Spectrum 201 HD-DVR w/Denon X4700H AVR - switching input after firmware update to DVR

CVSprungl

I have a Spectrum 201 model HD-DVR that feeds audio/video through a high quality HDMI cable to my Denon X-4700H AVR and an HDMI cable from the AVR to my Samsung Q90T HD TV. I also have an Oppo 203 Blu-ray player hooked into the AVR system using HDMI.

I have had zero problems turning on the TV and AVR with my Logitech Harmony One remote but once I received a firmware update to the Spectrum 201 HD-DVR roughly 10days ago, if I now turn on the TV/AVR for watching TV (should be set to 'CBL/SAT' input on the AVR), everything turns on fine but 5-10secs later the AVR switches input to 'TV Audio' (which is used for streaming, like NetFlix). I then have to walk over to the AVR and turn the input back to CBL/SAT). Again, this never never ever happened prior to the Spectrum 201 HD-DVR firmware update.

If I initially turn on the TV/AVR with my remote so it streams NetFlix (using the TV Audio input on the AVR), it will stay on 'TV Audio' and away we go. If I use the remote to turn on the Blu-ray/TV/AVR to watch a movie on Blu-ray, the AVR will stay on the proper input and away we go watching a movie on Blu-ray.

Even though I am convinced the problem is with the new cable box firmware, I also verified there are no new firmware updates available for my Denon X-4700H AVR or Samsung Q90T. I haven't tried swapping HDMI cables yet but doubt that will resolved anything as the switching-input problem immediately surfaced after the Spectrum 201 HD-DVR firmware update. I've also removed the Harmony One remote as being a problem as I manually turned everything on and the same problem occurs.

I've been told there is no way to revert firmware on the Spectrum cable box so I am unable to test that the problem goes away and Spectrum Tech Support is of no help whatsoever. I also don't want to swap out the DVR as we will lose all locally store content on the DVR. Even if a new DVR came with older firmware, Spectrum will auto-update the firmware and there's no way to stop that process and I'm certainly not going to stop using my AVR that provides high-quality 7.1 sound.

Is anybody else having this type of problem starting in early June 2024? Does anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Cliff

Satch

Hi Cliff,

Welcome! I had a Spectrum tech at my house to replace my older box that died with the newer Arris 210 DVR. He said that the Smart TV's a lot of times don't play nicely with Spectrum cable box software. The only thing that I could suggest would be to turn off any multi-device configurations on your TV. (Samsung calls this "AnyNet" set that off.) Turn off any HDMI signal strength boosters in your TV settings.

You want it so that you have a direct HDMI input connection to your Spectrum 210 cable box. If you are regularly getting an "unable to play video" message, try a different port on the TV. The sound quality will be a step backwards. I agree that swapping out the DVR won't make any difference. After you have the above configurations in place, turn off everything for three to five minutes. Unplug your box and TV during that time. After that time has elapsed, plug everything back in to place. (If you have everything connected to a surge protector, you can just switch that off for five minutes. I believe that there was a cable box update to Spectrum Guide about two weeks ago. I know this because:

1.) The DVR no longer has a momentary pause when watching a recorded show and bringing up the guide.

2.) Closed-Captioning no longer is slightly cut off on SD channels.

3.) A new message appears very quickly that says, "Please wait while we retrieve your data" when some DVR information is accessed.

Satch