Pioneer Elite VSX-74TXVi and 1080p?

Burger · Post by **Burger** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:36 am

thanks for your input guys, i appreciate it. unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a firmware update for either the Samsung HD-960 or the Pioneer Elite 82 that i can find. i was wondering if there was some issue with the DVD player scaling the image and then the Pioneer trying to do the same? thanks again.

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:35 pm

Start with the player directly to the display... does it work? If not then see if there is a firmware upgrade for the display.

Sony Bravia XBR2 LCD display

How old?

Everything else appears to have been checked... Tried a new cable?

Bottom line is somewhere you are not getting the handshake and one or more of those three units has to be the problem.

Sorry you are going through this... awaiting your next post...

Burger · Post by **Burger** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 4:20 pm

the display is about a month old and i believe a very recent model. my friend (with the identical set up) ran his dvd player directly into his display after experiencing the same problem i have. his picture will now randomly freeze (as opposed to going black) while the audio continues and then the picture jumps forward to synch up with the sound after a few seconds. ?? i haven't tried a different cable since he has the same issues and i figured the likelihood of two bad hdmi cables was low . . . meanwhile hd programming from directv comes through like a champ. very confusing. i had assumed that the pioneer would just "pass through" the faux upscaled 1080p signal from the dvd player. thoughts?

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 6:39 pm

Gee, even directly to the TV... My SWAG is the Samsung for a variety of reasons.

If you can return it get an Oppo; highly rated and inexpensive! Otherwise you will ahve to wait until they do have a firmware upgrade to fix it. Have you called? (although that could be an exercise in frustration)

http://www.oppodigital.com/

970 or 981 for your application.

spudly · Post by **spudly** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:14 pm

I want to wait to get into hi-def DVD so I bought an upscaling Samsung HD960 DVD player. HDMI from DVD to Pioneer, HDMI from Pioneer to display. Here's the problem: every 5 to 10 minutes the screen goes black for about 5 seconds then comes back.

I had a Samsung DVD-VR325 unit that did the same thing through HDMI. It would basically happen at chapter breaks. As others have noted it's a firmware issue from Samsung. They never addressed it in the unit I had so I ended up selling it off.

spudly · Post by **spudly** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:36 pm

OK, so back to the original issue I had with 1080p pass-through.

The TV firmware did sort of fix the issue.

After upgrading the firmware I could get 1080p to display on the TV, but with some caveats. I had to go through HDMI port 2, no biggie. I had to set the input to Computer, kind of an issue.

Setting the input to computer has a few issues. One, the amount of adjustments to the picture a fairly limited. You get a really bright picture and no control over the color settings. Two, the receiver won't work through this configuration. Three, direct connection of the PS3 to HDMI 2 gives an annoying message for about five minutes.

So while I can technically get 1080p it's not the TV, it's not really worth it in the end.

As I understand the way the Mits displays the picture, everything gets pushed up to 1080p for display. Plus the 1080p input goes through some form of up/down converting. The way I understand it is 1080p in gets down converted to 1080i then up converted back to 1080p.

So end result, I'm keeping everything as it started out connection wise. I did get the TV updated and I learned something in the process, so it wasn't a total loss

Richard · Post by **Richard** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:40 pm

As I understand the way the Mits displays the picture, everything gets pushed up to 1080p for display. Plus the 1080p input goes through some form of up/down converting. The way I understand it is 1080p in gets down converted to 1080i then up converted back to 1080p.

Depends on the model year AND the model. This year 1080P is direct. Don't know about the 24 frame aspect.

Burger · Post by **Burger** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:20 pm

And so my saga continues . . . on friday evening my Pioneer 82 crapped out completely. it froze up and only flashed "HDMI NG". i turned it off, unplugged it and when i powered it back on . . . the same thing. i took it in to the dealer today and they called Pioneer tech support and they told us how to reset it. that made the receiver functional but it doesn't show an HDMI #2, it jumps straight from #1 to #3. anyway, long story short, they're sending it in for repairs on the suspicion of a bad HDMI board and we'll see what happens. hopefully it fixes my original problem of the picture going out every five minutes. although there is still the issue of my friend's set up which does the same thing. hmmm. i'll let you guys know what happens when i get it back. as always, thanks for your time and expertise.

spudly · Post by **spudly** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:51 pm

Bummer, hopefully they can get it fixed wihtout being down too long.

I don't think this will fix the issue with the Samsung cutting out. From what I've been able to tell it is an issue with Samsung equipment / firmware. My DVD-VR325 had the same issue of cutout at chapter breaks connecting with HDMI (direct connect to the TV or through the 82). It continued to have problems through component as well. It would occasnially drop out the pitcture or freeze up.

Burger · Post by **Burger** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 12:45 pm

and so . . . after several weeks and two different repair shops . . . Pioneer is releasing a firmware update next week that is supposed to take care of the problem! i'll let you guys know what happens when i get my receiver back.