SkyHD - HDMI Failure - It can't possibly be our problem, can it?

[MD]

In the land of High Definition, all is not well. Not well if you are a SkyHd customer that is, after all, the majority of the stuff you are watching right now is on an HD channel, but the content isn't likely to ACTUALLY be HD quality - but I digress, the true problem is that great big fancy flat panel you bought, especially if it has a Pioneer badge on the front.

Find out more here.

[Funkstar]

“While we investigate these reports, the recommendation to customers who experience this situation is that they simply use the component output to connect their SkyHD box to their TV to continue viewing SkyHD content. We will update customers once the cause of the reported issue has been identified.”

So let’s get this straight, we, the consumers, have shelled out big bucks for our HDMI equipped kit and now you tell us to revert to composite?

Big difference there i think

Someone is going to have to give in when it comes to warranties or replacement equipment at the end of the day. All we need to do is send a few polite emails off to Watchdog (http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and...ct_index.shtml) they would love a story like this.

[MD]

whoops, fixed, sorry about that...

[FatalSaviour]

Very interesting...thanks for the heads up Matt.

[hysys]

Hi

I think that anyone interested by the subject should go to avforums.com but be prepare for a long long read.....

a quick summary would be :

We dont know what the problem is, but it could damage the HDMI port ie other equipment like dvd player wont work on the port.

It is unclear if it is only Pioneer or not. There are other report but only few and some of the damage is not permanent.

It is unclear how frequent the problem is, but the damage is huge specially if Pioneer or Sky do not cover the cost of reparation (~£300 has been quoted) so Pioneer advice is to switch to component.

Last point Pioneer has created a blog (which seems to be real) http://pioneerhdblog.com/

Cheers

[chrestomanci]

The way I see it, there is an HDMI standard which defines both the electrical signals you are allowed to send down an HDMI (voltages, frequencies), and the signal types (data formats, coding schemes etc).

If the box has violated the electrical standards (eg twice the maxium voltage) and blown up TVs because of if, then Sky (or more precicely Thomson who designed and make the box) are clearly at fault.

If the data sent was in the wrong format, then the TV should have ignored the incorrect data, but it is fairly common in the electronics industry to treat external imputs as gosepel, and to jump off a cliff if that is what it says.