I know we've had a thread about this topic, and I'm going to go through that one too, but I'm hoping for some advice specific to my situation in order to learn more about this ARC and CEC stuff.

For the longest time, I've had the very typical "bunch of sources plugged into inputs on a receiver and then an output to a TV all controlled by a universal remote" setup. Harmony remote, to be specific. And at one point I had an Apple TV, Chromecast, Tivo, and bluray player all plugged into the receiver.

But we ONLY watch the Apple TV. And we cut the cord. And we keep getting HDCP errors despite everything in the chain being compatible (thanks, copy protection, for only hurting the people doing nothing wrong). For these reasons, I've REALLY wanted to change how it's all connected so that the Apple TV is plugged directly in the TV and the TV goes to the receiver only for audio. I'd like to retire the Harmony remote on my own terms and not Logitech's (RIP Harmony), and only use the Apple TV remote to turn everything on and off, like I do with my TV in the basement.

HOWEVER

We just bought a switch. Can I still retire my Harmony and just use the Apple TV remotes and the Switch Joycons to turn everything on and off? What sorts of problems will I have? How would I connect everything? Again, my preference is to plug the sources into the TV and not the receiver, reducing potential HDCP errors.

I'm particularly puzzled about which ports to use for the TV-to-receiver connection. Do I basically use the ARC ports on both devices, even though it's an output on the receiver and there won't be inputs on that?

With HDMI ARC (and more recently eARC) the video sources can plug into the TV and the receiver basically just extracts the audio from the ARC loop and sends it to the external speakers.

ARC via HDMI has other configurations, the above is how I use it.

Is your receiver (and TV) able to do the ARC function for you without troubles?

Honestly I haven't messed with it. But the TV is about a year old and it's probably about 3 model years out at most, so it's fairly recent.

I guess I'm mostly unsure how the TV responds to inputs being turned on and off and how to switch between them. Can I get away with just using the Apple TV and Switch controllers? Or do I have to use the TV remote now?

All the complication has me thinking I might just order another Harmony to have on hand in case this one dies and I'll just keeping it until they both crap out or Logitech goes back on their word to keep supporting it.

TBH, I like the idea of CEC, and sending all control signals digitally instead of via IR blasters for half of it. My system has this lovely fluke where 1 out of every 500-1000 volume change requests causes the system to ramp up the volume continuously until the speakers are blaring at ungodly volume levels and I'm running to my laundry room to reach up and turn off the power to the receiver before having to go upstairs to put my kids back to bed after they've been scared awake

So yeah, I'd love to send volume control signals digitally for sure!

My TV has options to automatically turn on and play an input when the input wakes up the TV. I'm sure yours does too.

I disabled it. My Xbox kept turning on the TV overnight (presumably while downloading scheduled updates).

Yeah, I've been seeing that sort of thing happen with some devices: Chromecast, playstation, etc. You'd think folks would have fixed that by now. At least figured out that the device should send the corresponding "off" signal after the update is complete.

I've never had my TV turn on unexpectedly (unless a cat sits on the remote). My issue is even stranger.

While watching the XBox, occasionally the TV will change sources and show 'Live TV' (for some reason, something Runway). The audio won't change, just the source on the TV. When I change it back to the XBox source, the PS5 will turn on.

Sometimes it happens quite often, other times not at all. It only happens while streaming a movie/tv show though. I've never had it change the source while watching a Blu-Ray or playing a game. I've never had it happen while using the PS5 as the streaming source (ESPN+ is trash on the XBox, but great on the PS5 - go figure).

I haven't been able to figure it out at all. I even turned off the TV networking and swapped out the receive to TV HDMI.

I ended up abandoning all of this now that I have a Switch. I even found out that my fairly new 4k Denon receiver (no more than about 4 years old) doesn't have CEC or even ARC. So yeah I'm just staying with the Harmony remote.

On the plus side, the Harmony is great for controlling the Hue Sync Box I decided to pull the trigger on. It's awesome...

https://imgur.com/a/xUEPd8F

How can a four year old receiver not have CEC and Arc ?

Are you sure ? Some manufacturers stupidly don’t mention CEC or arc and give them their own dumb marketing name.

Especially a Denon receiver. Highly unlikely it would be missing either of those features.