# HDMI problem



## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

Just recently, I've been having a problem when I turn on any of my equipment (BR player, HR24, Wii, Apple TV), I get no picture or sound on my TV. I have to turn the Onkyo receiver off and on again (sometimes more than once) to get picture or sound.

My equipment is connected by HDMI to the receiver, which connects to the TV by HDMI.

I suspect that the cable I'm using between the receiver and the TV has gone bad?

Thoughts?


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## koji68 (Jun 21, 2004)

I'm wondering that if it was the cable, why would turning the receiver on/off fix the issue?

Easy enough to test anyway.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

koji68 said:


> I'm wondering that if it was the cable, why would turning the receiver on/off fix the issue?
> 
> Easy enough to test anyway.


If the cable was having problems with the handshake, it might work sometimes, might not work other times.


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## emoxley (Jul 15, 2010)

I'm finding that more and more people with Onkyo receivers are having a problem with the video dropping out. My 805 has been doing it, but I thought it was the cable company. Mine only does it when watching tv. When the screen goes black, I still have sound, but I can turn off the receiver a couple of seconds, then turn it back on, and everything is ok. As soon as I feel like pulling the stand away from the wall (it's pretty heavy), I'll run the cable tv's video straight to the tv, and that should fix my problem. It's no real big deal, because I bought the receiver for the audio more than for video, but it bugs me that it isn't working exactly right. I'll need to re-program my Harmony remote, once I change the cable connection.

When it does it again to you, try turning off just the receiver, and then back on. If it goes back to normal, you'll know your receiver is dropping the video too. I sent Onkyo an email telling them about it, and how it seems to be a mounting problem for a lot of people, but haven't heard back from them yet. Of course, once I figured out it was the receiver, the warranty was out, by a couple of months. I asked them if there was a firmware upgrade that would fix the problem. Will have to see what they say........


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

emoxley said:


> I'm finding that more and more people with Onkyo receivers are having a problem with the video dropping out. My 805 has been doing it, but I thought it was the cable company. Mine only does it when watching tv. When the screen goes black, I still have sound, but I can turn off the receiver a couple of seconds, then turn it back on, and everything is ok. As soon as I feel like pulling the stand away from the wall (it's pretty heavy), I'll run the cable tv's video straight to the tv, and that should fix my problem. It's no real big deal, because I bought the receiver for the audio more than for video, but it bugs me that it isn't working exactly right. I'll need to re-program my Harmony remote, once I change the cable connection.
> 
> When it does it again to you, try turning off just the receiver, and then back on. If it goes back to normal, you'll know your receiver is dropping the video too. I sent Onkyo an email telling them about it, and how it seems to be a mounting problem for a lot of people, but haven't heard back from them yet. Of course, once I figured out it was the receiver, the warranty was out, by a couple of months. I asked them if there was a firmware upgrade that would fix the problem. Will have to see what they say........


This happens with my HR24, my Blu-ray player and Apple TV. If I power the device off and on again, the video and audio appear.


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## emoxley (Jul 15, 2010)

davemayo said:


> I have to turn the Onkyo *receiver* off and on again (sometimes more than once) to get picture or sound.





davemayo said:


> If I power the *device* off and on again, the video and audio appear.


In your first post you say you turn off the receiver, then back on, to make things right. Then, in your last post you say you power off the device (source?) and back on to make things right. It happens both ways?

If it happens at the sources, it may be a "Handshake" problem. If so, you may have to use a different connection, other than HDMI. Have you tried going straight from source to tv with HDMI (although you need to use HDMI from BD player, to get the HD audio)? Try another HDMI cable from receiver to tv, and see if it makes a difference. I doubt it, but won't hurt to try.
Good luck!


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

davemayo said:


> Just recently, I've been having a problem when I turn on any of my equipment (BR player, HR24, Wii, Apple TV), I get no picture or sound on my TV. I have to turn the Onkyo receiver off and on again (sometimes more than once) to get picture or sound.


A friend of mine was experiencing a very similar problem and it turned out that if he had waited a couple of seconds more, the connection would have been made.

He has a Onkyo 506. I also "saved his marriage" by setting him up with the HDMI pass-through feature.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

Instead of turning the receiver off/on, try a port switch instead. Every once in a while, I get no video, but switching HDMI ports intiates the handshake and the video pops back in.

