Mystery - TV With No Sound

[Latexman]

Mrs. Latexman called me yesterday at 9 a.m. No sound on the family room TV. That's never happened before. It was fine the night before. I told her call the cable company and see if they are having issues. That's usually the problem. That afternoon, she said still no sound, and I've tried everything the cable company said, three times. "Please look at this when you get home" in her SWMBO'd voice.

When I get home, no sound. I check the settings, the volume, the connections, everything. All good. I grab a small TV from the guest BR and bring it in right beside the problem TV. Plug in the small TV AC, unplug the HDMI from no-sound TV and plug it into small TV. Sound! Ah ha, problem with TV. Out of curiosity, I unplug the HDMI from small TV and plug it into no-sound TV. Sound! Now I'm lost. That HDMI had been in and out of it's connection a dozen times today. The wife did it, My youngest son did it. I did it. What the hell just happened? It had sound all night.

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[dgallup]

One catch with longer HDMI cables is that you may have to plug the right end into the TV. We had one cable that appeared to kill the TV, then I read the instructions (hot tip for experts) and found that there was a source end and a TV end.

That must be an active cable that has an amplifier in it. Passive cables don't care which way they go but do have length restrictions.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[jraef]

This started happening to me after I plugged my Roku receiver into one of the HDMI ports. Every now and then the sound would go out on the main HDMI port, then mysteriously return. I figured out that if I unplug the Roku, plug it back in again a few minutes later all is good. My theory is a constant handshake routine is going on in the background and is possibly stressing some component in the TV, it overheats and shuts down. Unplugging the offending device lets it cool down and reset. So now I leave the Roku unplugged when not in use, the phenomenon doesn't happen.


" We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." -- W. H. Auden

 

[IFRs]

HDMI is buggy slapped together junk and the cables have astronomical differences in quality, IMHO

 

[dgallup]

I don't believe there is a bit of difference in cables but I've only used about 4. Like most things digital they either work or they don't. I've never had one not work.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I've had a couple of bad HDMI cables. I was told once that this is like there being NO GOOD, CHEAP Champagne. You gets what you pay for...

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[dgallup]

Not really. There are plenty of inexpensive HDMI cables. Now the super cheap ones on FleaBay may well be junk but these have worked well for me.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MZXUI6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B014I8SX4Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Like all things digital, there is no "sound" involved. If all the ones and zeros coming out match the ones and zeros going in everything works. Buying any high end cable is a waste of money but that goes double for digital.

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The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.

 

[Latexman]

I've never bought HDMI cable. They always come with the devices (TV, DVD, cable box, etc.) I buy or rent. So far, the only problem I've had is the one in the OP. That's not bad.

Good luck,
Latexman

To a ChE, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.

 

[LionelHutz]

HDMI video info basically doesn't have any error correction. So a cable can cause uncorrected errors which will degrade the picture. It typically manifests itself as what's referred to as "sparklies" on the display.