"Static" when viewing DVDs over HDMI

Hi everyone,

I wasn't sure of the proper forum to post this thread. My apologies if this is incorrect. I'm also new to HD so some of my impressions and terminology are likely incorrect.

I recently purchased a Vizio VU42LF 42" 1080p LCD from Costco. Overall I am quite happy with it compared to my old 27" JVC CRT (it was a nice TV, but hardly state of the art ). Now of course I find I really need to upgrade all of my other components to take advantage of the new TV: DVD player, DirecTV receiver, home theater amp, etc. It never ends.

My next purchase was a Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player (see the trend? I'm a cheap bastard). The HD-A2 is connected to the TV using both a component cable and an HDMI cable. I previewed a few SD DVDs and the picture was considerably better than what I was used to. I then sat down to watch a movie, but had to stop after about 90 minutes to take care of something else. After returning to the movie a few hours later, I noticed what looked like static in the picture. I'm not sure if I can explain this properly, but numerous small white blobs randomly appeared throughout the picture. This effect looked similar to static from a standard OTA broadcast.

What I found was that this effect only occurred when viewing the HDMI input. If I switched the TV to the component input everything looked like I expected. However, I couldn't seem to view the DVD unless I set the DVD player to show the movie in 480i or 480p. My guess is that this is some limitation of copy protection on the movie, and not necessarily related to the problem I am having. This "static" or "snowflake" effect persists even when a movie is not playing. For instance, the UI for the DVD player configuration menus exhibit the same behavior: "static" or "snow" over HDMI, but crystal clear over component.

At this time the HD-A2 is the only HDMI source I have so I have not yet been able to narrow down the culprit. Soon DirecTV will be coming to my house to upgrade my satellite and STB. At that point I will have another HDMI source to see if I can narrow this down to the HD-A2 or the TV. I also ordered a few HDMI cables and a DVI-to-HDMI adapter from Monoprice. When those arrive I will be able to see if my current HDMI cable is at fault, and I will be able to attach a computer to the TV to have yet another source.

Is anyone familiar with the effect I am describing? Are there any other troubleshooting steps I can try to pinpoint the problem? Let me know if more information is needed. While my overall impressions have been positive, this one problem has been frustrating for me.

Thanks!

Thanks for the response, grommet. That's actually good news, if that is indeed my problem. I'd much rather the HDMI cable be faulty than either the TV or the DVD player. I suppose I'll know more when my order from Monoprice is delivered some time this week.

For reference, the cables I ordered from Monoprice are these:

hxxp://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024006&p_id=3661&seq=1&format=2
(The forum software won't let me post URLs yet, as I don't meet the minimum post requirement.)

At this point I know only enough to get myself in to trouble. I hope these cables are appropriate.

I agree it is strange that the problem didn't exist at first and then showed up later. Thanks for reassuring me about the new cables I ordered. They are so much less expensive than the off-brand I purchased at Circuit City. I had a feeling this would be the case, but didn't have much choice when I got the DVD player. I wanted to be up and running as quickly as possible, so I had to pay for my impatience.

The effect I described seems to occur no matter what, as long as I am using the HDMI connection. It happened when the DVD player was set to output 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i. One of the things I tried was play the movie, turn off the TV, and turn the TV back on. That did not clear up the issue. Turning the DVD player off and then on did not clear it up, either.

I'm hoping it is a problem with the HDMI cable. Obviously.

Here's an update:

Today I received my new HDMI cables from Monoprice, and DirecTV installed the new satellite and HD receiver. The new HDMI cables had no noticeable effect on the sparkle effect that exists while watching DVDs. Also, it first seemed like the new DirecTV HD receiver was having the same problems. In fact, it was getting so bad that the output of both the satellite receiver and the DVD over HDMI could not be recognized. The picture had degraded to the point that it looked like snow, just like the old rabbit ear days of trying to tune in a distant channel.

I had to return to work, so I couldn't futz with the setup any more. After I got home and made dinner, I decided to sit in front of the TV and see if I could figure some of this out. To my surprise I was getting a picture from the satellite receiver over an HDMI connection. I tuned in some HD channels; everything looked great. After watching a basketball game on ESPN-HD for a while, I figured I'd press my luck and see what the DVD output looked like.

The HD-A2 takes a while to boot up, so I turned it on and continued to watch the game. Several seconds later the satellite picture went to complete crap. "Here we go again", I thought. But then I noticed that the DVD player had finished its boot process. I turned it off, and almost immediately the satellite picture came back and looked perfect. So, I turned the DVD player back on. After it was done booting the satellite picture went to hell again.

I then reversed the process: turned on only the DVD player, started watching a movie, and then turned on the satellite receiver. While watching a movie I didn't see much difference whether or not the satellite box was on. It was fairly bad regardless.

Also, when the picture degrades there is static in the audio over the HDMI connections.

I'm not sure what conclusion to draw from this. Does my TV have problems when two HDMI sources are on at the same time? Is the HD-A2 DVD player somehow causing interference? I don't have any other HD displays to test the DVD player's HDMI connection on. Does anyone have some advice for me based on this latest information?

It does seem likely that the HD-A2 is the problem. I'll take it to some friends' houses and try it with their displays.

If I have to return this to Circuit City, and they have no other A2s left, what are my options? I don't want to be forced to spend more money for an A3 because the unit they sold me was faulty. Will I be able to bargain with Circuit City on the price of a replacement A3? I realize that nobody is likely to know a definite answer to that, but accounts of similar experiences may be helpful.

Upon further review it looks like the TV may be at fault. I have been experiencing the same sparkles or static in the picture from the satellite receiver as I was getting from the DVD player. Also, my Onkyo 605 arrived today and the same thing happens when viewing its setup menu over an HDMI connection.

Three input sources, same or similar results. Eventually the picture gets bad enough that it completely drops off. This occurs whether one source is plugged in, or all of them are plugged in.

I still have not gotten around to bringing my DVD player to someone else's house to test it out, but I think that may be pointless now. I guess I'll pack up the TV and head back to Costco. Why couldn't it be one of the small components?

I took the TV back to Costco today and picked up another VU42LF. I have the DirecTV receiver and the HD-A2 DVD player hooked up to the Onkyo 605 via HDMI. The Onkyo is then hooked up to the TV via HDMI. Everything looks great!

I even tested out a VHS -> DVD transfer. To my surprise the audio worked without any extra analog RCA connections. It looks like everything works over HDMI, even analog audio. This makes setup and configuration much simpler. I think it's all starting to come together. Now I have to wait for my new speakers to arrive next week. That "Welcome to the slippery slope" thread has it right.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I appreciate your help.