I have a Sony XBR3 which I hooked to an HD / DVR cable box via HDMI cable. Worked fine the first day. I then reconfigured some other compoents and when I reconnected the HDMI cord I got a blinking picture on the TV. Picture went out every 2 or 3 seconds. I thought it may have been the HDMI connection / cable and tried a new cable but got the same result. I scrapped the HDMI connection and used the component cable to connect the cable box and the picture is fine. Someone mentioned this could be an issue with the HDMI / HDCP sync and that it is known to be an issue with the Sony XBR3.

Has anyone heard of this issue and/or know a way to fix it? In addition, is there typically much of a difference in the picture using the HDMI vs component cables?

When you use the HDMI interconnect the video and audio stay in the digital format. You set might do a better job without having to go through an additional analog to digital conversion step. I recommend that you reformat your cable box by unpluging it for about 15 min and also unplug your TV set. Then see if they will play nice together again. This is a common handshake problem involving copy protection, etc.

Richard