Troubleshooting ARC Control

[ChibbMD]

I'm having some issues with ARC control of one of my TVs. Sound has worked a few times, but several times (including now) I've gotten a message that says "This type of device is not connected. Please choose another device to output sound."

I have two identical set-ups in my house:

TCL 55S551G TV - Audio Output manually set to ARC
HDMI running from the single ARC port on TV to a HDMI extender/balun
Extender/balun is connected to Cat5e which runs to the closet
In the closet, I've got the Cat5e running into the other half of the HDMI extender and from there I've got HDMI running to the back of the WiiM Amp
WiiM Amp is powering two ceiling speakers

This works perfectly in one zone - streaming, changing to TV, auto-detection of TV when turning on from scratch. It's beautiful.

In the other zone I've had some mixed symptoms. TV audio has worked intermittently, but currently is not. I can stream audio through the amp with no problems. When I turn on the TV the amp clearly auto-detects and shows TV as the input in the app. I can even start with streaming music and turn on the TV and the streaming will end, so the amp is getting the signal that the TV is there. But no sound and when I attempt to adjust volume with the TV remote I get the error message.

I've got the same hardware, down to the same HDMI cables in both zones, so I'm not sure where to start my troubleshooting. I think it's the TV, but it could be the cables, extenders, or Cat5 cabling. Any thoughts or similar issues?

 

[ChibbMD]

For what it's worth, I tested the Cat5 cable with a line tester (not sure what it's called) and the signal is coming through properly across that line. So that rules out the Cat5 as a potential cause.

 

[SoFluffy]

With all the same hardware, eh? It almost sounds like the TV's ARC output settings are wrong. Compare any differences between the zones' TVs. (I'm guessing you'd want PCM.)

Also, could you swap the Wiim Amps in place? It would rule out any Wiim hardware/software issue.

 

[ChibbMD]

Thanks Fluffy. I was suspecting TV as well, but since my last post I rebooted the HDMI extender and that seemed to fix the problem, at least temporarily. I'll have to run some more checks and see if the problem resurfaces. Everything was working fine when I turned the system off last night and then there was no TV audio (and error messages) when I tried the TV today. In any case, the reboot correcting the issue has me heavily leaning toward an extender issue.

I called the manufacturer of the extender and they suggested I swap out the transmitters and receivers from the working zone to the problem zone to see if I could pinpoint which component might be causing the problem. That's a good bit of work given the placement of all the components, so my general plan is just to return and replace the whole extender kit if the problem returns.

I'll post some updates as my diagnostics continue.