I tried adding Ferrite rings to both ends of my HDMI cable, but no change. The lights are LED, on a dimmer. The HDMI cable is about 65 feet, run through the walls. Anybody have any ideas????? I was either going to try a battery UPS to the projector, to hopefully smooth out interference in the electrical power, or replace the AVR, or replace the HDMI cable, but all those things will be difficult (no room on projector stand for UPS, long cable run in walls and $$ for new AVR) So, I am asking for advise. Thank you in advance!!!!!

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Are the lights on the same circuit as the electronics?

The 65 ft. HDMI might be a factor. I've always heard that 50 ft. is the maximum without some kind of signal boosting gizmo. Of course, it's possible that's outdated information.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Myvet]

Are the lights on the same circuit as the electronics?

The 65 ft. HDMI might be a factor. I've always heard that 50 ft. is the maximum without some kind of signal boosting gizmo. Of course, it's possible that's outdated information.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

I am not sure, but being on the same circuit would be the only thing that makes sense to me. Its just weird.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a strange one. I have a dedicated theater room with LG projector and Pioneer elite AVR. The theater room was built 3 years ago. Had issues with ARC (actually eARC) since the beginning. We are far in the country, so no audio pros are around to come out. When I hooked my ROKU to the projector, everything is fine until I turn on the lights. The sound stops. Turn the lights off, the sound comes back (unless the lights are on for over 10 minutes, then need to restart everything to get the sound back). When I hook the ROKU to the AVR, all is OK (no sound issues, picture comes through the eARC - but the AVR only supports 4k 60 - so don't get full 4k when hooked this way)

I tried adding Ferrite rings to both ends of my HDMI cable, but no change. The lights are LED, on a dimmer. The HDMI cable is about 65 feet, run through the walls. Anybody have any ideas????? I was either going to try a battery UPS to the projector, to hopefully smooth out interference in the electrical power, or replace the AVR, or replace the HDMI cable, but all those things will be difficult (no room on projector stand for UPS, long cable run in walls and $$ for new AVR) So, I am asking for advise. Thank you in advance!!!!!

I would bet your lights are on a dimmer. RF interference from the dimmer is causing the problem as the sine wave crosses the zero crossing.

You need to make sure you are using Lutron Maestro dimmers. Yours truly here worked with the Lutron engineers to minimize this RF problem and they have it reduced to the absolute minimum.

 

[Myvet]

I would bet your lights are on a dimmer. RF interference form the dimmer is causing the problem as the sine wave crosses the zero crossing.

You need to make sure you are using Lutron Maestro dimmers. Yours truly here worked with the Lutron engineers to minimize this RF problem and they have it reduced to the absolute minimum.

Thank you!!!! I will look to see what brand dimmers they are on.

 

[jps]

I had a similar issue with ARC dropping audio, and think it may have been due to poor electrical grounding in our 100+ year old home.

When the refrigerator or freezer compressor started up, or lights were toggled in other rooms, the audio would occasionally drop out for a few moments. It would only happen via ARC, not via the BluRay player, or other directly connected sources.

I tried adding a full-home surge suppressor to the indoor breaker panel, but to no effect.
Changing the HDMI cable out to a high-quality fiber optic 8K cable seemed to mitigate almost most of the issues.
Reworking the setup to use a directly-connected Dune Homatics player, instead of using ARC with the built-in Samsung TV apps, fully eliminated the dropout issues. Perhaps the HDMI chip in the Samsung LED TV was a bit sensitive too, as it's about 12 years old at this point.
I now use the Dune player for Netflix, TV, and local media, and things are much better.

Best of luck.

 

[Myvet]

I had a similar issue with ARC dropping audio, and think it may have been due to poor electrical grounding in our 100+ year old home.

When the refrigerator or freezer compressor started up, or lights were toggled in other rooms, the audio would occasionally drop out for a few moments. It would only happen via ARC, not via the BluRay player, or other directly connected sources.

I tried adding a full-home surge suppressor to the indoor breaker panel, but to no effect.
Changing the HDMI cable out to a high-quality fiber optic 8K cable seemed to mitigate almost most of the issues.
Reworking the setup to use a directly-connected Dune Homatics player, instead of using ARC with the built-in Samsung TV apps, fully eliminated the dropout issues. Perhaps the HDMI chip in the Samsung LED TV was a bit sensitive too, as it's about 12 years old at this point.
I now use the Dune player for Netflix, TV, and local media, and things are much better.

Best of luck.

Thank you for the advice!! I have a new HDMI 8k fiber cable on order. I also got some faraday tape on order, and will wrap it for added protection. If that does not work, I will look into the Dune.

 

[Eppie]

Thank you for the advice!! I have a new HDMI 8k fiber cable on order. I also got some faraday tape on order, and will wrap it for added protection. If that does not work, I will look into the Dune.

I was thinking that 65' cable might be an issue. At that length I would go fibre as well. We have read good results with RuiPro. You should also get an in-line power adapter for the cable as the power supplied from the AVR is often not enough. TLS Guy can recommend a good power inserter.

 

[jps]

Yep, RuiPro was the brand I had purchased last year, as it was reviewed well on several sites. Good call on that.
I didn't add any in-line power adapter, although my run wasn't quite as long.

With the fiber optic cables, I also seem to recall needing to pay attention with plugging the correct side of the HDMI end into the AVR side, and TV side, since the fiber cables were not universally reversable, unlike traditional copper HDMI cables would be.

 

[lovinthehd]

Yep, RuiPro was the brand I had purchased last year, as it was reviewed well on several sites. Good call on that.IIR
I didn't add any in-line power adapter, although my run wasn't quite as long.

With the fiber optic cables, I also seem to recall needing to pay attention with plugging the correct side of the HDMI end into the AVR side, and TV side, since the fiber cables were not universally reversable, unlike traditional copper HDMI cables would be.

IIRC that does utilize some of the power available inherent in hdmi, but best to have an external power supplement.

 

[Eppie]

Yep, RuiPro was the brand I had purchased last year, as it was reviewed well on several sites. Good call on that.
I didn't add any in-line power adapter, although my run wasn't quite as long.

With the fiber optic cables, I also seem to recall needing to pay attention with plugging the correct side of the HDMI end into the AVR side, and TV side, since the fiber cables were not universally reversable, unlike traditional copper HDMI cables would be.

Yes, the fibre cables are usually directional but it should be marked on the cable ends. Not sure how much power the Pioneer Elite AVR can supply through the HDMI port but with fibre cables it's better to play it safe unless your manual specifies what the HDMI jacks can supply and you know for certain that it's sufficient.

 

[everettT]

I would bet your lights are on a dimmer. RF interference from the dimmer is causing the problem as the sine wave crosses the zero crossing.

You need to make sure you are using Lutron Maestro dimmers. Yours truly here worked with the Lutron engineers to minimize this RF problem and they have it reduced to the absolute minimum.

The only brand of dimmers I use, and they're compatible with the major integration brands.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thank you for the advice!! I have a new HDMI 8k fiber cable on order. I also got some faraday tape on order, and will wrap it for added protection. If that does not work, I will look into the Dune.

For that length of cable you do need an active hybrid cable. With a receiver of the age of yours you will need a voltage inserter, or you will blow the HDMI board in your receiver, as only the latest equipment has enough power to power those cables from the HDMI port. You need an HDMI 2.1 and beyond to power hybrid and active cables. You need ports able to provide 300 ma to power those cables. Previous versions only provided 50 ma. So if you blow the HDMI port that will be the end of your Pioneer Elite receiver.