Black Screen

[mcman]

I just joined the forum today, so please bear with me if I sound somewhat uneducated in providing information. Eventually, I'll get it right.

I recently had the HR10-250 installed and hooked it up to my Sony 65" Hi Scan XBR using component cables. The receiver is set to 1080i.

Occassionally when I am watching a HDTV movie or other broadcast...the screen will go black for less than a second...the picture will come back on....and then the bottom of the screen will display green writing that says: DTV Format 1080i. The writing is the same color and text that my TV uses when I switch between components. For that reason, I believe that my TV is the problem and not the receiver.

Anyone know what my problem may be and how I troubleshoot and eventually solve it?

Thanks
MCMAN

 

[LonghornXP]

I just joined the forum today, so please bear with me if I sound somewhat uneducated in providing information. Eventually, I'll get it right.

I recently had the HR10-250 installed and hooked it up to my Sony 65" Hi Scan XBR using component cables. The receiver is set to 1080i.

Occassionally when I am watching a HDTV movie or other broadcast...the screen will go black for less than a second...the picture will come back on....and then the bottom of the screen will display green writing that says: DTV Format 1080i. The writing is the same color and text that my TV uses when I switch between components. For that reason, I believe that my TV is the problem and not the receiver.

Anyone know what my problem may be and how I troubleshoot and eventually solve it?

Thanks
MCMAN

Your problem is being caused by what we like to call bit starving. As you might have read or will read about is D* down-rezzing all of their HD channels. They are broadcasting everything at 1280x1024 instead of 1920x1080 but worse they are send it at such a low bit-rate that anytime you watch a sporting event or anything with fast moving type scenes you will have constant dropouts.

The sad side of this is that nothing is wrong with your hardware or system because this is all on DirecTVs end and will not change until they free up bandwidth. Because of the near loss of spaceway 1 which is currently in orbit that has delayed the already delayed spaceway 2 satellite and because of this it will endup delaying the addition of more national HD channels and increasing the bit-rate of current and future HD channels.

I hate to say this but my suggestion is if your a new customer of less than 30 days I would cancel your account and get all of your money back (including what you paid for your hardware) and go with another provider until things settle down. I say this because your HD Tivo will not get the upcoming HD locals or new national HD offerings so you would need to get a low cost or free replacement which won't be a Tivo. When this occurs you would still be considered a new customer and as such can get a new customer offer when they either give away HD DVRs or rent them in the future.

Right now this isn't the best time to be a new or existing DirecTV HD customer. I expect that to change sometime early next year into the summer of 2006 but until that time you will be very mad if you have noticed this and being annoyed by it.

 

[mcman]

Thanks for the response.

Now that you mention it....the dropout did occur during the more frantic moments of Matrix Revolutions....and during a sporting event as well....

and it gets a bit frustrating to watch an action movie...and then the screen goes black at a critical moment.....not what I expected at all. If I had been told about the black screens before I ordered, I would not have ordered.

What have others done? Do people simply put up with this occassional black screen?

Considering some of the other posts I have been reading about the possibility of something signficant occurring in August.....perhaps it might be best for me to simply return everything due to my current problem....

???

 

[charper1]

Longhorn, could you explain why some people DO NOT have this issue watching the same programs?

 

[LonghornXP]

Thanks for the response.

Now that you mention it....the dropout did occur during the more frantic moments of Matrix Revolutions....and during a sporting event as well....

and it gets a bit frustrating to watch an action movie...and then the screen goes black at a critical moment.....not what I expected at all. If I had been told about the black screens before I ordered, I would not have ordered.

What have others done? Do people simply put up with this occassional black screen?

Considering some of the other posts I have been reading about the possibility of something signficant occurring in August.....perhaps it might be best for me to simply return everything due to my current problem....

???

People deal with it or cancel. I would suggest returning everything and waiting. Also you might be waiting longer than August. Right now because D* nearly lost their first spaceway satellite this afternoon I would expect to see things change. Even the the information that I've talked about from my contacts most likely might change because of recent events. We just have to wait and see but right now your pretty much wasting your money with D* when it comes to HD. Your spending top dollar for hardware. Second your also spending top dollar for HD content that is of horrid quality and the lack of HD channels makes it even less a value.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn, could you explain why some people DO NOT have this issue watching the same programs?

Well everyone I know including myself have had this problem and its related to bandwidth. Maybe a few of you are just very lucky but in this customers case he has to make his choice before his thirty days and sadly to say thats not enough time to rule out the very small chance that its hardware or installation related.

