Internet TV Audio through Receiver

Simplest method would be this:

1. Run optical cable from tv to receiver
2. If your receiver and tv support Audio Return Channel (ARC), then hook up HDMI to appropriate input/output labeled ARC

I use the 1st option myself and it works perfectly as long as you don't mind the extra cable.

Your gear does allow you to use A.R.C. using your existing HDMI cable connecting the display to your receiver. Make sure your HDMI cable is plugged into HDMI 1 on the Panasonic as it is the only input that supports A.R.C. Then you need to go into the setup menu on the Panasonic and make sure the Viera Link is turned on and that you set the default speakers to "theater" (see page 33 in the manual). Then you need to go into the setup menu on the Onkyo (Hardware section) and turn on HDMI Ctrl (RIHD) and set Audio Return to "auto" (page 48 in manual).

Once they are both setup properly, whenever you start playing content from the Panasonic, the receiver will switch to the "TV/CD" input and you will get audio through the surround sound system rather than the TV speakers. Bam! Enjoy!

I only have experience with the Integra line of receivers (built by Onkyo). I assumed they would operate the same. Keep in mind that the switch may not occur until there is actually audio. So simply clicking the Viera Cast button to bring up the "apps" will not invoke the input switch....probably not until the Netflix movie starts. At any rate, at least it works.

This is not working for me. I did everything you said here, but am still not getting sound from my receiver when trying to watch Netflix through my Panny ST30.

And I also noticed that when I hit the Menu button on the Panasonic remote and go to the audio settings once the Netflix movie starts, the default audio output is TV. When I switch it to Theater I get a "please wait" screen, then it automatically switches itself back to TV again.

I assume you are using the same Onkyo model as mentioned in the opening post here? If so, and you have everything set up properly, I do not know why it would not work. Have you tried a different cable by chance? I would also make sure your TV and AVR both have the latest firmware versions available for them. Hopefully you get it figured out.

Yes it is the same Onkyo model TX-NR509. I have not tried a different cable...but the cables I am using are brand new and just came from Monoprice, so what are the chances of this being the issue?

As far as updating the firmware - I know I can do this through the wireless internet my Panasonic TV has, but what about the receiver? Am I correct in that the receiver does NOT have wireless built in? If so, I obviously need to buy a wireless adapter, or plug it directly into the phone line via ethernet cable, right?

Yeah the Onkyo requires a USB wifi dongle. They actually sell one (Onkyo does). UWF-1 I think is the model #. It might work with other brands/models as well though.

Here is another thing to try. I ran into this today with a Panny and a Denon AVR. Press the Viera Link button on the Panasonic remote. It should pop up an option to change the speakers to "Theater". I do not know why even if you set the default speakers in the Viera Link setup menu that it would not change this other setting also, but it did not today for me.

I bet this fixes your problem. Hopefully anyway.

Ok, so I had to re-arrange some stuff (got new speakers) and re-did the wiring to my receiver. I plugged my cable box via HDMI directly to my TV rather than through my receiver because I was having heat issues even when the AVR was on "Standby" mode. I also added an Optical cable from my TV to the receiver, and now my surround sound works with Netflix. I am not sure whether or not it is the A.R.C. via HDMI or if it is the Optical cable, but I don't really care either way at this point.

I did have a question though - in order for my surround sound to work with Netflix, I must have Viera Link set to "On." I was having an issue that was addressed in another thread, where every time I switch from cable (or whatever) to my Blu-ray player, the TV (Panasonic ST30) automatically switches itself to "Cinema" mode. It was very annoying, and I was told the only way to make it stop doing this is turn Viera Link "Off."


So is it possible to solve both issues? Or am I stuck with one or the other??

I actually posted this in another forum (here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2#post21631062) but thought it might be of more interest over in this Official Thread.

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Well after literally hours of experimenting and research, I finally solved my AV problems and got the system set up just the way I wanted to.

Since so many people are on this forum looking for the solutions to such specific problems, I thought I would describe the solution I finally found in some detail -- in the hope that someone else might benefit as I have from this forum over the years.

I had a hodge-podge of new and old equipment, and I was pretty particular about what I wanted to accomplish. I have a main TV room where I wanted 5.1 or at least 7.1. I had in-wall speakers in the kitchen and living room that I wanted to drive from my central system in the TV room.

For a main receiver, I was working with a 4 year old Yamaha RX-V2700. I really didn't want to spend the money on a new fancy one, but would have if I had had too.

For inputs I was working with:

DirecTV box
Apple TV (gen 1)
Yamaha Ipod Dock
Maingear Gaming PC (which I uses as a 3D BluRay player)
Sony 3D Bravia LED NX720 Internet TV. (BTW, this unit has a ton of Internet-enabled functionality, Pandora, Amazon Movie Rentals, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, network access to media stored on my NAS upstairs, etc. I had no idea there was going to be so much when I bought it.)

The first big problem I had is that the Zone 2 and 3 function on the Yamaha RX-V2700 only worked with analog inputs. Since none of the systems I was using was primarily analog, and a few didn't have analog ports at all, this limitation basically precluded using the Yamaha RX-V2700 to drive zone 2 and 3.

So I went down into the basement and found an ancient Onkyo TX SV454. I think I bought it when I was a student in 1993. (I can't believe I've schlepped it around all these years, but now I'm glad I did.) It only takes analog inputs, but did support two zones. So my solution was starting to take shape.

