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Post by rbk123 on Feb 27, 2017 19:24:47 GMT -5
I added a 50" Vizio to my office setup this weekend and during the reconnection process I replaced my HDMI cables. I used Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Bonded-Pair" cables. These were very affordable and recommended in this thread earlier. Once I brought the system back to life everything seemed to work much better. I no longer have sync issues changing inputs and the unit seems much happier. I played with it all weekend and never had a failure moving from input to input including analog inputs.
My old cables were by no means cheapies, but I'm a believer that there is a lot to be said for using "premium certified" cables with the MC-700. I never thought to replace my cables earlier as I was not utilizing any 4K components at the time.
I'll post the same link provided earlier if anyone else wants to give these a whirl.
www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm
-Syd Syd - is your MC still performing well or have any of the prior peculiarities showed back up? I ask because although I don't have any 4K sources, I bought a 4K capable cable to see if it would make any difference: www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-3ft-Connectors-PlayStation/dp/B01CRA4L9G/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1488240723&sr=8-9&keywords=hdmi+cable+3+feetI tried it with my most problematic device - DirecTV set top box - and so far it has solved all the sync issues with the MC. It's not as fast in getting sync'd as the XMC, but it no longer gets confused and I don't lose either audio or video. I have ordered a couple of Monoprice's 4K certified cables which were less than half the price to see how they work, but now my only real annoyance with the MC has been taken care of. I imagine these cables would have helped the UMC-1 as well. For whatever reason, it appears the UMC/MC platform is more sensitive to cables than the XMC (for non-4K sources at least). |
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Post by sydhaynes on Feb 28, 2017 8:34:04 GMT -5
I added a 50" Vizio to my office setup this weekend and during the reconnection process I replaced my HDMI cables. I used Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Bonded-Pair" cables. These were very affordable and recommended in this thread earlier. Once I brought the system back to life everything seemed to work much better. I no longer have sync issues changing inputs and the unit seems much happier. I played with it all weekend and never had a failure moving from input to input including analog inputs.
My old cables were by no means cheapies, but I'm a believer that there is a lot to be said for using "premium certified" cables with the MC-700. I never thought to replace my cables earlier as I was not utilizing any 4K components at the time.
I'll post the same link provided earlier if anyone else wants to give these a whirl.
www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm
-Syd Syd - is your MC still performing well or have any of the prior peculiarities showed back up? I ask because although I don't have any 4K sources, I bought a 4K capable cable to see if it would make any difference: www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-3ft-Connectors-PlayStation/dp/B01CRA4L9G/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1488240723&sr=8-9&keywords=hdmi+cable+3+feetI tried it with my most problematic device - Dish Network set top box - and so far it has solved all the sync issues with the MC. It's not as fast in getting sync'd as the XMC, but it no longer gets confused and I don't lose either audio or video. I have ordered a couple of Monoprice's 4K certified cables which were less than half the price to see how they work, but now my only real annoyance with the MC has been taken care of. I imagine these cables would have helped the UMC-1 as well. For whatever reason, it appears the UMC/MC platform is more sensitive to cables than the XMC (for non-4K sources at least). rbk123, Since my HDMI cable change I have had no sync issues at all. I too am running standard HD components, the only issue I have had was with the Oppo BDP-93 and it was a timing issue with the player powering on before the MC-700. This was rectified with the programming of my Harmony remote. My only real complaints at this time is the input re-naming not sticking and the BTM-1 Bluetooth module dropping out. This is the first processor I've had, (granted also my first 4K processor as well) that was so finicky in regards to the HDMI cables used. I didn't give it much thought since I wasn't pushing 4K signals with it, bit obviously the chipsets prefer the "premium certified" cables regardless of the content. As a side note I used the same cables when setting up my Marantz SR-7010 and it has worked flawlessly with all 4K content. |
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Post by rbk123 on Feb 28, 2017 12:08:04 GMT -5
Good to hear. I did have a video glitch yesterday but it was the first one and it could be due to me not having a high-end cable from the MC to the TV (yet). In either case, any glitches are now very rare vs. semi-regular. For grins I picked up this bluetooth adapter for $15: www.dailysteals.com/products/belkin-nfc-enabled-hd-bluetooth-music-receiver?sdtid=9756624&variant=35737365007I have it hooked up via optical in and haven't had any issues of it dropping out. I would guess either the USB port on the MC isn't solid (for Bluetooth) or perhaps it too requires a higher quality cable. |
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Post by hilodb1 on Feb 28, 2017 13:07:34 GMT -5
I got notice via email that my replacement unit would be shipping soon. They are shipping out the second round of MC-700 starting today so I'm hopeful that mine will be at the top of the list. I'm also hoping that Emotiva will be flashing the latest firmware with the bug fixes on this round before they are shipped. But as I have not seen any news of the firmware update being released it seems probably not.
