I recently purchased a Logik (LBD2000) Bluray player to use on our second TV (a Techwood 37"). The problem with this TV is that it only has one HDMI socket and as we already had a Virgin Media VHD set top box connected to the HDMI, I had to get a HDMI switch box (Ross 2 socket, push button type).

Now the cable STB works fine in the switch box. However, when I select the Bluray player on the second port, it initially comes on, but sooner or later the picture breaks up with popping noise in the audio and disolves into noise (like on analogue when there is no TV signal). Initially the Bluray played for an hour before this happened, but then I could only get the image back intermittently before it happened again.

Sometimes, I could get the picture to come on but with no audio. I know what your thinking, dud HDMI switcher or cable/s? Well, I tried connecting the TV direct to the Bluray player, exactly the same problem. If I connect the same HDMI to the cable box, no problem.

As for settings the TV is HD ready (1080i) so I have the cable box and Bluray at 1080i. I know the Bluray works as I tried it on my other HDTV and it worked fine.

It has me completely stumped, any ideas what the problem might be?

The only other high def output on the Bluray is component though I have a PC connected to the TV with component so would need some kind of component video switchbox and I don't even know if they make them as I've never seen one?

If the problem arises using direct connection to the tv then the players output must be faulty.
Have you tried the player on your other tv?

yes, and it worked fine, which is why it is so confusing, unless I just didn't test it long enough for the problem to manifest itself.

Am still wondering if it is some kind of compatibility issue with the HDMI on the TV though as I originally tried to connect the PC using HDMI but got the same image break up I am getting on the Bluray now, connected the PC with component and it was fine.

Thing is if the socket on the TV is bad, then the cable stb wouldn't work either, but it does work perfectly.

Its a real puzzle :S

Try your Blu-ray player at a lower resolution: 1080i. Then come back and tell us the results

Wonder if the fact that a lot of Blu-Ray movies are 24fps has anything to do with it? Maybe the telly isn't completely happy with such disks? And perhaps the other TV was, hence why it worked fine on that.

Not sure about other players , but when my Panasonic player was connected to a tv that didn't accept 24p the option was not available on the setup menu of the player .

When I got a new tv the 24p option became clickable.

Presumably the HDMI connection has this info in the same way devices usually know the best output that the tv can display .

If the player has not been previously connected to a 24p set the option should be unavailable

Ditto

That is entirely possible. But who knows if cheap kit like Logik and Techwood play by the rules 100%?

If I recall correctly if the player and telly cannot agree on 24fps an option is to output 60Hz from the player.

The basic point however is that if a disk recorded at 24fps is being played and the TV has problems with that format then it has to be "converted" into a format the TV can handle. So perhaps that process is failing somewhere?

Thanks for the advice, regarding the resolution, it is already at 1080i so the only lower setting (that is still HD) is 720P, which I will try.

I think the 24fps issue mentioned is possible as I'm pretty sure the first TV I tried the player on can do 24 fps as it was a good 1080P LG set (42" LH3000) where as I have no idea if the techwood supports it (I would suspect not, as its a budget set). So if there is a 24fps option i'll disable it.

I know on the resolution select (on the Bluray) there is an option to have the player automatically set the best resolution for the TV, would think that should probably be turned off in case the player isn't communicating with the TV properly?

1080i/24 isn't a recognised HD video format so the player won't be outputting at 24fps in interlaced mode. As previously said it should be outputting interlaced video at either 50Hz or 60Hz. 1080p/24 is a required mode for the 'HD Ready 1080p' label though.

The older 'HD Ready' labelled TV's aren't required to have a native resolution of 1920x1080 and many early ones use a lower resolution screen and downscale a 1080i input. Many early LCD's use 1366x768 WXGA resolution and most early plasmas use a 1024x768 panel. Only 'HD Ready 1080p' displays are required to display a 1080 image without downscaling or distortion.

I reckon there's a fault with the BD player's firmware (or video output hardware) and it isn't correctly converting the video from progressive to interlaced and you don't see it on the other TV as it can use a progressive mode.

On such an early TV you should be able to switch down to 720p without seeing any loss in quality.

If I were trouble-shooting this on site here's what I'd do:

Player direct to TV @ 1080i, then 1080p/60. This confirms the bandwidth capabilities of the TV and HDMI cable. All HDMI equipped TVs should handle 1080i (same bandwidth as 720p). It should be same for 1080p/60 (the highest bandwidth before going to 3D), but if there's a cable or connector issue then here's where it will show up.

Try 1080p/60 with the other HDMI cable. Is this cable OK or will it only work at 1080i... if so then bad cable.

Reintroduce the switch and test at 1080i, then 1080p/60. Does the system fail? If so the either the switch or a combination of the cables and the switch are the cause of the problem. Replace them with higher quality products.

The TV in question is only 'HD Ready' so does not support 1080p, and the OP has already ruled out the switch by recreating the problem with a direct connection and has already ruled out cables by swapping them with known good ones.

Thanks for the advice, I think I may have solved the problem. It turns out my settings were wrong, I think the main issue is that I had 24fps mode on (which I don't think the TV supports). It could have been because it was labelled "movie mode". Also I had the resolution on the auto mode instead of specifically selecting 1080i or 720p (so there is an outside chance it could have been attempting to select 1080p too).

With movie mode off and the lowest HD resolution (720p) it worked fine for the entire movie. I might try it at 1080i too but it looked fine at 720p so there probably isn't that much to gain.

Still quite surprising that it played back ok for an hour before the picture started to break up, would have thought with the settings wrong it wouldn't have displayed at all?

Yeah, that's why I'm thinking it's some sort of issue with the BD player's firmware. It shouldn't let output settings conflict like that.

Glad it's sorted. Find out what the native resolution of the panel is if you can. If the TV does downscale a 1080i input then there won't be a noticeable gain going up to 1080i

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon, the player still intermittently suffers from picture break up and popping audio even at the lowest HD resolution (720P). I have tested with normal DVDs and found the same issue with these as well. The trouble is with nailing the problem down as the player typically appears to be fine but problems manifest themselves at some stage, which can be anywhere from minutes to an hour or two into the movie.

I have tried a second switchbox (Philex three input push button type) which has the same problem too. However, this switch box also has a really odd issue where it appears to send voltage over the HDMI. By this I mean, If I have the V+HD (cable box) on (or standby) and connected to input 1 then connect the Bluray to input 2 (or 3) the front fascia of the Bluray player lights up (as if it is on) even if the player is physically disconnected from the mains! I couldn't believe it at first.

As the first HDMI switch doesn't do this am I right to assume this is a fault in the second HDMI switchbox, should I send the second switchbox back as I would think it sending voltage over the HDMI is potentially quite a dangerous fault?

There is actually provision for a 5V DC signal on HDMI. It would originate at some source device and be used to power a part of the destination device. Perhaps to wake up the destination device when the source switches on. eg when you turn on the Blu-Ray the TV senses this and switches itself on.

So the Virgin box could well be outputting this 5V but the switch should be feeding this to the output socket not one of the other inputs (assuming the switch is plugged up correctly). Similarly the Blu-Ray will output 5V when on so who knows where that is going.

Doesn't sound right to me so perhaps there is a fault with the switch box? Hopefully just a one off and not a design error that all such boxes suffer from!