Wit's end, please help with handshake issue.. (1 Viewer)

[JohnWrench]

Hi, I'm on my 3rd receiver, 2nd blu ray player and maybe a new tv soon trying to solve this.

I feel my Vizio e50-d1 might be the problem now. I've hooked BD players up directly to the tv with no problems. I've had just the receiver connected to the tv with no problems. The problem always comes when the BD player, Receiver, TV are all hooked up together. I've tried every combo of hooking up, turning on, inputs, outputs, it just always shows the blu ray splash screen for a second then starts flashing and says no signal.
I've tried 3 receivers and 2 BD players so all that's left is the tv. But it's weird that everything hooks up on it's own to the tv with no problems. I"ve also tried turning off any 'Auto' in the settings and updated firmware.
Please help, any ideas, is the TV pooched??!!
Thanks

 

[David Willow]

HDMI cable bad? Have you swapped them as well?

 

[CraigF]

^ I wouldn't be surprised... Also ensure HDMI CEC is disabled while debugging.

I am sometimes caught off guard by one cable in an HDMI chain being maybe one level lower than the others (matters a lot these days) and then the whole shebang fails, typically works for a couple of seconds then flashing/sparkles or black. At least I know the signs, so it's no big deal to correct, but would be confusing to someone who hasn't seen it before. Doesn't help that the HDMI org has been less than helpful in how they allow cables to be labeled.

Still re cables, as an example, the computer I'm working on has a video chipset that refuses to work with any HDMI cable that isn't the latest spec (at least 2.0). Possibly your BDP has such? In my case everything connected to the PC previously worked, and should work, with the lowest spec of HDMI cable (not recommended though), and I'm sending the exact same video format (1080p, HDMI 1.4 at most) to the displays etc. as before.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Thanks everyone, for confirming once again why I avoid HDMI like the plague!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[CraigF]

^ No reason to. Perfectly adequate HDMI 2.0 cables can be had for $5 in 6' lengths. But people tend to use what they have around, or what was there before, because "they look the same" and the connectors fit...

HDMI does save a lot of room on back panels of gear compared to using a zillion RCA jacks etc. for each device. Thing is though, absolutely no reason they couldn't have used twisted-pair ethernet-style cables instead of a new HDMI connector style...no money in that at the time, no money in HDMI cables these days either.

 

[Edwin-S]

These comments regarding HDMI cables are interesting. I, for one, have never run into the issue being described. It seems strange to me that one low spec'd cable in the chain would cause the whole thing to fail, unless that cable is the one going from the receiver monitor output to the TV. After all, you can only use one receiver input at a time.

They may give the occasional headache (which I have yet to experience) but they still beat using multiple analog cables to get lossless sound. Plus, not using HDMI, means a restriction to 480p output on modern BD players.

 

[CraigF]

^ As mentioned for e.g. the PC I'm using, sometimes the chipset for a source device may be very fussy about the cable spec, not the "receiving" device (e.g. AVR).

Maybe the OP is connecting everything to the TV using the same good cable, so it works. It's the other cables that may be suspect. Just guessing. And HDMI CEC can be a pig to work with, really not worth the trouble IME/O. This is the type of thing that can usually be diagnosed in a minute in person...

 

[David Willow]

I was thinking more of a bad cable rather than the wrong type but ya never know. I never had issues either until I got my 4k TV. I was able to find enough cables to make it work but the mix and matching bugged me so I ordered all new certified cables from Monoprice.

Now I'm 100% wired with either Blue Jeans or Monoprice and everything 'just works'. They way it should be.

 

[Edwin-S]

I just stick to a decent brand name cable: Rocketfish or Monster. I know a lot of people consider them overpriced, but I have never had any interconnection or build quality issues. I cannot be bothered to mail order cables and wait for two weeks or more for delivery just to save a couple of bucks.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I just stick to a decent brand name cable: Rocketfish or Monster. I know a lot of people consider them overpriced, but I have never had any interconnection or build quality issues. I cannot be bothered to mail order cables and wait for two weeks or more for delivery just to save a couple of bucks.

It's more than a couple bucks. A 6' cable from monster is, what, $30 and under $10 from mono price. Never had trouble with their cables.

 

[Edwin-S]

It's more than a couple bucks. A 6' cable from monster is, what, $30 and under $10 from mono price. Never had trouble with their cables.

It wasn't my intention to suggest that their cables weren't good quality. I'm just, personally, not going to mail order cables and wait for delivery to save twenty bucks.

If I spend 2500 on a receiver and TV and 30 on a cable that amounts to 1.2% of the cost. A 10 dollar cable is 0.5% of the cost. A 0.7% cost saving is not worth it to me to mail order a cable. However, others may think it is worth the wait.

 

[Johnny Angell]

It wasn't my intention to suggest that their cables weren't good quality. I'm just, personally, not going to mail order cables and wait for delivery to save twenty bucks.

If I spend 2500 on a receiver and TV and 30 on a cable that amounts to 1.2% of the cost. A 10 dollar cable is 0.5% of the cost. A 0.7% cost saving is not worth it to me to mail order a cable. However, others may think it is worth the wait.

Count me as one who does think the wait is worth it. Then I say what wait? When I ordered my new 4K LG (and knew I'd be getting a new 4K Oppo), I ordered the necessary cables. I had them when I needed them.

 

[CraigF]

I keep a box of new cables in different lengths. I "diagnose" problems by replacing cables with known-good HDMI 2.0 ones, and work from there. Often there's nothing else to do. They can have the cables, they are cheap enough. Monoprice and amazon ("Basics") have perfectly adequate ones, people can replace them with whatever they want, but at least I left their system working.

I get that Edwin-S doesn't want to wait for Monoprice to arrive in Canada, it does take a while usually (2 weeks isn't uncommon). But the amazon ones can be had cheaply enough in a day or three here, worth keeping a package of them around IMO, throw some in to an order to bump it up for "free" shipping, give them away to friends or to tie them up.