I’m trying to re-organize how my TV system is set up after my old DVD player died a few months ago. Even thinking about this stuff gives me panic attacks, so I have put it off, and I am certain I am not using all the terms correctly. This is the situation:
I have an older HDTV (2005 vintage), with three HD inputs (one HDMI, 2 for Component Audio/Visual (5 plugs total). After my old DVD player died, I decided to upgrade to a Blu-Ray-capable DVD player. The one I chose only has an HDMI out. I had already been using the sole HDMI in on my TV to connect my HD Cable Box, so I purchased an inexpensive HDMI-splitter device. This worked fine, but shortly thereafter the HDMI signal stopped coming into my TV and I am getting the so called “green screen of death”. I don’t know the cause of the problem, if it was due to the splitter, or if it is worth the expense of trying to have fixed.
So, now I am in the situation of having three HD-capable input devices (Blu-Ray Player, HD Cable Box and X-Box 360) and only two Component ins on the back of my TV. This is further complicated by the fact that the Blu-Ray Player has no Component out, only HDMI and a low resolution mode with RCA(?) cables (same kind of cables I am using to connect an obsolete VCR to the system). My idea was to use a Component splitter box with a selector switch for two of the devices, say the X-Box and the BluRay player. There seems to be a bewildering selection of these on Amazon, starting around $40 or so.
I would also need a way to convert the HDMI out signal from the Blu-Ray Player to a component in that goes into the Component splitter box. I am really confused here, because there seems to be inexpensive cables that do this (HDMI --> A/V Component with 5 plugs), and more expensive convertor boxes that do the same. The boxes don’t seem to review well on Amazon, and I can’t understand the difference, or what I should use in my situation.
My setup does not include surround sound.
This is the simpler, but more urgent of two problems I am having. I posted some time ago about connecting my X-Box 360 to X-Box Live, when a remote router wouldn’t likely work. I am planning to look into PowerLine Adaptor devices at some point, but frankly anything relating to setting up electronic systems intimidates me!
First and most obvious answer… you have the best excuse in the world to go out and buy a new TV! Feel free to use the “dog years” analogy (you know, every one year in a dog’s life is equal to 7 human years) to your TV. 2005 is 6 years old which is at least 18 in human years (that’s only three TV/Human years)… did you have the same TV at 18 that you did when you were born? No… go get a new one already, and post to tell us how many HDMI inputs it has.
Well, that is the kind of logic I keep trying to use on my wife. It doesn’t always work as well as I convince myself it should.
Anyway, as far as your Green Screen of Death goes, it sounds like you may be using a splitter “backwards.” A splitter splits one input into two or more outputs. It does not work well taking two or more inputs into one output. Think of it as a water flow. If you have a blue stream you can use a splitter to fill two cups with blue water. If you have a blue and a red stream and you use a splitter backwards you will end up with one cup of purple water… pretty for water, not so much for video signals.
The solution could be as simple as making sure one device is completely off so there is no interference from that device, but the real thing you need for this is called an A/B Switch (two inputs to one output). Using the water flow analogy you are damming the red so the blue can flow through and vice versa.
If it was me though I’d still argue for the new TV with the multiple HDMI inputs.
Missed the edit window… the A/B switch will require some sort of physical change. Either moving a switch on the device or for the higher end pushing a button on a remote.
this is an A/B switch. You can also get A/B/C switches which could work for your situation. Do not connect an A/B switch to a backwards splitter or you will have the same problem you currently do.
The first thing you need to do is remove the splitter and try your HDMI input with the cable box or Blu-ray player and see if it still works or not. From there you can proceed as Spud suggests.
I wonder though if the cable box might have component outs. That would eliminate the need for any switches, which I personally would want to avoid.
If your TV is of 2005 vintage it may be HD in only the loosest sense. If it’s not a full 1080p display that plays nicely with 24 fps movies, take the excuse to get a new one if you can afford it.
With regard to the GSOD, try each component with the TV individually.
I’ve taken the HDMI splitter completely off. Unfortunately, even in that situation, I was getting the GSOD with each HDMI-enabled component I tried to connect directly to the TV. I tried two different HDMI cables, so I think it is a problem with the TV.
The TV works fine otherwise. It’s a DLP TV. I think this technology sort of got obsoleted by LCD and Plasma screens, but the picture is fine. It has an expensive bulb ($400 to replace I think). The bulb was only rated for 2,000 hours, but it’s still going and it is many hours beyond that.
A new TV isn’t in the budget right now, and if it were, I’d probably get something large that can hang on the wall in my living room, not for the den where my current TV is.
The cable box has component out, and I am using it in that mode right now. My X-box 360 is also component right now. That leaves my Blu-Ray out though, since I have to connect it with HDMI or low resolution. Only way I see to get this to work would involve an HDMI-to-component cable + a component selector box to give three component in ports. I have never done this before, so don’t know how well it would work, and it would be about $100 to get the hardware to try.
May I suggest you look into getting Surround Sound, because the AV Receiver is the best way to get all your components to connect to the TV. Multiple cables can be plugged into the Receiver, while it only needs one single output to the TV.
I am in a similar boat, in that I recently upgraded my entire home theatre system, but kept the old Receiver, and that turns out to be the sticking point in getting the best out of the system, so I now have to buy a new one with HDMI inputs if I want everything to work in harmony. Still, it’s not such a bad thing, as a decent one only costs a couple of hundred bucks.
In fact, I shall be doing that this very day, if I can manage to dodge the raindrops.
While there are HDMI-to-component cables out there, they only work for a small subset of devices. HDMI is digital and component is analog, so a cable alone cannot do the conversion. Certain devices however can be configured to output a component signal on its HDMI output port to utilize those HDMI-to-component cables. Unless it says it does so in your Bluray player manual it most likely doesn’t.