Sky stream and AV amp

[spangle1980]

So I had old Sky HD box, connect from box via HDMI cable to Sony AV amp, then the AV amp to ARC input on Sony TV.

EVERY time I used to turn the box on, the sky box would trigger the amp and TV and the sound output via the amp was perfect every time.

Roll in the new Sky stream - connected in the same way as above, but nine times out of ten, turning on the Sky stream box triggers (I have programmed the remote to operate the amp volume etc..) the TV and amp to come on, but the TV is no longer aware the amp is in the mix and the sound will come on blaring but the remote won't control the amp.  The only way to fix it is to go into the settings on the TV and select sound output AMP (versus TV). Like I said, zero issues with Sky HD, what's different with this Sky Stream puck?

[BenJoBanjo]

@spangle1980 

In my experience Sky Stream pucks were always flaky with CEC control when connected via an AV amplifier. I had endless problems with mine and ended up using a CEC blocker. They are supposed to be better with it now though.

It could be that the puck is simply slower at waking up out of standby than your Sky+HD box was. The amplifier is perhaps not registering it is there quickly enough and disregarding it. 

Have you tried connecting the puck directly to the TV instead and letting the audio pass to the AVR via ARC instead? It may be that your TV can register the HDMI handshake with the puck quicker and then pass the audio without issue. 

What is the audio output of the puck set to? Have you tried passthrough?

Are you using the same speed and spec of HDMI cable on both parts of the chain,  puck>amp & amp>TV?

One other thing to try, if you connect the puck to the TV and your TV and AVR are capable, is to only pair the Sky Stream remote to the TV, not the amp. If you have CEC control set up correctly between your TV and amp then it can often work better. Every volume command you send to the TV from the Stream remote will automatically make the TV control the volume on the amp. This is how I have my devices set up and it has worked flawlessly. 

[spangle1980]

D00o0o0od.  Thanks so much for the input.  I did consider going via TV first then from TV via Arc to amp, but I was concerned about lip sync going this route.  Perhaps my fears are unfounded and I'll try all you suggested and report back for sure.

My bad though - when I said I had paired the remote with the amp, I actually meant to say I had paired it via the stream box to the TV (which passes the audio command to the amp).  Still, thanks again for the input and I'll try it.

[spangle1980]

Well that was fun.  Tried the stream box direct to TV with the ARC to amp.  Sometimes it turns BOTH TV and amp audio on, sometimes just TV, sometimes audio but crackling like **bleep** and a grey screen on BBC 1 for some reason (no others!).

So basically a fail for me.  I'll keep trying with other permutations but not too impressed with the overall experience of this stream box (too many other issues to bore this thread with ;-).

An no, I didn't get the software update yet.  Maybe that will be the magic one (prays :-).  Thanks for the input anyhow.

[BenJoBanjo]

@spangle1980 

Oh dear. That doesn't sound ideal! 

Unfortunately I had a similarly irritating experience with Sky Stream (also too boring to go into here) and got rid of it. I've had zero issues with the hardware I now use and get Sky content via the NOW app. It's made watching TV much more pleasurable again rather than a frustrating one. I just didn't think it was worth paying for a service which would sometimes work flawlessly then sometimes work abominably for no logical reason whatsoever.

Hope you get a positive result from the magical software update! Fingers crossed...