Trouble getting audio from DVD to TV and from TV to AVR

[krantaaho]

Setup:
Samsung UE46F6400 Smart TV (new)
Harman Kardon AVR 156 (new) connected to an old analogue Silver Crest 5.1 system with 5 satellite speakers and a powered subwoofer using analogue cables (AVR speaker test OK)
Procaster HDMI DVD-004 player from 2007 (NO audio via HDMI, only works with SCART)
IPTV set-top box connected to the TV with an HDMI cable (working fine)
Topfield cable PVR connected to the TV with an HDMI cable (working fine)

Details:
I've got a brand new Samsung Smart TV and I'm having trouble with some HDMI audio connections:
- I can't get audio from the TV to my new AVR using an HDMI cable. I can get an optical connection from the TV to the AVR with an optical TOSLINK cable, but an HDMI cable from the TV to the AVR doesn't produce any sound at all.
- I also can't get audio from my old DVD player when connected with an HDMI cable to the new TV, although the picture looks fine. The DVD player only has an optical coaxial (RCA) input and I don't have a TOSLINK/coaxial plug, so I can't test the optical connection, but it works with a SCART cable. The same DVD player worked well via HDMI with a 5-year-old Samsung TV set and another 10-year-old Samsung model.

My IPTV set-top box and my Topfield HDMI DVR work fine when connected to the TV with HDMI cables, but there's absolutely no sound from the DVD player, although it produces video. I've tested all four TV HDMI slots with four different HDMI cables, which work fine between the new TV and the IPTV and PVR boxes as well as between the DVD player and two older Samsung TV models. As far as I can tell, I've tested all TV and DVD player settings available when the TV's source is set to the DVD player - no joy, regardless of which HDMI connector the player is connected to.

Since my old Silver Crest 5.1 audio system wasn't all that great on its own, I just got the Harman Kardon AVR 156 system and connected the old Silver Crest satellite speakers and the subwoofer to the AVR using analogue cables. The AVR speaker test is OK and the new TV audio works well using an optical cable, but I can't get it work via an HDMI cable connected to the HDMI Monitor Out connection on the AVR. The DVD player doesn't produce any sound when connected to the TV with an HDMI cable, regardless of whether the TV is set to use internal speakers or the AVR with an optical cable, although the IPTV and DVR boxes, which are connected to the TV with HDMI cables, do produce audio when the TV is connected to the AVR with an optical cable.

I've also tried connecting the TV to HDMI Monitor Out and the DVD to HDMI1 on the AVR - in that case I couldn't get video from the DVD player nor audio from the TV, but I may have missed an obvious setting somewhere along the line. Both the TV and the AVR seem to support ARC, but using the TV's HDMI ARC slot doesn't seem to make any difference.

I'm not all that familiar with the AVR yet - the settings are fairly straightforward, but I may have missed something. I must say that I'm at a loss here:
- Why won't the DVD player audio work via HDMI when connected directly to the new TV?
- Why can't I get audio from the TV when connected to the AVR via HDMI?
- Why can't I even get video from the DVD player when both the DVD player and the TV are connected to the AVR using HDMI cables?

I've already reset the TV to factory settings and the firmware is up to date, but that didn't help either. The TV audio is currently set to external speakers and PCM, but I think I've tested all the settings available in the TV, the DVD player and the AVR.

Please help, I'm completely stuck. Can there be some sort of HDMI compatibility issue between the new TV and the old DVD player? How about the AVR? I must have been doing something wrong here, but what?

Thanks in advance!

 

[americanaudiophile]

Your TV does not have an "HDMI output". If both the receiver and TV support ARC (audio return channel) then you can get 2 channel audio from the TV to the receiver through the same cable as the receiver HDMI out connects to the TV HDMI input. This may only work for internal TV sources (tuner or internet apps). You should try connecting all your sources to the receiver with HDMI and use the receiver HDMI output to connect to the TV. If you don't have ARC then use the optical output to feed audio to the receiver if needed for internet apps).
You may need to select audio through HDMI in the DVD player menu (cheap enough to replace it with a Bluray if there is still a problem.

 

[krantaaho]

Your TV does not have an "HDMI output". If both the receiver and TV support ARC (audio return channel) then you can get 2 channel audio from the TV to the receiver through the same cable as the receiver HDMI out connects to the TV HDMI input. This may only work for internal TV sources (tuner or internet apps). You should try connecting all your sources to the receiver with HDMI and use the receiver HDMI output to connect to the TV. If you don't have ARC then use the optical output to feed audio to the receiver if needed for internet apps).
You may need to select audio through HDMI in the DVD player menu (cheap enough to replace it with a Bluray if there is still a problem.

Thanks very much for your reply! One of the HDMI connectors on the TV is labelled HDMI (ARC), so the TV should definitely support ARC. I just tried once again to connect another HDMI cable from the TV's HDMI (ARC) connector to the AVR's HDMI Monitor Output (ARC) connector, switched HDMI Link and HDMI ARC on and selected HDMI as Audio In from the AVR menus, while also selecting External Speakers and PCM in Digital Audio Out from the TV audio menus (also tested Dolby Digital and DTS Neo 2:5), but none of this helped - I still needed the optical cable to get audio. I also tried connecting the DVD player to the AVR's HDMI1 connector, which produced a 'No video' message on the AVR's front panel display. So, did I do something wrong here or am I correct in assuming that:
1. the HDMI ARC connectors on the TV and the AVR are somehow incompatible;
2. the DVD player's HDMI version is so old that the new TV and AVR fail to recognise it;
and, consequently, that:
3. I still need to use an optical TOSLINK cable between the TV and the AVR to get audio; and
4. I need to replace the old DVD player with a newer DVD or (preferably) BluRay player?

I was actually just browsing some Samsung BluRay players to ensure compatibility with the Samsung TV. It just came as a bit of a surprise to me that a DVD player that worked well with our previous Samsung TV set would not be supported, especially considering that the Topfield PVR is at least a couple of years older and it still works fine when connected to the new TV with an HDMI cable.

My current HDMI cables are not long enough to connect the IPTV and PVR sets to the AVR right now, so they are currently connected to the TV's HDMI inputs, but I'm planning to test whether they will produce video if I connect them to the AVR. If this works, I'll probably buy some longer HDMI cables as well as a new BluRay player. Does this sound like the best solution to you please?

Thanks very much again!

 

[americanaudiophile]

1. The ARC might not work or just not pass through audio from external sources.
2. The DVD HDMI output should work (all hdmi as backward compatible) so try it on another TV and different HDMI cable.
3. You will need the optical cable if you cannot use HDMI for sources into the receiver and then to HDMI to TV
4. See 2 - If the DVD is not working then a Bluray is the way to go.