Hey guys, got a headscratcher for you (or at least for me). In a nutshell, got a new TV that is having problems receiving audio/video/both from some of my current equipment.
To start out, I used to own a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma TV. By used to, I mean that I returned from a business trip last week to find my TV completely and utterly dead. No capacitor whine, no blinking lights, no response whatsoever. Right now I have the back panel off as I am looking to see if there are any blown fuses or other obvious signs of repairable damage, but for all intents and purposes it appears to be gone. I suspect that the cause could have been a lightning strike as there was some severe storm activity while I was gone but no other equipment (I'll get to that part) on the same powerstrip appears damaged. With no other option, I went and purchased a 60" Sharp Aquos LED unit as i managed to take advantage of some local sales/incentives, and it was a now-or-never kind of situation for getting a new unit.
However, as soon as I got back home and plugged everything in, there were a few problems. Almost all of the peripherals I hooked in did not work as expected. I checked all the connections, made sure the power/settings were OK on the TV, but nothing seemed to work. I even went and bought (and then immediately returned) a similar but smaller TV to test the I/O on the equipment, thinking that there was a problem with the TV. Turns out the issues on the Sharp were replicated on the smaller unit, so it looked like that the issue does not lie with the TV. I also connected a laptop I had sitting around with HDMI and got picture/sound on the TV with no issue. After doing a lot more research and playing with additional settings, I have hit a standstill to make everything work again. So here is the setup on my TV as it stands, along with any and all issues I still encounter. There are four HDMI inputs, and all are being used, so I'll go in order of connection.
HDMI 1 (with ARC) - Sony BDV-E390 Home Theater System
Current issues: No video
Comments: If I completely power off the BluRay player, as in unplug it and not just hit the power button, it will display the BluRay logo loading screen, but then will no longer display video. The audio still seems to work, as I can connect the TV via optical to the system and still get full sound. Also, I can put in a disc and hear it, but still not see it. The Aquos link is active on the system, so turning off the TV will also turn off the BluRay, and also adjusting the volume on the player will show the tv volume being altered. There was also no video when plugged via HDMI into the smaller tv and a spare PC monitor (albeit a HDMI-to-DVI cable). So it looks like there is no issue at all with the audio, but just the video. Any activity with the system I am doing blind, and the functions/operations are being performed by pressing buttons on the front of the receiver or with 'master' function buttons on the remote.
HDMI 2 - Xbox 360
Current issues - No audio when Display Discovery is enabled
Comments: Upon connecting the Xbox back up, I got video, but no audio. Also, the boot time was substantially longer than before, roughly several minutes. Checking online, I found out that when plugged into some TVs, there is no audio over HDMI when the Display Discovery mode is set to Auto (there is a video that explains this issue/correction here ). Disabling it and setting the video/audio output settings manually resolved this problem. Not sure if this helps point to a setting on the TV that is causing the other device to fail, but I wanted to point it out.
HDMI 3 - Google Chromecast
Current issues - Unable to be powered via HDMI only
Comments: This is the only device that *almost* worked on the first try. I get full video/audio without a problem, no connection issues and no settings had to be set beforehand. It was a literal plug-and-play. Of note however; this was the only device NOT plugged in on the old TV when it died, which made me suspect that the others were damaged via their HDMI connections to the now dead plasma. As for the sole problem; the Chromecast is 1.4 spec, and so is the TV. According to both parties, it is supposed to be powered by the HDMI port and wouldnt need the external USB powersource. Unfortunately, I have not found a way for it to work without the USB cable plugged in. Again, there might be a TV system setting preventing it to be powered by HDMI alone.
HDMI 4 - Comcast Xfinity PR150BNM Digital HD receiver
Current issues - No video, no audio
Comments: No output with HDMI at all. I can connect the cable box to the TV with the Component connection to get video, and connect the box directly to the BluRay with the optical to get audio. So it *works* but now with the HDMI connection. No amount of powercycling or getting the cable company to send a 'refresh' signal has caused it to change. This is not as important a device to troubleshoot as I can always request a new one from Comcast to replace the (assumed defective) device.
So this is how everything stands, and any and all help on getting everything to connect with HDMI only and all the I/O gremlins iron out would be awesome. I hope the links for the device are sufficient; I can add more info as needed. Thanks!
