Whenever looking at any issues with an HDMI setup, the problem could lie with the HDMI cable, the video source, or the display. First to take a look at the most probable culprit, the HDMI cable.
Signs of a Faulty HDMI Cable
This article does a great job at demonstrating common HDMI cable problems and I will reference its great wisdom for you to get the best takeaways.
Problem: Blackouts
An image that goes black can often be the result of a bum HDMI cable. This could show up as no image at all being seen on the screen or as frequent “blackouts” where the screen goes completely black and then comes back again.
Problem: "Sparkles"
One of the most common issues with a faulty HDMI cable is “sparkles” or flickering dots that are usually white. This might look like shooting stars or white noise, and may show up as subtle interference or be much more of a nuisance.
Problem: Grainy Image
An image that looks fuzzy or grainy (like an extreme version of the “sparkles” mentioned above) may also be caused by a bad cable. Colors may look desaturated and the image may appear solarized, overexposed, or washed out.
Solution 1: Swap out the cable
The easiest way to identify a bad cable is to simply swap it out when you first notice an issue. If you keep a few spare HDMI 2.1 cables around, you’ll cover both older HDMI 1.3 and 2.0 devices (the cables are backward compatible) as well as current and upcoming devices that push more pixels at higher frame rates.
Solution 2: Replace the cable with a shorter one
As mentioned earlier, cables longer than 10 feet tend to be faulty due to HDMI cables not having any power. Try a shorter one and see if that does the trick.
Solution 3: HDMI 2.1 Devices may need new cables
HDMI 2.1 debuted on the Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and NVIDIA 30-Series graphics cards in 2020. Many TVs and monitors now support the standard and its associated suite of features, including variable refresh rate (VRR) and auto low latency mode (ALLM).
If you’re buying a new set of HDMI 2.1 cables, you can use the HDMI Licensing Administrator’s own smartphone app to verify that your cable is genuine.
“Premium” HDMI cables that cost exorbitant amounts of money are often not worth it. There is no image quality to be gained and a cheap cable will do just fine, provided it meets the 48 Gbps bandwidth requirement.
While a functioning lower quality HDMI cable will still work with your device you will be limited with your quality and bandwidth options.
Digging deeper: what's going on inside?
The majority of issues in HDMI cable fails are with I2C, the serial protocol used on the DDC line for EDID and HDCP.
Jeff Boccaccio, the owner of a Florida-based company DPL Labs runs the Digital Performance Level program, intended to help manufacturers, retailers, and customers test and rate HDMI products.
In regards to HDMI cable fails, Jeff says "I2C is slow but very susceptible to stray capacitance issues from connectors, cables, or anything the electrical bus is connected to. If capacitance gets to a critical point, it slows the signal ‘rise time’ needed for proper communication. You can have all the high-speed data bandwidth in the world, but without DDC, you’re dead in the water.”
How to Troubleshoot HDMI-to-DVI/VGA or DVI/VGA-to-HDMI Connection Problems
The most common problem with HDMI to DVI / VGA connections is the loss of audio. Remember VGA and DVI cables do not carry audio signals so without a separate 3.1mm auxiliary cable from the video device, the audio signal will be lost.
When the Receiver or TV settings may be to blame
Do you use a receiver, soundbar, or splitter for controlling multiple HDMI devices? Try removing the "middle man" device from the HDMI pipeline. Plug your cable directly from your video source to your display to see if the cable is truly at fault.
This article does a great job at walking you through potential issues with your receiver or intermediary device and how to troubleshoot.
How to troubleshoot HDMI issues
The best way to troubleshoot HDMI issues is by the process of elimination. You want to isolate the issue to determine if the problem lies with the video source, the HDMI cable, the display, or something in between.
- Power up the system with all the HDMI cables connected.
- Try changing HDMI channels on your display.
- Check the length of your HDMI cables, if any are longer than 10 feet, try swapping them out with shorter ones.
- Check the connection of the cables, is there a loose connection on either end?
- Using a known good cable, try plugging in the cable to each input source on the display and checking each channel.
- If the system is still failing, try some different HDMI cables.
- Continue to use a different cable with the same source device in a different HDMI port or to use the same cable in a different port with the same source device until the picture comes back.
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