# Signal loss while switching channels



## JS29 (Feb 13, 2008)

I have a HR22 that otherwise works perfectly. Recently, when switching channels, the TV (connected via HDMI) will display a "No Signal" message, and the audio will pop when the signal is reacquired a second or 2 later. I tried to reset my receiver and it seemed to have no effect.

Any ideas? Thanks.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Try turning "Native Resolution" to OFF in the DVR's HDTV setup menu and setting the DVR to output a fixed resolution (e.g. 1080i).

With Native Resolution ON, your TV has to resynchronize the video between channel changes.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Also, if you're using HDMI, try using component and see if it makes a difference. Unfortunately HDMI is hard to implement completely, and that may be your issue.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

Some loss of signal during a channel change is normal. It takes a full GOP to reacquire the new channel, which can take longer in MPEG-4. During that time, the signal is essentially "lost".

But I know what you mean. It seems that the "signal loss" dialog is displayed much too quickly, something I think they should have fixed some 4 or 5 software up revs ago. It would be much more friendly if they put up an "acquiring new channel" dialog instead.

If you are getting an audio pop, that usually indicates a loss of clocking on the digital audio, which is also pretty normal, as audio is "lost" as well on a channel change. But both video and audio are muted during channel change directly in the DVR. It could be that optical audio is not, and of course the DVR has no handles into your AVR so it can't mute it there. Pops on optical audio are still quite common. If you are getting a pop on HDMI audio, that probably indicates an incompatibility between HDMI protocol versions, and you might want to look into how to get HDMI firmware upgraded in your AVR (I'd try the AVS audio forums). This is also common; Denon is notorious for this, but does not have this problem exclusively.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

TomCat said:


> But I know what you mean. It seems that the "signal loss" dialog is displayed much too quickly, something I think they should have fixed some 4 or 5 software up revs ago. It would be much more friendly if they put up an "acquiring new channel" dialog instead.


In my system the "No Signal" message originates in the TV, not the DirecTV equipment.


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## EricJRW (Jul 6, 2008)

I like litzdog911's suggestion.

I also see this on occasion, and not until the DVR switched to 480i and I lost the signal all together (I guess my TV does not do 480i over HDMI) did I realize that sometimes there was no signal when switching resolutions. Apparently during this brief switch there is no video out, hence the TV detects it as a loss of (video) signal. This should not be confused with the DVR switching channels, which does take time, and while during this time there is no video to display it seems the DVR is still putting out a signal (so no "signal lost" on the TV). But I think (from a bit of tinkering on my own) if you follow litzdog911's suggestion, the DVR will always output some signal, even if it's a "blank" signal, and the TV should not display the "no signal" message.


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