Apple TV not working with HDMI cable-any help appreciated

Question

Level 1

8 points

Apple TV not working with HDMI cable-any help appreciated

I have hooked up my Apple TV 160GB to my 2 year old Sharp Aquos TV and configured it with no problem to work with a component cable. Due to the number of other inputs I want to use with my TV though, I need to hook it up with a HDMI cable. I purchased the Apple XtremeHD HDMItoHDMI cable and hooked that up and it does not work at all, the TV is black when I set it to that input. I tried altering the input settings in the TV's HDMI setup menu and did not get any of them to work.

Curiously, the Apple TV will still work with the component cables even with the HDMI cable plugged in so it's not sensing that there is one attached.

Is this possibly a problem with the HDMI cable being defective or maybe one of the HDMI jacks not working on the Apple TV or the TV or is this a software issue?

Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated!
Sue

PowerPC G5 2.3Ghz dual, Mac OS X (10.4.11), AppleTV, iPod

Posted on Jan 21, 2008 11:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 21, 2008 11:20 AM in response to sue-NYC

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums.

I can think of 3 areas to look at:

The tv does not support HDCP, unlikely but you could check this out with Sharp.

The cables are defective, you could try other cables or try the same cables on another setup that you know works, you could do this round at a friends house if you have no other HDMI equipment.

The HDMI card in either the tv or the tv is defective. It's likely easier to check out the tv first, try it on another tv with HDMI, checking out the tv might mean you bringing another HDMI device you know is working to your tv.

Reply

Answer 2

sue-NYC Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 21, 2008 11:52 AM in response to Winston Churchill

The Sharp Aquos does have HDMI with HDCP input so I will try the cable and then go from there. I have read that some HDMI cable jacks do not work as reliably as others because the molded plastic cover was too thick and wondered if the Apple version was one of the finicky ones.
Thanks for your help.
Sue

Reply

Answer 3

Jan 21, 2008 12:23 PM in response to sue-NYC

I've not heard that particular complaint about cables although I'm an advocate of avoiding cheap cables. That doesn't mean you need to take out a second mortgage for your cables, but you should avoid the $ 10 with a free pack of razor blade types. Although saying that you have bought good cables.

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 21, 2008 1:07 PM in response to Winston Churchill

Having same problem with 2 year old JVC. Posted earlier today. JVC wasn't much help. Maybe something with the way the HDMI port addresses video engine they said? Read about some new Sony entertainment center with active HDMI that doesn't work with older hd tv also. I only have AppleTv and mac mini to test my JVC HDMI port. Wish I had another HDMI product to test with.

Reply

Answer 5

Jan 21, 2008 1:49 PM in response to spooky tooth

The sony entertainment centre may well have something that requires HDMI 1.3 or better (such as blu-ray), I see nothing the tv does that requires anything more than HDMI 1.0, although it is I believe 1.3 compliant.

Reply

Answer 6

sue-NYC Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2008 11:52 AM in response to spooky tooth

I too am wondering if it's the 2 year old TV that may be an issue however I also don't have an easy way to test that either. I have emailed Sharp to ask them if they know of any issues with my version of the Aquos but haven't heard from them. I also verified there are no firmware updates for the TV.

I don't have any other HDMI sources to try with the TV and also don't have another TV with a HDMI port to try the AppleTV with. I am going to try another cable. If that doesn't solve it, I think I'll have to take the AppleTV to the Apple Store to see if they will test the HDMI port for me so that at least I'm sure that the unit is fully operational.

Sue

Reply

Answer 7

Jan 22, 2008 12:10 PM in response to sue-NYC

In my JVC users guide it states the HDMI port is not compatible with picture signals of a pc. It seem that all HDMI is not the same. My JVC is HD projection (HD -ILA ) . Sue is your sharp projection also ?

Reply

Answer 8

sue-NYC Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 22, 2008 12:56 PM in response to spooky tooth

My Sharp Aquos TVs HDMI (with HDCP) input has settings for the following video formats:

Signal Type: RGB or YCbCr 4:4:4 or YCbCr 4:2:2
Color Matrix: ITU601 or ITU709

I have no idea what video signal type the AppleTV puts out and would love to know that.

Sue

Reply

Answer 9

olivtree

Level 1

0 points

Jan 22, 2008 1:13 PM in response to sue-NYC

Have you tried it with ONLY the HDMI cable hooked up? Sometimes, if two types of connections are coming from one source, one is overridden.

Reply

Answer 10

Jan 22, 2008 3:21 PM in response to olivtree

I have. I even tried HDMI to DVI to VGA/XGA and still no image The only thing that works is composite video so far with JVC

Reply

Answer 11

Jan 22, 2008 3:48 PM in response to sue-NYC

of the two 1080i resolution settings (different Hz), my Aquos supports only one frequency - could it be your apple tv is configured at the higher frequency?

Try setting your Apple TV down to the lowest frequency / resolution then setting it up with the HDMI?

Mine works just fine with HDMI on the lower frequency 1080i setting.

Reply

Answer 12

sue-NYC Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 23, 2008 7:22 AM in response to ScottishBloke@Yahoo.com

I tried setting my AppleTV to the 1080i-50hz setting while it was connected with the component cables but it didn't work. The TV couldn't accept that signal so the AppleTV would not allow the change. I set it back to the regular 1080i setting which I assume is for 60hz. Is your TV from a non-US region that it works with 50hz?

My TV works fine at the higher hz with the component cables but not the HDMI cable. I will buy a new cable today and try that since that seems to be the easiest thing to try at this point.

Thanks,
Sue

Reply

Answer 13

sue-NYC Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 23, 2008 7:23 AM in response to olivtree

I did try it with only the HDMI cable hooked up and that did not work. I'm trying a new HDMI cable later today.
Thanks,
Sue

Reply

Answer 14

Jan 23, 2008 8:08 AM in response to sue-NYC

Well I think I final found the reason of my 2 year old JVC no worky with HDMI. Old HDMI no gotty:
HDCP which stands for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection and was developed by Intel Corporation. The corporation win again or is there a way around?
This link tells the story:
http://tv.about.com/od/hdtv/a/hdmidvihdcp.htm

Reply