HDMI Switching Issue Bravia-X

Kristiani · **21st April 2008, 05:40 PM**

Howdy all,

When I switch between HDMI inputs or the inbuilt DVB-T tuner on my Bravia, I lose the picture coming through my HDMI from my VMC. When I switch back to VMC its a black screen. I have read a few posts with other users having the same drama (its got something to do with EDID?), but the only solutions so far have been work arounds, like putting pc into standby and waking up, rebooting pc, or unplugging and replugging hdmi cable. Anyone got a fix which doesnt require me to get up off the coach or waste time sleeping my machine? Its all about the WAF factor

.

Cheers!

(machine specs below)

ozbear · **21st April 2008, 05:59 PM**

I had that problem switching between the Foxtel IQ box input and the VMC input, although not using your monitor or video card(although mine is an ATI, an X800PRO to be exact). I have a crude solution which you may or may not be able to adapt to your setup and may or may not work for you.

Supposition: when the display is set to the "other" non-VMC input, the graphics card gets no signal back from the monitor so thinks it is off and will not look at it again until the card is "nudged" somehow to look at the monitor. This can be rebooting, sleep/awake, or any number of other things.

Fix: "Nudge" the card to look at the display for a signal when switching back to VMC without having to do something as drastic as rebooting, etc.

Implementation: Set the Windows desktop display resolution to something that VMC isn't using. I personally use 1280x900 since I don't use this machine for Windows anyway. Set the display resolution from within VMC to whatever you normally use, 1360x768 in my case.

Always exit to the desktop before switching to the non-VMC input. When switching back to VMC, you may initally get a black screen but after pushing the Green Button to start VMC, VMC will force a resolution change. So far this has proven to be enough of a nudge for the card to look at the monitor again and display Media Centre.

Works for me....may be worth a try for others.

Oz

Kristiani · **21st April 2008, 07:09 PM**

Thanks for the reply Ozbear! Unfortunately this fix doesnt work for my system...dammit..hehe. A shame, its the best "fix" idea yet that I have come across.

vlad · **21st April 2008, 07:29 PM**

Hmm, I have 46" XBR and can switch between MCE 2005, build-in tuner or PS3 connected to a different HDMI port without any problems. Is is Vista specific?

Kristiani · **21st April 2008, 08:28 PM**

Hi Vlad,

It maybe, I was originally running MCE2005 and I cant remember the problem happening. Hmm. What video card are you running vlad?

vlad · **21st April 2008, 08:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kristiani

Hi Vlad,

It maybe, I was originally running MCE2005 and I cant remember the problem happening. Hmm. What video card are you running vlad?

Palit 9600 GT Sonic
You can find this information in my profile
http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/community/members/vlad/

krypto · **22nd April 2008, 12:43 AM**

I am running vista with a Palit HD3850 (thanks vlad) on a 46x3100. I have the same problem. If I switch TV inputs I loose the picture when I come back. Sometimes pressing a few buttons on the remote brings the picture back.

So its either vista or the ati drivers, I suspect the drivers. I notice that catalyst v8.4 was supposed to fix numerous HDMI issues but it hasn't for me.

ozbear · **22nd April 2008, 09:47 AM**

krypto,
I believe you are correct about it being the drivers. I never had a problem under Vista until I upgraded Catalyst+driver from 5.something to the 6.something and beyond series. There are release nnotes saying that this had been fixed, but alas, not so.

Kristiani,
ok, then try using PowerStrip to set the display resolution when you enter VMC.
Set you desktop resolution as I described before and create a PowerStrip display profile as the default setting. Create a second application display profile for Media Center using the real resolution and tell PowerStrip to use that resolution whenever that "application (actually eshell) is running and so it will revert back to the desktop resolution when VMC is exited.

By the way...even without PowerStrip did you test that the resolution changed between the desktop and VMC? It is crucial that a resolution change is forced when entering/exiting VMC.

Oz

Kristiani · **22nd April 2008, 03:16 PM**

Yeh Oz, Im running desktop at 1360 x 780 and VMC at 1080p. I get the lag and slight flicker when switching between desktop and VMC so I am sure that it is forcing over correctly between the two. Will try the powerstrip idea..umm...what is powerstrip

?

krypto · **22nd April 2008, 05:33 PM**

This may be a stupid question. How do I set the resolution within VMC?

dgaust · **22nd April 2008, 05:38 PM**

Through the tasks & settings -- media centre set up.

I've never seen this issue with my V series Bravia and any of the video cards I have had (7300GT, 8600GT, 2400XT, 8500GT) when switching inputs.

ozbear · **23rd April 2008, 11:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kristiani

Yeh Oz, Im running desktop at 1360 x 780 and VMC at 1080p. I get the lag and slight flicker when switching between desktop and VMC so I am sure that it is forcing over correctly between the two. Will try the powerstrip idea..umm...what is powerstrip

?

Their own website can give you a full explanation.

Look for PowerStrip here.

Oz

Kristiani · **24th April 2008, 01:52 AM**

Success! Huzzah! Huzzah!

I have had some success at last after much tinkering.
I can now HDMI switch on the Bravia between any input and back to PC without the "black screen" appearing.
My first step was to update CCC to the latest version, which was only released a week ago (16/4). As soon as I had done this I was able to switch between PS3 and desktop cleanly. However I was still unable to switch between VMC (when maximised) and my PS3. The "black screen" would still appear. It got me thinking that the issue was happening when switching between the same display resolutions, , my PS3 is 1080P and so was VMC (my vista desktop is 1280x720). As soon as i changed VMC to 1080i, i was able to switch cleanly between the two. I dont know why this is happening, whether it is the Bravia or my Video card, but needless to say if you are having problems hdmi switching between sources with the same display characteristics it might serve you to change one of them to a res which is slightly different. The change of my VMC from 1080P to 1080I and the resultant loss in picture quality to my eye is negligible and therefore an acceptable compromise. Thanks to Ozbear for steering me in the right direction. Huzzah! Huzzah!

DaveV · **24th April 2008, 08:44 AM**

Hello,

Glad to see you found a solution.
I have the 46X3100 and an ATI HD3870
this issue also effected an X800, X1950pro, HD2600XT and the HD3870 on Vista as
well as XP.
I had been fighting this problem for 7mths and have a support incident open
at ATI since January, I had even purchased a DVI Detective until I found out the
version I brought was not HDCP compliant (it did solve the issue though).

I know Cat 8.3/8.4 fixed this issue for some W and V owners but it is still an issue with
X owners.

My solution was to (if you wish to run 1080p in VMC and desktop) was to use a program called HOTKEYMASTER this will allow you to set a hotkey to change refresh rates and resolutions also.
Since I have HD-DVD and Blue-ray I needed a quick way to switch between 50/24Hz when watching these formats.

I set up ALT-A to switch to 50hz and ALT-S to switch to 24Hz.
and volla up comes the display.

No more cable pulling or sending the PC to sleep (which was ok if you werent recording anything)

This was the easiest solution for me until ATI resolve this issue with a driver update.