It's Not Emotiva's Fault

[ttocs]

After having gone through issues with the UMC-200, XMC-1 1.4, and then the V3 HDMI Upgrade Board, I'm used to needing to tweak the system synergy. All of my non-analog devices have needed special assistance, all of them.

I like to think that I'm pretty good at determining which device or combination of devices is causing an issue. But I also know for a fact that I'm not perfect, and I'm very willing to point out when I'm wrong, and it's very helpful to me and others when someone else points out when I'm wrong, just please do it nicely.

I've had my XMC-2 for a week now. I've had some issues and thought these were fully in Emotiva's domain. I emailed the issues and what I'd done to that point in time and left it in their hands for future firmware releases.

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Issues I thought were Emotiva's fault:
Lost video signal SOLVED
Digital static stutter noise SOLVED
ATV4K Dolby Vision limited to 30Hz SOLVED

It's Not Emotiva's Fault !!

edit: Add one more item to the SOLVED list: 
My system starts up with TiVo. Whenever I switched to Sony X700 blu-ray player, then switch back to TiVo the screen would be black. This required to switch away from TiVo and then switch back to TiVo, or turn off Sony 950G TV and turn back on. Now the switching to or from any input has not caused a black screen since changing the 950G HDMI setting to Enhanced Format.

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Lost video signal. Not able to keep locked on to a video signal with TiVo EDGE when using Instant Replay and Advance buttons repeatedly. This issue is inherited from XMC-1 w/V3, and only since I got the Sony 950G tv. Along with this I discovered a "digital static noise" that would occur frequently, sounded like digital static stutter. After a lot of testing I found that if I changed settings on the TiVo box is solved both these issues. I changed the TiVo audio from Dolby Audio to PCM, and changed the video resolution to a fixed 4K. The problem with these changes is that the TiVo box has a ghost who keeps changing the video back to Auto. Maybe it's all the power resets this week, don't know, but it isn't the solution that'll work full time for me.

Today I discovered that my TV doesn't come with 4K @ 60Hz upscaling as a default. It took me forever to find the setting where the HDMI inputs can be set from Standard to Enhanced Format which allows full 18Gbps bandwidth, which I posted in the RMC Owner thread. Since this setting change the video is very solid. I've been trying to flub it up, pressing the Instant Replay button several times a second which steps back the video 8 seconds each time. This used to make the video signal get lost requiring the TV to be power cycled, or change inputs away and back. Also, this activity would cause "the noise" to happen. With the new TV HDMI setting these two problems have not occurred, and I've really been trying!

After changing the TV HDMI setting the ATV4K Dolby Vision limited to 30Hz problem is solved! As soon as I switched the XMC-2 HDMI input to ATV4K, the ATV4K alerted me with a message saying it could improve the video settings for a better Dolby Vision. Now the ATV4K is putting out DV4K@60Hz! That's full Dolby Vision!

I have now gone back to the Dolby Audio setting on the TiVo with no ill effect so far.

It's Sony's Fault !! Well, at least these 3 problems were.

[vcautokid]

Keep in mind Sony TVs are very specific on which HDMI connection input you select for 4K playback and all that entails. Learned that gotcha on my Sony UHD TV. Once I did, no problems. It is my primary computer monitor as well.

[ttocs]

Yep, HDMI-3 is the primary, but only because it's the only input capable of eARC. All 4 inputs are capable of maximum video spec for this display, but all 4 were set to Standard. Once an input is changed to Enhanced Format it frees up the input to get the 18Gbps max bandwidth. So now the TiVo is much more stable and everything on the ATV4K looks much better.

Once I knew the words to search for I found two spots in the manual talking about this setting but no explanation except for a specification. What the manual fails to mention is "where" to look for the setting in the menu.

[repeetavx]

I'm so glad to hear this. I've been keeping the idea of upgrading my XMC-1 at an arms length because of all of the problems. I'll continue to monitor to see if these changes fix other peoples problems. If if does, then I'll seriously consider upgrading to an XMC-2 or RMC-1L.

[ttocs]

Mar 2, 2020 12:02:48 GMT -5 repeetavx said:

I'm so glad to hear this. I've been keeping the idea of upgrading my XMC-1 at an arms length because of all of the problems. I'll continue to monitor to see if these changes fix other peoples problems. If if does, then I'll seriously consider upgrading to an XMC-2 or RMC-1L.

Yeah, I was the same way for a while, waiting to see how things go. I'm glad I upgraded, the difference is really quite remarkable.

Synergy is the best word I can come up with to describe what is needed for every system to be a success.

What's funny is that before I got the Sony TV I had been using a projector for several years and had fewer issues. Then I got the Sony TV around the same time I got the newer TiVo so I never got a chance to distinguish any pattern for the problems with each device individually. So I blamed Emotiva mostly, and TiVo secondly. TiVo is very poorly supported. There were major problems for a large portion of their customer base with the blunder being IT WOULDN'T WORK with Cox Cable tuner adapters!! Whoops! It took them weeks to resolve, and this is with most people having pre-ordered and paid only to receive their new toy that won't let them view the premium channels they are paying extra for.

The only issues I now know of for me are listed in my signature.