Bravia sync to blu ray player

[geocook9]

I have an A9 48 inch oled tv and have just bought a ubp x500 blu ray player.  

I cant control all of blu ray functions from tv remote.  Play/pause, ff, rewind work, but next track/chapter or stop dont.

Set up is:

TV to Bose soundbar through ARC,  blu ray to Bose soundbar in.  Both using high speed HDMI leads.

Note, soundbar volume etc is controlled fine from tv remote, no problem with picture or sound sync.

According to manual the 4 way curser on the tv remote should be active in controlling tracks etc, but do not do anything.

Any help please

[royabrown2]

@geocook9 

My first observation is that you are trying to pass Bravia Sync commands to the BluRay player through a non-Sony device, the Bose soundbar.

As Bravia Sync is just Sony’s fancy name for CEC, though, this isn’t necessarily impossible, provided (a) that the Bose does CEC and (b) that it can pass these Bravia Sync/CEC commands to the BluRay Player.

It would seem from what you describe that (a) is true, as the Bose is passing basic CEC commands, and (b) isn’t, as the more complex/obscure/specific commands aren’t being passed.

You can test this by temporarily connecting the BluRay player to the TV instead of the Bose, and seeing if these extra commands do now work.

However, when considering this as a long term fix, you may find that if either the TV or the Bose is only ARC, rather than eARC, then the Bose won’t be getting the high-spec audio that the BluRay is capable of.

So you will then have to choose if you want to compromise the audio for the sake of convenience, or carry on using two remotes, or invest in a multi-function remote.

FWIW, I’ve never found that one ‘standard’ remote can completely replace another. There’s always some function you need the real remote for 😢

[geocook9]

Thanks will try your suggestion and report back.

[geocook9]

I have done as you suggested and put the Blu ray into TV hdmi 4 input direct.  Unfortunately it comes up with the same control issues as I described previous.  I have even bypassed Bose audio and tried direct from TV speakers but still no good.  So even in it's most basic set up the tv can't control the blu ray fully.

Back on the Sony TV remote I have found that by pressing info/text reveal button I can access the blu ray control when playing a disc.  

Looking through the tv settings I notice that in the Bravia sync control the top setting on/off is greyed out and the words 'not available while compatible audio system is used' show up, even when only using TV speakers.

So it's all getting pretty strange, any more ideas?

Thanks

[royabrown2]

@geocook9 

Sorry we aren’t there yet, then.

When you say ‘According to the manual the 4 way cursor on the tv remote should be active in controlling tracks etc, but does not do anything’, which manual are you reading this in, and on what page?

What the message about Bravia Sync is saying is that you can’t turn it off and still use ARC with an ARC device (in this case, the Bose).

When you are using the TV speakers only, have you still got the Bose plugged into the TV?  If so, try unplugging it.

If not, perhaps the TV is still remembering it was there once, and you need to delete the entry for it.

[geocook9]

Thanks for your further advice.

The centre 4 way cursor does work in moving menu selections when top menu is visible.  I wrongly assumed that this key would control next / previous track options. The play and ff/rwd on the remote do work but I would have expected them to have a dual function of track/ ff, ie either press and release or press and hold. This clearly does not happen.

I have tried totally removing the Bose connections and sending the Blu Ray direct to TV, but this made no difference.

Perhaps it is not possible to change track through TV remote, yet my previous 7 years old Sony managed this function in controlling a Panasonic DVD player.

As you said previously there is no fully comprehensive device control, so some things need the Blu Ray remote.

I have found a work round in that selecting sync menu on TV remote I can get through to most menu functions on the Blu Ray player so all is not lost.

Finally having looked at the specification of my Bose system I find it only has standard ARC and HDMI 2.0, these support Dolby 5.1 and DTS signals but not Atmos (I did know this would be the case). So my thoughts are I might as well connect the 4k Blu Ray player direct to 4K Tv through HDMI 4(enhanced mode) rather than through the Bose. Am I correct in assuming that this will send the best quality picture to tv, with the sound passing through by ARC reducing to the Bose specification above.  ie connecting the Blu Ray through Bose was not passing on the best video signal with the audio in either case being the same (Bose spec)

Many thanks for you kind and detailed advice.

Regards

[royabrown2]

@geocook9 

My UHD player has separate video and audio outputs, and for optimum quality, I had to use both. Video direct to the TV, because my then soundbar, a Yamaha YSP2500, did not match the DHCP 2.2 requirements of UHD video, and so would not pass the video to the TV without lowering its quality. Audio direct to the soundbar because going through the TV would restrict it to what ARC could pass.

But your X500 has only one output, so you have to choose to plug it into either the soundbar, for uncompromised audio, or the TV, for uncompromised video.

So it would be the DHCP level on the Bose, not its HDMI level, that might restrict the quality of the video it could pass to the TV. If it’s 2.2 or higher, the video will be uncompromised, so connecting to the soundbar will give the best results all round, but 2.1 or lower it would be compromised, so connecting to the TV will give the best video results.

However, connecting to the TV means that the audio sent to the Bose will be the best that ARC can do.

So you would need to choose in this instance; me, I would go for best video, as I think you would.

A couple of questions to finally bottom this out, hopefully:-

What is the exact model of Bose soundbar that you have?

and (as I asked earlier, but not yet had an answer to):-

When you say ‘According to the manual the 4 way cursor on the tv remote should be active in controlling tracks etc, but does not do anything’, which manual are you reading this in, and on what page?

(I think we have decided that the Sony TV remote can’t control the BluRay track selection, like your old Sony TV could, but I would like to be sure).

[geocook9]

Happy Christmas

Thanks for advice, the Bose system does have HDCP 2.2 so I will connect direct through the soundbar to get best results.  I do have 2 matching subs so my system is 5.2 and is pretty powerful, so I am happy.

Once again best wishes for your time in sorting this.

Regards

[geocook9]

Just a final recap

The issue with centre 4 way cursor mislead me in thinking it could function as a track selector.  The information I read was from a Sony web page re Bravia, cant remember which.  I got this wrong but this cursor will go up/down, right/left when in a Blu Ray menu page so it is useful.  However by selecting the info/text reveal button on TV remote I can access the full Blu Ray menu including tracks.  You can also get there by selecting quick settings/sync menu/control device.  Not quite one touch but you can get there.

My soundbar is Bose Soundtouch 300  plus 2  Bose subs and 2 surround speakers, it does support 2.2 pass through so I have reconnected the Blu Ray to it and will hopefully get the best of vision and sound available from this system. It is limited to Dolby 5.1 and Dts 5.1 though, but other formats still sound pretty good.

Once again thanks for your help.

Regards