Sony A1 (OLED) and Apple TV 4K issues

[Pavel_Pr]

Hello!

I am the owner of a "65 A1 TV and an Apple TV 4K and am experiencing some issues. I hoped that someone would have a tip for me, or let me know that I am not alone in this.

When woken after being on standby for a certain period  (could be one hour or more), the TV will not detect any signal over the HDMI port (HDMI 2) to which the Apple TV 4K is connected. The screen would flash slightly, in what appears to be an attempt at establishing a handshake, but that attempt will ultimately fail. 

When the above occurs, the HDMI input in question becomes unstable even when connected with other devices (for instance, connecting a PS4 Pro will result in unstable image). Subsequently, the only way to regain proper connectivity on that particular HDMI port is to power cycle the TV itself (not the Apple TV). After the TV is power cycled, everything works properly again. By power cycling, I mean soft-restart ("About" -> "Restart") as well.

Playing with CEC-related settings on the Apple TV appears to significantly affect the incidence of this issue, but will not eliminate it outright. Moreover, disabling Enhanced HDMI on the TV eliminates this issue, but at the cost of HDR support – which is significant.

Both devices are updated to their latest respective software releases. There appears to be some state corruption that is occurring during standby (applicable to Enhanced HDMI mode), which clears after the TV is power cycled.

Did anyone experience anything similar?

Thanks!

P.S. Could anyone explain what exactly happens with the HDMI ports or controllers during a power cycle or a soft-restart?

[dutchice]

Hi all,

Not sure if the issue is still present for you since we already have had a number of firmware updates so far. Since it appears that the issue is related to an incompatibility fault in the CEC handshake between the two devices, I would suggest the following workaround:

Use of your TV and Apple TV without a Sound Bar

Connect the ATV to the HDMI 3 input on the TV. You will then be able to control the TV's basic functions through the ATV remote control.

Use of your TV and Apple TV with a Sound Bar

Connect your Sound Bar to the HDMI 3 (ARC) input on the TV and connect the ATV using a so-called 'CEC-Killer' adapter to the HDMI 2 input on the TV. You must then control the TV and the ATV with their own dedicated remote controls.

Use of your TV and Apple TV with a AV Receiver

Connect your HDMI OUT from the receiver to the HDMI 3 (ARC) input on the TV and connect the ATV to any HDMI input on the receiver which supports both HDCP 2.2 and 4K HDR signals.

Needless to say that the Enhanced HDMI function must be set to ENABLE on the TV and on the corresponding HDMI input of the AVR. Also all HDMI cables must be either Certified Premium High Speed HDMI cables, or alternatively the well-known-to-work Belkin cable.

As always, keep us posted please!

Cheers,

Dutchice

[Kuschelmonschter]

Apple TV on BRAVIA is still a major pain.

My setup looks as follows:

HDMI2: Apple TV 4K

HDMI3/ARC: Teufel Cinebar 52 THX

Problems:

- Sometimes no input detected after standby (BRAVIA has to be rebooted)

- BRAVIA switches to HDMI3/ARC when turning it on

- Cinebar on HDMI3/ARC sporadically turns on in standby

[rooobb]

@Kuschelmonschter  HDMICEC is a protocol between two or more parties... if you search the internet you'll find a bunch of complains about Appletv HDMICEC behaviour with any kind of other hardware. Why blaiming always Android? The root cause is that HDMICEC is not even a real standard, for this very reason any brand name it in a different way (Braviasync for Sony, Anynet for Sammy, Vieralink for Pana, ecc.)

[Kuschelmonschter]

I actually didn't blame anybody.

All I know is that Apple TV 4K once worked well on BRAVIA ATV1 until FW V5.381 introduced some of the above issues.

But yes, I do trust Apple more to get things right than I trust Sony.

[nickp66]

Hi. Just saw your post.  Thanks for all the info.  I took my Apple TV to a store and tried it on serveral  TVs. Was able to reproduce the problem in store on same model of tv so I suspect it is a compatibility issue   No problems on a Samsung tv.  I will try hdmi 3 as suggested but that means losing soundbar ( guess I could use optical out). Hoping Sony Oreo release might help but it’s on hold right now.  I have ticket raised with Apple and intend to do same with Sony. I let you know if hdmi 3 is any better

[Kuschelmonschter]

Hoping Sony Oreo release might help but it’s on hold right now.

Oreo does not solve those issues.

[nickp66]

Oh, that’s a pity.  Hard to believe Apple and Sony didn’t test their devices with each other.  As I mentioned Sony tv with roku is ok.  Apple TV with Samsung ok, Apple TV and Sony tv NOT OK

[nickp66]

ok , so I’ve got it to work with big ‘work around’.  Connected Apple TV to hdmi 3 as mentioned above, no tv picture flashing on and off any more.  Paired tv to soundbar using Bluetooth.  Sound appears to be in sync and Bluetooth even turns off soundbar when tv switches off.  Not sure what sound modes I can get through Bluetooth  but the best solution so far.  Any idea why hdmi 3 works and not hdmi 2?  I know it’s ARC.  Is this hardware fault I can get fixed ?

[nickp66]

Thanks Dutchice, The problem does very much sill exist,  but using hdmi 3 solved most of the problems .. see my solution further down

[rooobb]

Are you sure you have not set Apple TV to output 4K HDR 60fps and RGB color? If this is the setting it is just too much form HDMI 2.0 connection with a bandwidth of 18 gpbs, for some strange reason it seems to work on the arc enable connection (HDMI2).

Setting it to YUV 4.2.0 instead of RGB should solve (I do not know how and if it can be set on Appletv since I do not have it)