Sky Stream with Arcam AVR: connection mode results in either power on issues or lip sync issues

[endcliffe]

Have had Sky Stream for a few weeks - three pucks for TVs in different rooms. The main one (Samsung QE QLED)  in the living room is connected via HDMI to an Arcam AVR390 receiver. Problem is this: if I connect via HDMI directly to the AVR, everything initially seems to work as it should, but then I get the issue of the puck not turning on reliably from the remote aftere a few hours on standy that lots of other people have posted about. Sometimes takes up to five or six attempts, or having to unplug and restart the puck.

The other two pucks are connected directly to the TVs (Samsung UE LED and a pretty ancient Sony Bravia KDL) and have never had a problem, so I switched the connection on the main TV from HDMI via the AVR to connecting directly to the TV and using eARC to feed signal back to AVR via its 'Display' setting. That seems to address the powering on issue, but creates major lip sync problems. Nothing I have tried in the settings on either the Samsung, the Arcam or the Sky Stream puck makes the slightest difference. The lip sync issue is particularly bad on 'live' broadcasts like BBC, but not really an issue when watching broadcasts via Netflix, Apple TV, etc.

So it seems I have a choice of Sky either turning on reliably but being difficult to watch because of bad lip sync issues, or having no sync issues with the sound but real difficulty in turning the puck on. 

For additional info, the puck that's connected to the ancient Sony tv feeds out via a Naim Mu-so 2 and seems to work exactly as it should, so it is only the connection from Samsung QLED to the Arcam AVR that causes issues. 

Any thoughts, suggestions, or potential solutions gratefully received!

[CoffeeDrinker]

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@endcliffe wrote:

Have had Sky Stream for a few weeks - three pucks for TVs in different rooms. The main one (Samsung QE QLED)  in the living room is connected via HDMI to an Arcam AVR390 receiver. Problem is this: if I connect via HDMI directly to the AVR, everything initially seems to work as it should, but then I get the issue of the puck not turning on reliably from the remote aftere a few hours on standy that lots of other people have posted about. Sometimes takes up to five or six attempts, or having to unplug and restart the puck.

The other two pucks are connected directly to the TVs (Samsung UE LED and a pretty ancient Sony Bravia KDL) and have never had a problem, so I switched the connection on the main TV from HDMI via the AVR to connecting directly to the TV and using eARC to feed signal back to AVR via its 'Display' setting. That seems to address the powering on issue, but creates major lip sync problems. Nothing I have tried in the settings on either the Samsung, the Arcam or the Sky Stream puck makes the slightest difference. The lip sync issue is particularly bad on 'live' broadcasts like BBC, but not really an issue when watching broadcasts via Netflix, Apple TV, etc.

So it seems I have a choice of Sky either turning on reliably but being difficult to watch because of bad lip sync issues, or having no sync issues with the sound but real difficulty in turning the puck on. 

For additional info, the puck that's connected to the ancient Sony tv feeds out via a Naim Mu-so 2 and seems to work exactly as it should, so it is only the connection from Samsung QLED to the Arcam AVR that causes issues. 

Any thoughts, suggestions, or potential solutions gratefully received!

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Apologies if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs, but is the firmware for your AVR390 up to date/on the latest available?

Looking in the downloads section on Arcam's site ( https://www.arcam.co.uk/product,fmj,av-receivers,avr390.htm ) the last firmware version looks to be v7.15. Spec wise the AVR should be more than capable of playing nice with Sky Stream Puck for both powering on (CEC related) and for adjusting audio delay to cope with lip sync issues.

(Apologies again if you've already checked and are up to date)

[endcliffe]

Hi @CoffeeDrinker 

Many thanks for the response. Yes, I have checked that (and also the firmware on the Samsung TV). What I find odd is that when the puck is plugged direclty into the Arcam, everything plays nicely in terms of lip sync, but the puck then refuses to turn on after a few hours in standy (which seems a very common problem with the pucks more generally, judging by other posts in the forum), but if I plug into the TV, the puck turns on fine but the eARC return seems to have problems with syncing. It's the same cable going from the AVR to the TV, so seems strange it responds differently according to where the puck is plugged in.

It's almost as if the puck somehow lacks the power to reliably switch on the AVR first if it is plugged in direcly, but can manage to swtich on the TV when plugged into that - but then again, that doesn't really explain why it is able to work at all when plugged into AVR. I'm feeling a bit stuck!

[CoffeeDrinker]

I feel your pain. My own setup is Puck > Denon X3500H > Sony 55" XF9005. Theorically they all support CEC and so should play nice together. Changing volume and they do - both the puck and the TV acknowledge the AVR is handling the sound and the volume correctly goes up and down. Powering on though? Powering on any one of the devices should automatically power up the others. But they don't. To get everything to handshake correctly, the TV has to go on first, then the AVR and lastly the Puck. I'm fine with it, drives my wife mad as she can never remember the order (and why most of her viewing is on the Glass TV upstairs)

Given your AVRs capability, it can presumably detect if the audio signal is out of sync with the video and correct accordingly before handing the video signal off to your TV (and would also account for your TV being less capable in this regard if the puck is plugged directly in to the TV and it is handing the audio off to your AVR via eARC).

Assuming you keep the Puck > AVR > TV config to solve the lip sync issue, it may be worth experimenting with changing the connected AVR & TV brands setting on the Puck to see if you can get a 'more compatible' setup for power on & off.

(It doesn't help that the CEC set of interoperability controls standard isn't a tightly locked down standard so much as a hazily defined pickn'mix of guidelines that no two hardware brands implement in exactly the same way).

[endcliffe]

Thanks, @CoffeeDrinker!

An update on this. I have now managed to get the Sky Stream puck, the AVR and the TV to play nicely - BUT, with some minor glitches still...

Quick recap: plugging the puck direct into the AVR seemed to work, but the puck would then refuse to turn on after not being used for a few hours (seems a common problem judging by other posts here). Plugging the puck direct into the TV sorted the not turning on problem, but created lip sync issues.

Sort of solution so far: by going into the settings of the TV and giving sound priority to HDMI and setting it to passthrough, and also setting the puck to passthrough with the AVR set to 'Display', everything now *seems* to work ok: lip sync issues resolved as well as issue with the puck not turning on. There is a slight delay when turning on as sound is passed from TV to AVR, but no big deal.

HOWEVER, still some strange behaviours. On some channels, during ad breaks, the sound for some ads completely breaks up (only during ad breaks, and not during the main broadcast) - seems to be mainly Sky channels, but can't be absolutely sure of that. Again, not a huge deal, but annoying as the sound comes in and out in a very bitty and broken way, as if the TV/AVR cannot resolve the sound mode.

Trivial further issue, despite having the AVR set to On Screen Display, changing the volume with this set up does not show up on the TV screen - it does on the AVR, so not a huge deal, but odd nonetheless.

Just wondering whether the puck does not have enough capacity to send whatever minor power is needed to initiate the handshake when connected to the AVR, but can do it with the TV? Anybody else had similar issues, or any idea as to what might be happening?