A750Samsung Video Blanks out, but Audio remains on!!!

[rivbyte]

Hello All!
I bought a Yamaha RX-V665 Receiver (3-31-2009) to play alongside my Samsung LN46A750 R1F/XZA HDTV, purchased OCT. 18, 2008. We have Time-Warner Cable service with a DCH3416 Motorola Digital Video Recorder STB.
For a little over a year with this Samsung TV, I have been experiencing blackouts from the TV averaging about 6 times per hour, and lasting about 7-10 seconds, at any given time of day or night. This does not happen when playing a BluRay or watching ON DEMAND movies. When it blacks out, I only get the audio, but no picture at all!

This is the way I hooked this up - ALL HDMI connections, and ALL going into the Yamaha receiver. I've contacted Motorola maker of the STB, they told me Time-Warner installs their own software into these boxes, I’ve talked to TimeWarner, and after replacing cables under house twice, exchanged about 5 boxes and about 6 service calls, they have never heard of this problem, and each time the signal was all 100% feed.

I called Time-Warner, Motorola, Yamaha and Samsung last year and talked to each of their customer tech support and they all pretty much told me they have never heard of this problem. So now I’m stuck in the middle of a blame game. Seriously?

*** Today, a Time-Warner technician came over to check box again, 100% signal, so he suggested we take the Yamaha receiver out of the equation by bypassing the receiver and ONLY connecting the TW Cable out from STB, into the side HDMI IN4 Input to see if that would cause the blackouts as well. (I usually have the HDMI 12’ inside (wall-rated) usually connected to the receiver’s HDMI 1 on the TV rear.
That was around 8:30 AM this morning and it’s now 7:40 PM, and has not ever blacked out since we connected this way! I do not have a TOS Optical Audio,(not needed,just use the TV speakers for now)

The tech did mention something about a 3' fiber optic SPDIF from receiver to Cable box..? How is that going to help the video from blacking out?

I had contacted Samsung back in June of 2009. They had me do a few troubleshooting things to prove it was not the TV.

Do you have any suggestions on what is causing these blackouts, and do you still think it's a possible handshake issue with the absence of a HDCP Repeater either from the Samsung TV or the Time Warner Motorola DVR box causing the VIDEO to go out and the AUDIO to remain on?

 

[JoeBleed]

To add to this tech's test, after a few days with no black outs. swap hdmi cables around. (mark the ones that were originally connecting the stb-reciever-tv so you remember which is which. after you have tried each hdmi cable separately and all went well. try the combo like you had it before. If black outs continue, use a different hdmi input on the tv and see if problem follows.

edit: oh the optical cable he was telling you about was probably so you could hook the stb up to the receiver for better audio while still bypassing hdmi.

 

[Binky]

Easiest solution sounds like hooking the TV up directly to the cable box for video, and running the audio through the receiver via optical cable.

About the only negative is that you have to manually switch video inputs if you use other devices with the TV.

 

[rivbyte]

Hi and Thanks!
Instead of connecting everything into Receiver, which I did, I should have always hooked up the cable STB directly to TV, then run a TOS Optical from STB to receiver.
back when I was setting this up, most people told me to run a TOS from the TV to the receiver,but I already hung the TV on the wall, and did not want to take down the TV only to plug in a TOS, if that were to make any difference anyway.

I also thought the reason I originally connected the Cable STB to receiver,not nly video,most mostly the AUDIO would have sound better with Surround. I guess the optical is the Go-around here. Is there any quality of sound degradation by using the TOS?

Thanks!

 

[Binky]

Running the HDMI to the receiver (audio and video) then to the TV is often just for convenience - you only have to swich one device to change both the audio and video signals that you hear and see. If you run two cables through different routes, you have to switch two devices (i.e. switch receiver input for audio, TV input for video).

The optical cable is (probably) capable of carrying the same audio signal to the receiver. Every setup is different though. I'm sure that your cable box feeds the same audio whether its through optical or HDMI. Both are digital so they should feed the exact same signal to your receiver.

 

[rivbyte]

Thanks Joe and Binky.
Joe,
My TV is hung on the wall, and there is no way to change HDMI inputs, unless I take down the TV and switch inputs. I originally hooked up into HDMI-1 in the back of the TV, and now I'm temporarily using the TV's side HDMI-4. (46"Samsung A750)

A few peeps told me the most likely culprit is using 28AWG HDMI and not the thicker 24AWG, which carries more strength in the case the way I originally had it hooked up.

For the majority of the time though, when I have it hooked up the old way - TV>Receiver>Cable>receiver>BD>receiver both video and audio sound and look great.

Have a good weekend!

 

[Crucial]

I would blame hdcp and a handshake problem.

 

[rivbyte]

May 20, 2010 -

Hello....I have these…
Samsung A750 46" TV
Yamaha RX-V665 receiver
Sony BDP-350 BluRay
TW/Motorola HD/DVR DCH3416 (one of the recent builds)

I still blame the HDCP handshake problem, and of course, Time-Warner and Motorola both told me they never heard of this problem of my TV blacking out for about 8 to 10 seconds, which happens a few times per hour.
I’ve been getting these blackouts when the system is hooked up like this...



1) Samsung A750 HDTV HDMI OUT (Mounted on wall with inside wall rated HDMI) to
Yamaha RX-V665 receiver)
2) BluRay HDMI to Yamaha RX-V665 receiver HDMI 1 input
3) TW Motorola STB to HDMI 2 input of receiver.
4) CD/DVD Panasonic mp3/jpg player with Composite cables into Yamaha RX-V665 receiver.
... And have been consistency getting those irritating blackouts. Then I was told on here to hook up this configuration...

