Bravia Sync input issue

[Quixadhal]

So, I have a Bravia TV (XBR-55X900E) and a Sony A/V receiver (STR-DH790).  I have an Xbox one X, and a PlayStation 3 connected to the receiver, and then the receiver connected to HDMI3 of the TV for ARC return.

I can easily switch the receiver to view the Xbox or PlayStation, which is 99.9% of the time what I want since I seldom watch Over-The-Air broadcasts or use the old PlayStation 2 (which is on the component inputs).

However, I am annoyed by one issue.  If I turn on the PS3 via, the TV switches to it directly somehow without (apparently) actually switching the receiver input... which would be fine except when I turn it back off, the TV doesn't go back the the Xbox, but instead switches to the totally idle component inputs.  Thus I have to go digging for the TV remote, which I seldom use.

OTOH, if I remember to use the A/V receiver remote to force switch the input to the PS3 before powering it up, it works as expected.  I still have to switch the receiver back to the Xbox, but I can do so from the receiver remote.

My question is... can I somehow make the receiver "take control" over the whole system instead of the TV?  Or, can the TV be smart enough to restore the previous input when the signal goes away?  Or... can I disable this Bravia link without losing ARC return, in case I actually want to watch OTA TV or dust off the PS2?

[royabrown2]

@Quixadhal 

But the receiver does have total control, as much as it can possibly have. But it can’t turn off the TV, nor control what the TV’s response will be when the receiver turns off.

I am guessing that your truncated sentence ‘ If I turn on the PS3 via’ was meant to continue ‘the PS3 remote’, though, and if it wasn’t, then what is below may not make sense.....

I am also assuming that the PlayStation 2 is connected to component on the TV, not the receiver, as you do not make this quite clear either. (And if so, can you not connect this to the receiver also?)

So you turn on the PS3, this turns on the receiver, switches to the PS3 input, and the receiver turns on the TV, and switches to the receiver input, and you use the PS3 with the video appearing on the TV.

Then you turn off the PS3, this turns off the receiver, the TV notices this, reverts to the input it was last on, and stays on. 

So you want to ensure the ‘last on’ input on the TV was the receiver, as if you leave it on the component video and it is switched on and off by BraviaSync, it will keep going back there.

(Or is it that even if the TV was last switched manually to the receiver input, the above scenario will see it left on the component inputs?

Another option may be to see if you can configure the receiver to stay on once it has been switched on by BraviaSync, as it is fairly unusual that it switches off again here.

Though that way might be no better when you then switch off the receiver manually....

In your second scenario, the receiver stays on when you turn off the PS3 because you turned the receiver on manually.

But even there, what happens when you do turn the receiver off? I would expect the TV to stay on, and drop to the component inputs then also. But you don’t notice, or don’t mind this at this point?

And yes, ARC requires CEC (BraviaSync), and won’t work without it, which is one of the weaknesses of ARC.

This is an issue resolved on the newer eARC standard, but this generally requires all-new equipment, and an ‘HDMI with Ethernet’ cable between then.

[Quixadhal]

First, let me say thanks for the help!  My replies often come across as a bit abrasive, because I'm trying to describe the situation and figure things out, so apologies if I sound like I'm annoyed.  I'm really just perplexed.

I should note here that the TV and receiver are NEVER powered off.  This is an issue of them not changing inputs correctly.

There is one HDMI cable from the output of the A/V receiver to the TV, plugged into HDMI 3 (the ARC return port).  The Xbox is plugged into one input of the A/V receiver, the PS3 is plugged into another input on the receiver.  The PS2 is plugged into the component video inputs on the TV, as the receiver has no inputs of that format.

Normally, the TV is powered on and pointing at HDMI3 (as the only active input).  The receiver is powered on and pointing at the Xbox input (as my Xbox is my primary source of content).  The Xbox is always always powered on.

If I power up the PS3, it will force the TV (NOT the receiver) to switch inputs, even though it is connected via the receiver.

When the PS3 turns off, the TV detects no signal and switches to the component video input because none of the HDMI inputs have a signal on them.  The receiver is still pointing at the PS3, even though it doesn't display this, so it can hand the (now absent) signal back to the TV.

