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[CountryBumkin]

Whenever I go to use MC23 on my bedroom HTPC (Win7) when I turn on the TV (HTPC is always running) there is a blank screen with a message about "Error drawing Direct 3D" (or some similar wording). Then I need to get the keyboard out since the remote won't do anything on the blank screen. The keyboard then makes the bkank screen and message go away and the Theater View screen displays. Then all is normal.

Why am I getting the Direct 3D error message?

I checked to be sure I have the latest nVidia drivers. All is good there. I have computer se to never sleep and no screen saver.

It should just display the Theater View screen when I Turn on the TV and switch to HDMI1 input.

[RoderickGI]

Run DxDiag.exe and see if it reports any problems. It is part of Windows.

You could have an HDMI handshake problem since your TV is off for most of the time. It needs to handshake each time it is turned on. If that is the issue, one of those HDMO doctor devices may be the fix.

There may be a hint in the Windows Event Viewer as well.

[CountryBumkin]

I didn't know the Direct 3D error had anything to do with HDMI handshaking.
I do have an HDMI issue with the Samsung TV. The TV takes a couple of resyncs before the HDMI is clear. I think the HDMI board in the TV is going bad.

[RoderickGI]

I didn't know the Direct 3D error had anything to do with HDMI handshaking.

I think part of the handshaking is to check the resolution, colour space, format, and other stuff so that images are displayed correctly. The Direct3D error could certainly be caused by trying to display an unsupported format, for example. At least I think so. I'm not an expert in HDMI.

I would suspect firmware changes to the TV or driver changes to the PC before I suspected a board in the TV was going bad. Unless there is evidence of that being a problem with the TV model, or it is a very old TV. HDMI handshaking, coupled with DRM shenanigans, seems to be an ongoing problem, created by IP owners to frustrate their customers. 

[leezer3]

Try openGL rendering in Theater View first before you spend too much time chasing a driver bug:
Options -> Theater View -> Advanced -> Use expiremental OpenGL Theater View

May not help, but it'll tell you if all 3D drawing breaks when the TV turns off, or whether it's related to Direct3D.

[CountryBumkin]

I have that "experimental OpenGL" turned on already. Is the OpenGL supposed to "replace" the Direct3D somehow?

I know the TV HDMI board is going bad because every time I turn on the TV for either HTPC (HDMI1) or FireTV (HDMI2) the picture is all out of sync. Colors wrong, shifted out of wack, sometimes the audio screeches, then TV will auto-sync a few times and everything is clear. It didn't used to do this - so it's something in the TV. If I just turn on TV to antenna input it works fine. This TV only updates its firmware by USB stick, and it has not been updated and there are no updates available. It's a 2010 or 11 Samsung LN40D630 model (series 6).

Thanks for the info.

[RoderickGI]

Windows would still be trying to initiate Direct3D when the TV is connected. Check if you still get the message when MC isn't running and you connect the TV.

Sometimes symptoms like those are caused by a bad cable or bent pin in the HDMI cable or connector. If you have another one to test, it may be worth trying.