H20 Connection Tip Using HDMI With A/V Receiver & TV

[gwlashier]

Before I get into this tip, I'll make a quick intro as this is my first post. I am a DirecTV satellite installer as well as a customer. I've done International, KA/KU, Commercial, MDU (multiple dwelling units aka entire apartment complexes) and residential installs. High Definition is my specialty. I also work offshore 6 months out of the year as a navigator for an offshore oil exploration company Western Geco. I work on a vessel that gets contracted out to survey areas offshore to exlpore for oil that are in exisiting oil fields. I also service the DirecTV systems that are on our vessels offshore for the KVH Tracvision G6 system. Intro over.
I had recently purchased a 50" Philips Plasma TV and a Pioneer Elite A/V receiver that has HDMI inputs and a HDMI output to the TV. I then purchased a H20 DirecTV receiver. I ran a HDMI cable from the H20 to the A/V receiver and then from the HDMI output of the A/V receiver to the Plasma TV. With the correct input on the TV selected, I had attempted to set up the H20. I got to the welcome screen and the H20 went into a continuous reboot loop. The resolution lights on the front panel of the receiver kept lighting up also. I could never get into the set up page. I then connected the H20 directly to the Plasma TV bypassing the A/V receiver. BINGO! Set up complete. I then reconnected the H20 to the A/V receiver and from the A/V receiver HDMI output to the TV. Everything worked perfectly. I informed DirecTV Tier 2 Technical Support of the incident and they documented the event as they had not encountered this issue before. Apparently during the intial process of setting up the H20, it has to be connected directly to the TV as it can't identify the the resolution capability of the TV going through the A/V receiver. You will see plenty more A/V receivers that have HDMI inputs & outputs this will save yourself a little aggrevation.

 

[HBKbiggestfan]

Good advice. Any advice for someone who has no HDMI input on thier TV? I have the HDMI cable. Im wondering if the is an HDMI to Component converter i can buy? Any clue?

 

[charper1]

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI-hdmi_adapt.html

1. DVI-HDMI Cable add the DVI to component adapter.

2. Just run direct from component OUT to IN

 

[jpn]

Apparently during the intial process of setting up the H20, it has to be connected directly to the TV as it can't identify the the resolution capability of the TV going through the A/V receiver. You will see plenty more A/V receivers that have HDMI inputs & outputs this will save yourself a little aggrevation.

I don't want to question your expertise, you've clearly got a good technical base, but I do question how you arrived at your conclusions. Still, your points very good workaround/troubleshooting-steps and a good thing for the knowledge base.

My A/V rcvr lacks digital video inputs. So I've got the H20 connected to an HDMI-DVI adapter, with a DVI cable, into a Gefen DVI switch, which connects to my 51-inch Hitachi. Not a direct connection by any stretch. Yet I had no problems during install related to the switch, HDMI-DVI adapter, etc.... granted it was not HDMI end-to-end, but it was an indirect digital signal.

I've gone through the setup wizard sevaral times (one of my H20's is problematic). I've never seen it auto-detect resolutions; it's always defaulted to 480p, and I've had to manually select whether my screen accepts 720p or 1080i.

The rebooting may have had more to do with your particular A/V rcvr than the fact that it was not a direct connection.

 

[HBKbiggestfan]

I don't have DVI either. All I have is component. But are you sayin g I can get an adapter for DVI to Component? And If I do this will It make a difference in my overall quality?

 

[jpn]

I don't have DVI either. All I have is component. But are you sayin g I can get an adapter for DVI to Component? And If I do this will It make a difference in my overall quality?

There wouldn't be much point in converting DVI/HDMI to component; the H20 already does that internally and puts the signal on its component outputs.

Component is an analog signal, much like S-Video split into separate Red/Green/Blue signals. They are subject to external sources of interference, especially as the cables get longer.

DVI and HDMI are digital signals. You can feed the digital signal directly to your TV/monitor without introducing noise.

I used a converter to adapt HDMI to DVI. It basically strips-off the audio signal and changes the gender of a digital cable.

 

[gwlashier]

HDMI A/V Receiver

I have to agree with you on this particular problem being this specific brand and model of receiver as the probable source of the rebooting problem with the DirecTV H20 receiver. I failed to mention that I had also returned the original H20 that I had encountered this problem with, back to Best Buy. The 2nd H20 did the exact same thing. I do not beleive that I got two possible bad H20 receivers that had the exact same problem (continuious reboot and cycling throught the resolution lights cycling through as it reboots). But as stated before, when bypassing the receiver for the intiail set up process, set up was successfully completed and then everything worked like a charm when connecting the set up H20 back to the HDMI input & out of the A/V receiver. I think I will do this as a precautionary measure on all future installations of this nature that I run into.

Regards,
Gary LaShier

I don't want to question your expertise, you've clearly got a good technical base, but I do question how you arrived at your conclusions. Still, your points very good workaround/troubleshooting-steps and a good thing for the knowledge base.

My A/V rcvr lacks digital video inputs. So I've got the H20 connected to an HDMI-DVI adapter, with a DVI cable, into a Gefen DVI switch, which connects to my 51-inch Hitachi. Not a direct connection by any stretch. Yet I had no problems during install related to the switch, HDMI-DVI adapter, etc.... granted it was not HDMI end-to-end, but it was an indirect digital signal.

I've gone through the setup wizard sevaral times (one of my H20's is problematic). I've never seen it auto-detect resolutions; it's always defaulted to 480p, and I've had to manually select whether my screen accepts 720p or 1080i.

The rebooting may have had more to do with your particular A/V rcvr than the fact that it was not a direct connection.