inane69

[inane69]

Just thought I’d report back after using this for a while.  The most interesting thing is while I haven’t made any changes the number of issues I encounter with the HTPC not being able to playback TV is has decreased to the point that it’s a rarity.  I’m not complaining but it sure is odd.

[inane69]

The more I use this setup the more it appears to be an anoyance than a show stopper.  It’s pretty easy for myself to diagnose.  I guess the only concern is if another family member tries to use the room which is kinda rare since my kids are still young and mostly use a TV elsewhere.

I appreiate everyones sugestions.  I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t something I hadn’t thought of.  I’ve used HTPC’s for over 10 years now, just have managed to (mostly) avoid running them thru AVRs.  I’ve been considering moving MCE to run as a VM and just use my Xbox 360’s as extenders since they act more like appliances.  I don’t expect they would have as many issues with the AVR.

[inane69]

[quote=babgvant]

Yeah, that’s a different problem. Let’s narrow it down. What all have you tried?

Restart WMC?

Restart PC?

Restart TV: check

Restart AVR?

Unplug/replug HDMI?

Redect display from “Display setting” control panel item?

[/quote]

After more testing I found that this issue is not HDCP because when it is in a non-working state no videos of any kind will play.  Including Recorded or Live TV and mkv’s, mp4’s, etc.

  

Here is the testing that I did:

  

I have my Harmony power on sequence:

 

AVR

phantom device

phantom device

TV

(HTPC is always on)

 

 It seems like most of the time from a powered off state that works.  I haven’t really noticed yet if the intial power on result is different between long periods or short.

 

 So from a bad state I tried this:

 Unplugged HDMI between AVR and TV – came back to find MCE crashed, started MCE back up but no joy.

 Unplugged HDMI between AVR and HTPC – came back to MCE in 4:3 but if I go straight to live TV it worked!  So then I try to close MCE and open again to get it back to full resolution and TV stops working.

 Restarted HTPC – Live TV still errors out.

 Tried unplugging HDMI between AVR and TV again – This time came back to MCE in full resolution and TV works!

 One more test, simply closed out of MCE then reopened it – TV no longer works!

 Power cycled the TV – Live TV works again!

  

To me it seems MCE needs to sync with the TV somehow at some level above the OS.  And since it affects all types of video I don’t see how it’s HDCP causing that.

 Thoughts? (and thanks!)

[inane69]

[quote]

Check under you GPU control panel
For Nvidia it will be listed under
Display/view HDCP status
I don’t own an AMD card so can not advise on that.
See if your graphics card and display are showing as HDCP-capable.

[/quote]

I know what you mean with Nvidia but Intel graphics on this system don’t have any HDCP information.  Look at my 3rd pic above thou.  The AVR properties in Windows think HDCP is good.

[inane69]

I appreiate the tip but doesn’t seem to work for me.  With my short 3′ cable or a ~12′ one I happened to have, they both show that HDCP is supported (see attachments).  I’m wondering if my problem is a HDCP one.  The error I get in MCE only seems to happen when trying to watch TV which is why I thought it was related to HDCP.  I’ve attached that error as well.

If I simply turn the TV off then back on (leaving the AVR on) then it usually will start working.

[inane69]

Using a very long HDMI cable can help HDCP handshaking issues?

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