[ChrisMay]

Hi,
I Finally got round to buying an HDMI cable for my Playbook, so I can connect it to the TV.
Am very impressed with the results. Now I can watch my videos on a bigger screen. It also occured to me that if I buy a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I'll hardly have a need for a regular computer at all!!

One question though. If I set the HDMI setting on the PB to 1080p(60hz) (which my TV supports) I get a picture, but it keeps being replaced by a blank screen for several seconds, before the picture returns for a few seconds,, only to blank out again. Setting it to 1080i(60hz) seems to work fine, and as far as I'm concerned, thats plenty good enough. None of the content I'll ever watch from my PB is going to need the full HD treatment anyway. But does anyone know what is going wrong? I only bought a cheap cable (�3.50) so could it be that the cable can't support the necessary bandwidth? I don't know enough about HDMI and HD signals to make much of a guess...

Thanks,m

Chris.

[Hypnoboy]

I don't know if it's your cable, but let me just state this for the record.

When it comes to most audio cable and video cables, you DO get different degrees of quality of signal for what you pay, to a certain extent. (Monster Cable IS going to get you better sound than a $5.00 generic cable, but you're not going to get much better going from Monster to one of these cables that cost $1000's of dollars... not enough to justify the expense anyway.)

This is NOT true for HDMI cables. If anyone ever tries to talk you into Gold Tips or something silly like that, don't believe it. The signal is digital, so it either works or it doesn't. There aren't varying degrees of quality.

If your picture works well with 1080i but not so much with 1080p, it's not your cable. I know you said that your television supports 1080p but I would check again.

[iflingpoo]

FYI standard hdmi are tested at 70-80- MHz which is all that is needed for 1080i/720p and "hi-speed" at over 300mhz (or 1080p) and a cheap cable can have fluctuating impedance since it may not be Certified to handle those speeds . This can result in a type of packet loss that doesn't allow the device on one end to tell what the other device is sending to it .(digital signals are 1s and 0s remember) But this usually results in more of an Audio quality issue especially at long distances .
The higher priced cables are usually Certified and have stronger connectors (don't break as easily) and better construction overall , but the Gold plated ,etc crap is a gimmick .
But I Agree with Hypno , check to make sure your tv is actually 1080p and not just 1080i/720p

[ChrisMay]

Thanks for the answers. I KNOW my TV is 1080p (it says so in the manual). Though having said that I guess I should check that all of the HDMI connections are the same (it has 4) and that all of THEM support it.
HypnoBoy While I understand what you are saying about cheap vs expensive digital cables, and would never buy a �50 (or ridiculously even higher! - how about �216.00 for a 0.75m lead??!

KIMBER HD29 HDMI cable : Kimber's HD29 HDMI cable is the top of... )
edit: that whole Russ Andrews site is worth a look if you enjoy a laugh. How about a power lead (just a kettle-type power lead 1m long) for a thousand quid!!!?

I did wonder if very cheap un-certified cables were likely to suffer from interference or something, as a 1080p video stream + audio is quite a lot of data to fire down a cheap piece of wire.
edit: ifingpoo kind of said what I am trying to say here...

Anyway, as I said. Tahanks for the replies.

Chris.

[Wongsky]

Thanks for the answers. I KNOW my TV is 1080p (it says so in the manual). Though having said that I guess I should check that all of the HDMI connections are the same (it has 4) and that all of THEM support it.

My gut feeling after what you said, was 1080i support on the TV, rather than 1080p, but if you say it's not so, it's not so.

I did wonder if very cheap un-certified cables were likely to suffer from interference or something, as a 1080p video stream + audio is quite a lot of data to fire down a cheap piece of wire.

As long as it's reasonable quality and meets spec, I would have thought it should be up to the job. There's probably some awfully cheap cables connecting up various things in your PC, too, that have to shunt around a load of data - and you'd have to say, from an RF perspective, you'd expect it to be quite "noisy" in there.

Something like HDMI? �10-�15 should be more than enough to buy a decent cable that meets all spec. And maybe that's generous in terms of budget required.

