Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

banana8 · ‎04-26-2012

Hi All,

Here's a quick rundown of my setup, and then I'll explain the issue I'm having.

-Living room:

Uverse VIP 1225 DVR receiver

Panasonic Plasma running at 1080 connected via HDMI to DVR

Slingbox Pro-HD connected to via component cables to DVR (ethernet connection to my network)

-Garage:

LG LCD TV/Monitor

Mac mini running Lion connected to LG and ethernet

The issue is this:

I am trying to sling from my living room to the garage.

-when I go full screen with the slingbox client in the garage, I have black bars on the top/bottom/sides of the TV

-if I do the same, but I turn on the Panasonic as well, then I get full screen on the LG in the garage

So I get full screen when the Panasonic is on, but not when it's off. Anyone have any idea why and how to fix it?

I noticed in a couple of other forums posts on the internet, it has been said to disable "CEC" (HDMI device control) on the tv. I can't find that setting on my Panasonic. So as a test, I disconnected the HDMI cable connection at the Panasonic. No difference, I get the blackbars on the top/bottom/sides still.

Thx!

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

banana8 - I believe the problem is the HDMI cable connected to the Panasonic. You can verify by disconnecting the HDMI cable from the STB - Making sure the aspect is HD on the STB and viewing via the component cable. When yoy disconnected the TV end the STB still thinks it is there. It is not the CEC. It is the way the STB works.

When the HDMI cable is connected it requires "backfeed" from the TV to be HD. If the TV is on it works. If it is off it defaults to 4:3. You can see this by the blue light on the STB.

I believe there is not a good solution. Just for fun try the SD widescreen setting when the HDMI cable is connected to a TV that is off.

Also, you can view the output of the STB on component on the Panasonic. With/without HDMI cable variations to see if it does the same thing.

banana8 · ‎04-26-2012

Dumb question, but what's "STB"?

Ugh, I hope there's some sort of solution....

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

STB is set top box. Probably should have said DVR.

banana8 · ‎04-26-2012

<body>aviewer,Your'e correct. When I power off my Panasonic, the "blue HD" light goes off. Ugh! It's the darn STB that's causing this problem. As soon as I turn on the Panasonic, the blue LED turns on and my LG goes to full screen as expected. Any idea on how I can trick the STB to be in HD mode? I'm using the component outs to my Slingbox and HDMI to the Panasonic. One thing I was able to do was with the Panasonic off, was manually change it from the 4:3 resolution to 720p or 1080i. This gives me the fullscreen on the LG. However, it's a royal {word filter evasion} to do this since there's lag doing this via the slingbox. Plus this won't pass the "wife test." UGH!!! How are the other guys with Uverse getting around this?!

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

You might try to go into your Panasonic TV menus and see if you can find a setting to turn off the Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) feature of HDMI. This is a communications protocol that runs over HDMI that lets devices talk to each other. It is responsible for when your Panasonic is turned off, it tells the U-Verse box to also turn the video output off. This is the behavior you want to stop.

Panasonic's marketing name for CEC is "VIERA Link". So look for that in your menus.

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

banana8 - The rock solid solution is also the most expensive - get the slingbox it's own STB. Which raises the possibility of an STB for the garage - wired or wireless.

Less expensive solutions are experimental -

If you must have HDMI on the Panny, try this HDMI splitter. It is not used as a splitter. It may (or may not) fool the STB into thinking the HDMI cable is active. http://www.amazon.com/HDMI-1-Out-Auto-Switch-Cable/dp/B0018DQYQ2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1307119901&s...

You can split the component cable to feed both the Panny & the slingbox. The STB has multiple sound jacks. I suggested this to someone to use Y connectors & they felt that the quality was degraded. Try this splitter. I believe it is less expensive than Y connectors.

http://sewelldirect.com/PTC-Premium-GOLDSeries-Component-RGB-Splitter-Adapter-Cable.asp

Also, explore the site for other equipment. You could extend the HDMI to the garage & not need the slingbox. Just connect the IR blaster to change channels
http://sewelldirect.com/Sewell-HDMI-1x2-Splitter-v13b.asp?ad_source=GoogleAdWords&ad_medium=PPC&ad_t...

Check out the video.

banana8 · ‎04-26-2012

Thanks everyone for their suggestion thus far! Keep'em coming!

So it looks like it's the darn Uverse STB that's causing me these issues. Some observations I've made.

On the VIP1225 box, when I turn off the Panasonic, the "HD LED" light goes out on the STB. Thus I'm not getting HD content thru my component connections.

Now the STB in my bedroom, the HD LED stays lit, even when I turn off my tv!! (Not sure what model it is, but it doesn't have a DVR, it just streams the video from the VIP 1225 outside). However, I'm using the component output on that STB to my TV in the bedroom (older LCD, pre HDMI days!). Perhaps I can put the Slingbox here instead.

What sucks is the VIP 1225 box!!! I'm so annoyed by it now. I'm going to have to monkey around with this some more.

Also, I have tried disabling CEC (Viera Link) on the Panasonic, no difference. I have a feeling there's going to have to be a lot of trial and error. Just rediculous that the VIP 1225 detects that HDM on the Panasonic is off and then disables the HD!!!

ATT, do you have any suggestions? Is there a setting on the STB to keep this from happening?!

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

banana8 - Its just the way the U-verse HDMI software works. It is not box specific. It did not do this at some time long ago - It was changed.

Take an HDMI cable to the box in the bedroom and plug it in. You will find that the it works the same as the DVR. So, if you move the slingbox you will jave the same issue.

Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"

Re: Slingbox HD and Uverse Motorola VIP 1225 DVR; weird resolution being "slinged"