Onkyo 606 HDMI problems galore

Hi Folks,

My 606 has been slowly crapping out for a couple of months, and I fear the HDMI daughtercard is fried.

I have a Samsung 2500 and a Comcast DCH 3416 both connected through HDMI to the Onkyo, and the damn receiver just can't get it together. Powering on the receiver (cable input) yields no video to my Samsung LN46A550 for upwards of 10 minutes. After a while the handshake comes through and audio starts, and then a few minutes later we get video.

The BD, on the other hand, just wont handshake anymore at all. I've had to completely bypass the receiver and run the HDMI to the tv, and use the TV's digi optical out to feed audio back to the receiver (logistically easier than running right to the receiver).

Anyway, I'm looking for a solution before I have to get on the phone to Onkyo's awful tech support and drop the unit off for neigh-on-forever at their repair/refurb shop near me. I've run through all of the HDMI settings, turned off CEC, disabled HDMI audio output, the video is set to passthrough, and nothing fixes it.

I've reset the Onkyo several times, and the first time it recovered HDMI handshaking ability, but this second time I have had no such luck.

Does anyone have a solution or a set of debug steps I can go through?

Let me state clearly that this just started happening within the last couple of months. I bought it in September and up until February it was running like a champ, no problems at all. I could swap between powered-on components and it would handshake 100% of the time and do what it was supposed to do.

Any help appreciated.
thanks,
Matt

Power on sequence has no effect.

As an aside, it really shouldn't. It's not in the HDMI spec, and is completely unacceptable for manufacturers to foist this on us. My cable box is always on. Its a DVR. If I turn it off it will still record, but that doesn't prevent it from stopping me from turning it off when it's recording something. There is no way to shutdown the HDMI output independent of the tuner/DVR short of pulling the HDMI cable, and that is just utter nonsense. I don't want Legos or an Erector set or a goddamn Rube Goldberg machine every time I want to shut off my set. Infuriating.

Since I wrote that post months ago, I have been fighting Onkyo for decent service. They have very very little to give, I assure you.

I sent the AVR in to United Radio Service of East Syracuse, NY (they are _awesome_, and the lone bright shining star in my saga) on 5/21/09. Today, 7/30/09, I have a new receiver (according to FedEx it will be delivered this afternoon). Between here and there, is a long, arduous saga, involving no fewer than 5 infuriating agents at Onkyo USA in Upper Saddle River, NJ. I have names and numbers, but I don't feel the need to call anyone out on a public forum.

I'm going to snip from a letter I sent to their CS department, post facto, because I do not want to retype it:

[...snip]

In May, after a month or so of hiccups and bugs in the HDMI subsystem of my Onkyo TX-SR606 receiver, I sent it in on a warranty claim for repair. It was received by United Radio Service [the contracted repair house], in East Syracuse, NY on May 22. Parts were ordered for repair on May 29. On June 12, I was informed that Onkyo did not have parts available, and that they were/are backordered until July 21. Six weeks is a long time to have any piece of equipment out for repair, so I called Onkyo to see if we could make another arrangement. I spoke with -name redacted-, in parts, who put me through a few hoops at first, but eventually relented and agreed to do a swap with a new unit because the parts for repair would be so long in coming. Their first position was to extend my manufacturer's warranty by 6 weeks (!!!!!), but I wasn't having that, as the cost of the warranty extension didn't begin to cover my time, aggravation, and opportunity cost of having no receiver for so long. On June 17, URS shipped my receiver directly to Onkyo, and once it was received there, Onkyo would send out a swap unit to me, directly.

That is where I stand today, frustrated, aggravated, and annoyed, 33 days later. Since sometime around June 22, Onkyo has been promising me weekly that a new receiver would be shipped out "next week" only for me to call on a Monday and be told that the receiver is on backorder and there was nothing available for me. Today I called again, and spoke with -name redacted- in order fulfillment, who told me just last Friday that she would ship me a new unit today. Now they are even promising an upgrade, to this year's model of TX-SR607, but this is only because the 606 has been discontinued. I called today, and -name redacted- told me next week at best. She indicated that they should be receiving new unit "the 4th week of July". I didn't tell her that that indicates this week, because I just didn't want to confuse the poor dear.

[end snip]

Fast forward about 10 days, and the receiver is finally in the mail. To sum up, HDMI daughterboard is fried. You will most likely have to follow the exact process I went through. Be persistent and take copious notes while on the phone. Do not necessarily expect to get a brand new unit like I did unless there is a backorder on your parts. Do expect to be frustrated and aggravated by Onkyo's horrible customer service.

Good luck to all.

Matt

@M Code:

Fair enough, but URS said the HDMI board (and a transformer) were bad. They also said they have seen other instances of the same, or similar, problems in the x06 models.

Thats the electronic and software process by which two HDMI devices send their capabilities to each other, acknowledge their respective existences, and decide on the best method available to push A/V data. A simple example is BD player to TV. The TV send its resolution capabilities to the BD player, and the BD player sends its list back in exchange, and they decide on what to use based on best available to both.

Its a process that should go smoothly in theory, but there have been multiple revisions to the HDMI spec, and many manufacturers (especially in the beginning of HDMI) were lax in their adherence to the exact spec.

In any case, if the handshake does not go properly, the channel is closed, and no data is transferred.

Good luck to you... I hope you get it back within the decade.