[Patcherdpr]

Any help would be appreciated. My Tivo HD (dual comcast cablecard) keeps resetting to 480P resolution. I know how it triggers but perhaps there is a fix I don't know about?

My setup is as follows.
TV - Samsung HLT-6187S
Home Theatre/DVD - Samsung HT-TX75
Tivo HD

So basically the coax cable goes into the tivo. I use HDMI out of the tivo to the home theatre system. And then HDMI from the home theatre to do the TV (passes the video through). The problem is that my home theatre/receiver doubles as a DVD player. And if I play a DVD, the Tivo HD then resets to FIXED 480P, even though the Tivo is before the DVD/receiver in the chain. I realize that HDMI cables can communicate both directions, but should a setting change on my dvd/receiver force a change in resolution on my tivo?

I believe the way I have it set up is how it's supposed to be. It works really well with the only problem is that if I switch to DVD player mode, the Tivo defaults back to Fixed 480P and then I have to go back into the Tivo menus and select the new video output, hit the green thumbs up three times, etc.

On my home theatre remote I basically select DVD to play DVD's. And if I want to watch TV (via Tivo) I select AUX (HDMI IN). It makes it very simple and I really don't want to move away from that and connect the Tivo's video out directly to the TV and have to go optical out to the home theatre system.

For the record, it doesn't matter what resolution or mode I am in, Hybrid, fixed, native, 720, 1080. It resets them all to Fixed 480P.

Any help would be appreciated. I've tried technical support, and they seem to be pushing me away from the HDMI cables with video passthru. My point of contention is that if I have Fixed 1080i selected on the tivo, the only way that should change is if I manually do so or perhaps if the system reboots.

Thanks!

 

[AbMagFab]

Sounds like your AVR is doing something funky, like telling the Tivo the other end is 480p.

 

[Patcherdpr]

yeah, it sounds like it. why is tivo listening and changing?

 

[moyekj]

Using component instead of HDMI would solve this issue.

 

[jmpage2]

Ya, sounds like an HDMI handshake issue between devices. I wouldn't be so quick to blame Tivo, as it could just be the AVR that is confused about the device connections.

Try component video or direct HDMI from Tivo to the TV and when the problem goes away complain to the AVR manufacturer about it. Maybe they have a newer version of the AVR that doesn't have these issues.

 

[rainwater]

yeah, it sounds like it. why is tivo listening and changing?

My guess is TiVo isn't going to show content in a resolution the other end doesn't support.

 

[Patcherdpr]

perhaps i didnt clarify enough. when this problem occurs tivo is out of the loop. when i switch to dvd, its only going from the dvd/receiver to the tv. so why should that affect a tivo setting?

i've already confirmed with tivo technical support that tivo should not be changing resolutions and that the behavior it is exhibiting is not correct. when i select 1080i fixed it should noit be changing.

 

[bkdtv]

perhaps i didnt clarify enough. when this problem occurs tivo is out of the loop. when i switch to dvd, its only going from the dvd/receiver to the tivo. so why should that affect a tivo setting?

i've already confirmed with tivo technical support that tivo should not be changing resolutions and that the behavior it is exhibiting is not correct. when i select 1080i fixed it should noit be changing.

Your receiver is not HDMI passthrough. It negotiates a connection and resolution setting with the Tivo using EDID. The same cannot occur with component, which has no means to negotiate a connection or check the resolution supported by the connected display (or device).

The Tivo will use whatever setting you have selected by default. However, your receiver is telling the Tivo that only 480p is supported, so the Tivo is switching to that. This is standard CE component behavior. It prevents customers from selecting a HDMI output setting that their display does not support.

If you connect the TivoHD directly to your display via HDMI then you will not experience that resolution change. The problem here is not the Tivo -- which is following standard HDMI device behavior -- but the receiver, which is telling the Tivo over EDID that it does not support HD input.

 

[Patcherdpr]

the home theatre system does have video pass-through. in the manual it even says If HDMI audio option is turned off then ---> "Video is transmitted over the HDMI connection cable only, and audio is output through
the home theater speakers only."

 

[bkdtv]

the home theatre system does have video pass-through. in the manual it even says If HDMI audio option is turned off then ---> "Video is transmitted over the HDMI connection cable only, and audio is output through
the home theater speakers only."

The manual is wrong.

You will see it is not passthrough if you connect the TivoHD directly to your TV.

A number of people had similar issues with the PS3 and certain receivers over on the AVS Forum.

 

[jmpage2]

I agree, connect the Tivo directly to the TV and prove the problem out of the Tivo. You're basically blaming your Tivo because your AVR can't maintain the HDMI pass through properly.

 

[Patcherdpr]

so when the tivo people told me that the receiver should not be changing the tivo settings they were wrong? *confused*

 

[jfh3]

so when the tivo people told me that the receiver should not be changing the tivo settings they were wrong? *confused*

You aren't reading the responses correctly.

The Tivo people were correct - the receiver doesn't change the Tivo settings. It is telling Tivo it can't support anything other than 480p.

Did you try connecting the HDMI directly from the Tivo to the TV as suggested? If so, what happened? If the problem went away, the problem is with your receiver, not Tivo.

 

[jmpage2]

so when the tivo people told me that the receiver should not be changing the tivo settings they were wrong? *confused*

The Tivo will only do the resolution that the other end can support. HDMI has a negotiation protocol that agrees on what resolutions can be supported, etc.

If, during this negotiation, the receiver says that it can only do 480P on the HDMI link then the Tivo has to oblige, it doesn't matter if you have it set to 1080i or not.

And yes, I suspect the AV experts here know a lot more about resolutions on HDMI than the front line CSRs at Tivo. :up:

 

[Patcherdpr]

ok, so to clarify. my receiver is communicating backwards down the chain to the tivo via the hdmi, that it does not support 1080i, therefore forcing the tivo to 480p. This only happens when i hit the dvd button on the remote. At this point the receiver shouldnt be communicating jack to the tivo because it is out of the loop, or should it?

I'm going to update the samsung firmware tonight and see if that fixes it. if not I will be on the line with samsun tech support and I want to be a clear as possible as to what's going on and what is behaving normally. and no direct connecting the tivo to the tv works perfectly with no issues. problem only happens when i run through the receiver and even then only when i switch out of HDMI IN on the receiver.