Interesting HDMI Problem: OPPO UDP-205

Good evening all,                  5/29/2021

I have also experienced the same 5 second  audio cut out problem with CD playback and have come up with a work around (but not a true root cause solution).  It would also randomly switch off the AVR in the middle of a CD track.

Over the winter we did some upgrades and put in two dedicated 20 amp circuits and split up the AV components between the 2 separate sources. 
Each feed has a Furman PC Pro power conditioner.

The CD playback was fine when played back on the main circuit with both the Oppo 103D and the Panasonic BPD U 9000, through an Integra DRX-R1.

The problem occurred when the second circuit was energized which fed a SVS powered Subwoofer, and a Sony OLED XBR AG9 TV.

Both the OPPO and the Panasonic 9000 have the 5 second cut out problem, with the second circuit on which has the TV connected. This happens with the TV off or on.

I checked for all firm ware updates and had good quality HDMI Cables.

 I tried several old and brand new CD's, and switched the output connections. Even upgraded various HDMI cables. But nothing solved the problem.

In researching the culprit it appears the problem is with the EARC HMDIn circuit that is connected to the Sony TV via HDMI..

For now during CD music playback I have simply unplugged the EARC HDMI cable from the back of the AVR and the CD now play the entire recording without the 5 second skip...

I will have to study some of the solutions listed above but for now pulling the EARC HDMI has allowed uninterrupted CD playback 

Hopefully the TV design engineers can revisit this EARC HDMI circuit and provide a default solution to prevent this problem.

Thank you all,

Dan

  

Hello folks,
I am trying to connect my UDP-205 to a Sony OLED TV (XR-65A80J) which I bought a few days back. I am not able to get audio returned  through eArc/ARC HDMI port on the Sony TV. Here is my set up.
1. UDP-205’s main HDMI out is connected to HDMI port-3 (eARC/ARC port) on the Sony TV
2. I have turned on HDMI CEC control on UDP-2053. Oppo connects to a 5 channel Emotive amplifier using unbalanced cables. I am using it in 3.1 channel configuration (with front /center/subwoofer speakers)
4. I have connected an Apple TV 4K streamer and a cable box to the two other non eARC/ARC ports on the Sony television
5. Sony Bravia synch is turned on on the Sony Television to activate the eARC/ARC functionality
6. The objective is to get the audio returned back to Oppo when watching Apple TV 4k and Cable
7. After turning on Oppo I do see that Sony Bravia sync instantly identifies Oppo as a player and also as an audio devise in its list. It displays two line items for UDP-205 in the list, one as a player and the other one as an audio device on the same HDMI port (port-3) as the player
8. Then I go to input-3 on the TV to the blue Oppo home screen and select the HDMI ARC: Out option on the input menu of UDP 205.
9. The screen shows that it is connected and displays a message that you are now ready to move to an input on the TV for watching cable. etc.
10. However when I try to change the input on the TV to either Apple TV 4K streamer or Cable, the TV shows a message Audio system is unavailable and it is switching back to TV speaker. The screen flickers and it takes me back to the blue Oppo home screen.
11. I tried resetting Sony TV to its factory default but it didn’t work
12. I ensured that UDP-205 has the latest software version. I tried resetting UDP-205 to its factory default but it also didn’t work
13. The only time the ARC channel worked with UDP-205 is when I had only one external input, cable box connected to the Sony TV and the CEC control was turned off in the UDP-205. But the moment I added the Apple TV 4K streamer to another HDMI port on the TV, the screen flickers and it brings me back to the blue Oppo home screen with the error message Audio system is unavailable and it is switching back to TV speaker.
14. I am currently using an optical cable to connect UDP-205 to the Sony TV and I am getting audio with all inputs connected to the TV, absolutely no issues
15. I tried using an Emotiva pre-processor UMC-200 with an ARC compatible HDMI main port and it was able to get the sound back through the ARC channel for both inputs w/o any issue.
16. I troubleshot the issue with Sony technical support team and they couldn’t find anything wrong with eARC/ARC port on the TV
I e-mailed Oppo support team about this issue an hour back but I am not sure if they would reply at this point. 
Any help from this forum would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I didn't read your entire post but it seem like you should connect the Oppo to an HDMI on the TV that is NOT the ARC return and connect the ARC return HDMI to the Emotiva HDMI input to get sound. Sorry if I'm totally off base...

Hello dweller,
Thanks for your reply. Your suggested combination works in my set up but I don't want to keep an additional component in the chain just for getting the audio out. I am trying to reduce the clutter in the existing set up without compromising system performance.
The Oppo UDP-205/native DAC is more than capable of handling the audio especially those coming out of the cable/Apple TV streaming box. The optical/Toslink connection to Oppo is working well but this interface doesn't handle the Hi-Res audio, although very little Hi-Res audio is currently streamed. So I was very excited to get the HDMI:ARC working out of Oppo such that I am able to get the best of both worlds, audio & video, with a relatively simple set up. 
Interestingly Oppo support team did come back to me but they are not in a position to troubleshoot this ARC issue.

Thanks.

It seems as though others have also found trouble getting Sony TV's to play nice with the Oppo 205. Here are some suggestions that might (?) work for your. When changing HDMI inputs/outputs unplug the devices, the reboot can sometimes help. Try first selecting the PCM and then the Bitstream audio modes on the Oppo. If the main objective is to get the Apple streamer to play through the Oppo's DAC; if the Oppo's HDMI input is not already used, try running the Apple streamer through the Oppo's HDMI input and then outputting that signal to the Sony TV.