I posted in the Onkyo tx-sr875 thread but I don't understand why I need an extender.

I have a brand new Onkyo 875 AVR. That only outputs to my 3 month old Pioneer pdp5080 plasma via a Cablemart 35' hdmi cable. When the hdmi cable is plugged directly into the back of my satelite receiver the picture is beautiful. If I hook the satellite up to the HDMI input1,2,3 or 4 on the Onkyo AVR the picture looks like a thermal image. Now if I switch the AVR to the dvd player ( which is input into the AVR via component) the picture is beautiful, and if I switch the AVR over to the VCR (which is input to the AVR via s-vhs ) the picture is beautiful (well relative to the source). So component to hdmi, and s-vhs to hdmi are great through the AVR's hdmi output. I don't understand why Onkyo emailed me that I need an extender?
One other thing the sat receiver has a dvi output, incase that matters.
Last thing what kind of extender should I get one that plugs into the back of the tv at the end of the cable or should I get one that goes between two cables (suggestions)?

Bill

If I hook the satellite up to the HDMI input1,2,3 or 4 on the Onkyo AVR the picture looks like a thermal image.

Can you describe in more detail what you mean by this? I'm not sure you need an extender and I wonder whether something goofy is happening here. For example, if the devices are getting confused about colorspace, that can make for some strange looking pictures.

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable (http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/index.htm)

Kurt

Thank you for your reply.The dvi output of the sattelite receiver goes into a hdmi adapter and then through either a 1.5' hdmi cable or a 3' hdmi cable, to the AVR. I have tried two different cables and have verified that the cable works on another television. I have tried this in all 4 hdmi inputs of the receiver. I will try to attach a photo. The good loking one is from dvd component to AVR through hdmi output. The weird one is satelite hdmi to AVR through hdmi output.What is colorspace?

Well, that does look to me like colorspace. Here's the thing. HDMI supports two ways of encoding color, which are Y/Pb/Pr (color-difference, like component video) and RGB (there's also a third new one under 1.3, but that's unlikely to be involved here). Ordinarily, devices will talk to each other and find a compatible colorspace which both support, but on occasion I've seen it happen that one needs to set the colorspace manually to get it to work. Chances are that your satellite box is putting out RGB (I think--though I haven't had a chance to check this today--that DVI only supports RGB), and your display is looking for Y/Pb/Pr. I would try digging down in your display's menus to see if there is a colorspace setting, see if you can manually set that to RGB, and see what happens when you do.

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable (http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/index.htm)

Kurt

Thanks for info, If the satelite receiver when fed into the display directly shows a beautiful picture, then isn't the colorspace problem within the Onkyo AVR?

There is a spot in the plasmas' menu to adjust color space ( colorspace 1 thru 4 settings) I have tried them but it just made the picture worse. I think there was mention or colorspace adjustment within the Onkyo Reon processor.

I guess I better research what colorspace is.

Bill

My apologies--I missed that particular detail. What could be happening here, as you indicate, is that something is getting screwed up in the Onkyo. I am not sure offhand what the issue might be. The first thought that comes to mind is the Digital Display Channel, which is a low-speed data line that carries some info--I'm not sure, without digging into the spec, whether that's where the colorspace selection is communicated between devices or not. If that's the cause, an extender very well may not help, because most of the extenders are designed to boost the TMDS lines, not the DDC.

Does the Onkyo have any colorspace settings in its menus? It would be odd for an AV receiver to have that, but then HDMI has led to a lot of odd things...

Kurt
Blue Jeans Cable (http://www.bluejeanscable.com)

Hi,
I have the same problem but with different sources.

I do not have idea of what can cause the problem but I want to report my experience beause I think it can help the experts in troubleshooting it.

The first time I saw that kinf of image was when I attached the HTPC to the Onkyo. The solution came out from a ATI proprietary dvi>hdmi adaptor. The generic dvi>hdmi adaptor I had created the problem with the Onkyo.
The generic adaptor used connecting directly the TV to the HTPC worked perfetcly.

This is very similar to the problem uxbridge has. It would be interesting to know what the ATI adaptor does.

The second time I had the problem was, and still is, related to a Toshiba Notebook connected to the Onkyo. The notebook has a hdmi output. Even in this case if I connect the Toshiba directly to the TV no problem and I can play HD DVD.

So it seems that the Onkyo is not truly compatible with signals coming from PC Video card.

I hope these information help.

ciao from Italy

I borrowed a friends Sony blu-ray player today bdp-s300, hooked up the hdmi to input 1 on the Onkyo set the 875 to through on the hdmi output. I set the the blu-ray player to 1080p/24. The result was beautiful, atttached is a pic.
So the problem is not with the 35' cable but is with the handshake of the Starchoice sat/receivers' dvi output and the Onkyo recognizing it. Which means I need to talk to starchoice and post in the sticky at the top of this hdmi section.

Bill

I have the TX-SR606b - I'm noting in the manual that it says the HDMI is not compatible with PC "images" - whatever that means... Small print.

Anyway, what type of extended did onkyo recommend to you - I'm using a monoprice hdmi extender and it's flat non-compatible with the receiver. No signal, even with small runs of cable. It works fine without the receiver in the mix, or without the extenders (short cable run) in the mix.

I did not use any extender. The problem was with the handshake between the Onkyo and the Starchoice sat receiver. I ended up resorting to using the component output from the Starchoice receiver. I beleive extenders are only used for cable runs 50' and up, your problem sounds more like a handshake problem.

I'd hate to bring up an old thread, but just to note to people:
I just purchased the Onkyo SR608, and the same problem exists when using a non-powered HDMI extender. Without the extender, or without the A/V reciever, it works. But I cannot use both the extender and reciever together- there is no signal.