WiiM Ultra Firmware v5.2.714249 - Apr 18, 2025

[hgo58]

Off topic, but the customizable preset buttons on the WiiM remote were promised from the beginning, but have yet to be realized.

Assigning a "TV speakers turn on/off" function to a preset button and forcing them to switch output destinations would surely put a smile back on @hgo58's face .

@WiiM Support

Sorry no. That's not the issue at all.

I just want the WiiM Ultra to not show as available on CEC when in standby. Same way as it do now when you select another input after having had selected TV input.

 

[hgo58]

Sorry no. That's not the issue at all.

I just want the WiiM Ultra to not show as available on CEC when in standby.

@Wiimer Sorry. Why is that funny?

 

[Wiimer]

@Wiimer Sorry. Why is that funny?

sorry, I wasn't laughing at you. I only laughed because my suggestion was off the mark.

 

[Burnside]

Sorry no. That's not the issue at all.

I just want the WiiM Ultra to not show as available on CEC when in standby. Same way as it do now when you select another input after having had selected TV input.

Sorry, coming in to this late but wouldn’t that mean your tv couldn’t then use CEC to bring the ultra out of standby which is what I see as one of the main reasons to use CEC? Would it not be easier to tell the tv not to use CEC at all even if that meant losing the ability to use the tv remote to control volume and using the WiiM remote?

 

[pjorgenunes]

Regarding Vu-Meter:
- More natural movement according to music
- no delay (before I noticed a delay of sound compared with needle movement)
- Regarding the levels: I have all my library with replaygain info and I use album gain leveling. What I notice is that the 0dB mark matches (at least to my eye observation) to the max level of the reference of replaygain. Altough I'm not discussing this at a scientific level, it works for me as when something passes the 0dB level is because I forgot to add replaygain info to it.

Wich to have (as stated before in other threads from many users):
- an horizontal stereo LED vu-meter (much easier to see at 3-4 meters distance). This one would permit easily to have the track info at the same type (example, leds at 50% top and info at the 50% bottom);
- at least more width on the needles of current ones to better watching (right now I can only use the black background one because with the others I almost can't see the needles...)

 

[CliffyBC]

Sorry, coming in to this late but wouldn’t that mean your tv couldn’t then use CEC to bring the ultra out of standby which is what I see as one of the main reasons to use CEC? Would it not be easier to tell the tv not to use CEC at all even if that meant losing the ability to use the tv remote to control volume and using the WiiM remote?

Having an HDMI input was the main reason I bought my Ultra and being able to use the Samsung remote to control the Ultra volume is a must have for me, or more specifically my wife. She plain refuses to use 2 remotes to watch one TV. The whole point of HDMI ARC /CEC is to make things simple for "non technically minded users" and to be able to control things with one TV remote.
As I blocked my ultra's Internet access via my router, I'm still running March firmware which is working correctly for me.
Maybe if anyone is not happy with this latest update, they should ask Wiim to roll them back to March's firmware?
I would prefer to be able to opt in to Firmware updates rather than wake up one morning to find a new Firmware which could cause me problems.

 

[Burnside]

Having an HDMI input was the main reason I bought my Ultra and being able to use the Samsung remote to control the Ultra volume is a must have for me, or more specifically my wife. She plain refuses to use 2 remotes to watch one TV. The whole point of HDMI ARC /CEC is to make things simple for "non technically minded users" and to be able to control things with one TV remote.
As I blocked my ultra's Internet access via my router, I'm still running March firmware which is working correctly for me.
Maybe if anyone is not happy with this latest update, they should ask Wiim to roll them back to March's firmware?
I would prefer to be able to opt in to Firmware updates rather than wake up one morning to find a new Firmware which could cause me problems.

Someone has already posted earlier that WiiM are considering rolling back the most recent change in this area.

 

[hgo58]

Sorry, coming in to this late but wouldn’t that mean your tv couldn’t then use CEC to bring the ultra out of standby which is what I see as one of the main reasons to use CEC? Would it not be easier to tell the tv not to use CEC at all even if that meant losing the ability to use the tv remote to control volume and using the WiiM remote?

There is two modes of CEC Power Control in the WiiM Ultra. One that enables a remote device (TV) to turn the target device (WiiM) on and one where the target device stay off (standby).

The first "on" mode works fine with the WiiM. It goes out of standby and select the TV input option. This results in the TV changes output to ARC.

The second "off" mode do not work as the WiiM stay in standby but still forces the TV to change to ARC. No matter what input was selected before it got into standby.

There is no configuration on my TV (Sony Bravia) the can prevent that and I would also still like to have the volume control via TV remote working.

As long as both WiiM Ultra and TV is turned on all works as expected. It's only when turning TV on with Ultra in standby and CEC Power Control off, I have the issue.

Only way to avoid it, is to remove the HDMI cable or power down the Ultra.

 

[harkpabst]

As long as both WiiM Ultra and TV is turned on all works as expected.

Not in my use case. As described above.

Obviously, WiiM did notice that the new behaviour was not the breakthrough success everybody has been hoping for.

 

[Wiimer]

As long as both WiiM Ultra and TV is turned on all works as expected.

