- Nov 27, 2001
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About a year or so ago, I made a major change to my home theater setup when switching to HDMI-2.1-based components. This involved upgrading my receiver and TV as well as all cabling connecting to those. The receiver was really the hardest option for me as I have three devices that can output 4K120 (PS5, XSX, and an HTPC), and a good chunk of receivers on the market only had paltry numbers of HDMI 2.1 inputs (usually just one). I ended up going with the Costco-based Denon S760H, because it happened to have three HDMI 2.1 inputs, which is exactly what I needed. I can say that switching from a Denon X4200H to the S760H was quite noticeable in regard to sound; you could just tell that there wasn't as much power driving the speakers anymore. The setup has the TV wall mounted and the AV equipment in the corner of the room. The two are connected via an active HDMI cable (this one from Cable Matters).
The setup does work fairly well... most of the time, and that's why I'm bringing this up. My old HDMI 2.0 setup worked without any issues at all, but I do sometimes run into problems with the new setup. What usually happens is that performing an action that causes something like a resolution, format, or input switch will result in a black screen, which can sometimes be cleared up by switching inputs or I have to power cycle the receiver. I see this the most with the AppleTV. In the AppleTV, I have the options turned on to match source format and refresh rate, so it's common for the AppleTV to switch modes a lot while in use. For example, the other day, I went to switch to the AppleTV to watch something from my HTPC (4K120 SDR -> 4K60 w/ Dolby Vision), and it just sat there on a black screen. In that instance, to get it to work correctly, I had to power cycle the receiver.
In the end, I'm curious if anyone has had problems like this in the past, or if they just have any thoughts on the potential culprit(s). I know when I first setup the active HDMI cable that connects to the AVR to the TV (direct connection, no wall plates), I had weird issues with getting nothing but a dull green color on the screen. I don't recall exactly what changed, but it ended up not being an issue. So, for all I know, that cable could be problematic and causing handshaking problems. (Unfortunately, I don't have an expensive cable tester like L1T or LTT!) When doing a bit of research of my own, I did see someone suggest that they had a similar problem (black screen that occurred far more often than me) due to the receiver's HDCP setting causing problems (they changed it from AUTO to 1.4). Given that I had to power cycle the receiver to get it to work, it does sound like the issue is potentially with something like handshaking.
I've been thinking about switching out the main active cable to one that's in-wall rated (the Cable Matters one linked above is not in-wall rated), and maybe looking to switching some of the passive HDMI cables. I had a Monoprice cable die on my other TV last night -- thankfully, after I was done watching something -- and it makes me wonder if I have their cables anywhere else. (I used to have great luck with Monoprice cables, but I've had a few of them die over the past few years.)
The setup does work fairly well... most of the time, and that's why I'm bringing this up. My old HDMI 2.0 setup worked without any issues at all, but I do sometimes run into problems with the new setup. What usually happens is that performing an action that causes something like a resolution, format, or input switch will result in a black screen, which can sometimes be cleared up by switching inputs or I have to power cycle the receiver. I see this the most with the AppleTV. In the AppleTV, I have the options turned on to match source format and refresh rate, so it's common for the AppleTV to switch modes a lot while in use. For example, the other day, I went to switch to the AppleTV to watch something from my HTPC (4K120 SDR -> 4K60 w/ Dolby Vision), and it just sat there on a black screen. In that instance, to get it to work correctly, I had to power cycle the receiver.
In the end, I'm curious if anyone has had problems like this in the past, or if they just have any thoughts on the potential culprit(s). I know when I first setup the active HDMI cable that connects to the AVR to the TV (direct connection, no wall plates), I had weird issues with getting nothing but a dull green color on the screen. I don't recall exactly what changed, but it ended up not being an issue. So, for all I know, that cable could be problematic and causing handshaking problems. (Unfortunately, I don't have an expensive cable tester like L1T or LTT!) When doing a bit of research of my own, I did see someone suggest that they had a similar problem (black screen that occurred far more often than me) due to the receiver's HDCP setting causing problems (they changed it from AUTO to 1.4). Given that I had to power cycle the receiver to get it to work, it does sound like the issue is potentially with something like handshaking.
I've been thinking about switching out the main active cable to one that's in-wall rated (the Cable Matters one linked above is not in-wall rated), and maybe looking to switching some of the passive HDMI cables. I had a Monoprice cable die on my other TV last night -- thankfully, after I was done watching something -- and it makes me wonder if I have their cables anywhere else. (I used to have great luck with Monoprice cables, but I've had a few of them die over the past few years.)
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