Setup remote with AV and TV

[donclarkson]

Hi! I've just setup my new Chomecast with Google TV and all works fine going through the process. The remote will control both the Samsung TV and the Pioneer AV home entertainment centre.
The problem is that I don't know how to switch from control of the TV to control of the AV unit so that I can switch them both on/off from the remote. For example, when I setup the remote to control the AV's on/off it works fine - but the TV won't turn on/off with the same button. It only works with the AV.
If I setup the remote to control the TV it works fine with the TV - but then it won't turn the AV on/off. It only works with the TV.
The other buttons work fine - for example, the volume controls, input selection, etc. It's only the on/off button that only works with the last device I've set it up with. How can I use the on/off button to control both the TV and the AV without having to use a second remote?

[robus_pl · Accepted solution]

Sometimes it is not so easy to "see" someone's phisical configuration and used settings. Event because there are many buttons to push/pull. Each device has its own solution for different standards. Fo instance you can see different name for CEC settings (in my case "Viera Link" - Panasonic).

Also CEC (Consumer Electronic Control) is something different, than ARC (ARC - Auto Return Channel). I hope you are aware of that.

Then, if your TV is nor 4K, then you can try to connect CHromecast to your amplituner (HDMI In) and pass signal to your TV via HDMI out. Thus if your devices (apmplituner and TV) are using CEC settings, then you can switch Chromecast, TV and amplitunet with one TV remote. Of course if you still want do change anytching. Even, if you change HDMI in with TV remote, then with that you switch off device connected to the previous HDMI in (which is not active when switched)... if i am clear enough... 🙂 

[robus_pl]

Could you please describe HDMI connections between devices? Is your ccwgtv connected to amplituner?

[donclarkson]

Thanks for the reply.

The Pioneer home theatre amplifier is connected to the TV by HDMI (HDMI1) although it's quite an old unit and I think it's just a pass-through HDMI (if that's what it's called. Our Panasonic recorder plugs into the Pioneer but I think that's where the "pass-through" comes into play. The sound comes from the TV to the Pioneer by an optical connection (if I remember rightly).
The ccwgtv is plugged into a separate HDMI on the TV (HDMI3).

I hope that's helpful - and clear.

Cheers!

[robus_pl]

OK, that is more easy to understand the situation. However there are some more questions.

If your chromecast is connected to TV and sound from TV is directed to amplituner via TOSLINK, then CEC functionality is not working this way and you can not switch on/off amplituner with chromecast remote I suppose. When you use your TV remote to switch on/off, then you can only switch on/off device, wich is at the moment connected the active HDMI.

I dont't know if your TV HDMI3 is CEC capable anyway. Is your TV 4K? Is your amplituner 4K, and on which HDMI?

There are a lot of dependences in case of CEC functionality. Depends on the TV/Amplituner settings and chromecast settings too. 

The best solition would be, if you could connect your chromecast to your amplituner and then amplituner to your tv. But your amplituner must be 4K and audio DD+ at least. Preferably should support HDR and of course CEC is necessary. You have then read manuals if you have it all available. Also not each TV HDMI supports CEC.

[donclarkson]

Thanks for that!

I suspect that the CEC functionality is probably the problem, although the Chromecast and TV turn on and off together OK. So I'm presuming that that proves that HDMI3, which is where the Chromecast is plugged in, is CEC compliant. The TV is a Samsung that we bought around 2013.

The Pioneer amplituner was bought sometime in the 1990's so is quite a bit older. I do have the manual for it but I haven't dug it out because it is far more complicated than I could get my head around at the time. I suspect that I'd still have difficulty understanding it although I could probably work out what it's CEC status is. Even that Pioneer remote has more buttons that I can understand. I counted them once and I think there were 72 different buttons!