* also, if someone knows off the top of their head how to fix a dead Viera unit...
To start out, I used to own a 50" Panasonic Viera plasma TV. By used to, I mean that I returned from a business trip last week to find my TV completely and utterly dead. No capacitor whine, no blinking lights, no response whatsoever. Right now I have the back panel off as I am looking to see if there are any blown fuses or other obvious signs of repairable damage, but for all intents and purposes it appears to be gone. I suspect that the cause could have been a lightning strike as there was some severe storm activity while I was gone but no other equipment (I'll get to that part) on the same powerstrip appears damaged. With no other option, I went and purchased a 60" Sharp Aquos LED unit as i managed to take advantage of some local sales/incentives, and it was a now-or-never kind of situation for getting a new unit.
However, as soon as I got back home and plugged everything in, there were a few problems. Almost all of the peripherals I hooked in did not work as expected. I checked all the connections, made sure the power/settings were OK on the TV, but nothing seemed to work. I even went and bought (and then immediately returned) a similar but smaller TV to test the I/O on the equipment, thinking that there was a problem with the TV. Turns out the issues on the Sharp were replicated on the smaller unit, so it looked like that the issue does not lie with the TV. I also connected a laptop I had sitting around with HDMI and got picture/sound on the TV with no issue. After doing a lot more research and playing with additional settings, I have hit a standstill to make everything work again. So here is the setup on my TV as it stands, along with any and all issues I still encounter. There are four HDMI inputs, and all are being used, so I'll go in order of connection.
HDMI 1 (with ARC) - Sony BDV-E390 Home Theater System
Current issues: No video
Comments: If I completely power off the BluRay player, as in unplug it and not just hit the power button, it will display the BluRay logo loading screen, but then will no longer display video. The audio still seems to work, as I can connect the TV via optical to the system and still get full sound. Also, I can put in a disc and hear it, but still not see it. The Aquos link is active on the system, so turning off the TV will also turn off the BluRay, and also adjusting the volume on the player will show the tv volume being altered. There was also no video when plugged via HDMI into the smaller tv and a spare PC monitor (albeit a HDMI-to-DVI cable). So it looks like there is no issue at all with the audio, but just the video. Any activity with the system I am doing blind, and the functions/operations are being performed by pressing buttons on the front of the receiver or with 'master' function buttons on the remote.
HDMI 2 - Xbox 360
Current issues - No audio when Display Discovery is enabled
Comments: Upon connecting the Xbox back up, I got video, but no audio. Also, the boot time was substantially longer than before, roughly several minutes. Checking online, I found out that when plugged into some TVs, there is no audio over HDMI when the Display Discovery mode is set to Auto (there is a video that explains this issue/correction here ). Disabling it and setting the video/audio output settings manually resolved this problem. Not sure if this helps point to a setting on the TV that is causing the other device to fail, but I wanted to point it out.
HDMI 3 - Google Chromecast
Current issues - Unable to be powered via HDMI only
Comments: This is the only device that *almost* worked on the first try. I get full video/audio without a problem, no connection issues and no settings had to be set beforehand. It was a literal plug-and-play. Of note however; this was the only device NOT plugged in on the old TV when it died, which made me suspect that the others were damaged via their HDMI connections to the now dead plasma. As for the sole problem; the Chromecast is 1.4 spec, and so is the TV. According to both parties, it is supposed to be powered by the HDMI port and wouldnt need the external USB powersource. Unfortunately, I have not found a way for it to work without the USB cable plugged in. Again, there might be a TV system setting preventing it to be powered by HDMI alone.
HDMI 4 - Comcast Xfinity PR150BNM Digital HD receiver
Current issues - No video, no audio
Comments: No output with HDMI at all. I can connect the cable box to the TV with the Component connection to get video, and connect the box directly to the BluRay with the optical to get audio. So it *works* but now with the HDMI connection. No amount of powercycling or getting the cable company to send a 'refresh' signal has caused it to change. This is not as important a device to troubleshoot as I can always request a new one from Comcast to replace the (assumed defective) device.
So this is how everything stands, and any and all help on getting everything to connect with HDMI only and all the I/O gremlins iron out would be awesome. I hope the links for the device are sufficient; I can add more info as needed. Thanks!
* also, if someone knows off the top of their head how to fix a dead Viera unit...
