Humax youview HDMI output is either magenta or blank

Nigel Mercier

My Humax youview box has started showing a problem. I have set it back to maximum power save settings, but it persists.

There are two faults that may be related:
[1] The HDMI output often has a brightness uplift with a magenta hue, when this fault appears, the magenta hue is even there on standby.
[2] The HDMI output blanks after all the Please wait etc messages, in other words at the end of the boot. When the output is blank, the display on the unit shows the channel as normal. Sometimes the HDMI output will return after a few minutes, or will come up OK then blank.

Powering down normally fixes it, but [2] is getting more frequent.

The SCART output is OK. This looks like a HDMI timing issue to me.

Nigel Mercier

Updated

Davo

This has something to do with low eco mode giving an HDMI output then ?

Works for me anyway but not for others it seems

Lbear1

This sounds like a mechanical connection problem with your HDMI cable. On the Humax the plug needs to be quite firmly pushed into the output socket but can work loose - giving the symptoms you describe - simply from the heating/cooling effect of using the box.

mark devanney

im gonna send the youview box back very soon,one last thing to the youview gurus. have tried all the combinations but one thing seemx constant. no matter what is set resolution wise it always says 1080p. has anyone had the issue that it only plays 1080p over 720 or1080i. i am sure if i could get the humax to stick with the lower res i might have a chance of it working over hdmi

Lbear1

mark devanney said:

im gonna send the youview box back very soon,one last thing to the youview gurus. have tried all the combinations but one thing seemx constant. no matter what is set resolution wise it always says 1080p. has anyone had the issue that it only plays 1080p over 720 or1080i. i am sure if i could get the humax to stick with the lower res i might have a chance of it working over hdmi

Have you changed the output resolution in the settings menu? The box negotiates the best available resolution dispayable by the TV during the "handshaking" and defaults to the preset one only if the handshaking does not work. If your set can receive 1080p, even if the panel cannot fully display it, it will negotiate 1080p.

mark devanney

mark devanney said:

im gonna send the youview box back very soon,one last thing to the youview gurus. have tried all the combinations but one thing seemx constant. no matter what is set resolution wise it always says 1080p. has anyone had the issue that it only plays 1080p over 720 or1080i. i am sure if i could get the humax to stick with the lower res i might have a chance of it working over hdmi

yes tried them all.they all say current setting is NO HDMI ,so not able to negotiate it seems. if scart pic was decent i would stick with it- but its not compared to the vision plus on hdmi

Philip Trott

Lbear1 said:

This sounds like a mechanical connection problem with your HDMI cable. On the Humax the plug needs to be quite firmly pushed into the output socket but can work loose - giving the symptoms you describe - simply from the heating/cooling effect of using the box.

Hi Peter, this is correct and can cause the magenta/ pink type screen if the cable is not firmly pushed into the back of the TV set. The first thing to try if this does not rectify the issue is a different HDMI cable, and port on the TV.

Phil

Nigel Mercier

Lbear1 said:

This sounds like a mechanical connection problem with your HDMI cable. On the Humax the plug needs to be quite firmly pushed into the output socket but can work loose - giving the symptoms you describe - simply from the heating/cooling effect of using the box.

I don't see how a faulty connection would always fail at the same time as the box is booting up. I have tried a different lead and TV port. No difference.

I have started leaving the box on 24/7, but fault may have changed slightly in that it now will work for a couple of hours, then go blank again, then recover some time later. Last time it recovered, I was watching via the SCART connection and noticed a disturbance in the picture, so checked the HDMI and it was back. Possibly coincidence.

Nigel Mercier

I've added a comment to Phil above, but can't edit it.

A further update is that the magenta problem has not reoccurred since the blank screen became more frequent.

I note that I'm not the only one with intermittent or no HDMI output, but mine has only been like it for a couple of weeks.

Here is another one:

http://community.youview.com/youview/...

Nigel Mercier

Further update. I've just realised something, I didn't post this topic until nearly a week after the problem first appeared, so it was around 25 October. My wife has confirmed the date, as the fault first appeared for her, and she thought she had done something.

My box last did an update on 25 October.

Coincidence? I think not.

Is it possible to go back to the previous firmware?

Nigel Mercier

Further update.

I have now confirmed that when the HDMI output switches back on, the box mutes the playback on the SCART output for several seconds.

This has to mean that the problem is internal to the box, and likely related to the update on 25 October, which is when the problem started.

Nigel Mercier

My box updated itself today, so far the fault has not returned. Fingers crossed.

[Later] Fault still there

mark devanney

update from myself- managed to get an replacement you-view box today and now have a new out of the box humax. sort of got the exact same symptoms- its loaded up on setup but once complete the screen loses the picture, switch to scart to check and of course all is fine. the symptoms are slightly different on this one in that if i click on the guide or menu it looks perfect, on last one it sort of was pink but could still see the text, other thing odd is if you flick to BBC1 on the hdmi port you lose picture/sound but you can see the BBC red button icon on the top right hand of the screen, so it seems to be outputting menus etc OK but actually streamed content is missing- is others with the hdmi issue getting the same ?

