HDMI fun with the PS4
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So I got back from my holiday over the weekend. I ordered a steering wheel and a racing seat for my PS4 before I went away, and they arrived by the time I came back, so I was excited to try them out.
My PS4 has spent the past couple of months in my man cave because we had some friends staying with us, but now they're gone so I figured I could move it back into the living room so I could enjoy it on the 50" TV again.
I plug it in, hook up the HDMI lead and I get a glimpse of a picture, followed by static, a glimpse of another picture and more static. It looks quite familiar, and then I realise, "Wait a minute, I've seen this before! This looks like that time one of my HDMI cables got busted and HDCP prevented the picture from displaying". I try all of the HDMI cables in the house, and all of them yield the same shitty result.
I switch the PS4 off, and boot it back up in safe mode. It reverts to displaying in 480p and it displays fine. Shit quality, but fine. I go through the settings and try 720p, 1080i, 1080p and none of them work. I go through the settings and find an option to disable HDCP, I disable it and then go back to try the higher resolutions again. It now works on every resolution, even up to 1080p, but now I've got some weird artefacts on the screen, and the audio crackles. Occasionally the signal gets so bad that it drops out completely, something is definitely not right. This is like the old days of using an analogue aerial on the TV. Fuck those old days.
I try all of the HDMI cables again, and find varying degrees of shitness. Some of them are nearly perfect, and then suddenly get worse for moments. It's like a source of intermittent interference is playing shenanigans.
I go through all of the troubleshooting that I can think of, I search Google, wade through forums, which is obviously no help. I decide to eliminate all sources of EM interference, unplug everything apart from the TV and PS4. I try each HDMI socket on the TV with each individual cable again.
I decided to order a new HDMI cable (triple shielded and rated to 4K), but I don't think it'll work. It's probably the TV or the PS4 that's fucked. I'm taking the PS4 to a friend's house later in the week to verify whether it is that, and I'm going to get a friend to bring theirs to mine to verify whether it's the TV.
It works fine upstairs, but that's using a PC monitor through a HDMI to DVI link.
Does anyone have any ideas of what else I could try?
I'll keep you updated with what happens.
Edit: here's a video of it in action
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@DoctorJones I think it's just Sony's HDMI/HDCP hardware sucks ass.
My PS3 will sometimes cause my TV to overamplify sound to the point where all you get is a very loud hissing, like it's permanently clipping; restarting the TV fixes it.
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@DoctorJones Is it a Sony TV?
My years old Bravia does this sometimes, but turning the TV off and on again (or sometimes switching to another input and back again) sorts it normally.
Sounds like you're past trying that though.
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@RaceProUK said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@DoctorJones I think it's just Sony's HDMI/HDCP hardware sucks ass.
@RaceProUK it used to work on that TV, it worked for 5 months
with no problems. Actually I once had a similar problem on this TV, but it was due to a faulty cable.I hate HDCP, it's a stupid broken piece of shit. The pirates can bypass it anyway, so the only people that get fucked by it are the normal consumers. It's nice that they added an easy easy way to disable it though.
@RaceProUK said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
My PS3 will sometimes cause my TV to overamplify sound to the point where all you get is a very loud hissing, like it's permanently clipping; restarting the TV fixes it.
I will dust off the PS3 and try it tonight. I suspect that it will work fine though, all my other HDMI devices do.
@loopback0 said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@DoctorJones Is it a Sony TV?
It's a Sharp, but the specific model is a rebadged Sony. That's why I bought it, it's a Sony without the expensive price tag.
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@RaceProUK said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
I think it's just Sony's HDMI/HDCP hardware sucks ass.
+1
When I connect my Sony TV to my Surface dock, it emits a deafening high-pitched tone. Every time I forget to turn the sound off before using the TV as an external monitor, my whole neighborhood wakes up.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
That's why I bought it, it's a Sony without the expensive price tag.
But still with all the fun of Sony HDMI/HDCP
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Update: I just checked: They seem to have fixed that with the latest software update for my TV. Without mentioning it in the release notes. Wow, Sony actually fixed a bug, can someone check the temperature in hell?
