HD300 Stops delivering video signal via HDMI

[sverstegen]

My HD300 runs great 99% of the time. Occasionally it will stop delivering signal randomly during playback. TV (via HDMI) says "No signal" and goes blank. Then 5 seconds or so later it recovers. The client does not reboot on the HD300. Audio does continue during the blackout via RCA out puts. (I do not know if the audio continues via HDMI, as the RCA's are plugged into the stereo for sound.) At any rate, the box is not losing power or network connectivity during the quick blackout.

I do not have this issue with any other video sources on the TV. I have also had it completely crater a couple times, requiring an unplug/plug in, but that doesn't happen frequently, and I have changed the network switch since then.

Any others experiencing this?

Should I RMA? It has been doing this since I got it. If it's a known FW issue I'll take care of it, otherwise I guess I'll have to send it in. Does Sage cross ship RMA's? This would be a major pain to pull the living room TV out of commission or bring the old Sage Client on a laptop back.

[gambitpvr]

Not sure if this helps but, I've had a similar issue on my Sony Bravia TV. However, that TV is using a nettop PC with the Sage Client, not the HD 300.

I've determined that the problem is my TV. Sometimes it just can't detect the HDMI signal. I had the same problem with two different PCs on this TV and the problem has happened with both Sage TV 7 and Beyond TV (I upgraded from BeyondTV to Sage last year).

I did find a fairly simple solution. I bought a $20 HDMI switch from Amazon and plugged my Sage TV client PC into it. Then I plugged the HDMI switch into my TV. The problem has since vanished.

[sverstegen]

Interesting.. Thanks for your insight.

I'm running the HD300 on a Samsung PN50B550.

I suspected it might be an issue with the TV, but it seems to run fine with the xBox 360 over HDMI.

Also ran the sage client previously via the VGA cable, but of course that's a different bus.

Also seems to only happen when the HD300 has been on for a long time. It's bothersome during live sports, but it's not a big deal. I just don't want to ignore it if it's indicative of a unit with overheating problems. Have had the unit for less than a month, so I'd like to get any issues sorted out before I decide to keep it. It's a great device when it works!

I'll pick up a switch and try to route it through there, will see if that helps.

[phantomfsoc]

Hi I know this thread is ancent but my hd300 started doing the same thing. It goes black every few seconds but the audio still plays.

Did you ever find out if it was the TV or was the HD300 bad?

Thanks (if you're still around)

[Telecore]

I started having the same problem recently after I stopped connecting the HD300 through my Denon receiver - now it goes directly to the Samsung TV and blanks out once in a while.

[Fuzzy]

The HD300 used a relatively weak HDMI driver. I have read many reports on here of intermittent problems with some tv's. It could be that it has gotten just weak enough now that the tv loses sync occasionally. A different, and possibly shorter HDMI cable might help the issue, or might not. An HDMI amplifier or powered splitter might fix the issue, or might not. Upgrading your stereo to one that has HDMI ports may fix the issue - or may not.

[pthomas745]

I've just bought an Oppo bluray player, and while reading an endless thread about it in the AVS forums, I learned a lot about HDMI and what is called "handshaking".

You may do your own searching for what handshaking is, but the behavior you are describing fits.

HDMI is a weird spec, I discovered. Older cables may not have the bandwidth necessary for some signals. (Look for "high speed" markings on the cable). Several issues with HDMI "handshakes" were caused by the HDMI cable connector simply working loose from the socket. Some HDMI cables have much shorter connectors than others, and they can just "drift" slightly out of the socket. Some users simply swapped cables from one component to the other, and their handshake issues disappeared.

I recently rebuilt my media cabinet, and found that none of my cables were branded "high speed", (I bought them all years ago) and one of them had the short connector. Luckily, I have no major problems, but I have ordered a couple of newer cables.

There isn't a need to spend a bunch of money on HDMI cables, and Monoprice is still king. Some people swear by the Redmere cables, which have small chips in the connectors that improve the signal. This link goes to the Monoprice HDMI FAQ page.

http://www.monoprice.com/Help/Index?pn=help&idx=12

And if you want to learn even more, search the AVS forums for posts by a guy named Bob Pariseau.