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Apple TV 4K losing HDMI CEC connection

M

malcbo

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 27, 2012
58
9
Switzerland
Hi,

I received yesterday the new Apple TV 4K (I own a 4th gen as well).
Swapped the old one for the new one, the new one detected the HDMI CEC connection (Sony AV receiver & TV) and I could control the volume of the AV receiver and could also switch on or off both the TV and the receiver (same as the 4th gen did).

However, upon waking up from sleep the 4K version, TV and receiver both wake up BUT I then lose the connection. I get a pop up message saying the volume control is not configured and asks me to set it up.
I then went in the settings, and the option "Control TVs and Receivers" is now turned Off and I can't switch it back On....

I fully restored the new Apple TV 4K, but the same unwanted behavior is still there.

Before calling for support, I swapped the 4th gen version back, and everything is working fine with it!

I called Apple support this morning, they told me they hadn't been yet contacted for similar issues.
I now am sending it back and Apple will provide a replacement, I hope it's an hardware issue (limited to the unit I received) and that the replacement unit will work flawlessly.

Anyone else here has encountered this issue?
 
Hi,

I unfortunately did not find a resolution.
I did receive a second ATV 4K but it showed same behavior with my setup and I decided to return it for refund. We did a bunch of troubleshooting tests with Apple techs but we could not make it work.
I've read from someone on Apple Community forum that the public beta of tvOS 11.1 did correct this issue.
But until I have a firm confirmation that it is fixed, I'll stay away from the ATV 4K and will keep the good old trustworthy ATV 4th gen.
 
I have the same issue - and there is another thread about HDMI-CEC here where others have said they have the same behaviour.

It's a very disappointing regression from the ATV4, which was flawless for HDMI-CEC for me.
 
ATV4, Sony AV receiver and HDMI-CEC in my setup. Problem I had was related to audio reverting to TV and having to change the TV settings.

Tinkered with the Sony STR-DH770 AV receiver settings and found a combo that seems to work. Here are the settings I ended up with:

AMP > HDMI > CNTRL > ON
AMP > HDMI > STNBY LINK > ON
AMP > HDMI > STBY THRU > ON

I recall the 2\3rd settings were AUTO out of the box and I had issues until setting them to ON.

If you are having troubles getting the settings to change, try unplugging everything for 30 seconds, then start again. I would power up the AV and TV first and do those settings, then power up the ATV.

Not sure if 4K ATV vs ATV4 is the difference, but this was my headache for several months until I tried these settings, been good for a few weeks now.

Good Luck!
 
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I restarted the ATV 4K and was able to turn CEC back on in the ATV settings. I did have to turn CEC off on my Oppo-203 and PS4 though. After restarting the ATV everything started turning on when waking up the ATV, including the Oppo and PS4.
 
malcbo said:
Anyone else here has encountered this issue?
Click to expand...

I have a Samsung TV and had a similar problem. From what I understand, HDMI-CEC is not standardized and almost every manufacturer has their own implementation of CEC. The only way I could resolve my issue was to complete cut power to the TV and Apple TV for five minutes. I have not had a problem since.
 
I have had this same issue and I have yet to find a solution. The update to 11.1 did not fix the problem.
 
Tarheels23 said:
I restarted the ATV 4K and was able to turn CEC back on in the ATV settings. I did have to turn CEC off on my Oppo-203 and PS4 though. After restarting the ATV everything started turning on when waking up the ATV, including the Oppo and PS4.
Click to expand...
Good that you mentioned it! I also seem to have no problems, when aTV is the sole CEC-enabled device in the system.
It seems as if it does not play well with others.
First visible problem that I can observe - either I have Apple TV as double entry in the HDMI-CEC list (Arris becomes Apple TV!) or the name of Arris IPTV box is hijacked and becomes just Player_1 (should be VIP1113).
 
priitv8 said:
.
It seems as if it does not play well with others.
Click to expand...

Agreed, as mrbrown stated, HDMI-CEC is apparently not really standardized as fully as other protocols, many manufacturers have their own pet names for it, and seem to optimize it for solutions integrating all of their products with less thought given to how people really use it.
 
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techwarrior said:
Agreed, as mrbrown stated, HDMI-CEC is apparently not really standardized as fully as other protocols, many manufacturers have their own pet names for it, and seem to optimize it for solutions integrating all of their products with less thought given to how people really use it.
Click to expand...
It should be pretty well standardised, as part of the HDMI standard.
That, in itself, does not prevent sloppy implementations.
Found an interesting document:
http://www.nuvoton.com/resource-files/AN_0004_HDMI-CEC_EN_Rev1.00.pdf
 
This is an EXTREMELY frustrating bug with Apple TV 4K, and I can confirm it occurs on ALL Apple TV 4K devices. It's been driving me mad since replacing all our Apple TV 4 devices, which worked flawlessly. This is duplicatable with receivers and direct to TV.

