A second or two of silence when you change input is the HDCP and EDID handshake running again, and every receiver does it. What isn't normal is five seconds, or a drop that happens every single time, or sound that never comes back until you cycle the input. Those have causes you can remove.
The mixed-port trap
Before touching any setting, check whether your inputs are actually the same kind of input. On several Yamaha models they aren't:
- AVENTAGE RX-A4A, RX-A6A, RX-A8A — all seven inputs do 8K60 and 4K120 at roughly 40 Gbps; check the spec for your exact model. No wrong port to pick.
- RX-V6A — seven inputs, but only 1, 2 and 3 carry 8K60 / 4K120, and at 24 Gbps rather than the full 48. Inputs 4 to 7 top out at 4K60.
- RX-V4A — four inputs, all of them capable of 8K60 and 4K120 at 24 Gbps. Note this needed the firmware update Yamaha shipped in 2022; a V4A that has never been updated behaves like a 4K60 receiver.
On an RX-V6A, moving a 120Hz console from input 1 to input 5 isn't a normal switch. The receiver has to drop from a 24 Gbps link to an 18 Gbps one, and the source has to renegotiate down to a mode it can actually run. That renegotiation is slow, and it's the single most common reason a switch that used to be instant now takes several seconds.
The fix is placement, not settings: keep the high-bandwidth sources on inputs 1 to 3 and leave 4 to 7 for things that don't need them.
Standby Through, and the coupling nobody mentions
Setup > HDMI > Standby Through = On, and Setup > HDMI > HDMI Control = On.
Standby Through keeps the HDMI path powered so a switch resumes an existing link rather than cold-starting one. It's the setting with the biggest effect on switching speed.
The coupling: you cannot set Standby Through to Off while HDMI Control is On — the option is greyed out. If you've been trying to turn Standby Through off to save standby power and couldn't work out why the menu wouldn't let you, that's why. Turn HDMI Control off first.
Worth knowing the other direction too. HDMI Control is CEC, and CEC left enabled on several source devices at once produces its own input-switching chaos, where devices grab the input from each other. If your Yamaha keeps changing inputs on its own, that's CEC, not the handshake.
4K MODE
Setup > HDMI > 4K MODE, with MODE 1 and MODE 2 as the options.
MODE 1 passes full 4K with HDR and Dolby Vision. MODE 2 restricts colour space and bit depth and will not pass HDR at all. MODE 1 needs a Premium High Speed cable as its stated minimum.
If you're on MODE 1 with a cable or a TV that can't quite hold it, the symptom isn't a clean failure — it's instability, and switching inputs is when instability shows. Yamaha's own guidance is to select MODE 2 when video isn't displaying correctly. Losing HDR is a real cost, so treat MODE 2 as a diagnostic first: if switching becomes reliable on MODE 2, the problem is bandwidth and the answer is a better cable, not living without HDR.
The rest of the list
Cables. A marginal cable renegotiates repeatedly rather than failing outright. Swap the source that drops worst first, rather than replacing everything at once.
Consistent source output. Sources jumping between refresh rates lengthen every switch. Setting consoles to a fixed output rather than letting them chase content helps if you switch often.
Firmware. Update through the MusicCast app. Yamaha has shipped HDMI timing and handshake fixes, and receivers do not prompt loudly about them. MusicCast is Yamaha's ecosystem — if you've read advice mentioning HEOS, that's Denon and Marantz, not this.
If sound never comes back
That's a failed handshake, not a slow one.
Re-select the input, or switch away and back — that alone recovers it most of the time. If it doesn't, power-cycle the whole chain with everything unplugged for 30 seconds, powering the TV first, then the receiver, then sources. Order matters because the downstream device has to be listening when the upstream one announces itself.
If it fails repeatedly on one input and never on the others, move that source to a different input before assuming the source is faulty. On an RX-V6A that also tells you something: if it works on 1 to 3 and fails on 4 to 7, you've found a bandwidth limit, not a fault.
eARC is on HDMI Out 1
If the problem is specifically TV-app audio rather than input switching, check which output the TV is on. On Yamaha receivers with more than one HDMI output, eARC is on HDMI OUT 1 — the RX-V4A and RX-V6A have only one output, so this only bites on models like the RX-A4A. A TV on Out 2 has no return audio path at all, which looks like a dropout but is a wiring problem. That's covered separately in receiver ARC and eARC not working.
FAQ
Is a short drop when switching normal? Yes. The receiver redoes the HDCP handshake on every switch. A second or so is expected; five seconds every time is not.
Where is Standby Through? Setup > HDMI > Standby Through. Turn it on. You can't turn it off while HDMI Control is on — the option is greyed out.
Switching to one particular input is much slower. On an RX-V6A only inputs 1, 2 and 3 carry the high-bandwidth modes. Moving a 4K120 source onto inputs 4 to 7 forces a renegotiation down to 4K60.
Should I use 4K MODE 1 or 2? MODE 1 for HDR. Use MODE 2 only as a test — if switching becomes reliable on it, you have a bandwidth problem to fix rather than a setting to keep.
Audio never returns after a switch. Re-select the input first. If that fails, power-cycle everything for 30 seconds and bring the TV up first, then the receiver, then sources.