# Purple screen?!?



## Griff (Sep 24, 2006)

The screen on our LG 79UB9800 sometimes changes to a purple cast. This only happens when making changes on the HR44-500; ie- tell a program to play, and does but with a purple cast to the screen. The issue can be cleared by turning the HR off/on, or sometimes by pressing exit then play again. I am sure it is not the TV as this only occurs with the HR, and the TV's menus are normal colors with only the HR's signal being purple. I have attached a photo, I hope it works.

Thanks for any help!

Gene


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

I would try a Red Button Reset and if that does not help, another HDMI cable.


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## Griff (Sep 24, 2006)

peds48 said:


> I would try a Red Button Reset and if that does not help, another HDMI cable.


Thanks peds48. I have done the RBR a number of times. I can try another HDMI cable although the one in use is one of the new Monoprice high speed cables installed a couple of months ago. I'll post back on the results. Sometimes this issue might occur once in a week, and other times a couple of times a day.

Gene


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## west99999 (May 12, 2007)

Try turning HDMI control off under settings and make sure native is not on as well.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

You might also try a different HDMI port on the TV. 

Good luck!


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

In old posts this was mostly found to be an HDMI problem.
If you have a set I would hook up a Component set of cables and unplug the HDMI on both ends of it and see how this works.
The only thing you would miss would be 1080p of a PPV.

Do a search on the web for Pink Screen since that is the color most described it as.
Sometimes it is the TV itself.


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## mgavs (Jun 17, 2007)

I have had the same hr20-100 for many years connected to a Gefen hdmi splitter to a pioneer kuro, for about 2 years I had this problem, then it went away. I did not change anything since nothing I tried fixed it. From my point of view it was software, since it showed up one day after an update and disappeared the same way. It took directv a very long time to fix it.


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## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

I had the same exact purple/pink screen this wee, but I didn't get sound either. I thought that it was my tv (Vizio), but thought wrong . I turned everything off, (avr, 34, tv,) and no more pink/purple.


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## TomCat (Aug 31, 2002)

MPEG encodes colors somewhat separately, using a matrixed protocol known as Y Pr Pb. There is luminance (essentially a black and white signal) and then there is R-Y (red minus luminance) and B-Y. They do this because the resolution of color is only 1/4th the resolution of luminance (because human eyesight cant see as sharply in color information), so it is compression-efficient (they can encode that with fewer bits than luminance without creating visible artifacts). For delivered HD, this uses a protocol often termed 4:2:0 video. Those three components can be unmatrixed back into the main primary colors of visible light, RGB.

So when digital video reaches the DAC in the set, its job is to convert to analog components (now termed YUV, but essentially the same as Y Pr Pb) and there are three components, once again to deal with. *If the DAC has an issue with B-Y, this can cause this effect.* It can also be an issue with the MPEG decoder in the DVR. Since the decoder essentially restores the missing info in the I P and B frames and does not really manipulate or unmatrix the Y Pr Pb directly, that is technically less likely, but it is possible, because it does recreate each component individually, and that may be related to what is going on here.

Bottom line, probably a quirk in the MPEG decoder. Likely not serious enough to convince DTV that you need a replacement, however, even if they admitted that this was the problem.

Less likely, but still possible, is HDMI. HDMI carries these components as individual components (yet in the digital domain) to the set. But a problem with one would likely imply a similar problem with the other two components, and HDMI typically just loses handshake and mutes all video whenever it senses a problem. But then HDMI doesn't always sense the problem it might have, and there can be some weird video effects when HDMI is not working perfectly.


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## makaiguy (Sep 24, 2007)

FWIW - I feed the HDMI output of my HR24 to a powered HDMI splitter, and then on to my living room set and a small cheap little used set in the guest bedroom.

I've occasionally seen a magenta-ish screen on the guest bedroom set (never on the main living room set). When this happens, power cycling the HDMI splitter has always has cleared it up. I'm assuming it is some sort of HDMI handshake failure to the seldom used guest bedroom set.


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## Griff (Sep 24, 2006)

I took the easy way out and turned off HDMI control and Native, as west99999 suggested. So far, so good. If purple re-appears I will swap out the HDMI cable and post an update. Thanks for all the info!

Gene


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## sriggins (Jul 1, 2010)

Hey just wanted to chime in and say thanks, this thread helped me resolve my issue. I will list it here so maybe it helps someone else out.

I bought a Sony HT-ST9 Sound Bar, hooking my HR400/500 into HDMI 1, Apple TV into HDMI 2, and PS4 into HDMI 3. HDMI out went to my Samsung UN65F8000 TV. This worked for a week, then we mounted the TV to the wall.

In this process of cleaning things up, I mistakenly reconnected the HDMI to the TV to HDMI 3 which had ARC.

Since that point, I started getting pink/magenta screens or flashing. I had forgotten I had done this (since we didn't notice it for several days) but here is why it took me days to debug:

1) I tried different HDMI cables with no improvement
2) I moved the DVR to HDMI 2 on the sound bar and it worked fine (day of testing)
3) I moved the DVR to HDMI 3 on the sound bar and it worked fine (day of testing)
4) I moved both Apple TV and PS4 to HDMI 1 on the sound bar, and they worked fine
5) I moved the DVR to connect directly to the TV, and it worked fine
6) I moved the DVR back to HDMI 1 on the sound bar, and the pink came back
7) I reset the DVR
8) I reset the sound bar to factory settings
9) I tried different Component/RGB settings

I then found this post talking about ARC and that reminded me, oh yeah, I moved the TV from HDMI 1 to 3. So I moved the TV back to HDMI 1 and now everything works fine.

So ARC directly to the DVR worked, but through the Sony Sound Bar, it didn't work. I don't know where the fault lies, but since I didn't even NEED nor WANT arc in this case, moving back to HDMI 1 on the TV is acceptable and works.

Hope this helps someone!


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## machavez00 (Nov 2, 2006)

Do you have your HR going through an AVR? I have the same issue. I have a Yamaha AVR. Once in a while I get the purple screen. Turning off/on the AVR clears it up.


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## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

Since the Genie got the new firmware this week, I'm getting a lot more of the purple/pink screen. Anyone else?


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

No "pink screen," yet (0xa72), but occasional black screen when putting up guide or list. That and audio sometimes goes away after skipping commercials (this from analog red/white RCA output of the HR44/500 and Dolby(r) set to PCM).

Still could be HDMI issues, though. I don't think mandatory HDCP helps any of this.


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