HDMI flicker with Bose system

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Level 1

8 points

HDMI flicker with Bose system

Hi: I recently installed a Bose home theater system in my house and hooked up my mac mini server (macmini5,3 16GB RAM, OS 10.7.5) to the Bose control console (Bose AV35) via an HDMI connection. I'm thinking "streaming movies, itunes, all hooked up digitally to my Bose system. High def, surround. Pretty cool!"

Well, almost. The Bose system sees the mac mini and plays audio and video, but both signals are interrupted occasionally (every 10-30 seconds) with either a screen flicker or complete signal loss. Visually, the screen (a VIZIO 1080p LED flat screen) gets digital "snow" and garbled images, kind of like an old broadcast TV losing a station signal. The sound just drops out during the flicker.

As a last resort I can lose the HDMI connection and go to a composite+optical connection, but I'm irritated that the HDMI doesn't work. Anyone have an idea what's going on?
CJ

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.5), HDMI connection to Bose surround sy

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 8:02 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 15, 2013 4:39 PM in response to swander01

I would do a "PRAM" and "SMC" reset. Maybe try it in SafeBoot. (i'll link the support pages below).

Also, boot into recovery (by holding down command+r straight after system power-on) and see if anything happens there. A good way to test this is to go into "Get Help Online" and going into youtube.

If it happens on a particular application though, that's when you have to install a different one or re-install it.

SMC - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

PRAM - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

SafeBoot - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564

Try these and test in order. Don't do them all in one otherwise it may not work.

Let me know how you go 🙂

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Aug 15, 2013 12:39 PM in response to swander01

Hmm, no idea really.

Long shot, but...

Open Audio Midi Setup in Applications>Utilities, see the input & output options & KHz setting there, some things will change it for their own use, then not set it back.

Open Console in Applications>Utilities & see if there are any clues or repeating messages when this happens.

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Answer 3

swander01 Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 11, 2013 5:28 AM in response to swander01

FWIW: I tried all the above to no avail. The good news is I figured out that the Bose system doesn't like to have any other HDMI inputs active when the mac mini is running. If I power down the blue ray player that was attached to the other HDMI input, then the mac mini is fine - no glitches, rock solid. Switching between sources isn't enough - you gotta power down the other source so that the Bose doesn't loose synch with the mac mini. Go figure.

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