Problem with HDMI speakers when ET8000 in Deep Standby is plugged into TV

[birdman]

I have a problem with my HDMI sound box (speakers) if I have an Xtrend ET8000 plugged in Deep Standby into the TV when I switch the TV on.
The speakers are not seen on the HDMI bus so the (Sony) TV eventually times out and reverts to using the builtin TV speakers.

If the ET8000 is on (not in Deep Standby) when switching on the TV, the speakers work.
If I unplug the ET8000 HDMI cable the speakers work when I switch on the TV.

In fact I've done various things and all show that if the ET8000 is in Deep Standby and connected to the TV then the speakers aren't activated when it is witched on.

This doesn't happen with the MiracleBox twin that is connected to the same TV.

I do know that the ET8000 behaves differently in the way it interacts over HDMI.
I switch off all HDMI CEC options except volume forwarding. But whereas the MBTwin forwards to the TV (the on-screen notification shows up on the screen) the ET8000 gets a notification to send to device 5, so sends directly to the speakers (no on-screen notification). But I edited HdmiCec.py to ignore this and always send to the TV. It makes no difference to the switch-on activation state.

Given that unplugging the box from the TV when the TV is running enables the speakers to show up I can't see that it's anything that the box has sent, but how can it be doing anything while in Deep Standby? And what?

PS: I only have terrestrial tuners. Running the TV with the box in Deep Standby is a reasonable thing to do.

[birdman]

More weirdness over this...

• The TV starts up and because I have the ET800 (in DeepStandby) plugged in to HDMI, the HDMI audio box isn't found and the TV falls back to internal speakers (~20s).
  If I then unplug the ET8000 HDMI cable (it's still in DeepStandby), a few seconds later the TV finds the HDMI Audio box and switches over to it. If I leave the ET8000 plugged in then this switch never happens.
• If I connect the ET8000 to the TV through an HDMI smart-switch, and manually switch that so that the active port is NOT the ET8000, then when switched on the TV can still not find the HDMI audio.

So at the moment I'm having to physically unplug the HDMI for the ET8000 when it's in Deep Standby.

[birdman]

Whatever I do, when the et8000 is in Deep Standby then the TV won't see the HDMI speakers.

So I've had to switch them to using an optical S/PDIF connexion, which is inconvenient as I now need to use a separate remote for the volume control, and can't set the speakers to auto power-off (as nothing will switch them back on automatically).

Even using the internal TV speakers there is a problem.
If the et800 is in Deep Standby and my MBTwin is on I should be able to control the TV volume using the MBtwin remote using HDMI CEC (which I have set to forward the volume keys). But trying to do so results in a 5 to 10s delay between pressing the key and the TV seeing it.

It looks like the et8000 in standby mode is somehow flooding or blocking the HDMI data control channel? The video and audio signal is getting through OK (I can watch and hear the MBTwin on the TV) but data is extremely sluggish.

Is there anything that can be done about this? Given that it only happens when the box is in Deep Standby it's nothing to do with the image, but presumably everything to do with the firmware.

Switching off all HDMI activity/signals when in Deep Standby would be fine - it works OK when it's actually running.

[Piranha]

I am somewhat stunned that @Birdman has a problem that he hasn't resolved yet! Wow! Don't have the setup to be able to replicate your problem - and if I had, there is a guy on here called Birdman who I would have asked for the solution!

Seriously mate, I wish I could help you, as you have helped myself and many others, but I'm totally clueless when it comes to the really techy stuff that you and the other smart guys on here talk about - I was, shall we say 'overseas' doing other things when the digital revolution started and failed to keep up! Ho hum!

Hope someone chips in something useful for you!

[twol]

So do you have multiple hdmi inputs on the TV with ET8000, MB and the speakers on another hdmi?
If so what is the order?
Perhaps put the speakers on hdmi 1 and force the TV to power up with hdmi 1 selected?

[birdman]

So do you have multiple hdmi inputs on the TV

Four connectors.

• HDMI1 links to the speakers (and there is a Blu-Ray player plugged into that).
• HDMI2 is spare (gets used by my son for his PS4...)
• HDMI3 has the Miraclebox Twin
• HDMI4 has the Xtrend ET8000.

As long as the Xtrend is running or completely powered off all is OK. When it is in Deep Standby the communication between the HDMI devices is slowed down and the HDMI speakers can't be found.

Perhaps put the speakers on hdmi 1 and force the TV to power up with hdmi 1 selected?

On this Sony the speakers have to be on HDMI1. When it powers up it looks for the speakers, but it can't find any.

[birdman]

When it powers up it looks for the speakers, but it can't find any.

Not strictly true. It sort-of finds them (it can switch them on) but beyond that it can't communicate with them and eventually reverts to using the builtin TV speakers.

Am I the only person with HDMI speakers? Does anyone else have them in a set-up where they work?
Do we have any way of switching off the HDMI port when the box is in Deep Standby (since I really don't want it to do anything at all in that state).
Is there any way of finding out from Xtrend what they are making the port do in Deep Standby? (and getting them to stop it...).

My MBtwin never had this problem, but from looking the logs it only ever sends HDMI commands - it never reports receiving any, so I assume its drivers aren't looking for anything.

[Rob van der Does]

1- I'm pretty sure that when the Et8k is in deep, there is no signal at all on it's HDMI-lead. As opposed to being in standby.
2- HDMI is famous for it's numerous sub-protocols; what happens if you set the ET8k to 'Bypass HDMI EDID Check'?

[birdman]

1- I'm pretty sure that when the Et8k is in deep, there is no signal at all on it's HDMI-lead. As opposed to being in standby.

Seems unlikely. If it is in Deep Standby and I pull the HDMI lead then a few seconds later the HDMI speakers will spring into life. This leads me to believe that the et8000 is doing something on the HDMI bus.

what happens if you set the ET8k to 'Bypass HDMI EDID Check'?

That's not an option on an et8000.
But remember, once the box wakes up and enigma2 gets going, all is OK. The problem only exists when the et8000 HDMI port is left to its own (BIOS/firmware) code.