Research on this forum led me to the Gefen Digital Audio Converter, which would take an digital audio optical (or coax) feed and convert it to analog, which I could run it into my ancient old Onyko TX SV454, which in turn would drive zone 2 and 3.

Then I had to figure out how to configure all the rest of the inputs. Here my main insight was that with this new Sony TV, I really didn't need to use the Yamaha RX-V2700 as an AV hub. I just needed it to drive audio fed to it optically by the Sony TV.

The Sony TV has 4 HDMI ports. So I take my gaming PC, my Apple TV, and my DirecTV box and connect them directly via HDMI to the Sony TV. (The fourth HDMI port I use to connect the Sony TV to the Yamaha RX-V2700; as far as I can tell, this is only used when I'm using the Yahama's GUI for various set-up features.) I configure the Sony to output audio optically; and I configure the Yamaha to basically take that optical audio feed and power the audio in the main TV room. (Actually, I run a digital optical audio direct from the Maingear gaming PC to the Yamaha RX-V2700 in the hope that the high-end sound card in the Maingear is doing something for me.)

To get the audio to zone 2 and 3, I need to configure the Yahama to output optical audio via its RECORD function. Put the Gefen DAC in between and presto: any of the audio sources can be played in any of the zones. This is a little inelegant but it worked. The Yamaha will pass through an optical input as output output, but that it's. (So, the one input device I can't use in zone 2 and 3 is the Yahama IPod dock, which isn't optically connected. But with all the network functionality in the Apple TV and Sony Internet TV, I didn't really care.)

As an added benefit, this configuration allowed me to add two front presence speakers, giving me 7.1 in the main room.

The last piece was to program a Logitech Harmony One remote to make this all work together in a reasonably user friendly way. I'm still fine tuning this, but it's coming together nicely. One thing I wish the Harmony One was better at is supporting multiple zones and amps; setting them up as separate "Devices" is a little clunky.

Finally, an observation about the current market in AV Receivers. I did a ton of research into high-end receivers that could accomplish what I was trying to do here. But what I found it that, with all the functionality and HDMI ports on the latest generation of Internet TVs, most of the advanced features in most high-end receivers were totally unnecessary. 1.4a 3D HDMI passthrough on a receiver is totally unnecessary if you've got multiple HDMI ports on your 3D TV -- all you need is a nice audio receiver to power excellent sound in your main rooms and in your other zones via a single digital audio feed from your TV. As far as I could tell, there is no receiver on the market that can do that and only that. If there was, I probably would have bought it. But as it is I'm pretty happy that I could accomplish the same thing with a little creative configuration of my Yamaha receiver, a 19-year old amp, and an $80 Gefen DAC from Amazon.

This process has taken me over two months and I never want to do it again. My family thinks I'm nuts and my friends all tell me I should have hired someone to do this all for me. Next time -- if there ever is a next time -- I probably will.

Thanks all the power posters on this forum -- without your reports and expertise, I never could have figured out how to do this.

My receiver stopped playing audio from Netflix again.

I noticed about a week ago (or so) that my Panasonic TV remote lost the ability to control my Panasonic Blu-ray player, and control the volume of my Onkyo 709 receiver (both of which it used to do). Now, it only controls the TV volume, and I cannot get audio through my home theater when watching Netflix. RIHD is "On," and default speakers are set to "Theater" in the Viera Link menu...

Thank you for this post. I have a Panasonic Viera TC-P55ST50 model TV paired with an Onkyo TXNR616 Receiver. Essentially the steps you provided are identical to get the Netflix audio to play through the home theater system. The only difference is that port HDMI 2 is the ARC port. As indicated the receiver detected the audio automatically when Netflix was selected through the internet capability of the smart TV. When you exit the internet it automatically switches back to accept audio from the cable/dvr. Sweet. I would never have been able to figure this out from the manuals or online help without your post. Awesome!

Hey there,

I have an Onkyo 3008 with all of its inputs utilized (multiple DVRs, a Roku, a BD player, etc.). I have connected to it a Panasonic 65VT50 with an HDMI cable connected to HDMI-2 (ARC) from the TV to my Onkyo's HDMI-OUT (ARC).I've adjusted the RIHD to "auto" on my Onkyo.

Connected to my Panny is a Skype HD video camera. I got everything connected correctly, but I'm running into a problem. When I try to Skype someone, I can hear the sound of the video call ringing, but as soon as the video call is connected, my Onkyo A/V clicks a few times, then its display changes to "TV speakers on". However, there is NO audio coming. The other party can see AND hear me just fine. I can see the other party, but I cannot hear them at all. If I turn my A/V unit off then back on, its display reads "TV speakers off," but then my Skype calls disconnects, and when reconnecting, it goes through the same process--ringing is heard, then it connects and the audio disappears after my Onkyo switches and says "TV speakers on." I've also switched my Panny's speakers from "off" to "on," but that hasn't worked, either.

I confess I'm stumped, because I've looked around in the manual and can find nothing to help.
Edited by Lord Vader - 2/10/13 at 4:11pm

I seem to have a similar problem (albeit with an LG TV and Onkyo Receiver) - have managed to get ARC working to TV Apps like youtube but for some reason, when I use the Skype App I don't get any audio at all. Almost seems like it looses synch or something - very frustrating. Am wondering if using an optical cable would resolve the issue, or if indeed I should just forgo the LG Skype Camera and go with the Logitech TV Cam version that stands alone.