aTV connection issue with HDMI on Samsung

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Level 1

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aTV connection issue with HDMI on Samsung

As I was getting nearly crazy on this I tought it could be usefull for other users to read what improved the situation:

I have the aTV connected to a Samsung 768 LED TV. When I start it up everything works correctly. After changing the input to another source and back to the hdmi input where aTV is connected: blinking. no picture at or a viollet screen. A restart of aTV solves the issue. Simpler: unplugging the HDMI cable and pluggin it back in helpes as well (sometimes to be done twice).

Hard Coding the values on aTV to 1080p and HDMI RGB high improved it a bit (so every 5th time it was working) but didn't solved the issue.

What made it even better was to set the input name on the Samsung TV to "internet TV" (others report to have made good experience with setting it to PC input - pay attention as this limits the settings you can made as some processings of the tv are set off)

But even it improved the situation (sometimes it works and if not 1 time unplugging the cable is enough) it drives me crazy. Any other proposals?

I have seen posts 1 year back with the same issues. Is it possible that Apple has no solution to this?

Cheers

MacBookPro 17", Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 11:57 AM

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Answer 1

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Sep 12, 2009 12:11 PM in response to petr b

HDMI is very frustrating.

I think AppleTv flounders when the HDMI connection gets turned off (TV off) or goes idle (if you change the input in some cases).

Mine often get 'stuck' these days if I turn the TV off with it's power button rather than putting it in standby - but not always, it'very unpredictable (I usually put Tv in standby but sometimes I just can't find the remote!).

Another thing one of my AppleTV's does is to force itself as the current input. It may be the TV but even if I set the default input to soemthing else, it switches to AppleTV when coming out of standby or turning on. Even if I change over, quite often it changes back to the AppleTV until the second or third attempt at switching to another input. It may be the TV's at fault, but HDMI is the route cause.

I gave one to my parents, and they disconnected it, as it always forced their plasma to use that HDMI input, even if they tried to turn to another channel or input.

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Answer 2

Simineon

Level 1

0 points

Sep 14, 2009 12:28 AM in response to petr b

Hi,

just bought my aTV and fidlded two days with exact the same prob before I read in another forum:

Please connect your HDMI-Cable from the aTV in the nearest Jack to the PC - Connector (it is HDMI2 for mine) and then

Rename the HDMI2 to PC *<= Important !*

After doing that it should works

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Answer 3

Sep 14, 2009 8:57 AM in response to Simineon

Renaming the (HDMI 2) input to PC does indeed work BUT if you can lose Colour, Tint, and Sharpness controls by doing this. This happens if you set the Apple TV to the native resolution of the TV (In the case of my Samsung 1080p).

A more permanent way around the problem is to go into the TVs service menu a change 'HotPlug' to off. The procedure for this is quite straightforward, but not without risk to your TVs warranty. (Although a Samsung engineer that visited my house to fix a defective TV told me that he routinely turns off HotPlug when a user reports problems with HDMI devices).

This is a Samsung issue, as I've not seen it come up with other TV brands.

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