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@asdf said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
can someone check the temperature in hell?
i'm reading a temperature of 1.3 million kelvin and simultaneously 9.7 millikelvin.....
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@accalia said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@asdf said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
can someone check the temperature in hell?
i'm reading a temperature of 1.3 million kelvin and simultaneously 9.7 millikelvin.....
Unpossible! No thermometer on earth is capable of indicating that?
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@PleegWat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@accalia said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@asdf said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
can someone check the temperature in hell?
i'm reading a temperature of 1.3 million kelvin and simultaneously 9.7 millikelvin.....
Unpossible! No thermometer on earth is capable of indicating that?
and yet that is what my instruments currently indicate the current temperature of plains of hell to be.
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@loopback0 said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@DoctorJones Is it a Sony TV?
My years old Bravia does this sometimes, but turning the TV off and on again (or sometimes switching to another input and back again) sorts it normally.
Sounds like you're past trying that though.Yup, this, had the same problem with Bravia TVs. Which is why I will never buy one again.
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@DoctorJones Wait... Sony lets you just TURN OFF HDCP? Jesus, when did they start allowing that?
That used to be my number one reason why I'd never buy a Playstation.
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@blakeyrat yes, but any content that is programmed to require it won't work. I've not encountered anything that fits that description yet.
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Here's a video of the problem.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
Here's a video of the problem.
.noembed. https://youtu.be/ibluXpEi9K0.noembed
that looks suspiciously like a bad solder joint on one of the HDMI pins.
that's really the only thing i can explain that with that i know of. i had a connector go like that on me, just one pin desoldered but it was enough to crap out the entire connector....
i din't suppose the TV has multiple HDMI inputs that you could try? or have you already tried that an d i missed it?
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@DoctorJones You have friends who still play Destiny? That is a problem.
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@DoctorJones That random flashing black is like watching blakey play VERGE. That game was pretty broken.
edit: So does the PS4 still work with the same HDMI cable on another TV? Have you tried another input on that TV?
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@loopback0 the PS4 works on a 1080p Samsung PC monitor using a HDMI to DVI adaptor.
@accalia I've tried 6 different cables on all 4 HDMI ports on my TV.
I'm going out later to test it on my friends TV and he's going to bring his PS4 to my house.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@loopback0 the PS4 works on a 1080p Samsung PC monitor using a HDMI to DVI adaptor.
@accalia I've tried 6 different cables on all 4 HDMI ports on my TV.
I'm going out later to test it on my friends TV and he's going to bring his PS4 to my house.
huh... well there's that theory dead unless it's the port on the ps4.... and you said it works fine with other monitors via the HDMI to DVI...... so that's probably not it unless the DVI adaptor doesn't use that particular pin.... do you know if it's an active adaptor or a passthrough adaptor? that could make a difference there.
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Well, thank goodness for that content protection. If it wasn't for HDCP you might've been able to consume media at quality equal to that on pirate sites!
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@accalia said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
do you know if it's an active adaptor or a passthrough adaptor? that could make a difference there.
I don't know, it's just a cable, not powered or anything. One end of the cable is HDMI and the other end is DVI.
Sorry I can't be more specific, I didn't know you could get active and passive adaptors.
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@DoctorJones It's probably passive then, which just changes the pins around.
I had no idea about active/passive either until I had to connect a VGA monitor to the HDMI port of a Macbook.
I think trying it on another TV is the next step, which you have covered.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
I don't know, it's just a cable, not powered or anything.
probably a passive one if the plugs on both ends are roughly the same size then.
that means it won't necessarily be using all the pins on the HDMI side as the conversion's actually happening in the PS4 (that's also how those HDMI/MHL ports on desktop GUIs do it, they switch what pins are what based on the cord you plug in)
so it could be the HDMI port on the PS4, which we can confirm by finding an HDMI tv to plug it into, as i see you are already planning to do above.
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@bb36e I don't even care about that; my concern is that HDCP breaks video capture cards, like the one I used for my Xbone and have attached to my HDMI switch box. (Heck; HDCP is probably incompatible with the switch box also.) HDCP stuff, in short, plain don't work.