[blueberrymerry]

I've had some issues with choosing the right refresh rates on some TVs. The Playbook autodetects my TV as 1080p/60hz but I get blanks and flickers. If I change the Playbook's HDMI settings to 1080p/50hz, use that for a few seconds, then back to 1080p/60hz, all is fine. I don't know if it's a problem with the TV or with the Playbook.

[ChrisMay]

To those 'doubters' out there!!

KDL-40EX403 | Televisions | Overview | KDL40EX403U | KDL40EX403 | Sony

See - told you so!!

Mind you, I note that it is 50hz, and I seem to recall that I was playing with a 60hz setting, so that could WELL be my problem. I will investigate further when I get home...

[ChrisMay]

I've had some issues with choosing the right refresh rates on some TVs. The Playbook autodetects my TV as 1080p/60hz but I get blanks and flickers. If I change the Playbook's HDMI settings to 1080p/50hz, use that for a few seconds, then back to 1080p/60hz, all is fine. I don't know if it's a problem with the TV or with the Playbook.

Hi, yea, I think refresh rate is my problem. I THINK I was trying to set a 1080p 60hz (I can't totally remember though) and it looks like my tele only supports 50, so I will try some other settings tonight, and report back if I find anything interesting.

(I wanted to give Thanks to your post for your reply, but I don't seem to have the option on your post (it is on the others...?))

[FF22]

I'm using and have been using for about 5 years, a 30 foot Monoprice hdmi cable attached to a Monoprice hdmi switch box (remote controlled) at one end and my Sony tv at the other. Runs through a wall, across the basement ceiling and up through another wall. Never had a problem with it.

About two weeks ago, I added another cable to the switch box to which I attached the pb. It works for the picture but does not convey sound. For sound, I've got the Blackberry Gateway and bt the sound to my receiver. (not sure why the pb's sound does not travel by wire!

[blueberrymerry]

There's an option in the Playbook's HDMI Settings to enable HDMI Audio. You have to enable that to get sound.

[FF22]

There's an option in the Playbook's HDMI Settings to enable HDMI Audio. You have to enable that to get sound.

It was enabled. I will give it a few more attempts and play with settings. I have a feeling it might be my receiver. Tivo and dvd player work fine.

[BigAl_BB9900]

Hi,
I Finally got round to buying an HDMI cable for my Playbook, so I can connect it to the TV.
Am very impressed with the results. Now I can watch my videos on a bigger screen. It also occured to me that if I buy a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, I'll hardly have a need for a regular computer at all!!

One question though. If I set the HDMI setting on the PB to 1080p(60hz) (which my TV supports) I get a picture, but it keeps being replaced by a blank screen for several seconds, before the picture returns for a few seconds,, only to blank out again. Setting it to 1080i(60hz) seems to work fine, and as far as I'm concerned, thats plenty good enough. None of the content I'll ever watch from my PB is going to need the full HD treatment anyway. But does anyone know what is going wrong? I only bought a cheap cable (�3.50) so could it be that the cable can't support the necessary bandwidth? I don't know enough about HDMI and HD signals to make much of a guess...

Thanks,m

Chris.

Hi Chris

I've had problems with a couple of (very cheap = less than �2) HDMI cables - my assumption is that the cables had dodgy internal connections (eg if you bent the cable one way, then it worked - if you bent the cable the other way then I got the same thing that you have had)

Suggest you try another hdmi cable

Rgds

Alex

[CBCListener]

Perhaps the qualification here is that, properly constructed, a $5 (or less...I've paid as little as $2, and they've all worked great) HDMI cable will work as well as the $50 cable. But, given some of the junk that passes for "equivalent", your results may vary. That said, it's as much a matter of quality control than using premium components...but even premium components cost, maybe, $2-5, so paying tens if not hundreds of dollars is a waste of money....more so if the higher-cost cable fails or is defective...although there again, one would have to hope that by paying just a little more means that quality control was one rationale for it costing more.