Pioneer 696 HDMI problems (into Samsung LE32R41BD)

[TallPaul]

Need Help!

Picked up a Pioneer DV-696 yesturday, just about! Took two laps of tottenham court road to find someone with a silver one in stock at a decent price.

Problem is I got a HDMI cable today and can't get it to talk to my Samsung LCD (LE32R41BD) and after looking at it all twice I am stumped.

I suspect the TV as I have had a call open with Samsung for a quality problem with the SVIDEO input since last December They called 2 months ago to say new firmware to fix it... still waiting for the callback... I digress.. anyway opinion is low of Samsung.

Question I have for the forum is... 696 has the HDMI light flashing, and the manual does not mention this error (only on or off in troubleshooting) anyone know what this means?

Anyone got this combo of 696 and Samsung TV?

TV gives "not supported mode" error on HDMI input, so I did the reset to 480/576P instructions on page 17 of 696 manual and still get same error. I can see HDMI modes listed in 696 menu - but can`t select an alternate one as its greyed out?

Anyone know how I can get the 696 to let me select a different mode?

The two are clearly not talking nicely (although I do get sound, albeight broken at times on the TV so they are talking).

Can anyone help?!!! As Dire Straight's didn't sing: I want my 720p....

Paul

PS Checked the physical conenections several times, and the cable/sockets for dirt or bent pins etc and its all good.

PPS opened Pioneer support call but usually takes them a day to reply hence cry for help to forum!

[jmcr100]

I'm no expert but when my HDMI light flashes on my Denon dvd player it means the HDMI isn't making a connection to the tv - as soon as I switch that on that light stays on. I would try using an other cable and see if that makes any difference otherwise it may be a problem with the tv

[unique]

did you set the dvd player up with the tv with scart (or the supplied composite cables)first, and then go into the settings and switch to hdmi? the player isn't setup to output to hdmi by default, so if you connect with hdmi when you first get it, youre not going to see anything

[TallPaul]

unique - yes I have the SVIDEO through my Yamaha amp (no HDMI switching) so I can get to the menus etc without HDMI and I enabled HDMI.

jmcr100 - your comment seems to be the case. As its working now...

Here's what I did, after I posted I decided to try a SACD as I had been looking forward to testing Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon snce I bought the 30th aniversary edition a few years ago and it was one of the reasons I went for the 696 to get SACD.

Weird thing was, I was getting no surround signal, only the front two channels, and for the life of me I could not work out why. Through the menus on the 696 etc

Anyway, long story short, turned off the Samsung TV and voila 5 channels of audio - huh! So turned on TV again and light comes on the 696 and I then have HDMI link up and running.

So no idea what the prob was, it was all connected when I turned everything on, but TV was probably on first, have to see tomorrow if I have the same problem and there is an fixed power on sequence.

So to answer my own question.... flashing red light means link but no link, TV saw a link as it let me select the input (not available in the past until I connected 696 today) and I think something was messed up with the audio HDMI link maybe, who knows, just glad its working now!

Paul

[unique]

i saw a similar problem to this somewhere. it could be that you have the hdmi audio output to bitstream or pcm, and when you play sacd or dvda surround sound, which can only be output via the analogue sockets, it makes the player output via optical in 2.0. as my tv is connected via hdmi, but i don't have any speakers on my plasma, i might have the settings turned to off, or certainly something different, thus don't get the problem

to try and make things simple, i set my player up via scart first, and then configured the hdmi and optical out

[JTKirk]

Originally Posted by TallPaul

unique - yes I have the SVIDEO through my Yamaha amp (no HDMI switching) so I can get to the menus etc without HDMI and I enabled HDMI.

jmcr100 - your comment seems to be the case. As its working now...

Here's what I did, after I posted I decided to try a SACD as I had been looking forward to testing Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon snce I bought the 30th aniversary edition a few years ago and it was one of the reasons I went for the 696 to get SACD.

Weird thing was, I was getting no surround signal, only the front two channels, and for the life of me I could not work out why. Through the menus on the 696 etc

Anyway, long story short, turned off the Samsung TV and voila 5 channels of audio - huh! So turned on TV again and light comes on the 696 and I then have HDMI link up and running.

So no idea what the prob was, it was all connected when I turned everything on, but TV was probably on first, have to see tomorrow if I have the same problem and there is an fixed power on sequence.

So to answer my own question.... flashing red light means link but no link, TV saw a link as it let me select the input (not available in the past until I connected 696 today) and I think something was messed up with the audio HDMI link maybe, who knows, just glad its working now!

Paul

I've had a similar problem with SACD, they only play in surround when the TV is off. I have all the settings ok. I think it's a bug from the player.

Greetz.

[unique]

Originally Posted by JTKirk

I've had a similar problem with SACD, they only play in surround when the TV is off. I have all the settings ok. I think it's a bug from the player.

Greetz.

does it maybe choose the 2.0 layer by default if connect via hdmi (unless the setup can change this), and if you press a button on the remote you can switch to the multi channel layer and choose the analogue setting on the amp? i suppose a way around your problem is to switch from hdmi to scart if you want the tv on when play sacd multi channel (a bit of a pain tho)

[mannyo]

I have the 696, the flashing HDMI as said is the player not communicating with the TV.

SACD playback is disabled through the coax/optical/hdmi digital connection, due to bandwidth / copyright reasons. To play SACD/DVD-A you need to hookup the multichannel outputs on the player and plug those into your ext. in connection on your amp. Not all amps have the connections though, especially those all in ones. But its still not that simple, to get those outputs to work you need to disable the HDMI audio, this enables the speaker option on the main menu. Then you select 5.1 sound instead of stereo and away you go.

[JTKirk]

Originally Posted by mannyo

I have the 696, the flashing HDMI as said is the player not communicating with the TV.

SACD playback is disabled through the coax/optical/hdmi digital connection, due to bandwidth / copyright reasons. To play SACD/DVD-A you need to hookup the multichannel outputs on the player and plug those into your ext. in connection on your amp. Not all amps have the connections though, especially those all in ones. But its still not that simple, to get those outputs to work you need to disable the HDMI audio, this enables the speaker option on the main menu. Then you select 5.1 sound instead of stereo and away you go.

I've not tested that... but if I disable HDMI audio, there'll be no audio on the tv when watching a movie....
If I connect the L/R output from the DVD to the L/R input from the TV, will I get full sound, or only the equivalent from the FL and FL of the 5.1 system? (no Center mixed, so no voices?).

Anyway... I still think that's a bug. Analog outputs should be activated or at least configurable to 5.1 even when HDMI sound is enabled as it is a separate system....

Thanks.

[mannyo]

You will get front left and front right, as those outputs are used by the surround output. You maybe able to get stereo sound using a scart lead, with phono connections and just connecting the audio.

[bigchrismih]

I has this exact same issue and resolved it by turning off teh tv and back on again. STRANGE

[TallPaul]

Yep. I have come to the conclusion that as long as the TV is on first you have no issue, if you turn on the DVD player first sometimes you have problems, sometimes not.

I have left HDMI audio turned off as something to do with that causes 2channel only on the SPDIF, just means I have to use the amp for all DVD audio (which is mostly what I want, but somethings don't require it...)