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Post by Percussionista on Feb 28, 2017 14:41:19 GMT -5
Syd - is your MC still performing well or have any of the prior peculiarities showed back up? I ask because although I don't have any 4K sources, I bought a 4K capable cable to see if it would make any difference: www.amazon.com/HDMI-Cable-3ft-Connectors-PlayStation/dp/B01CRA4L9G/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1488240723&sr=8-9&keywords=hdmi+cable+3+feetI tried it with my most problematic device - DirecTV set top box - and so far it has solved all the sync issues with the MC. ...I have ordered a couple of Monoprice's 4K certified cables which were less than half the price to see how they work, but now my only real annoyance with the MC has been taken care of. I imagine these cables would have helped the UMC-1 as well. I am curious to hear how people think about the stiffness of some of these cables. There are Monoprice cables that people remark are very rigid, as well as thin ones for UHD. I have a combination of Monoprice thin UHD cables (3 and 6 feet), the original "thick" cable from Oppo 203, plus a $10 three-pack of HDMI cables from Cable Matters that all seem to work fine. I've got the Oppo203 going into the MC700 and from there to my Sony 43" UHD set used as a PC monitor. I also go direct from a different PC into that Sony TV with one of the Cable Matters HDMI cables. Regarding BlueJeans cables, I had a problem with some old RCA cables picking up hum and hiss, and tried a pair of BJ's and they completely eliminated this problem., These aren't cheap (nor outrageously expensive either), but I'm a believer! |
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Post by doc1963 on Feb 28, 2017 16:09:24 GMT -5
I am curious to hear how people think about the stiffness of some of these cables. There are Monoprice cables that people remark are very rigid, as well as thin ones for UHD. I have a combination of Monoprice thin UHD cables (3 and 6 feet), the original "thick" cable from Oppo 203, plus a $10 three-pack of HDMI cables from Cable Matters that all seem to work fine. I've got the Oppo203 going into the MC700 and from there to my Sony 43" UHD set used as a PC monitor. I also go direct from a different PC into that Sony TV with one of the Cable Matters HDMI cables. Regarding BlueJeans cables, I had a problem with some old RCA cables picking up hum and hiss, and tried a pair of BJ's and they completely eliminated this problem., These aren't cheap (nor outrageously expensive either), but I'm a believer! For shorter runs, less than 15 feet, the Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Series-FE" cables work beautifully and are "HDMI Premium Certified". Better yet, they're relatively thin, very flexible and won't break the bank. Unfortunately, for me, I need a longer cable (25 feet is a comfortable length) between my equipment rack and TV. For a short time, I used a 20 foot Monoprice Premium Certified and, yes, it does work reliably and, yes, it is thick and not so flexible. However, it's not quite as thick, and slightly more flexible than, the Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Series-1 Bonded-Pair" cables which are nearly garden hose thick and very heavy. With either one, stress on the HDMI jack is a concern. Since the 20 foot Monoprice was a tad too short for my needs, and my XMC-1 has the original HDMI board (so splitting the audio out was a requirement anyway), my short term solution was moving my UDP-203 out of the rack and closer to my (wall mounted) TV using two 12 foot BJC Belden Series-FE cables in-between all three. This worked great, but I got tired of seeing my disc player sitting on a box in the middle of the room. So knowing I needed a long term fix, and having no luck finding a traditional cable solution, I decided to belly up and purchase a Celerity Technologies fiber optic HDMI cable. Obviously, at $295 for 35 feet, these are NOT going to be for everyone, but if you require a longer cable run, these work phenomenally well and weigh practically nothing. IMHO, if you are looking for a reliable 18 Gbps cable, my votes go to Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Series-FE" for distances under 15 feet and Celerity fiber optic (at this time) for anything over...  |
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Post by rbk123 on Feb 28, 2017 16:59:08 GMT -5
I am curious to hear how people think about the stiffness of some of these cables. There are Monoprice cables that people remark are very rigid, as well as thin ones for UHD. The Amazon one I linked is not overly stiff - it is 28AWG but I assume the braided jacket is what helps the most. The Monoprice ones I haven't received yet - will have to follow up on that later. |
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Post by crazycuz2k on Feb 28, 2017 22:17:00 GMT -5
You guys realize that the XMC-1 even with the upgraded board only has 1 hdmi 2 hdcp 2.2 input and only 1 output whereas the MC700 has 4 of those inputs. Therese's no hdcp 2.2 switching at all on that board. I imagine the chain from source to receiver to tv can wreak havok. I remember the growing pains with hdmi v1.
