Our family room TV is almost impossible to use due to the fact that the hub of the system is a Yamaha RX-6A AV receiver with a complex user interface and many functions that overlap with the TV. What’s worse, the Yamaha has already had one HDMI switch board failure and seems to be on track for another one (the receiver is about 3.5 years old and sells for almost exactly what we paid for the vastly-more-useful and vastly-simpler-to-use 86-inch LG TV, i.e., $800 (we got the TV at Costco 3.5 years ago for $900, but they threw in a five-year warranty that should have been worth about $100).
What functions of the Yamaha do we actually want? We want it to switch among HDMI inputs and amplify sound for five passive speakers. If we had a subwoofer we’d want it to provide a line-level output for a powered subwoofer. A modern television already supports HDMI switching, typically among 4 inputs, which is plenty for 99% of consumers (cable TV box, some sort of dongle, maybe a slide show player). The modern television also puts out multi-channel audio and volume control commands via its eARC HDMI output. From ChatGPT:
Given how cheap Class D amplifiers are and how inventive Asian electronics companies are, I can’t figure out why there isn’t a display-free and remote-free 5- or 7-channel amplifier with a line-level subwoofer output that could take eARC with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) input and drive one’s legacy passive speakers. This would enable consumers who’ve cut their cable cords to enjoy true surround sound with just one remote control. As a minor enhancement, when the TV is off and eARC has no signal the little amp could offer to play a Bluetooth source, e.g., from a phone app, through the two main speakers.
There must be something wrong with this product idea because nobody makes a “keep the TV at the center of the TV-watching system” amp. But what is the flaw?
I used to think I needed to create a system with an amplifier and speakers and a universal remote programmed so that it was actually usable for other people and didn’t need troubleshooting when something or other got out of sync.
I threw in the towel and now use the TV remote with the TV sound. Life is so much simpler. And the sound is not bad.
I set up a Logitech universal remote at our previous house. It didn’t work reliably and I always had to go back into the closet where the receiver was to see what hadn’t been turned on.
(Separately, I think that my idea would work almost as simply as “TV sound”. Just one dive into the TV’s audio output menu and done.)
@phil Yes, the Logitech Harmony remote. Logitech must have hired extra people to make programming that thing as painful as possible.
Better learn to solder & invest in sweat equity. The largest economy being China & everyone in China knowing how to make things, that’s just the current way of getting nice things.