Now I love D* just because I hate my local cable company but I can't sit here today and support D* until they act on something. These issues have gone on way too long and this is another delay that should have been avoided at least one year ago.

 

[mcman]

All right...i'm going to call them tonight. I had everything installed on Saturday...and I called them yesterday complaining about the black screen. So I am well within the 30 day window..I already tried one of their suggestions, which is to use the component cables that came with the unit.

So, we'll see what they say when i ask to return everything and get my money back.......they will probably try to blame it on my TV......or if they want to blame it on the installation, fine....it was with one of their contracted companies......

although I will say that the HDTV pictures did look pretty good on my Sony 65"XBR.....i just know however that the black screen is gonna bug me over time.....

I am just so disappointed. I waited so long before finally committing to the HD DVR since I can't live without my DVR and I wanted to finally watch HD broadcasts. I thought I was getting a really good price, until I read the posts this morning that talk about the possibility of free equipment in the future. I really don't have another option besides D****** since I live out in the sticks...with no cable.

 

[DirecTV*Tier2Tech]

I know what it is....The people who have the problem are using HDMI connections for their rec, the people not having the problems are using the component PBR cables. There is a flaw with the HDMI design. This problem also affect H10's.

 

[LonghornXP]

I know what it is....The people who have the problem are using HDMI connections for their rec, the people not having the problems are using the component PBR cables. There is a flaw with the HDMI design. This problem also affect H10's.

Wrong because I know many people including myself that use component cables and have the same problems and issues.

Sadly to say the original posters only options now because he doesn't have cable will be Dish Network or stay with DirecTV. As it stands right now if you won't think about switching to Dish I would stay with D*. The honest truth is that having some HD (even bad downrezzed HD) is better than nothing at all. If that black screen will indeed annoy you maybe give Dish a call and see what they will do for you. I think they can give you an HD DVR for 250 bucks upfront with a rental but I don't know how long your commitment will be or how much you will have to pay to get out of it. Also they have TNT HD and some of the Voom channels. You pretty much have to think about this pretty hard because you don't have cable. It was my bad to assume you had cable in your area.

 

[ShadowEKU]

Wrong because I know many people including myself that use component cables and have the same problems and issues.

indeed i have used Component and DVI both suffering the same issues

 

[mcman]

I appreciate the input from everyone.

I am using component cables not the HDMI.

I just hate the thought of giving up on the HD since even in the last couple days i've just grown to really enjoy the clarity of the picture. However, last night when watching ESPNHD, I was getting the black screen at least every couple minutes....I can put up with it every 30 minutes or so, but come on...every couple minutes.....no way.

Considering the uncertainty with the "rumours" behind the upgraded equipment and rollout dates and incentives....I am going to first try and resolve the technical issue with D****. If it cannot be resolved, I will ask for the refund. If it can be resolved, I can at least enjoy my HD picture and then speak to D*****'s Customer Retention dept. about selling me a product that will be irrelevent in the near future. Although if anyone has any other suggestions, I will keep an open mind. That is why I joined this site/forum.

 

[LonghornXP]

I appreciate the input from everyone.

I am using component cables not the HDMI.

I just hate the thought of giving up on the HD since even in the last couple days i've just grown to really enjoy the clarity of the picture. However, last night when watching ESPNHD, I was getting the black screen at least every couple minutes....I can put up with it every 30 minutes or so, but come on...every couple minutes.....no way.

Considering the uncertainty with the "rumours" behind the upgraded equipment and rollout dates and incentives....I am going to first try and resolve the technical issue with D****. If it cannot be resolved, I will ask for the refund. If it can be resolved, I can at least enjoy my HD picture and then speak to D*****'s Customer Retention dept. about selling me a product that will be irrelevent in the near future. Although if anyone has any other suggestions, I will keep an open mind. That is why I joined this site/forum.

I can say this is a D* related issue because I had it as bad as you did several months ago. When I switched to BHN and had two HD sets side by side with with the same channel tuned on both BHN and DirecTV I can 100% say that BHN picture was sharper and didn't flicker once never the less have black screen drops. I've also watched the last 4 HDTV sporting events broadcast on ESPN HD on just BHN and the picture was very sharp without even one dropout or flicker for that matter. So by saying this that rules our the source which is ESPN.

 

[Alan Gordon]

Wrong because I know many people including myself that use component cables and have the same problems and issues.

I've seen it on a secondary (480i) 4x3 TV hooked up to my Hughes HTL-HD with S-Video, and with RG6 hookups, on both DirecTV HD channels, and local HD channels via the same hookups.

~Alan