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@accalia said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
that looks suspiciously like a bad solder joint on one of the HDMI pins.
that's really the only thing i can explain that with that i know of. i had a connector go like that on me, just one pin desoldered but it was enough to crap out the entire connector....
i din't suppose the TV has multiple HDMI inputs that you could try? or have you already tried that an d i missed it?Inside the PS4, most likely his friends were messing around and stressed the port while yanking out the HDMI cord.
@accalia said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
via the HDMI to DVI...... so that's probably not it unless the DVI adaptor doesn't use that particular pin
It is possible that something in the device chain isn't up to spec or is somehow more tolerant.
Who knows? Maybe DVI Mode (since it isn't capable of doing HDCP iirc) triggers a different level of signalling that happens to be more tolerant?@blakeyrat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
my concern is that HDCP breaks video capture cards, like the one I used for my Xbone and have attached to my HDMI switch box. (Heck; HDCP is probably incompatible with the switch box also.) HDCP stuff, in short, plain don't work.
I read somewhere that certain older HDMI Splitters actually intentionally broke HDCP protection so that the split ports became HDCP agnostic. So the sending device thought it was compatible even though it wasn't and everything became hunky dory.
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@blakeyrat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
HDCP stuff, in short, plain don't work.
this, i can wholeheartedly agree with.
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I've found this little guy extremely handy. Handles HDCP flawlessly.
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@Tsaukpaetra Mine's not a splitter, it's a switcher. This one I believe:
It says it's HDCP compliant, but doesn't say whether it acts like a HDCP end-point or just passes the handshaking on to the device at the other end. Whatever.
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@blakeyrat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
just passes the handshaking on to the device at the other end.
This, probably.
The easiest way to tell is to plug it into your computer (or other device capable of displaying the devices' information). If it still shows up the same regardless of whether you're going through the switcher or not, it's straight pass-through. If it says something else, likeM4 Super Media TVor some other BS (but only when connected via the switch), then the switch is translating at least a portion of the connection (most likely to aid in the connection/disconnection process).
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@Tsaukpaetra It's plugged into my older Dell monitor right now, but I'm not sure where/how to check the HDMI device name. Maybe I'll take a look when I get home.
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@blakeyrat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
where/how to check the HDMI device name
However/wherever you can get to the screen that looks like this:
That's the name of your displays and should (mostly) match whatever you have plugged into it. The end device will get its name there, so if the switcher is pretending to be the end device, its name will be there instead of your TV/Monitor/Whatever.
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@Tsaukpaetra Oh I get what you're saying. Yeah I can't check that because the PC uses DVI on that monitor; the HDMI switcher's for the "everything else".
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@blakeyrat said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
my concern is that HDCP breaks video capture cards
Well, that's the entire purpose of HDCP. So it just means it's working. Congratulations, you got Protectedâ„¢ by Sony!
Yes, the
is why on earth they would enable a video DRM for video game output. Afraid someone is gonna pirate the cutscenes?
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@anonymous234 said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
Yes, the is why on earth they would enable a video DRM for video game output
Methinks it was in collusion with YouTube and the producers: If you manage to upload game content it will be automatically up for grabs under copyright strike, so in the bassackwards way they're trying to protect you from the horror of dealing with that crap.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@anonymous234 said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
Yes, the is why on earth they would enable a video DRM for video game output
Methinks it was in collusion with YouTube and the producers: If you manage to upload game content it will be automatically up for grabs under copyright strike, so in the bassackwards way they're trying to protect you from the horror of dealing with that crap.
As far as I know it's per game, or per app.
You should be able to turn it off.
PS4 HDCP toggle must be off to record games, on to watch video apps
The PlayStation 4's most recent software update includes an all or nothing toggle for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) that enables or disables the feature for all apps on Sony's...
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I took the PS4 to a friend's house tonight (to try it with his TV). His PS4 was working fine, whereas mine was fucked.
When I got home, I tried a factory reset as a last ditch effort, but it was no use.
I'll phone Sony tomorrow and see what they say. I'll keep you guys updated.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
mine was fucked.
