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[benn600]

When I power cycle the receiver and television, MC sometimes loses its display.  When the television is turned on, MC will often show on a quarter of the screen.  Other times, MC will show in even less of the screen but theater view has properly resized--so the buttons all show ... because it's a very narrow strip of the screen.

I think it has something to do with losing and then getting the display back.  It might be the order that the devices are turned on (receiver / tv) but I have not tested this yet.

[benn600]

I tried power cycling the receiver & television 4 times.  The fourth time it broke and produced this output:



When I first got to the system, it had broke with a similar display except I also saw the MC has crashed dialog (close program button).  I am not sure what the solution will require: is it MC, Windows 7, or my video card?  Is there a way to force identical, constant HDMI output without sensing the connected device--which I think refreshes the display and interrupts MC.

[JimH]

I tried power cycling the receiver & television 4 times.  The fourth time it broke and produced this output:

When I first got to the system, it had broke with a similar display except I also saw the MC has crashed dialog (close program button).  I am not sure what the solution will require: is it MC, Windows 7, or my video card?  Is there a way to force identical, constant HDMI output without sensing the connected device--which I think refreshes the display and interrupts MC.

That is probably a video driver problem.

[benn600]

Anyone else with Windows 7 able to power cycle several times with no issues?  As you can imagine, this makes other users of this system very upset so I gotta fix it.

[Daydream]

I don't use my gear like that, but for the purpose of this exercise I tried to reproduce the issue.

I see the same thing when I kill the receiver (HTPC and TV remain ON). When I power back the receiver the image is stretched, etc to a very strange degree and I have to exit and re-enter Theater View (normal, Windows interface stays normal). Ben, my case is not like your screenshot above, the image is bigger than the screen, like 4-6 times bigger and I get to see only a magnified fraction. It doesn't happen if I turn the TV Off/back On or if I put the computer to sleep and wake it up. But however I haven't tried all the possible combinations.

ATI 4600 (Catalyst 9.11) - Onkyo 606 - Sony TV. All connections on HDMI, no DVI to HDMI, no hdmi splitters, etc.

Note: the results vary if I actually play something when I turn off the receiver. When I turn it back on, I can see it struggling a bit with the handshake, the image and sound are on for a few seconds with heavy stuttering, then the file stops playing the I'm returned to the Theater View interface... which now has all the correct aspect.

[benn600]

I have seen several other combinations including a much smaller screen where MC is aware of the smaller size (so buttons are ... because insufficient space) in addition to another time or two where it was much larger.

Any of these visual problems break that suspended disbelief and remind users it's a COMPUTER and not a rock-solid set top box.  Of course MC is very close.  Just these issues random that I'm trying to work around.  I'm sure it's Windows 7 partially because this never happened back with XP and I cycled the devices.  Windows 7 is trying to be more intelligent and sense video changes.  I want the system to output a specific signal and NEVER change...no matter what.  And avoid resetting the HDMI on turning off the display--ever notice with audio running over HDMI that if you turn off the TV the audio stops and starts once, twice, or thrice?  Very annoying!  A set top box outputs a signal and doesn't really care who's listening, am I right?

Any ideas great!

[Daydream]

A set top box outputs a signal and doesn't really care who's listening, am I right?

I'm not an expert on these and I was thinking to point towards handshake, HDCP, EDID problems and others like that, but your example with the STB, indeed rules them out. My TivoHD indeed doesn't care. But that's not apples-to-apples, since it doesn't have a D3D interface to draw on, like Theater View.

ever notice with audio running over HDMI that if you turn off the TV the audio stops and starts once, twice, or thrice?

In one config I have
PC -> 3 monitors
     -> Onkyo -> TV
total 4 monitors. If I turn anything off (monitors/receiver/TV) all the rest flicker a few seconds like a Christmas tree. And then, gees... The circuitry in the TV doesn't shut off on the spot, the fan (it's a DLP unit) runs for another minute or so after you turn it off. When the TV is completely off - all flicker again. Don't even wanna get into what happens with the sound...

[JimH]

Update the driver. 

[benn600]

I got the latest when I installed this just a few weeks back.  Of course I will check again.  Maybe theater view could be more robust dealing with resolution/screen changes?

On another topic: after power cycling several times I find that the overscan correction gets reset so then I see a border around the whole screen.

[JimH]

I got the latest when I installed this just a few weeks back.  Of course I will check again.  Maybe theater view could be more robust dealing with resolution/screen changes?

No.  I don't think this is an MC issue.  Use Google to find similar problems with your hardware.

[glynor]

I can turn my HDTV and Powered Speakers (I use a Klipsch powered system instead of a dedicated receiver) off and on at will without issue on Windows 7 64-bit.

[HiFiTubes]

If you have 2 HDMI inputs, have your tried switching the HTPC to the other? Or, trying with only one HDMI device connected (if you have two).

[benn600]

I'm using the Denon 3808ci receiver and notice that when the receiver is off, it switches to a simple pass through of the HDMI.  Could this be interrupting the signal enough to cause the problem?

Just using one HDMI monitor and the system only has one port.