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Post by sydhaynes on Mar 1, 2017 21:57:39 GMT -5
IMHO, if you are looking for a reliable 18 Gbps cable, my votes go to Blue Jeans "BJC Belden Series-FE" for distances under 15 feet and Celerity fiber optic (at this time) for anything over... Doc, thanks for your original mention of the "BJC Belden Series-FE" in this thread. Installing these was a real turning point in my relationship with my MC-700.  |
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Post by doc1963 on Mar 1, 2017 22:45:26 GMT -5
Doc, thanks for your original mention of the "BJC Belden Series-FE" in this thread. Installing these was a real turning point in my relationship with my MC-700. You're welcome. I'm glad they worked for you. I think the more we move into UHD and discover the finicky quirks of HDMI 2.0 and the various chipsets, the more we'll need to take a serious look at the capabilities of our cables. The weakest link is the cheapest to fix and most often overlooked... |
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Post by mgbpuff on Mar 4, 2017 9:57:28 GMT -5
Had to get back into my son's MC-700 system because he was not getting a picture at all to his 2014 P series Vizio. He had changed to a new Directv system just to get 4k, and claimed he was getting 4K before we changed out the UMC-1 for the MC-700 (I really don't believe he ever got 4K, but was getting down scaled 1080P instead). So I went through his setup and found that the C61K directv box had dropped all resolution outputs - that's why he was not getting a picture. I pulled the power on the C61K and rebooted it and got it to recognize all resolutions except 4K. Just as I suspected, this is because his tv is a 4K HDMI 2.0 but only HDCP 1.4. So I had him buy a HDFury Integral and some certified UHD HDMI cables from them. I installed the Integral between the MC-700, rebooted the C61K again, and now he gets a confirmed 2160 UHD signal to his Vizio from Directv, FireTV, and PlayStation 4. Such is the great HDMI war waged on the public! When is that firmware change coming so we can customize his input names without fear of losing them?
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Post by harlan on Mar 6, 2017 6:20:09 GMT -5
So when Emo comes up with a firmware fix, how do they communicate that it is available? I'm sure at this point there is a process in place.
Thanks.....looking forward to using the MC700 as it was advertised to work.
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Post by doc1963 on Mar 6, 2017 7:29:53 GMT -5
So when Emo comes up with a firmware fix, how do they communicate that it is available? I'm sure at this point there is a process in place. Thanks.....looking forward to using the MC700 as it was advertised to work. I'm sure the process will be as it always has been for all of their other processors. They will post the update download link under the " Resources" tab of the product page ( HERE) and announce its release somewhere here on the lounge. I'm sure you'll know when it drops... |
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Post by rbk123 on Mar 6, 2017 10:27:41 GMT -5
I am curious to hear how people think about the stiffness of some of these cables. There are Monoprice cables that people remark are very rigid, as well as thin ones for UHD. The Monoprice cables finally arrived and I hooked them up. They aren't overly stiff (nor would I call them flexible) - they'll bend but then retain that bent shape somewhat. Monoprice - www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024021&p_id=15427&seq=1&format=2The cables are definite keepers. I used one between my HTPC and the MC and not only did it improve the MC's quirky-ness, but it improved the picture quality and sound quality as well (I was not expecting that). I like the braiding on the Amazon cable better than the plastic on the Monoprice but both are excellent and I need to move the cables around and see if I can tell a difference between them. I doubt it, though. Like Syd, no more real beefs with me on the MC; it's a great little processor. |
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Post by leefdalucky on Mar 6, 2017 10:51:22 GMT -5
That's the second time I've heard someone remark that this particular (HDMI) cable improves picture quality.