There are currently only two frustrating workarounds to regain HDMI-CEC control and restore the ability to edit the "Control TVs and Receivers" setting, which remains grayed out until performing one of these processes:

1. Restart the Apple TV
2. Power on all other devices first (TVs, receivers, etc), then wake the Apple TV. Volume control with work and "Control TVs and Receivers" will not be grayed out.

Of course, both options are moot, as you can no longer use the Siri Remote with any HDMI-CEC devices to power on everything, as you could prior with Apple TV 4—which, of course, is the whole point of being able to use the Siri Remote as a universal remote that functions with Siri.
 
Yes, by now I am pretty confident, that it is the aTV 4K that has trouble implementing CEC protocol here.
First thing I notice - if you dis- and reconnect it to HDMI of TV or AVR, then aTV does not implement the HDMI-CEC hotplug procedure. My STB (Arris VIP1113) will re-appear in HDMI device list once re-plugged to HDMI, aTV does not give any sign.
 
Yep, same issue here, and as jackapple says, this was flawless on the ATV4. Disappointing that it doesn’t work properly with the ATV 4K. :-(
 
Since turning HDMI CEC off on my other devices ie; PS4 & Oppo 203, I haven’t had anymore issues.
 
I have some issues with my Pioneer AVR and my Samsung TV but it’s not as bad as the above it seems. The problem I get is occasionally it wont turn everything off at sleep, or it won’t turn everything on. But it seems to remember everything and work again after I manually turn the TV on or off.

It’s only a bit annoying
 
I have a Sony Bravia with Android 7.0 and I am 99% sure that it is that (stupid) TV causing HDMI CEC/Bravia Sync issues. I know because usually to fix them I power cycle the TV, and at least for a while it works as it must.

The one that doesn't seem to get always fixed by a TV power cycle is the Apple TV 4K turning off when switching off the TV, though. Just tested it now, rebooted the ATV 4K, not working. Power cycled the TV, not working.

Ok, I went into the Bravia Sync list of devices, clicked "Enable all", connected to the ATV 4K from the Bravia Sync device list, and now it turned off the ATV 4K switching off the TV.

So it seems to me it's clearly something with the HDMI CEC in my Bravia, since I could fix it only messing on the TV side.
 
kristoffer4 said:
I have the exact same problem. Is Apple aware of the problem? I hope a fix is forthcoming.
Click to expand...
Apple is definitely aware of the problem, I called them twice for this matter and ended up returning the device.
Nevertheless, I encourage you to leave as well a feedback with all details on this address: https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Until someone confirms the issue is fixed, I'll hold the purchase of the ATV 4K...
 
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Michelasso said:
So it seems to me it's clearly something with the HDMI CEC in my Bravia, since I could fix it only messing on the TV side.
Click to expand...
You do not have to power-cycle the Bravia. It also works for me via re-listing all CEC devices (Settings > External Inputs > Bravia Sync devices > Enable-button)
364623iD42CAB9A62251C6E

Then wait a minute or so (CEC is a slow bus - 500bps only!).
I agree, that it must be a combination of both Bravia and aTV.
Why on earth does aTV lose it's address?
Why does this not happen for sony-branded devices (I have UBP-X800, BDP-S470 and STR-DN1080 connected - CEC works properly /including screen name/ for all of them)?
 
priitv8 said:
You do not have to power-cycle the Bravia. It also works for me via re-listing all CEC devices (Settings > External Inputs > Bravia Sync devices > Enable-button)
Then wait a minute or so (CEC is a slow bus - 500bps only!).
Click to expand...

Oh. I didn't know about waiting the 1 minute thing. But I wait for a "Toast notification" from the TV, so I though the process was completed. And that alone doesn't always fix it. Something that seems to work fine with me is turning OFF and then ON the option to "automatically turn off the HDMI devices. Like the second option in the attached picture (not sure how to attach a local picture on this forum! Oh.. It worked! :D ):
Bravia_2017-12 30_11.05.42.png


I just tested it now, and only changing that, waiting a minute, the ATV 4K turned off turning off the TV. I must say that previously I tried to connect to the ATV from the ATV device in Home. That alone didn't fix anything. Then I tried with this method and it worked once. I did the trick again and it turned off the ATV.

Oh, and I just did a factory reset of the TV yesterday.

Why on earth does aTV lose it's address?
Why does this not happen for sony-branded devices (I have UBP-X800, BDP-S470 and STR-DN1080 connected - CEC works properly /including screen name/ for all of them)?
Click to expand...

I am quite sure something similar happens to me with my PS4 as well, though. The HDMI-CEC communication get lost, sometime. The PS4 for example doesn't always turn on the Bravia TV.
 
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