FWIW, I called this (although a few mentioned it before me).
If the repair guys say it's a busted HDMI port on the PS4, does that earn me Rep points?
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@DoctorJones I would just go to the shop where you bought it and demand replacing it.
...assuming that it's still possible to replace a console without losing your games. I mean, the last time I owned a console was 10 years ago, and the console was already 10 years old, and I don't know how modern consoles work.
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@GÄ…ska said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
it's still possible to replace a console without losing your games.
Well for the Online-connection-required ones I'm assuming they use your PSN to verify your ownership status, and disk-based ones typically required the disk inside the system anyways.
I believe the only stuff that probably wouldn't transfer (if they attempted it) would be system-locked stuff like BluRay-state information for movies and stuff like that.
Still, best use whatever backup utility is available before sending anything to a shop. You never know what else could go wrong when they're doing even simple things like replacing hard drives...
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@GÄ…ska said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@DoctorJones I would just go to the shop where you bought it and demand replacing it.
I bought it from Amazon. They do have a pretty good track record with replacing items, but the online stuff on Amazon says it's too late to return faulty items (due to it being nearly a year ago), so I'd have to go through the support centre.
I've initiated a repair on the Sony site. It was impressively painless. I had to enter my serial number, choose the problem from a dropdown, state that the problem wasn't due to accidental damage, and specify my address. They then let me print a shipping label, and job done.
I had a friend who returned his PS3 because he had a YLOD. He said the service from Sony was excellent, they had a refurbished unit out to him within 48 hours.
I'll keep you guys updated with how things go.
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@DoctorJones I remember a story where Spyro 3 had a bug that prevented you from completing a level if you haven't done it on first try - on subsequent tries it would say you've already completed it, and you'd get no reward. Sony announced that anyone who has this problem can mail them their memory card, and they will fix the save and send it back - and they really did so.
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I spoke to Sony last night, and they said it's pretty straightforward. They could tell whether my PS4 was in warranty from my serial number, due to when it was first activated on PSN.
They say it'll take a few days to assess my PS4, then they'll take up to 10 days to repair it. If they can't repair it I will get an equivalent or better model back. Once I get it back they'll give me 3 months warranty on the repaired unit.
I dug the box out of the attic, so I'm going to pack it up and send it over the weekend.
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
It works fine upstairs, but that's using a PC monitor through a HDMI to DVI link.
It doesn't work fine any more on the HDMI to DVI link. I was playing last night and suddenly the screen went to static. I switched the HDCP back off and the picture had the same strange red artefacts that it had when plugged into my TV.
Whatever the problem is, it's getting worse. My guess is that the graphics hardware is on its way out, but I suppose we'll never know.
I'm sending it off on Saturday, so I'll have a last hurrah tonight, on Driveclub and F1, before I send it away and go an indeterminate amount of time without a PS4 :-(
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@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
before I send it away and go an indeterminate amount of time without a PS4
FWP topic is
;)
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@loopback0 said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
@DoctorJones said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
before I send it away and go an indeterminate amount of time without a PS4
FWP topic is
;)Right? :P
I can't say I'm happy with my Nvidia integrated-but-discrete graphics on my laptop, but I don't usually complain about getting no more than about 4-6 FPS on easy-going titles like Counter Strike or (sometimes) even Minecraft...
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I packaged my PS4 this morning and sent it off.
Sony provided 48 hour tracked delivery with Royal Mail which is nice. Looks like I'm going to have to get re-acquainted with PC games while it's away.
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@GÄ…ska said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
I mean, the last time I owned a console was 10 years ago, and the console was already 10 years old, and I don't know how modern consoles work.
They have goats now.
You want the ones with black-furred goats, as they can chew more tin cans per hour. Which results in FPS boosts in Call of Duty 26: Call Duty-er
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@Tsaukpaetra said in HDMI fun with the PS4:
I believe the only stuff that probably wouldn't transfer (if they attempted it) would be system-locked stuff like BluRay-state information for movies and stuff like that.
Turn on Cloud Saves before you take it in, make sure all your save games are uploaded.
Other than that you should be fine.
Amazon.com
