HTPC Loses Aspect Ratio and Resolution Settings When TV Is Off

[Sean Melchionda]

I leave my HTPC on all of the time.  I use my HTPC as a server too so I dont have it set to sleep at any point in time.  The TV that is connected to the HTPC is a 46″ Samsung LCD TV that has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which I have configured in windows and it works perfetly as expected.  I usually leave Media Center up all of the time becuase this HTPC is a dedicated HTPC box.  When I’m not using the HTPC I shut off the TV but leave the HTPC on. 

The problem is that when I turn the TV back on the picture aspect ratio is  switched to the “square” 4:3 aspect ratio.  I have to then break out a mouse, close MediaCenter and then re open it to get the correct 16:9 aspect ratio back again.

Any way to fix this?

[oliverredfox]

If you’re using HDMI, I picked up an HDMI Detective Plus the other day.  While it was a little annoying having to spend $85 on a hardware solution, it works great.  My computer always thinks the TV is there regardless of what I’ve got the TV or receiver set to.  I spent the past year messing around with various software fixes and never found anything that worked 100% for me.  I kinda wish I’d just bought it in the 1st place, but if you’re like me, you’ll be on the fence about wanting to buy it (It was 2x the cost of my HTPC video card and that just bothers me on principal, but for what should be years of trouble free operation, I can live with the cost).

[Aaron Ledger]

You keep tempting me to buy the HDMI Detective 🙂

I have minimized the resolution changes by using Andrew’s Standby Helper to shutdown WMC on standby and open it upon resume, but they still happen every once in a while.

[Aaron Ledger]

Sean,

Have you tried using different cables? Sometimes adding a longer cable, say 12′ instead of 6′, will solve certain HDMI handshaking issues.

A workaround you could do is to perform a resolution change and map that function to a button on your remote. I use Andrew’s ResChange utility to do this.

[oliverredfox]

[quote=Aaron Ledger]

You keep tempting me to buy the HDMI Detective 🙂

[/quote]

You know you want one (once you get it, you’ll wonder why you held out so long).

[quote=Aaron Ledger]

I have minimized the resolution changes by using Andrew’s Standby Helper to shutdown WMC on standby and open it upon resume, but they still happen every once in a while.

[/quote]

He’s not even going into Standby, it sounds like his computer freaks out when the TV is turned off while computer is left on.

[Aaron Ledger]

[quote=oliverredfox]

He’s not even going into Standby, it sounds like his computer freaks out when the TV is turned off while computer is left on.

[/quote]

See my 2nd post 😛

[Mike Garcen]

The fix for this is actually way simpler than you think.

When you turn the TV back on and see MCE loaded in 4:3 mode, leave it on! Instead go to Tasks > Settings > Display and re-configure the monitor in THERE to be 16:9 with whatever the proper 1080p resolution you want.

Then everything should work perfect from that point forward. I had the same issue with my Onkyo receiver and my HTPC on turn off/on of the display.

[Aaron Ledger]

It’s worth a shot, but this certainly doesn’t work for me.

[Sean Melchionda]

@Aaron,
I am using a 12 ft hdmi cable.

I seem to remember a software utility that forces a handshake in certain situations. Anyone remember what that might be?

I also came up with an idea… I could got to Total Media Theater when the resolution is 4:3… switching to total media theater and then switching back seems to cause a handshake.

[Aaron Ledger]

There are a couple: HDMIOn and HDMIYo.

[DavidStein]

my simple solution was just to map a remote button to alt-enter. as soon as you take media center out of full screen mode the computer will recognize that it should be at its 16:9 resolution and fix itself, then I press the button again to put it back in fullscreen. 

 

its annoying, but not annoying enough to pay 85$ for a hdmi detective (at least for me).

[NitDawg]

I have these issues too. Sporadic at times, so hard to pinpoint. I’m not sure how having an AVR in the middle of this adds to the confusion to the resolution issues.

[Author]

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