Help with AV Receiver HDMI routing

[eric90000]

Hey guys, this isn't exactly shmups related so I hope it's alright to post here in the off topic forum.

Basically I need some advice on a way around an issue I've encountered.....I'm currently using an AV receiver with 5 HDMI inputs and 1 output. I've got an OSSC, PS4, PS3 & Nvidia Shield connected to the inputs, with the output going to HDMI input 1 on my Samsung KS7000 4k TV.

It all works fine, however the problem is I want different picture settings for each of the devices I use, e.g. game mode on and picture processing disabled for OSSC/PS4, but movie mode and different image settings when using the Nvidia Shield for movies.

Because the TV sees the AV receiver as 1 single input device, I have to manually change the HDMI cable to a different input port on the TV, in order to have different settings saved for each device.

I hope I'm making sense. The only solution I could imagine is to use a HDMI splitter, which splits the AV receiver output to all 4 inputs on the TV, allowing me to chose the appropriate one depending on what device I'm using.

Any help from more experienced people than myself would be really appreciated!

[nmalinoski]

If your TV and receiver are new enough to support ARC, you can just connect them with a single HDMI cable (make sure you connect the ports labeled ARC), enable ARC on both ends (if needed), and then hook your HDMI devices directly to your TV.

When you have ARC enabled and an HDMI cable between the ARC ports on both your TV and receiver, your TV will pass any audio it receives to the receiver.

If your TV and/or receiver are a bit too old to support ARC, but new enough to have TOSLINK, you can connect your TV and receiver with an optical cable for much the same effect. Do be warned that anything other than compressed 5.1 or uncompressed 2.0 will likely get downmixed, because the standard simply doesn't support the bandwidth needed for better quality or more channels.

[eric90000]

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I had looked into ARC, unfortunately my Denon AVR doesn't support that feature. I also tried the Toslink method but as you say it cannot passthrough the likes of TrueHD or Dolby Atmos etc.

It looks like my only option might be to split the signal from the AVR x 4, and feed it into each TV input....

[citrus3000psi]

You could leave the ossc/Ps3/PS4 alone and plug the shield directly to the tv. Then also hookup a toslink cable from the tv to the receiver.

[eric90000]

You could leave the ossc/Ps3/PS4 alone and plug the shield directly to the tv. Then also hookup a toslink cable from the tv to the receiver.

Hey Dan, thanks for the reply! I really enjoyed your interview with Bob from retroRGB. Looking forward to seeing your upcoming projects.

That's a good suggestion about separating the Nvidia Shield, as that's the main thing causing the settings issue. Only thing is, most of the movies I watch have hi-res audio like TrueHD etc, which apparently Toslink can't handle....bit of a bummer!

[DirkSwizzler]

For any situation besides the OSSC I would recommend a splitter. But I recently ran into a bunch of headaches trying to find a splitter that supported all the OSSC modes that my TV and Monitor support while also supporting HDMI 2.0

Detailed here

I tried a handful more splitter than what I mention in that thread and have not yet come across a solution. Really infuriating.

[eric90000]

For any situation besides the OSSC I would recommend a splitter. But I recently ran into a bunch of headaches trying to find a splitter that supported all the OSSC modes that my TV and Monitor support while also supporting HDMI 2.0

Detailed here

I tried a handful more splitter than what I mention in that thread and have not yet come across a solution. Really infuriating.

Oh wow, sounds like you've had a nightmare! It's crazy how hard it is to figure out issues like that, with the various degrees of manufacturing differences between brands and models of splitters etc.

I might just make life easier for myself and leave the OSSC connected directly to TV, with the analogue audio out to the AV receiver....I've got an OSSC 1.5 which doesn't have HDMI audio anyway, so that's basically what I'm doing at the moment.

Out of all those splitters you tried, did any give you trouble with 4K stuff, HDR and hi-res audio codecs etc?

I'm considering going for one of these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NA6FVBA/ ... EC8M&psc=0

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002EACW82/ ... EC8M&psc=1


Realistically I only need 2 HDMI source settings on my TV, 1 for HD/4K gaming and 1 for movies. OSSC will have it's own input so thats ok. So a 1:2 splitter will suffice I think.
So my chain would be:

PS3/PS4/Nvidia Shield >via separate HDMI cables> AV Receiver >via single HDMI cable> Splitter >via 2 HDMI cables> Samsung TV (same signal to 2 inputs)

OSSC Video >via HDMI cable> Samsung TV
OSSC Audio >via audio cable> AV Receiver

Thanks for the input by the way!

[DirkSwizzler]

I was actually trying to future proof a bit before I even had a 4K setup. I’m finally getting a 4K tv next week at which point I’m sure one of them will work great whenever I buy a ps4/xbonex.

[bobrocks95]

I was actually trying to future proof a bit before I even had a 4K setup. I’m finally getting a 4K tv next week at which point I’m sure one of them will work great whenever I buy a ps4/xbonex.

Depending on your situation it might be worth waiting for HDMI 2.1. On the other hand though, there's always something just around the corner that you could be waiting for, so maybe not.

[DirkSwizzler]

Yeah. The TV I’m on now is from 2008 and has a couple age-related issues cropping up. Plus it adds 37ms of lag all on its own.

I’ve been waiting for a year or so now for 4K to really settle down. And for a little while I was waiting for OLED to stop having burn-in issues but my optimism there was dwindling at the same time as end of year bonus from work. So I decided to go for a 70% awesome setup and leave some budgeting wiggle room if anything earth shattering lands within the next year or so. I kind of doubt it though.

[bobrocks95]

Yeah. The TV I’m on now is from 2008 and has a couple age-related issues cropping up. Plus it adds 37ms of lag all on its own.

I’ve been waiting for a year or so now for 4K to really settle down. And for a little while I was waiting for OLED to stop having burn-in issues but my optimism there was dwindling at the same time as end of year bonus from work. So I decided to go for a 70% awesome setup and leave some budgeting wiggle room if anything earth shattering lands within the next year or so. I kind of doubt it though.

That's what I would do, buy a good but definitely not top of the line set now and wait things out. I still think it's too early to get an OLED just because prices will keep falling.