Can I use one HDMI output of the Raspberry Pi 4B for video and the other HDMI output for audio?

    Hi community!

    My setup is:
    Raspberry Pi 4B (4K)
    LG OLED BX (4K, Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos)
    Yamaha HTR-3064 AV Receiver (1080p, Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround, Dolby TrueHD, DTS Digital Surround, DTS Express, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio, etc)

    Currently the Raspberry Pi 4B is connected with my TV via HDMI.

    I understand that if I use TV's e-ARC, it will send only Dolby Digital to Yamaha AV Receiver.
    If I connect the Raspberry Pi 4B to Yamaha AV Receiver it will send 1080p video to the TV.

    Can I use one HDMI output of the Raspberry Pi 4B for video and the other HDMI output for audio?
    If that's not possible is there any other workaround?

    Regards

    Quote from EloyFarina

    Can I use one HDMI output of the Raspberry Pi 4B for video and the other HDMI output for audio?

    Yes you can but it takes time to setup and overall inter-operability (i.e. CEC control) may not work between all your devices as seamlessly (due to use of Rpi4's Dual HDMI connections at same time) as you would like/expect. However the Video and Audio outputs will be assigned to correct devices and work as you wish them to.

    It involves use of SSH from a PC to Rpi4 and getedid commands to gather and store specific information on "confirmed connected" HDMI connections for TV and AVR so they are always assigned on boot-up, in prefered sequence. Ref https://wiki.libreelec.tv/configuration/edid

    Then once this is setup, you will need to review Audio options within Kodi to ensure that the correct HDMI to AVR options are selected and utilised for Audio :-

    • Settings -> System -> Audio -> Audio output device
    • Settings -> System -> Audio -> Passthrough output device

    With Passthrough options then enabled for HD Audio that your AVR supports.

    Been a long time since I previously successfully setup my older system to do this (Which worked OK) and I have just recently updated my AVR so not able to fully recollect and review previous sequence of setup etc.

    Been looking for most suitable Libreelec thread to direct you for your specific desired usage case, if I find something will post link.

    Edited 3 times, last by MikeKL (February 4, 2024 at 2:52 PM).

    Thanks for the confirmation, MikeKL!!! I saw you post and moved the AV Receiver to another room to test it, that's why I wrote this thread, I didn't want to waste so much time and effort in something that may not work.

    Luckely, I connected the HDMI on the second Raspberry Pi output, and after change the audio output from "Settings -> System -> Audio" and enabling the passthrough to all the codecs, it worked like a charm.

    Configure the EDID was not needed.

    Thanks again, MikeKL. Amazing community!

    Should I configure the EDID to have CEC control working?
    It would be great to handle the volume with TV control.

    Edited once, last by EloyFarina: Merged a post created by EloyFarina into this post. (February 4, 2024 at 11:04 PM).

    Great you have it working, just by simple selection of correct device for Audio in Kodi Audio settings.

    Yes in my case, I was able to use TV CEC remote to control Kodi GUI and adjust AVR volume with following HDMI connections between devices.

    • AVR HDMI OUT <-> TV HDMI (ARC connection)
    • Rpi4 HDMI-0 -> TV (Video)
    • Rpi4 HDMI-1 -> AVR (Audio)

    I found in my usage case that configuring EDID further ensured that HDMI connections would not get confused when devices were being switched off/on in any un-intended sequences.

    In your case makes sense because the TV and AVR were connected directly, but in my case, I'm not sure if is possible.

    I can manage Kodi with the TV remote control, but there is a direct connection by HDMI. Do you think that is possible manage the AVR volume using TV remote control? I was thinking connecting the TV to the AVR via HDMI just for CEC purposes. I will test it and I will share an update

    Finally, I could manage the Yamaha AVR with LG Magic Control.

    I had to connect Yamaha AVR HDMI output to any LG TV HDMI input, I ran Connection - Setup Universal Control, selected the HDMI output ID where I connected the AVR, it recognized it as "Optical", then I had to select the brand, Yamaha in my case, and after click in Test button, it turn off the AVR. Confirmed clicking the button. At this way, it was properly configured.

    Then from TV's Sound settings, I had to select Optical output. Now when I can handle the Yamaha AVR volume using the LG Magic Control.

    Thanks again MikeKL for your support.

    Edited once, last by EloyFarina (February 6, 2024 at 3:31 AM).

    Hi MikeKL

    Is this the same issue that you faced off?

    Thread

    Suddenly, my Raspberry Pi 4 can't display video when both HDMI ports are in use

    Hi community!

    After achieving the use of one HDMI for video and the other for audio with the Raspberry Pi 4B, I used it for a couple of days without any issues.

    However, now when I turn on my Raspberry Pi and both HDMI cables are connected, I can't get video, or I have it for only 1 second when the color palette appears.
    After that, I can't see the boot process, but I know that it boots correctly because I can manage Kodi from the Kore app to turn it off correctly.

    I have to unplug the HDMI cable…
    EloyFarina
    February 11, 2024 at 12:07 AM

    Yes I think I probably had similar symptom/issue prior, to a more specifically fixed HDMI setup; via use of getedid command.

    My thoughts would be to give getedid command a try (only when sure both HDMI connections from rpi4 are working as you expect) to store the known status/profile of each working HDMI connection.

    It cannot hurt to use "getedid create" to store HDMI profiles such that your rpi4 "always" uses same known working HDMI 0 & 1 profiles between boot-ups, rather than occasionally switching to something that cause Video HDMI 0 or Audio HDMI 1 to suddenly not work as expected.

    Note: You can always revert back to vanilla HDMI setup/installation (default installation is restored) with "getedid delete" command if it doesnt help.

    ---edit---

    I extracted following info from the log you posted in other thread, to highlight what I believe you wish HDMI 0 and HDMI 1 to be permenently assigned to and never get confused between them.

    Video

    Code
    m_deviceName      : hdmi:CARD=vc4hdmi0,DEV=0
m_displayName     : vc4-hdmi-0 (vc4hdmi0)
m_displayNameExtra: GSM LG TV SSCR2 on HDMI

    Audio

    Code
    m_deviceName      : hdmi:CARD=vc4hdmi1,DEV=0
m_displayName     : vc4-hdmi-1
m_displayNameExtra: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0

    Edited 2 times, last by MikeKL (February 12, 2024 at 12:33 PM).

    MikeKL, thanks for continue helping me. When I saw your message I put the focus on MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0, I'm pretty sure that It's not the Yamaha EDID. Let me show you this screenshot that I took when everything was working fine days ago:

    Now keep in mind that to make simple the troubleshooting, the AVR is not connected with electricity. That's why the EDID is not showed, so should I connect to electricity the Yamaha and replace "MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0" to "YMH HTR-3064"?

    MikeKL I will continue troubleshooting in the other post to keep both threads separately.
    Finally I could get video just turning on the AVR to the electricity and using the same HDMI connections that previous troubleshooting, at this point I'm not sure if it's working thanks that I've added drm.debug=0x04 to cmdline.txt but now it's working as expected.
    If you are interested, you can continue monitoring the other thread.
    Thanks a lot for your support, buddy!!!!