Whenever I change Sky channel, tv goes blank and resets resolution

[admin_exported]

Hello everyone,

I've have just had Sky HD installed and whenever I change a channel on Sky, my Pioneer 5090 briefly goes blank and checks the resolution before I see the picture again. This happens both with Sky set to output 'auto' and with '1080i', and happens between each and every channel, whether SD or HD. My Sky box is connected via HDMI to a Denon 1909 receiver. I also have a 2 year old Sony Freeview PVR that outputs 1080i through HDMI going through the Denon, and there are no problems when I change channel. I've also tried changing the Pioneer picture setting to Wide and Auto, and I keep getting this annoying problem. It makes flicking through the Sky channels impossible!

Does anyone know what's going on, and what I can do? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

We had this issue at home, but to a small extent and the engineer described it as the box matching the Hz of the TV from different HD channels/SD channels, not sure if its true but it was never really a massive problem...

 

[mattjax05]

I had this issue when going from SD to HD content and I'm sure everyone does if the output on the sky hd box is set to 1080i. I changed it to auto as this was annoying and the problem was fixed.

In your case, have you tried feeding the sky direct to the tv through hdmi to see if this eliminates the problem? If it does you can leave this connection and add an optical cable from the sky hd box to the Denon for stereo sound or more importantly DolbyD. That way you can choose to listen to the tv speakers or speakers connected to the Denon. Remember to set the Sky output to Auto to avoid the 'black screen' between SD and HD content.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. I tried connecting the Sky box directly to the tv as suggested, and this reduced the problem in that I got the blank screen only when switching between SD and HD (and vice versa) and not between SD to SD, or HD to HD unlike before when it happened on every channel change. I set the Sky box to both 'auto' and '1080i', and could not eliminate the issue. I also poured over the Denon manual to see if there was anything there, and tried changing a few settings but nothing helped.

I will leave the connection going via the Denon for the convenience. I already have the optical connection and am getting surround sound, which is great.

Incidentally, I find the picture quality of SD is much better when the Sky box is set to '1080i' rather than 'auto', which is the opposite of what I have read here and elsewhere, which is odd. Could it be the new boxes are better at scaling now?

 

[mattjax05]

Thats a strange one then, I have my sky box connected direct to the tele which is more convenient for me (each to their own I suppose)

Is your box the new Pace one? I have the Thompson model, I cant tell the difference in SD content if I let my sky box do the upscaling or not. SD is pretty poor in any case!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have the Pace box. This seems to be an issue with Denon amps and the new Pace boxes according to this other thread:

http://whathifi.com/forums/t/160281.aspx

I'm going to contact Sky about this.

I found SD very poor with the Sky box set to 'auto' and passable with it set to '1080i'. My 2 year old Sony freeview PVR upscales to 1080i and has a much better picture than Sky SD on 'auto' and is nearly as good as Sky set to '1080i'.

 

[mattjax05]

I think, unless its proven, mixing different makes of equipment is a lottery.

I have a Denon 1930 dvd player which was 5 star rated in its day and also a Samsung LCD again 5 star rated. Mix the two together and oh dear......the Samsung doesn't accept a 1080p signal from the Denon (the screen shakes up and down). I have to set the Denon to 720p and let the Samsung do the rest. Had I known this I wouldn't have bought them.

Its very annoying when it happens and with absolutely NO! comeback it leaves you feeling somewhat ripped off.

There should be some sort of manufacturing law that provides consumers with a piece of mind.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree. I think it has become more of a problem as the technology has got more complicated. There are now so many different audio and video signals that can be delivered in lots of different ways these days. There's a huge learning curve as well. If you want to get the best out of your system you have to know this stuff. My parents had a 'professional' install which was great on the surface but they didn't set up the sound and picture properly.

It's just as well we have forums like this and mags like WHF to help us out!

 

[Hems]

I'm also having this problem with my denon 2309 and Samsung HD box

 

[Anonymous]

Sky came and changed my Pace box, which had become faulty, with a Samsung one, and this screen blanking problem has disappeared completely!

However, the box is noticeably noisy, giving out a small hum/buzz all the time, even on standby. Is that normal? The Pace box was silent.

 

[Dave_]

sounds like the fan or hdd is running constantly! try unplugging the box from the mains and plugging back in. this sometimes resolves the problem

 

[Anonymous]

Panasonic plasma 46pz85, Sony 2400ES amp and Pace Sky HD.

Sky set to 1080i ( auto makes no difference ) Change channel picture comes up very briefly - blank screen for a breif moment and comes back with the words wide in the corner. We are a family of channel hoppers and its doing my nut in. I have heard it much more likely on pace boxes something to do with their hdmi handshake i also get the your panel does not support HDCP message sometimes. All the shop HD boxes and my mates boxes do not do this.

I bought my sky HD as a package with my plasma and the independant retailer is very reluctant to change the box ( says they only do pace )

 

[Anonymous]

I have changed the Sky HD box from the pace to a Amstrad. Problem is gone, sky insisted it would make no difference and said the boxes are made to the same spec.

Picture quality the same as the pace and is even quieter, looks like there are some processing diferences between the boxes which affect HDMI output. touch wood the Amstrad is behaving. If anyone has this channel change blanking problem and has a pace box get it changed for a Amstrad HD box.