Users with HDMI Issues

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
I've had an idea which may (or may not!) help people who are having trouble with HDMI. Unfortunately you need a working screen to use it, so if there is an ongoing HDMI problem you will need to connect through SCART/phono.

On the hidden service menu there is an option to "Reset Cookie & DRM Data" (hidden service menu: see Things Every... section 9). It is the HDCP (a type of DRM) which causes HDMI link negotiation to fail, so...
 
On the hidden service menu there is an option to "Reset Cookie & DRM Data" (hidden service menu: see Things Every... section 9). It is the HDCP (a type of DRM) which causes HDMI link negotiation to fail, so...
Certainly worth a try, particularly for anyone who has found that their HDMI has become increasingly unstable or is fixed by moving on to a different port. The DTCP key is stored in flash and this option could well reset it.
 
Ah, there may be a crossed line here. AFAIK, the DTCP key is for the DLNA negotiation - so if there is a DTCP key listed in a binary examination of the flash and not a HDCP key, maybe this is barking up the wrong tree.
 
That might be possible if the menu system starts in a known state after some kind of boot, but one missed entry and you're stuffed. Is it worth it? Maybe we should see if anybody reports this has solved a problem.
 
You could try making a step list, so that a user could try doing it "blind"..
The problem is in entering the hidden menu, it is seven button presses and is easy to fluff. Most people don't use the phono input on their TV as the picture quality is so bad, so unless your Hummy is in a cabinet or is otherwise inaccessible it is not to much trouble to hook up temporarily.
 
I think i threw out all my scart leads a few weeks back as im clearing out before a house move. I'll check tomorrow and if so i can definitely test it.
 
Very interesting: a HDR-FOX user on another forum discovered that connecting the HDMI to a different TV caused the HDMI problems on the original TV to go away. Maybe syncing with a different device straightens out the HDCP. I only suggested another TV to confirm it was definitely a problem with the HDR-FOX and not some obscure problem with the TV...

See HERE (click).
 
Am I the only one who thinks one shouldn't need to do all this?

Pulling and re-inserting the cable often cures the problem, but why should we have to?
 
No of course not, but if there's a minor issue with the connector like one of the pins being out of position, then a replug would be the only way to get it back into position.

Unlikely I know, but it must be something like this..


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Of course it would be nice if we didn't have to - but is it really a surprise when complex technology fails to be 100% problem-free when mix-and-matching devices from different manufacturers? If you want to minimise your chance of incompatibilities arising, restrict your purchasing to one brand throughout, and then if problems do occur you know exactly who to complain to.
 
I don't know about 100% problem-free, I would be glad of 1% reliability when a Hummy is recording, or about to.

Those Humax amplifiers, Humax Blu-Ray players and Humax TVs seem thin on the ground! :disagree:

Plus, even if you did manage to buy a Humax PVR, Blu-Ray, AV Amp and TV, plus Humax HDMI and optical leads, would the problems go, and would Humax do anything about them? My Samsung TV talks to my Onky Amp. The only problems arise with Humax boxes and with HDMI. As long as people say "it isn't all that bad" or "an HDMI connection is a complex bit of technology, so we should be grateful it ever works" then we will be stuck with this half-baked, ill-conceived way of not very successfully(!) enforcing DRM.

So what is the problem? Is it that Humax can't send a signal to other equipment when in recording or about to record mode because if it did, those TVs that have HDMI auto-switching would change input whenever a recording started???
 
As long as people say "it isn't all that bad" or "an HDMI connection is a complex bit of technology, so we should be grateful it ever works" then we will be stuck with this half-baked, ill-conceived way of not very successfully(!) enforcing DRM.
I appreciate what you're saying, but is it fair to necessarily blame Humax (or whoever) when (a) the HDMI spec is not properly pinned down, and (b) we do not have the means at our disposal to confirm which end (if any) does not meet what specifications there are?

In theory, the manufacturer of a source device designs to the specification for a source device - ie one which would operate perfectly in all modes with a perfect "black box" destination device, and the manufacturer of a destination device designs likewise. Each manufacturer submits their complete product to the HDMI certification body to verify that the device works to specification.

In theory, connecting two such devices should then be a doddle. But in practice, it's not. Each manufacturer would prefer that their HDMI devices all work very well with each other, but not so good with devices from other manufacturers (talking about the likes of Samsung, Panasonic, Sony...). Their HDMI interfaces probably conform to the detail of the specification sufficiently that it complies with HDMI and achieves certification, but there may be wrinkles that the certification body doesn't test for - and the manufacturers may well know exactly what tests the certification body will be conducting. Equally, there may be an innocent effect in that the manufacturer does not deliberately intend to circumvent the HDMI standard but interprets it in one way (uniformly throughout their own range, and ensures compatibility throughout their own range) when other manufacturers interpret it another way. If we take Humax to be a third party HDMI source, obviously they want their output to be compatible with as many HDMI destinations as possible, but now we have a situation where it may not be possible to satisfy one manufacturer's interpretation while also satisfying another manufacturer's interpretation.

If anything, the blame lies squarely with the standards body, but they are funded by the fees they charge the manufacturers for the compliance testing and certification (apart from the fact the major players will also have seats on the committee!). It's market driven: to become a consumer technology, a draft specification has to be raised quickly and then ratified, and products got out of the door. Then oversights are discovered in the specification so the specification is revised, but products are already on the market so whatever revisions are made are ham-strung by having to be backwards-compatible. Frequently the only way to really solve a standards problem is to rip it up and start again - thereby rendering kit that is already in the hands of consumers incompatible.

If we had the equipment, products, and access to specifications, we could do some independent testing and really see what's what - fund me a few hundred thousand pounds and I'll set up a test lab. Short of that, all we can say is "wouldn't it be nice if" and "be grateful that it works at all"... or source everything from the one manufacturer so there is a fair chance they have all been designed (and tested) to inter-operate - because we have no other way to influence the outcome.
 
I don't know why we complain, really. Having read some of the millions of posts online about tivos and PSxs not working, I came across this morsel:

The following may be painfully redundant to you, yet I hope it helps you solve this HDMI issue.

WIth the Mac mini and TV powered off, disconnect the Mac mini HDMI cable.

Power on the TV and do the following settings:

Select the desired HDMI port.

Home menu > Option > HDMI Input > Video > Auto.


Power off the TV. Reconnect the Mac Mini HDMI cable and ensure a good connection. Power on the Mac mini and let it boot up, before turning on the TV. Now, switch the TV to the appropriate HDMI port. You may have to twiddle with your mini display settings in system preferences, and possibly cycle power to the TV.

I believe HDMI ports input4 and input5 accept HDMI video and audio in from a computer, while ports input6 and input7 are strictly HDMI video in. This Pioneer model supports HDMI v1.3. You might reconfirm that your HDMI cable supports this version of HDMI or higher.

(Mac mini and Pioneer PDP 5080 LXD, 2 years ago.)
 
To bring this back on topic... :)

I'm one of the users with regular HDMI issues - it will work fine for a few months, then become extremely unreliable. Moving to another HDMI socket fixes the problem for a few months, then it returns. I have just tried a reset of the "cookie and DRM data" but unfortunately this did not make any difference, even after a reboot of the Fox. So a good suggestion, but probably not actually helpful.
 
This sounds like physical connection problem, next time it happens try removing the HDMI plug and replacing it in the same socket, if this works, it would suggest maybe a bad connection due to corroded contacts
 
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