Is this possible?
I mean is there some little standard or protocol (ie. deep colour? who knows) that lesser cables don't or can't pass?
Some digital pipe blockage that just won't fit through the cable until a wider bandwidth cable suddenly unclogs it and components start talking with each other again?
The reason i ask is, something happened last year, that I bought a new monoprice HDMI ultra thin cable for my apple TV and I could SWEAR the picture looked worse after installation.
Suddenly my reds looked all bleedy even though i hadn't changed any settings.
i never got around to putting back the original cable and sadly i gave it away to a needy neighbour.
just wondering...
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Post by rbk123 on Mar 6, 2017 11:34:12 GMT -5
I'd guess due to noise requiring more error correction.
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Post by mgbpuff on Mar 7, 2017 5:09:28 GMT -5
I was operating my son's MC-700 last night and I noticed that it is not possible to get pass thru to work with sound. The menu has the option 'video pass through" on - off, the sound has the option "amplifier on or off", but no matter what I did, sound would not pass through to the tv when the MC-700 is turned off, only video. Am I missing something here? Directv C61K -> MC-700 input 1 -> HDFury Integral -> vizio p class tv
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Post by doc1963 on Mar 7, 2017 7:05:49 GMT -5
I was operating my son's MC-700 last night and I noticed that it is not possible to get pass thru to work with sound. The menu has the option 'video pass through" on - off, the sound has the option "amplifier on or off", but no matter what I did, sound would not pass through to the tv when the MC-700 is turned off, only video. Am I missing something here? Directv C61K -> MC-700 input 1 -> HDFury Integral -> vizio p class tv This would seem rather obvious, but sometimes we overlook the obvious, so I'm going to ask anyway... Is there an option within the TV's menu system to enable/disable the internal speakers? If so, are they enabled...? If so, set "video pass through" to "on" and "amplifier on or off" to "off", then hard reboot the MC-700 by putting it in standby and turning off the rear panel switch. Wait a few minutes and reboot. Then try the feature again and see what happens. I'm not familiar with the internal operations of the HDFury, but is that device somehow denying audio passthrough? What happens if you bypass it...? If none of that works, I'm sure someone will respond with a different idea... |
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Post by mgbpuff on Mar 7, 2017 7:25:26 GMT -5
I was operating my son's MC-700 last night and I noticed that it is not possible to get pass thru to work with sound. The menu has the option 'video pass through" on - off, the sound has the option "amplifier on or off", but no matter what I did, sound would not pass through to the tv when the MC-700 is turned off, only video. Am I missing something here? Directv C61K -> MC-700 input 1 -> HDFury Integral -> vizio p class tv This would seem rather obvious, but sometimes we overlook the obvious, so I'm going to ask anyway... Is there an option within the TV's menu system to enable/disable the internal speakers? If so, are they enabled...? If so, set "video pass through" to "on" and "amplifier on or off" to "off", then hard reboot the MC-700 by putting it in standby and turning off the rear panel switch. Wait a few minutes and reboot. Then try the feature again and see what happens. I'm not familiar with the internal operations of the HDFury, but is that device somehow denying audio passthrough? What happens if you bypass it...? If none of that works, I'm sure someone will respond with a different idea... I did not check the tv speaker setting, so that could be the reason along with the CEC being turned off. Of course, the HDFury would be the first thing people would question. My son seems happy with the amp and external speakers working all the time, but I have this penchant for trying to get every aspect to work. Anyhow, good input - thanks! |
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Post by harlan on Mar 7, 2017 21:05:50 GMT -5
I broke down and ordered the BJ cables referred to above via Amazon Prime. Should be here Thursday. I will report back my findings. Hopefully they will reduce the time it takes to sync ausio and video. I'm also hopeful that the ARC audio will work also.
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