Does this mean that turning off auto-standby on your Ultra will solve the problem?
To be honest, I may not yet have a perfect understanding of what you are looking for.

 

[hgo58]

Does this mean that turning off auto-standby on your Ultra will solve the problem?
To be honest, I may not yet have a perfect understanding of what you are looking for.

Unfortunately no.

I'm just looking for the solution where the WiiM is not forcing my TV to change to ARC when I turn the TV on.

That can be handled by an update to the WiiM firmware.

 

[mach]

I still have the issue that my TV changes to ARC output even when the WiiM is in standby. That is not smart.

Hmmm. After more testing, here's when my TV switches to ARC on startup even with the new option turned off: when it had output to WiiM when it went off, OR when the Ultra is ON with HDMI input selected. If this is not what you see, not sure how to explain it.

With the current FW, when I play Netflix again, the WiiM input does not switch. Because it is the TV speakers that are outputting the audio.

That sounds like the HDMI auto sensing is no longer working. I don't think the CEC functionality has been changed with this latest firmware.

This is now beyond auto-sensing, because @Wiimer 's TV is simply not sending anything to HDMI, so there is nothing to auto-sense.

It really sounds like what's bothering the "always-Ultra" use cases is the fact that the Ultra makes the TV switch away from HDMI output (probably by becoming unavailable) when it switches away from the HDMI input. I don't actually see a benefit to this switch for my "optional-Ultra" use case and would be completely fine with no TV output switch + autosense.

To rephrase, as far as I'm concerned it would be fine if the Ultra's selected input made absolutely no difference to its availability for the TV's HDMI ARC output. Only the Ultra's standby state. No new toggle even needed, other than the basic "CEC power on control" toggle. That seems like it would cover the "always-Ultra" cases too.

 

[mach]

The family has come to expect the comfort of using the TV remote for managing the volume (and rightly so, I think), so this isn't an option either. It wouldn't make sense to me to now teach them whichbremote to use for what.

And I must repeat that it's specifically unhelpful for those using ARC the way it's primarily designed.

If I understand you correctly and you mean the family using the TV volume to control e.g. Ultra streaming volume: I'm not quite sure that "controlling the volume of audio streams other than ARC" is a design goal for HDMI CEC. I think it's more like "accidental convenience". It is nice to have it, though it's an unreliable method because the TV could be off after all (FWIW, my Sonos gets around this by listening to the LG remote's infrared codes that it sends when the TV is off, but then again it doesn't have its own remote).

Interestingly no, I've been using the CEC = on setting and sound never was played through the TV speakers

I could swear this was the previous behaviour of CEC = on since an update early this year. As soon as you switched inputs, TV went to speaker. Can't test it anymore of course. CEC = off didn't switch, though autosense made it work a lot like CEC = on -- the most observable difference was that the Ultra wouldn't come on until something actually played on the TV.

 

[harkpabst]

If I understand you correctly and you mean the family using the TV volume to control e.g. Ultra streaming volume: I'm not quite sure that "controlling the volume of audio streams other than ARC" is a design goal for HDMI CEC.

That's not the main point (although even the Google Home app can control the volume when Googlecast is not in use). With CEC off the volume can never be controlled through the TV remote, not even when HDMI ARC is selected as an input.

I could swear this was the previous behaviour of CEC = on since an update early this year. As soon as you switched inputs, TV went to speaker. Can't test it anymore of course. CEC = off didn't switch, though autosense made it work a lot like CEC = on -- the most observable difference was that the Ultra wouldn't come on until something actually played on the TV.

I'm absolutely sure that the TV never played through its own speakers with CEC on in the past.

To be fair, I've been using an alternative firmware (including Googlecast 1.56 instead of 1.68), but once this firmware was released (a couple of days later than the general availability version) the feature set was always identical.

 

[mach]

With CEC off the volume can never be controlled through the TV remote, not even when HDMI ARC is selected as an input.

Are you sure about this, in the previous build? I thought the volume controls worked regardless and even woke up the Ultra, and the switch was about whether to power the Ultra on/off with the TV. The two states were not very different from each other.

 

[rccarguy]

Can't stand HDMI CEC control.

Stupid, things switching on and off without my own intervention.

 

[Burnside]

Yeah, I use a harmony hub and Alexa to control my gear and as a result have cec turned off

 

[hgo58]

Hmmm. After more testing, here's when my TV switches to ARC on startup even with the new option turned off: when it had output to WiiM when it went off, OR when the Ultra is ON with HDMI input selected. If this is not what you see, not sure how to explain it.

For me it doesn't matter what the previous selections and options was. If the WiiM Ultra is in standby, the TV still unconditional switch to ARC when turned on. Only when WiiM power is off or HDMI cable detached the TV stay on internal speakers.

The Ultra input selection work as I would expect for the HDMI CEC Power Control "off" (selecting and deselecting the ARC).

 

[harkpabst]

Are you sure about this, in the previous build? I thought the volume controls worked regardless and even woke up the Ultra, and the switch was about whether to power the Ultra on/off with the TV. The two states were not very different from each other.

Well ... like 90% sure ...