VIP211K issue?

I've had a Sharp Aquos 46" LCD for 6 weeks now and have 2 problems. Dish and Sharp seem to be blaming one another.

The first problem is minor: I get a popping noise from the right speaker when I change channels. Sharp sent out a service tech who replaced the video board but that didn't solve the problem. The tech said he would probably be back to replace the speaker but I later got a message asking me to disconnect the audio cables from the "cable box" (Dish's 211K). I replied that they weren't connected and that's the last I heard from them.

The other problem is that now and then the screen goes blank yellow-green. I wonder if this simply means there's a bandwidth problem, as it only happens on HD channels. I've rapidly switched to the same programming on a non-HD channel and the problem is not present.

Anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences?

Try connecting the ViP to your TV using component (red, green, blue cables) for video and either optical or analog (red, white cables) for audio. This may resolve the problems you are having due to HDMI HDCP handshake and will give you just as good of a picture.

Try connecting the ViP to your TV using component (red, green, blue cables) for video and either optical or analog (red, white cables) for audio. This may resolve the problems you are having due to HDMI HDCP handshake and will give you just as good of a picture.

It took a long back-and-forth with Dish (and Sharp, the HDTV manufacturer, who sent out two separate video repair companies). Dish wanted me to visit a URL which diagnoses error messages (there were none), try another HDMI device (I have none), etc. I tried another HDMI cable, which didn't help.

Finally Dish sent over a subcontractor who offered to replace my HDMI cable with a component one (he must have read your mind! I even offered to show him your post). THe sound problem went away, and I expect that I won't get that yellow-green screen again, either.

I suppose I should have taken your advice a month ago, but I saved buying an overpriced component cable (the one guy tonight gave me one was free but he may have taken the HDMI cable with him ;-(

Correction: he used his own component cable to eliminate the problem the HDMI cable was causing but when he saw I had composite (red/yellow/white) cables he used them which, he said, "are just as good". Judging from the picture, he's right! So, now I'm watching a picture
using composite cables which is just as good as it was in HDMI

Garyg,

Although your Y/R/W cables appear to be doing a satisfactory job, it's probably more by accident rather than design:

That Yellow cable was only required to pass up to 5 or 6 MHz for composite video, and the Red and White cables were only required to pass up to about 20kHz for audio, strictly speaking!

For HD video, the 'Green' cable needs to be able to pass up to about 30MHz without attenuation, and the Red and Blue ones about a half or a quarter of this (I forget exactly).

To be sure of getting a true HD picture, it might be worth getting a decent but reasonably-priced YPbPr cable. Just don't go paying a fortune for snake-oil hype. ;)