All of a sudden this past week, my trusty Pioneer Elite SC-65 started having difficulty with surround coming from HDMI sources. The sound would cut in and out, make odd beeps or other crazy sounds, or outright just stop outputting any sound whatsoever. I initially thought it was a problem with my Sony Bravia A8G because we primarily watch Netflix and Prime Video which is sent to the ARC input on the SC-65. Just for giggles, I tried my Samsung UHD 4K player and also my Kodi rig and they failed as well, so this has led me to believe that my SC-65 is about to die. Having bought it new in 2013, it is now well out of warranty. Many people have reported that this unit was built with some faulty TI chips that eventually failed and for a while, Pioneer/Onkyo was repairing at no charge, but this program has ended.
I did try replacing the HDMI cable to no avail. With a little experimentation, I noted that if I let the SC-65 "warm-up" for at least 30-45 minutes, the problem doesn't occur. I have a feeling this is not going to last and I will eventually see the dreaded UE22 error code or it will just stop working altogether. Have any of you experienced this same failure?
I'm now reluctant to replace this unit with a newer Pioneer Elite and am instead considering a Denon, Marantz, or Yamaha AVR. Leaning towards the Denon X3700, but they appear to be sold out at Best Buy and many other resellers, argh.