HDMI TV out directly to Time-Warner HD-DVR STB
TOS Optical cable from Time-Warner STB box to Yamaha RX-V665 receiver..the only two choices- On one bank, Component R B G, with Optical (TV) AVI, or the one I chose was the Optical Cable into the A/V 4.
In the original hookup, When I inserted a BluRay, the TV screen would automatically switch to BluRay HDMI 1, But now I inserted the BD disk and had to use the Samsung remote to switch the source to HDMI1 BD, now all I hear is the audio, still see the regular broadcast show on the display, but can not find the Video.

I also can not use the HDTV Display to run my speaker setup like before from my Receiver remote, and only the receiver remote works for audio. Changing all this for the sake of blackouts is a pain in the rear.

So the HDMI TV is hooked up to the Time-Warner box, and not the receiver, The Sony BDP-350 HDMI out is hooked up to the receiver BD IN. Should I need anymore cables between the Audio receiver, the BluRay player and the TW Cable/DVR Box?

Seems like the sound is there on the Audio system, coming from the Bluray DVD playing, but I can not see any video from the BD.
Is there a correct TOS connection for the optical into the receiver? Optical A/V 4, or Optical (TV) AVI input? seems to work with the A/V4 after I press the A/V4 button on the receiver's remote to that source, and no longer the HDMI-1 BD.

When I insert a BD disk in the player, I have to choose the A/V4 on the receivers remote, I hear sound, no picture, does not help at all if I switch from A/V4 (where the TOS in plugged in) to HDMI 1 BluRay, I still see the TV background, and still hear the audio from the Bluray Disc.

 

[Fallen Kell]

In the original hookup, When I inserted a BluRay, the TV screen would automatically switch to BluRay HDMI 1, But now I inserted the BD disk and had to use the Samsung remote to switch the source to HDMI1 BD, now all I hear is the audio, still see the regular broadcast show on the display, but can not find the Video.

I also can not use the HDTV Display to run my speaker setup like before from my Receiver remote, and only the receiver remote works for audio. Changing all this for the sake of blackouts is a pain in the rear.

So the HDMI TV is hooked up to the Time-Warner box, and not the receiver, The Sony BDP-350 HDMI out is hooked up to the receiver BD IN. Should I need anymore cables between the Audio receiver, the BluRay player and the TW Cable/DVR Box?

Seems like the sound is there on the Audio system, coming from the Bluray DVD playing, but I can not see any video from the BD.
Is there a correct tos connection for the optical into the receiver? Optical A/V 4, or Optical (TV) AVI input? seems to work with the A/V4 after I press the A/V4 button on the receiver's remote to that source, and no longer the HDMI-1 BD.

.... all of the above sounds like it is finally time you bought a real universal remote control like a Logitech 880, 890, One, etc.... (Or if you own one already, you need to reprogram it to the proper inputs for the correct functions).

The audio/no-video with blu-ray sounds like the TV is still set to look at your HDMI input 4 (which is the STB) and not your receiver at HDMI input 1. This is one of the great things with the Harmony removes. You input what devices you have and then you go about setting up the activities you use those devices for, like "Watch TV", "Watch Blu-Ray", or whatever. In those activities you tell it what equipment you use to do what functionality (i.e. channels are controlled by the STB, TV uses HDMI input X, audio volume controlled by receiver, receiver set to input X)... Then all you have to do is hit the "Activity" button on the remote, and select what you want to do and it will turn on/off all the required devices and put them to the proper input settings, and map all the appropriate buttons on the remote to control the proper device for that activity. You want more volume when watching a blu-ray, just use the volume up/down buttons and it will change the volume on your receiver, or when watching TV, the same volume buttons might be mapped to control the TV speakers' volume (for when you don't want to use surround sound).

 

[CubanlB]

If you still want to run just one Hdmi to the TV why not run component video and TOS (digital audio) from the cable box to the receiver (The RXV-665 take comp video and will convert it to a digital signal that can be sent to the TV on hdmi).

Component video does not carry hdcp data because it's an older type of connection (analog) but you wont be seriously downgrading your signal because component can carry 1080i and 720p signal to the receiver. You may notice a slight change in picture quality, but I really doubt it.

Should make you setup easier to use.

Harmony remotes are great, especially when you can get the cheap, but aren't required to make a system fairly easy to use.

 

[rivbyte]

Ok,
Well...it was too much of a problem to hook up the second way, so now I'm back to my original way with the Blackouts. One thing I did mention was when playing a BluRay, "The Terminator", all I saw on the TW DVR was format was 1080i, and on the Sony BluRay player was 24P displayed, and I waited until the main movie started to see if I could see somehow somewhere the 1080P, will I see this, or is seeing the 24P when playing a BD the same as 1080P? I've checked all my connections. The Samsung screen settings were 16:9 aspect. I thought all Blurays were 1080P/24P.

 

[SlickSnake]

Don't overlook the possibility you have a defective tuner or main circuit board, either. Read up on this thread.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=29868273&posted=1#post29868273

 

[CubanlB]

I doubt it's an issue with the TV as the blacking out would manifest itself regardless of input.

The DCH3416 is an OLD cable box. you could ask your cable-co for a different box. The current Motorola boxes are the DCXxxxx series. HDCP is really a huge PITA with components that have different implementations of it. I have had issues with Yamaha rxv6xx receivers and HDCP manifest themselves in weird ways for years.

Connect the cable box to the receiver with component video and digital audio. You won't miss the HDCP handshake issues, trust me.