Solved! Setup Anynet+ properly between Samsung TV and Onkyo TX-NR545

[Jeroen07]

Hello,

I have a Samsung UE65JU7090 TV where these devices are connected through HDMI:

• Chromecast
• TV Setup Box (Digital TV)

The TV has been connected throug various ways with the Onkyo TX-NR545, who then has 2 zones:

• Home Cinema (living room)
• 2 boxes on the terrace outside

Worked all great. But Onkyo has no easy way to use Spotify or Tune In. App is shit, the remote is not of this time anymore...
I also started using Google Home Assistant, and with speech it's easy to turn on my TV and give commands like play Spotify, play music or start Netflix.

So thinking a bit further I only need my assistant to trigger my television, and I just need the ONKYO to play the sound coming from the TV. I don't kneed any other feature on the ONKYO, I just want to

• Decide which zone the sound goes too
• Which mode (Dolby, ... ) it is played in.

So really I only want a 1-way situation where the sound goes from Samsung TV to Onkyo Receiver. I managed to get this working with an optic audio cable between the TV and the ONKYO, but the only problem is that the ONKYO doesn't automatically turns on or turns off when the TV does. Since everything will always be played from the TV, it's the only thing it should listen too. TV is on = Receiver is on and vice versa.

So currently we only have 2 HDMI cables in the TV, one optic audio cable from the TV to the Receiver, and the normal sound cables from the receiver to the speakers. But clearly something needs to change in this setup.

What's the best way to set this up with the above 2 devices?

 

[americanaudiophile]

When you tried using HDMI-ARC to send audio to the TV you did turn on Anynet+ (or CEC as it is usually called) in the TV menu?
Did you set up the AVR so that ARC was assigned to an input on the receiver? You may need to do that.
CEC doesn't work very well so your experience isn't unusual.
A Logitech Harmony Hub/remote would allow you turn on both the TV and receiver as an activity. It may work with Google Assistant too.

 

[Jeroen07]

Thanks for your reply!

• Anynet + / CEC is enabled in the Samsung TV's settings
• I've heard about the Logitech Hamony Hub /remote but this again 100 EUR for something which I see as basic functionality which I really should get to work.

Can you tell me how I should setup HDMI cables in the above setup in order to get ARC properly working? Because or the receiver is defect, or i'm doing something wrong.
When I only use the optic audio cable I guess it's normal that it doesn't work?

 

[americanaudiophile]

There isn't any set up on the cables. CEC just doesn't always work or work correctly. HDMI was designed for CEC control functions but different manufacturers chose to implement it their own way making interaction with different brands (or even different models) an iffy proposition.
I remember setting up a TV and BD player (both the same brand). If you turned the player on the TV would turn on and go to the correct HDMI input. When you turned the player off the TV did nothing. Didn't go off or change to the OVA tuner.
Later they added ARC to use spare conductors in the cable to carry audio from the TV to an AVR without needing an additional cable. The optical cable only transmits audio so know control functions.
You need the Harmony Hub for voice control. Even the cheapest Harmony remote will have a macro for turning on and off the TV and AVR.

 

[Jeroen07]

But my TV and receiver should support ARC, is there nothing we can do then? This worked properly before, it's only recently we have these problems...

So it should be possible somehow?

This is the back of the receiver, what's in your eyes the best way to connect the TV?

 

[americanaudiophile]

The way you connected the sources to the TV and the TV to the receiver is one of two ways to connect them.
You could try a different HDMI cable but I suspect that won't help. ARC isn't for control it's just to get audio from the TV to the receiver on the same cable that gets video from the receiver to the TV. That does work for you. If the control part that doesn't.
The other way to do this is to connect both sources to the receiver HDMI inputs and connect the HDMI out of the receiver to any HDMI input of the TV. Unless you use the TV tuner or apps you won't need another connection.