Sony KD-55AF9 digital output volume control

[khaeid2]

Hi,

I intend to connect the digital output, optical or HDMI ARC, to an external sound system, that most likely will not have it's own volume control, I will not be using AV receiver.

Is it possible to change the audio level from any of these outputs by changing the volume in the TV using the normal up/down volume control on the remote?

[royabrown2]

@khaeid2 

I see with 1 and 2 we have good agreement.

Regarding 3, you may well be right; the manuals Sony supply with these sets are famously useless, and the link I gave is a bit vague about exactly where to find the setting even on sets that definitely have it.

Your best bet is to look up some of the terms from the link I gave, e.g. ‘Variable’ in the online Help on your TV. If they turn up, they should tell you where to look, and if they don’t turn up, then yes, they have removed this feature in your set.

4 looks like it might be a good solution; at least it puts your volume control on a remote, even if it’s not, as would be ideal, the TV remote.  As long as you don’t mind running several thousand euros worth of speakers off a 35€ DAC 😛

[khaeid2]

I already have my Speakers from my previous studio, and I do not like the sound of HiFi speakers anyway.

and buying an AV receiver for over 700 Euros, where most of this money is going to the channel amplifiers, fancy screen, tens of inputs and outputs , where i only need the small part of the decoder

So hopefully the 35 Euro decoder would have ok decoding ability.

if I found the same product with better quality I would have got it 😞

anyway, I already noticed many issues regarding this, including audio/video sync, I will make another topic for this complain 

[royabrown2]

Hi @khaeid2 

Yes, I realised you already had the speakers. Most of the sound engineers I know seem to like only JBL speakers out of the regular ‘HiFi’ brands, feeling an affinity for their hard (in a good way) and analytical approach, which I understand.

You certainly don’t want an AV amp; but in the premium HiFi field, you can pay any money you want for a dedicated DAC, from less than £100 up to about £1500. And they only extract stereo!
Maybe it’s all snake oil, though, but as you progress with your quest here, you may turn up a pro or semi-pro digital to 5.1 analogue converter someplace.

I’ll look out for your next post, but I’m guessing the DAC introduces a delay in the sound? I think there’s something on the TV to remedy this, as it’s quite common with external audio.

[khaeid2]

Yes, there is the issue of the synchronization, which i believe even the users of high end AV receiver users face it. this is what I meant by A/V sync issues. which should be addressed by Sony, by simply offering video delay, which would for sure use lots of memory for streaming like Netflix, but it is important,

I am thinking now of using Tasker on the TV, and see if I can find a way to control the, very hard to find, optical output PCM level adjust.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm&hl=en

[rooobb]

Normally this is a feature that is up to the AV receiver to manage, there is no such option of video delay on the tv.

your tv should have in anycase a feature called AV sync in the audio menu that (strangely) seems to work better if you put it to off. You may want to try all the setting available just in case...

[royabrown2]

@rooobb 

According to the documentation that I have, AV Sync works only with Bluetooth.

But practical experience with a TV in front of you trumps documentation 😄

Worth looking up AV Sync in the online Help on the TV though, to see what it says about it there.

(We gifted our 2015 Sony Android set to our eldest son, so I have to go over to his if I want to check anything. And besides, it’s getting a bit out of date now).

[rooobb]

In the manual it says it is related only to HDMI connection (see hint https://helpguide.sony.net/tv/faep2/v1/en/04-04_02.html ) and it is the way I use it, but you could always try...

[royabrown2]

@rooobb 

We’re both wrong 😛

Actually, it works with either. The help guide you reference is newer than mine - it mentions eARC which mine doesn’t - but both talk about AV Sync working with Bluetooth and (specific) audio systems over HDMI.

Nothing about any sync adjustment for Optical in either though 😥

[khaeid2]

Actually I do not understand how can the TV compensate for the latency caused by a D/A converter that is attached to either HDMI, Bluetooth or Optical output.

unless there is a feedback from the converter telling the TV how much latency it implement on the signal.

so the easiest is for the TV to have custom delay for video, a feature that exists in majority of low price android applications.

and I am aware now that the TV only controls the audio level of the headphones and the HDMI ARC/eARC, and I know that ARC bandwidth is narrow that it barely can transfer the information of 2 channels, that is why there is only HDMI ARC / 2.0 standalone converters,

eARC is much larger bandwidth and can hold multiple channels at high quality, but there isn't any standalone converters for it.

so the only solution now is to head for that 35 Euros Optical/5.1 decoder, with remote volume

or I will try with Tasker 

[royabrown2]

@khaeid2 

The sync described for Bluetooth and ‘selected’ HDMI devices could in principle be negotiated between the devices; send a round-trip message and time it. But could be a manual adjustment for all I know.

Over Optical, it would have to be manual, as you say, custom adjustment; as this isn’t present, it suggests that for those devices where it is possible, it is automated.