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Resolved Question

TV screen going blank (DVD related?)

Nov 28, 2011 5:28AM PST

I have a TX-P42V20B plasma TV and a DMR-BW780 blu-ray DVD recorder. At least twice a day the TV screen goes blank (if on). Sometimes the TV restores itself, sometimes it doesn't. I guess it's the DVD recorder checking for TV schedule updates but how do I stop it intefering with the TV? Any help appreciated.

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goa_the_gerbil has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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TV screen going blank
Dec 19, 2011 2:29AM PST

My Panasonic DMR-BWT700 is conected to my TX-L37E30B TV via its HDMI1 terminal and the screen kept going blank, sometimes turning itself back on and sometimes having to use the "TV" button on the TV remote.
Panasonic said to use HDMI2 and this has cured the problem completely.
I asked what if I wanted to use HDMI2 as output to a future home cinema system and they said to then plug the video box into HDMI3. So HDMI1 must be redundant then?!

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HDMI outputs are never inputs.
Dec 19, 2011 3:38AM PST

So far not one maker has supplied a device that the HDMI port could be either input or output. Which means you don't have to worry about your question later.
Bob

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This is the answer!
Jan 3, 2012 1:19AM PST

@DigbyDare,

Thank you very much - this worked!

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Answer
Next time. A test.
Nov 28, 2011 5:33AM PST

To see if it's the usual bug, when it doesn't, unplug the HDMI, count to 5 and plug the HDMI back in.

If it restores then it's the usual bug. Both the DVD recorder and Panasonic are called to see if they have new firmware to address this HDCP failure.
Bob

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results of test
Nov 30, 2011 4:23AM PST

Ok. The screen goes blank at 12:15pm but the TV returns without taking
any action. At 7:45pm the screen goes blank and stays blank. On removal
of the HDMI from the DVD player the screen immediately reactivates.
After 5 seconds the HDMI is replaced and a few seconds later the screen
goes blank again. I repeated this a few times with the same result. The
TV returns by pressing the TV button.

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I don't know this "TV button"
Nov 30, 2011 9:25AM PST

It sounds as if the TV autoswitched to some other input when the loss occurred.

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what can I do?
Dec 1, 2011 7:41AM PST

The TV button is simply the button on the TV handset to switch to TV input.

Two points ~ 1, when the screen goes blank the input changes to DVD; 2, if I disconnect the HDMI before 12:15 then the screen does not go blank.

Your suggestion may point to the root of the problem but what can I do to stop it happening?

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"Automatic input switching"
Dec 1, 2011 9:39AM PST

I scanned the product manual to find no way to turn "Automatic input switching" off.