You-view techies ? any suggestions apart from boxing it back up ?

Nigel Mercier

Buggerit!

I thought the update had fixed it, fault remains. And the magenta hue has come back.

Is there a way to go back to the firmware before this started?

Nigel Mercier

Lbear1 said:

This sounds like a mechanical connection problem with your HDMI cable. On the Humax the plug needs to be quite firmly pushed into the output socket but can work loose - giving the symptoms you describe - simply from the heating/cooling effect of using the box.

[edit] disturbance in the sound, not picture

Nigel Mercier

I feel like I'm talking to myself, but here is an update. Today I did a Maintenance Mode Recovery (option 4) and so far I still have HDMI output. I will update this in a few days, or if it dies again.

Option 4 is called "Internet / USB Recovery" so presumably one can reload a previous firmware from USB. Where can I get it?

This is the second time I have had to do MMR, but I wish I had remembered that doing so wipes all the items in the Schedule! It would have been so easy to have taken a picture before running it.

Instructions for MM here: http://videos.youview.com/support/mai...

Keith

Hi Nigel - whilst there is mention of USB recovery in the maintenance mode options the firmware/software is not made publicly available for download to a USB stick and hence use with this option. A year ago when there was the channel loss problem affecting some users Humax did post out USB sticks to some customers to enable them to do an update and they did also then provide one off URLs for some customers to download the update and put it on their own USB stick.

So as things stand you would need to contact YouView or Humax support and see if they could provide a one off URL or post you a USB stick if you wanted to try a USB recovery.

In your case though you are asking to go backwards to an old firmware version yet the box would try to update to the newest version if connected to a network and left on overnight so even if you could downgrade it could be awkward to keep the box in that state as it is fundamentally designed to track the updates.

Nigel Mercier

Hi Keith,

Thank you for your reply. I'm keeping my fingers crossed at the moment, but I'm sure you can see my reason for suspecting the recent upgrade. I'm sure I could find a way to circumvent the automatic update until the firmware is fixed, in fact is there not an option to turn this off?

What is the best way to contact support? I have a retail box.

Keith

Hi Nigel - You could try raising a direct support ticket with YouView by filling out the form at

http://support.youview.com/supportand...

They should then reply by email which gives you a direct way to communicate with a support person with a clear written record of your problem and the response and advice given which you can then further respond to and so on.

Nigel Mercier

The MMR fixed the problem for two days, it is now back. GRRRR!

stormy

Oddly my DTR-T1010 booted up with a Magenta Youview 'Nearly Ready' screen last night, then was fine with it started to display the TV picture. Is this related?

Davo

I had mine ok for a few days then I got a magenta screen and that was the end of that. This is totally ridiculous, the last update needs to be reversed as I had no problem beforehand...

I rung humax again who say they are no furthur with a fix

Richard8

Same with me

Richard8

Magenta screen at first, now blank screen manages to start booting up then when it says "Nearly there" it goes blank.

Simple question: WHAT IS THE FIX????

Nigel Mercier

Maintenance mode seemed to fix it for about 24hours, but the fault is now back. I have removed the SCART lead as I was told this could cause problems. I can now see a pattern: the box starts up and the HDMI output works for a couple of minutes, then blanks. Leaving it for an hour or so will normally cause it to return, if not then a soft power cycle or two will fix it. It is then normally OK for the rest of the evening, with perhaps one more power cycle needed.

Two other things of note: if the magenta screen appears (rare) it is still there in standby. When in standby during a power cycle, the TV screen will suddenly display the HDMI mode, turning it on after this will produce a picture.

There have been two or three updates since this started, one a couple of days ago. I noticed when I returned to the update screen that the update appeared not to have completed, I left it to reboot.

Davo

Richard8 said:

Magenta screen at first, now blank screen manages to start booting up then when it says "Nearly there" it goes blank.

Simple question: WHAT IS THE FIX????

Simple answer : there never will be one

I have just been on the phone again to Humax and they say it is not the fault of the box and nothing can be done and ever will be done so we are all stuffed it seems. It could happen to any device they say....

Nigel Mercier

Richard8 said:

Magenta screen at first, now blank screen manages to start booting up then when it says "Nearly there" it goes blank.

Simple question: WHAT IS THE FIX????

That's nonsense.

Davo

Richard8 said:

Magenta screen at first, now blank screen manages to start booting up then when it says "Nearly there" it goes blank.

Simple question: WHAT IS THE FIX????

Yes well that's what the Irish guy said, just passing the buck really

Nigel Mercier

I think I have cracked it! I replaced the cable (for the second time) with one of these. Two days and still perfect ...

Nigel Mercier

This forum software is terrible! I can't even find my own posts.



    <br>I think I have cracked it! I replaced the cable (for the second time) with one of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000H8VM8Y/dolcetto-21"; rel="nofollow">these</a>. Two days and still perfect ...