722k HDMI port is getting wonky

[dendavis]

Having suffered thru two 622's, whose HMDI ports failed, I have been happy for a long time with my 722k's (DISH has replaced two prior 'k' series due to hard drive failures), since the HDMI port has never been an issue.

I recently set up my cabling with a Cat5e extender, and ran the Cat 5e from a media closet, thru the wall, then behind the baseboard from the wall exit point, over to the telly. Been working fine for several months, but lately when I fire up the system, there is no sound. Have to go in to the media closet, pull the HDMI short cable out and re-insert. Works fine for sometimes three or four days, other days, happens every time. Went online to CyberGuys, ordered an HDMI angle adapter, basically a male end and female end on the same short "plug", which can be angled as needed. Description calls it the "HDMI port saver." Hoping this will be stable enough to hold the 'k' port. Also hoping this is not a defect with the 'k,' although, having been given two 'k's, including the problematic one, I would suspect they are remanufactured.

Wondering if others have had this issue, specifically, not a total failure of the 722k HDMI port, the way the 622's failed, but more like a weak connection at the port which sporadically fails.

 

[Jim5506]

So you naturally assume the 722k is the problem, not a poor connection or problem component somewhere else?

 

[KAB]

I have read here and there about audio problems with those Cat5 extenders.

 

[whatchel1]

How long is your CAT 5e extender? It sounds like you are very edge of reliable distance. You may need to replace w/ CAT 6 wire. BTW I have a CAT 5 setup but I also run SPDIF from my PC to the 7.1 Yamaha I have.

 

[dendavis]

My Cat 5e is 40' long.

The last thing I need is to have to change out the dvr, so I will go on record that I tried every isolation technique I could think of to verify which part of the system was causing the problem. This included using a different television; using an extended HDMI cable from my other dvr, to "feed" the HDMI/Cat 53 converter going to the primary television. The clincher for me was when I "wiggled" the HDMI pigtail going in to the suspect 722k, and got sound breakup.

 

[whatchel1]

My Cat 5e is 40' long.

The last thing I need is to have to change out the dvr, so I will go on record that I tried every isolation technique I could think of to verify which part of the system was causing the problem. This included using a different television; using an extended HDMI cable from my other dvr, to "feed" the HDMI/Cat 53 converter going to the primary television. The clincher for me was when I "wiggled" the HDMI pigtail going in to the suspect 722k, and got sound breakup.

Sound break up when you wiggle a connector tells you little as you could be just moving it so it is disconnecting from the right pins on the HDMI. To me it sounds like the connecter that the HDMI is going into has the problem.

 

[dendavis]

There's a thought. I have a second HDMI over Cat5e cable setup from my AppleTV to the primary television, I can easily switch the output HDMI into the HDMI>Cat5e convertor unit and see. Have never had an audio problem with the AppleTV cabling. Thanks.

 

[TG2]

another question, has the problem increased more relatively with receiver firmware update? because the dish receiver can be updated, doesn't mean that the updates don't introduce a problem.

Also did you experience a greater number of audio problems in the February to June time frame? This would coincide with the rash of audio drop outs that were happening, *had been* happening less from June to now, but have recently started on the rise again. The audio drops are more noticeable when going through an AV Receiver as you get a marked delay in receivers re-training to the output (ie if on a broadcast in DD5.1 .. audio glitch/drop ... look at receiver and see it drop from DD5.1 to some other listening mode, and then come back up into 5.1 mode).

the audio drop outs *do* happen direct to TV (via hdmi) but they didn't seem to be as noticeable to me as they are through the receiver (and for me its fiber optical to the receiver) ... but if the audio drop outs are glitching in just the right way, it might be the "reset" you do that clears the problem that wasn't really caused by the connector, but by bad bits of data.

 

[dendavis]

First noticed the problem in late June. Did not seem to correlate to firmware update. My dvr sends the signal directly to the television via the HDMI/Cat 5e, nothing intervenes. As to "drop out," once the sound is on, it is perfect, no issues until the next time I turn on the system, and all I get is the video.

 

[dendavis]

Holding my breath

Have had the HDMI port plug-in installed for over a week now, have not lost the sound. I did test the second of my HDMI extender-over-Cat 5e lines with the 722k, to verify if the first line itself was the problem, but with the second line, I still had the loss of audio. Once the new gizmo went in, have not had a problem, but am holding my breath