Cant get Apple TV to work with 5200ES receiver.

Question

I'm hoping someone can help me understand what isn't working correctly here. I have a 5200ES receiver which is connected to an (old but nice) Fujitsu panel with a DVI input via an HDMI to DVI cable. I have other devices - Xbox360, Wii - connected via component video, and a Sky HD box connected via HDMI1. My 5200ES is curently set up with two front speakers connected in bi-amp mode (i.e. rear channels used to drive the bass/mid, front channels the treble), a centre channel and a sub. I have no problems with picture and sound from existing devices; although, in some circumstances, notably with the Xbox 360 playing movie trailers and some movies using the Amazon Prime app, I have had a 'tinny' sound that only seems to come from the treble of the left and right channel. But some other movies worked fine and I don't know why. I bought an Apple TV and plugged that in via HDMI2. I got no picture or sound. I used the Apple TV remote to cycle through available screen resolutions and couldn't get any picture, although occasionally got the message 'out of range' and occasionally got a flash of a screen with an Apple message on it, before either getting screen noise, or a black screen. Still no sound though. Eventually I went into the 5200ES menu and changed the screen output to 720p and managed to cycle the Apple TV to a 720p resolution and I got something on screen (having said that, next time the Apple TV went to sleep I was then unable to get back to any screen at all). But no sound so I attached an optical cable to the back of the Apple TV and to the OPT 3 input at the front of the receiver (as the only digital input I could share with HDMI2). I then got sound, but again this was only tinny and came from the tweeters of the bi-amped front speakers. Basically unusable. As a test, I connected the Apple TV to the HDMI-DVI cable into my Fujitsu plasma panel and it immediately dislayed a screen. No sound, of course, but that should be handled by the receiver anyway. I also took the Apple TV into our kitchen to plug it into a small Samsung LCD TV we have there that has an HDMI input. It worked faultlessly and displayed content with full sound immediately as you would expect. So, in summary I am not able to reliably switch the HDMI input of the Apple TV into my panel and see its output, nor hear sound from HDMI or usable sound from optical (which I shouldn't need of course, and looks unsightly with the extra cable draped over the front of the receiver). However, another HDMI device, being my Sky HD box, works perfectly. As it stands I can't use the Apple TV through my Sony 5200ES, so I'd appreciate any advice and guidance on what to do. I can only assume I will solve the sound problem by switching off the BI-AMP option as that doesn't work with all material or sources, and may allow me to get rid of the optical cable, but still have an unreliable screen display and can't easily switch between video sources until I know what to do.

Answer 1

Hi peter_964rs,
Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, we are unable to assist customers outside of the US. We kindly recommend visiting our Sony Global Web site for information on contacting the Sony Support Center in your region at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/Support/. >Joffrey
If my post answers your question, please mark it as "Accept as Solution"