In an ideal scenario, the Sony TV and Sony receiver would negotiate so the receiver is the one that switches inputs, leaving the TV 100% out of it.  The PS3 is closer than the TV (direct vs. 1 connection away), and this would make logical sense, as it is what you'd do by hand with the remote.  If that happened, again in an ideal world, the receiver could then switch back to the Xbox input when it detects the PS3 signal going away, since the Xbox port would still have an active signal on it.

Just to reiterate, the only device being powered on and off is the PS3, everything else is always on and active.  It's baffling to me, that the TV is taking control away from the receiver, when they are both Sony products and the receiver is closer in connection to the PS3 and the Xbox sources.

I suspect I just have to live with it, but I'm hoping someone designing future models will see this and try to figure out a logical hierarchy for which device gets to control the "network" of HDMI connections.  In my opinion, most people would want their A/V receiver to be in charge, since it's the thing their devices are plugged into directly.

Thanks again for the reply!

[royabrown2]

Hi @Quixadhal 

Well, you haven’t upset me so far, anyway 🤗

First let me clarify that when I say ‘switched off’ I always mean ‘put into Standby’, unless I add ‘and pull the plug out’. But every usage I have made above is of ‘Standby’.

Second, I don't think Sony have ever understood the idea that a TV can be regarded as secondary to a receiver, just a passive monitor attached to it, except when watching broadcast TV. Even in the old analogue days, I had to change how I set my systems up to be different to how Sony thought they should be set up, because of this.

Thirdly, anything like what you are looking for with control would need Sony to go to a solely proprietary solution, only operable with compatible Sony kit. Despite Sony branding it BraviaSync, the control system in use is standard CEC (Consumer Electronics Control); and despite everybody else branding it with some weird and wonderful name of their own, it’s all CEC, and so has a chance of interoperating, even across brands.

But only a chance, because (a) manufacturers can pick and choose which CEC functions they will implement, and which they won’t on each of their devices and (b) there is enough leeway in the specifications of CEC for manufacturers to do the same CEC function differently.

Though (b) shouldn’t apply between two devices both made by Sony, you can’t rule it out.

I suggest a couple of things at this point; (i) read up on CEC - Wikipedia is a good starting point - and (ii) explore which CEC (BraviaSync) options the TV, and separately the receiver, offer, and whether any of them are configurable on either device.

When you’ve got your head round it, consider these thoughts of mine:-

You haven’t yet addressed what input the TV was last manually switched to; if a device is switched on by CEC, and then switched off again, then if it changes input at all, it changes to whatever it was last set to manually. So try, as I said earlier, manually setting it to HDMI 3, and see if it now stays there.

Another reason it might switch to component is because this is now the only input with a signal. Is there a signal? Do you leave the PS2 switched on all the time? If so, why?

You said “If I power up the PS3, it will force the TV (NOT the receiver) to switch inputs, even though it is connected via the receiver.”

But force the TV to switch inputs from what to what? The TV is left on HDMI 3, you said, the input from the receiver; it’s always on this input when you are using devices on the receiver; when you switch from Xbox to PS3, the switch takes place entirely within the receiver, and nothing changes on the TV at all, except that the video and audio the receiver is feeding it now comes from the PS3, not the Xbox.

It’s important you think about this correctly, as confusion here will lead to error.

Now here’s the strange thing. You think that the TV detects ‘no signal’ when the PS3 is turned off, and so switches to its only live input, the PS2 on component video.  (But as above, why is it live, and what happens in this scenario when it isn’t?)

But the receiver doesn’t do this? If it did what you think the TV does, wouldn’t it switch to the live Xbox input when you turn the PS3 off?

If I’m right though, the TV will stop reverting to the PS2 input once you have set the TV manually to HDMI3, while the receiver is in standby.

And the receiver might start reverting to the Xbox input, if you make this the ‘last manual input’ the receiver has experienced.

Though I am less sure about this, since any or all of the above will depend on what CEC features are fixed, which absent, and which, if any, switchable, on the TV and on the receiver.