PS3 -> HDMI -> 435XDE switching off, flashing standby

virgesmith

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Hi

Seen a lot of posts here with people experiencing their plasma switching off and getting various numbers of flashes of the standby light or worse...

It happened occasionally on my 2.5yo 435XDE before I downloaded the 2.10 PS3 firmware but seems far more common now that I have (could be a coincidence I guess). It happens to me when i switch off the PS3 and when I play a DVD (blue-ray was fine) and once when I enabled sound through HDMI.

I normally get either 7 or 13 standby flashes and the TV seems to be flickering (cycling though different resolutions/refresh rates?) just before it goes off.

Posts on here seem to suggest that you have about 3 weeks between having this problem and the plasma (or just the HDMI input) failing. So I rang Pioneer custumer services today...

Basically the guy said not to worry, it was because the PS3 (being newer than 5 gen pio) was sending HDMI signals that the plasma didnt understand to the screen, and being unable to work out what was going on the plasma puts itself into some kind of protection mode.

Thing is:
1) I thought the PS3 autodetected what the TV was capable of, so is it sending signals the TV doesnt support? and why are these signals so dangerous to the TV it has to switch itself off? I just picked the resoluations the PS3 said the TV was capable of (720p and 1080i).

2) given what I've read here I'm inclined to think the customer services guy was a bit optimistic telling me not to worry.

I know a 436 owner who's having similar problems with an xbox, and someone else who has a PS3 and a non-Pioneer plasma, and read all the posts here esp. about sky HD so its not obvious what the culprit is? HDMI itself?

Should I use component instead or is there a HDMI solution (other than what I've been doing - turning the TV off before I switch the PS3 off)?

Many thanks
Virgesmith
 
Hi,

It sounds like you do have a problem that needs to be checked out by a Pioneer service centre, they will be able to access the error logs and find out what is going wrong.

The fact that the screen shuts down and you get a flashing LED would indicate that you have a hardware issue and not a signal issue.

On the 4th and 5th generation plasmas its normal that you need to change inputs and back again if the resolution of the HDMI signal changes but this is not your problem, from what you report….
 
i have exactly the same problem, always have had when changing hdmi sources. sky hd to dvd or ps3 to sky hd etc. it does not do it all the time but at least 70 % of the time and i have to switch off the button on the display then put it back on again, then push the standby button on the remote.
 
If you get the screen blanking only when switching HDMI inputs then you have a problem with the signal.

The 4th and 5th generation systems will not handle the loss of HDMI data where the clock signal in the HDMI connection continues, this happens with a lot of products when that change resolution (but as that is outside the HDMI specs that’s not all that surprising).

If you lose picture when switching resolution or inputs via an external HDMI switch then you would need to switch the plasma to another input and then back again to the HDMI input to force everything to handshake again.
 
Thanks for the info Pioneer Man. Component video leads for the PS3 seem in very short supply at the mo - and it's not clear whether this would fix the problem anyway - so still trying to work out how to combat this issue and still use HDMI.

I've got a Helios x3000 and never had this problem with it - probably because it only ever uses one HDMI resolution, whereas the PS3 seems to switch all the time depending on what you're doing with it.

So...if I was to manually set the PS3 video mode to say 720p *only*, would this solve the problem, or would it still switch refresh rates when e.g. changing from game to DVD. Also, can you play blu-ray discs at 720p?

I'll have a tinker in the next couple of days and post my findings here...

virge
 
virgesmith

If you set the PS3 to 720P or 1080I at all times then this will work around this issue, and probably wouldnt find that it would afect picture qualty that much, if at all.
 
as a side question...

why does the PS3 (or TV) output games at 720p (or 750p) and Blu-Ray movies at 1080i (or 1125i) ??

why is it not the same for both, when set to the maximum auto resolution?
 
I read that the 435XDE had a problem with HDMI sources that Pioneer would come and fix. This was found when SkyHD was released. Not sure if its the same problem for other sources. Check pio site under support.
 
Tantalus

There are issues with the SkyHD box knocking out the HDCP part of the 4th, 5th and 6th generation Pioneer plasmas HDMI input but this is not the issue here.

When the HDCP goes in a plasma the SkyHD box continues to work but all other devices that used HDCP can not be displayed, therefore the PS3 wouldn’t work at all when playing movies or games.
 
Tantalus

There are issues with the SkyHD box knocking out the HDCP part of the 4th, 5th and 6th generation Pioneer plasmas HDMI input but this is not the issue here.

When the HDCP goes in a plasma the SkyHD box continues to work but all other devices that used HDCP can not be displayed, therefore the PS3 wouldn’t work at all when playing movies or games.

I'm looking to get SkyHD in a few months... so what is the workaround from that then Pio Man? connect via Component?
Is there a definitive resolution so that everything you want works via HDMI, as normal?
 
Hi,

The SkyHD issue only affects a very small number of users, most dealers have have only seen one or 2 cases.

If you want SkyHD then get it and connect via HDMI, if it does go T1T5 up then Pioneer can tweak the plasma to fix it and prevent it from happening again, this would be done for free.

PS Xstyle, love the install, don't you find that amp and screen get hot or do you have proper vents, if it were me I would have covered the back of the shelves with thin black cloth and left the plasma open....
 
Tentative good news...I disabled 1080i on the PS3 (so 576p and 720p available) and since then played games, DVD, bluray and switched off PS3 with TV on...and no problems so far. Fingers crossed it will stay that way.

I'm guessing that with the 435's native vertical resolution of 768, I'm not losing out by not having 1080i, and IIRC the Pioneer support guy I spoke to earlier in the week said 720p was "better" than 1080i anyway, whatever that means.

Thanks for the help guys

virgesmith
 
After a year of no problems after setting the PS3 to 720p, I'm now getting the shutdown + flashing LED again :((

This time its my new Foxsat HD box causing the problem - although I've set the picture to 720p, the TV says 1125i when the splash screen appears when you turn the box on, then you get some flickering, then the telly dies.

I *think* it may only happen when the box was previously tuned to a HD channel, but not 100% certain yet - will investigate more. Will also try setting the picture to 1080i in the hope that less changes in resolution will help

In the meantime anyone else experienced and ideally solved this problem?
I wonder if there's an "engineer's" menu on the Foxsat where you can disable 1080i? I guess that question shouldn be posted in the Foxsat HD section

virgesmith
 
Hi guys,
i have a 435xde that is partially `retired` in the bedroom, i must say that since pioneer came out and changed the HDMI board ive having trouble getting the HDMI to lock onto anything, ever since Sky hd was plugged in, ive had nothing but grief.....:suicide:

regards
jeff
 

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