I think there are race conditions in many setups today. HDMI handshakes have to occur in a specific time/order for them to initiate properly. I bet that many TVs, AVRs, DVRs, BDs, etc, have different timing for their HDMI handshakes. This causes the hanshake to be out of sync with the operation of the unit and the handshake fails. 

In my old setup (Mits TV, Pio AVR, DISH DVR), I had to turn on the DVR, then the PIO and let the handshake happen, then turn on the TV. If I didn't do it in that order, I wouldn't get picture from the receiver.

My new Panny seems to be quite efficient at the handshaking business. None of the equipment now really cares who gets turned on first. Although as mentioned earlier, every once in a while I get no video. A simple HDMI port switch on the Pioneer AVR and video pops back in.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

emoxley said:


> In your first post you say you turn off the receiver, then back on, to make things right. Then, in your last post you say you power off the device (source?) and back on to make things right. It happens both ways?
> 
> If it happens at the sources, it may be a "Handshake" problem. If so, you may have to use a different connection, other than HDMI. Have you tried going straight from source to tv with HDMI (although you need to use HDMI from BD player, to get the HD audio)? Try another HDMI cable from receiver to tv, and see if it makes a difference. I doubt it, but won't hurt to try.
> Good luck!


I have been able to resolve the problem by either power cycling the Onkyo or the HR24. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 times powering off and back on before the video comes through.

Odd thing is that I've had this setup for 2 years and this just started happening in the last few weeks. Never saw this problem before. The only change is that my HR20-100 died a couple of months ago and it was replaced with an HR24-100.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

harsh said:


> A friend of mine was experiencing a very similar problem and it turned out that if he had waited a couple of seconds more, the connection would have been made.
> 
> He has a Onkyo 506. I also "saved his marriage" by setting him up with the HDMI pass-through feature.


I've waited several minutes to see if the problem resolved itself. Never seen it self correct.


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## lugnutathome (Apr 13, 2009)

HDMI handshakes are a pain... It may be the hardware upgrade introduced a different element into the overall equation.

Start the TV, Start the A/V receiver and wait for it's background screen to appear on the TV, then start your sat box.

I spent a long time working past handshake issues and HDMI 1.1 specs on an older Toshiba TV I had and that sequence I described worked 100% of the time anything else might or might not work.

Don "frickin HDCP BS" Bolton



davemayo said:


> I've waited several minutes to see if the problem resolved itself. Never seen it self correct.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

lugnutathome said:


> HDMI handshakes are a pain... It may be the hardware upgrade introduced a different element into the overall equation.
> 
> Start the TV, Start the A/V receiver and wait for it's background screen to appear on the TV, then start your sat box.
> 
> ...


I'm using a Harmony 700, so I have to figure out how to delay the sat box from starting up as part of the activity.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

dmspen said:


> In my old setup (Mits TV, Pio AVR, DISH DVR), I had to turn on the DVR, then the PIO and let the handshake happen, then turn on the TV. If I didn't do it in that order, I wouldn't get picture from the receiver.


Sounds like the common denominator here is the Pioneer AVR.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

harsh said:


> Sounds like the common denominator here is the Pioneer AVR.


I agree. I've been slightly disappointed with my Pioneer VSX-21TX. It does everything OK, but not great. There do seem to be some issues with HDMI handshaking, but thankfully the new Panny TV seems to be able to override it.

The sound equalization program in the unit is junk. I set up the microsphone, ran the program, and my rear speakers ended up being louder than the fronts. I finally had to manually adjust the settings.

Then there's the firmware issue where the unit doesn't respond to the remote until you manually power it off then on again. There's a free fix available, but it involves taking the unit to a fixit center and waiting a month to get it back.

Oh, and my first unit failed - completely. A day after I got it, there was a loud BLAAAT from the speakers and that was the end of that. 6AVE store replaced it, but it still gives me pause when considering Pioneer products. I had my last Pioneer AVR for 12 years and its performance was flawless.


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## davemayo (Nov 17, 2005)

I changed the order my devices are turned on so that the receiver is first, then the TV, then the DVR. I also added inter-device delays. That seems to have solved the problem <knocking on wood>.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I had to do something similar when my Philips TV started taking longer to power on.


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