I am having difficulties with a certain combination is HDMI components. Here is a list of the devices I am using.

Sources: A computer (using a DVI to HDMI cable) and a Blu-ray player (HDMI).
Repeater: An Onkyo AV receiver (HDMI in and out).
Displays: A Philips 1920x1080 TV and a Sanyo 1920x1080 projector (both using HDMI in).

All devices with HDMI connectors (everything but the computer which is DVI) are compliant with the HDMI 1.3 spec.

If I hook either source directly to either display everything works fine.

If I go from the Blu-ray player through the receiver to either display all works fine.

If I go from the computer through the receiver to the Philips TV that works fine too.

But if I go from the computer through the receiver to the Sanyo projector the picture is scrambled, regardless of whether the computer is playing a DVD or just showing the desktop.

I asked Onkyo about this and was told that they will not pass an unencrypted signal because of HDCP requirements. I suggested this didn't sound right because it works fine with the Philips TV. At this point the support person said there was about a 50-50 chance it would work with any given display. I asked what the success/failure was based on and he would not or could not answer.

I also asked Sanyo why their display would not show the content when the Phillips TV does and they explained it was not their problem since it works when directly connected to the source and suggested I contact the manufacturer of the receiver.

So whose problem is it (other than mine :confused:)? How can devices that are "compliant" to a standard be incompatible? Do the HDMI/HDCP specs have enough "wiggle room" to allow this sort of incompatibility? If so that is really bad for consumers.

Also, with an unencrypted, non-HDCP source why does HDCP come up in the conversation at all? From what I have read in the HDCP spec the basic premise is that if a source has HDCP protected content it is not supposed to send that content to anything but a display or repeater that supports it too. It seems to me that HDCP does not apply here since the content is NOT protected, true?

Is there any way to make this work short of bypassing the receiver? I would really like the HDMI promise of everything in a single cable to work.

Oh, and please don't tell me that unprotected signals may be from illegitimate sources. While that is certainly true my intended purpose is to the the computer as a DVR and show slide shows of my digital photos. Can HDCP be used to prevent these use cases simply because no content providers profit from them?

Thanks in advance for any info/advice.

You are certainly right about one thing: HDCP allows very little "wiggle" room. In versions before 1.3, I've usually had trouble based on the receiver. In other words, if I switched receivers from one brand to the next, I could usually make it work. However, since 1.3 was released and implemented, I've not had any trouble with receivers.

HDMI passes several signals back and forth, source (cable box or bluray) to sink (display) and sink to source. One of the return values is the SDID information about the display unit. It's native resolution, it's scan frequency, etc. and the source adjusts accordingly. Your HDMI source device cannot send two sets of values at the same time. I suspect that your two display devices have different characteristics. Your scan rate, in particular (since the resolution is the same: 1080x1920) might be at fault. Try setting both TVs to the same frequency: 24, 30, 60 or 120 hertz. This might cause the other unit to lock on the signal.

Scrambled picture is not a typical symptom of HDCP.

For anyone who has a similar problem, I was unable to actually solve it, but I did find a workaround that does not require me to pull an additional HDMI cable through the wall. I bought an inexpensive HDMI switcher. It has 3 input ports, but I am currently only using 2, one for the receiver and one for the computer. Perhaps someday I'll get another unprotected source (an HD game console perhaps?) and need the third. The output goes directly to the projector. The HDMI switcher has a small remote which works nicely with my universal remote setup to do the switching automatically. I lose the receiver's overlays on the display for things like volume changes, but I can live with it.

It still chaps me a bit that I had to buy an HDMI switcher when I bought a receiver that was supposed to do the job, but since the switcher + extra cable cost me less then it would have cost to return the receiver this seems like the least cost & least trouble solution.