Problem with HDMI ports

Gazzmonkey

Hi All,

A few days ago I got out my tv to hook up the playstation but all four HDMI ports were fuzzy & cutting in and out. The tv was left unused in a colder part of the house for a few months so I'm thinking its moisture related.

I let the tv sit near an open fire for a few hours then tried it again. This time only port no.3 would work but I was able to get a perfect picture on it from the sky box, however the ps3 is still not displaying well, doesn't cut in & out anymore but still grainy.

Currently using it as the sky box tv as it can display a perfect picture on port 3, will test the scart, HDD & RGB later when I get the chance. Really annoyed as it was an expensive tv when I bought it about 3 years ago and still good by todays standards.... but not anymore it seems!

So I ask the tv gurus..... is she banjaxed?

Gladly await troubleshooting questions

Model is: Samsung UE32C6000RK LED tv

Regards,

Gazzmonkey

Just had a look at the cable I was using, seems very different from the other cables I have. Could this have been what knocked out the ports?

Thurston?

Different how? The fact it seems to be missing pins from the connectors?

Apart from that they look like any standard (type A) HDMI connectors I've seen.

Gazzmonkey

Yes, missing pins & bent pins.

My other hdmi cables have no missing pins and the pins are all straight so I'm thinking the new cable is at fault.

andy1249

To carry the logo an to be a "genuine" HDMI cable all 19 pins must be wired.

That is not a genuine HDMI cable. Where did you get it ?

I would try a real HDMI cable before making a call on the TV. Also , bin that thing, god knows what way it is wired and it may be causing damage!

SachaJ

Yeah absolutely try a decent HDMI cable and I don't mean going out and spending a fortune in Harvey Normans etc. I bought 5m and 12m HDMI cables from Amazon today and they cost less than £20 (plus some Parcel Motel costs). Don't get sucked in by salesmen telling you that an expensive cable should be bought.

Greenmachine

1.5 m cable in dealz should be just the ticket for connect a ps3 to your tv. Never heard of a grainy picture from a digital cable before.

andy1249

Tescos usually have decent cables for less than a tenner. They will do the job.

Third party sellers online and ebay sellers are usually the source for fakes like the one the OP managed to get hold off.

Looking at the pins that are missing, it seems the maker went cheap by combining the shield lines, meaning the cable is not shielded properly and prone to noise, also ddc , 5v line, and arc lines and CEC lines are missing meaning there is no way a proper HDMI handshake can take place.
Without the handshake, the proper resolution switching cannot be determined leading to , at best, a crap picture, and at worst, no signal at all.

You dont need to spend a lot on a HDMI cable, but you do need one that conforms to the spec and is fully wired!

Gazzmonkey

The cable came packaged in the box with a brand new PS4, the shop I bought it from didn't seem very interested but did give me a replacement cable straight off the shelf, no questions asked.

I cant really prove that the offending cable fried the tv, and they could just say that the tv could've been busted prior to using the cable.

I loved that tv, the picture quality was astonishing & vastly superior to my Toshiba & LG screens.

Anyway, it's currently sitting in a Samsung repair centre for diagnoses & currently awaiting the repair quote

andy1249

I checked, and the PS4 comes with a fully wired genuine HDMI cable.
It would be an infringement of Sony's HDMI license for them to supply anything other than a properly compliant cable.

If that was in your PS4 package, then most likely that package had been interfered with before you got it!

Gazzmonkey

Nope, security seal was intact and cable is 100% identical in design to the cable supplied with all PS4 consoles.

When I first connected the offending cable it gave a crunch and a gritting feel when slotting into the port on tv so I think that's why the pins are messed up, I assume if I looked at it when unpacking it might've looked ok but with it been such low quality, the pins were pushed & bent simply by me connecting it that first time.

Anyways, Samsung got back to me saying as a good will gesture they repaired the tv free of charge as they've never seen that particular fault before, but it required the main PCB to be replaced. I was over the moon when they told me.

Got tv back home now and its 100%, also the shop I bought the PS4 in gave me there most expensive hdmi cable free as a replacement for the faulty one.

A happy ending