However, I'm pretty certain that the HDMI is only a "pass through" and that there is no HDMI capability in the Pioneer unit itself. It has 2 HDMI inputs and one HDMI output but I think all it does is "pass" the selected HDMI input through to the TV. It doesn't do any processing of the HDMI signal and I'm pretty certain it doesn't have full HDMI capability. I think it is just HDMI one way. I believe that a full HDMI specification allows the audio to travel both ways over HDMI (is that right?) and the amplituneer doesn't allow that. I think it can transfer the audio over the HDMI out to the TV but it can't transfer the TV audio back over HDMI to the amplituner. Hence the TOSLINK. It also doesn't get the audio from our Panasonic recorder either even though that is plugged into one of HDMI inputs and the TV (HDMI1) gets it from the amplituner's HDMI output. If I want the amplituner to play the Panasonic's audio directly I have to run a separate cable between the two - despite the fact that the amplituner is passing the HDMI audio through to the TV from the HDMI out. I think that's what the HDMI "pass through only" means. The way I've got our devices setup all the audio goes to the TV and then back to the amplituner via TOSLINK which works fine.

Neither the TV nor the Pioneer are 4K.

I have a vague memory that one time I was setting the system up after we'd moved house I found a way to get the amplituner and a hard drive recorder to both switch on/off from the same button at the same time but they were both Pioneer devices so that probably made it easier.

Anyway, it's not a big deal. I just wondered if there was a way to use the Chromecast remote to do both jobs seeing that it will turn the amplituner on/and off if that's the last device I've set up - but, of course, then it won't turn the TV on/off. And the volume controls on the remote continue to directly control the amplituner's volume OK anyway.

So we'll continue to use the Pioneer amplituner remote to switch the amplituner on/off but we can at least use the Chromecast remote to do everything else. That is not too far different from what we've done up until now. We've used the Panasonic recorder remote to control everything except the Pioneer amplituner. The Panasonic recorder remote will control all functions of the TV, although I had to use separate buttons. But I could never get it to operate the Pioneer amplituner.

The Chromecast remote is one step up from that because at least it operates the volume. The Panasonic remote didn't do that! And that means I only have to use the Pioneeer amplituner remote to switch it on and off.

Thank you for your help anyway!

Cheers
Don

[robus_pl · Accepted solution]

Sometimes it is not so easy to "see" someone's phisical configuration and used settings. Event because there are many buttons to push/pull. Each device has its own solution for different standards. Fo instance you can see different name for CEC settings (in my case "Viera Link" - Panasonic).

Also CEC (Consumer Electronic Control) is something different, than ARC (ARC - Auto Return Channel). I hope you are aware of that.

Then, if your TV is nor 4K, then you can try to connect CHromecast to your amplituner (HDMI In) and pass signal to your TV via HDMI out. Thus if your devices (apmplituner and TV) are using CEC settings, then you can switch Chromecast, TV and amplitunet with one TV remote. Of course if you still want do change anytching. Even, if you change HDMI in with TV remote, then with that you switch off device connected to the previous HDMI in (which is not active when switched)... if i am clear enough... 🙂 

[donclarkson]

Thanks for that. I think I've got my head around it. I'll dig out the amplituner manual and have a look into that to see if it makes sense, and in particular whether it is CEC compliant.

The amplituner only has two HDMI in's, and they are both in use at present - one for our Panasonic recorder, and we normally get our live TV through that, and the second is used for a Pioneer DVD player, which also includes a hard disk recorder. However, the DVD player is hardly ever used these days so I think we could lose that quite comfortably, although my wife might not agree because she has quite an extensive collection of DVD's that she still uses occasionally. I better consult her first!

I still suspect that the HDMI connection to the amplituner is not likely to be CEC compliant but we'll see what the manual says. Maybe it's just time to upgrade!

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers
Don

[robus_pl]

No problem.

Have a good day.

Let us know your findings ASAP, before google close this topic.

regards

[donclarkson]

Will do!

[Jeran]

Hey there donclarkson,

Just checking up on this thread, did you have any more questions or need any additional help? 

Thank you,
Jeran
 

[Jeran]

Hey donclarkson,

Did you have any more questions or need any additional help? 

Also, thank you for your help here, robus_pl!

Thank you,
Jeran
 

[donclarkson · Accepted solution]

No, thank you! Because of my gear I can't do exactly what I want, but it's all OK anyway.

Cheers!

[Jeran]

Hiya donclarkson,

No problem at all! In that case, I'll go ahead and lock the thread for now. If you have any more questions or concerns in the future, please feel free to create a new thread.

Have a good weekend!

Best regards,

Jeran