I have recently bought and connected an Oppo BDP83 to the 990 via the 7.1 ch direct and am attempting to use the DVI in and DVI out to a Panasonic PT AE4000 projector via HDMI. I also have component cables connected to the projector. I'm using Blue Jeans HDMI cables and HDMI to DVI adapters. When the BDP83 is connected directly to the projector using the same HDMI cables picture is OK. When I connect the HDMI through the 990 via the DVI adapters I have issues with video: -

With the BDP83 set with 1080p output resolution the picture is either a nasty purple shade, alternating good picture/snow or just snow.

Changing the BDP Output resolution to 1080i resolves all issues and picture is good.

I tried various combinations of cables and HDMI to DVI adapters and I sometimes have a good picture at 1080p sometimes not - always 1080i is good.

My guess is that either one or both of the HDMI to DVI adapters are faulty or possibly the DVI jacks on the 990. Could dirt / dust in the 990 DVI connections be an issue? Why would progressive v interlaced make a difference?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It sounds like you are right on the edge of compliance with HDMI's cable length, and the extra connections are providing just enough extra resistance to push you over the edge. What other DVI or HDMI sources are you using in your system?

What combinations gave you a good picture at 1080p?

Twice the pixels being sent means twice the bandwidth required, which in turn means that there will be less tolerance.

Gonk, thanks for the response, this is a puzzler. I did some more testing - see below.


I have only this DVI / HDMI source currently.



Note, cable config is:-
1 ft HDMI/HDMI cable from Oppo to 990
HDMI to DVI adapter to connect to 990 DVI 1 in
HDMI to DVI adapter at 990 DVI out
4ft HDMI/HDMI cable from 990 to HDMI wallplate (wallplate has 2 HDMI female connectors)
25 ft HDMI/HDMI cable run in wall / ceiling from back of wallplate to projector

See test below to delete wallplate conns and about 25ft of cable in ceiling. Also note that I had not tried the "Source Direct" mode when I wrote the post last night.

With Oppo Primary Output = HDMI

A) Resolution = Source Direct. Resolution at projector confirmed as 1080 24p, picture good, no problems.
B) As "A" above but with DVI / HDMI adapters swapped, picture good, no problems.
C) As "B" above but with resolution changed from "Source Direct" to 1080p. Snow/flicker, picture no good.

With Oppo Primary Output = Component but still using HDMI input at projector

D) Resolution = 1080p. Snow/flicker, picture no good.
E) Resolution = 1080i . Picture good.
F) Resolution = 1080i but with direct connection to projector from DVI out on 990 (deletes about net 10ft of cable and 2 HDMI to HDMI connectors at wall plate), picture good.
G) As "F" above but with resolution = 1080p snow/flicker, picture no good.

I could no duplicate a steady good picture at 1080p other than with Source Direct selected. This is not my preference since this defeats the VRS processing and upscaling of DVD's (if I have understood the Oppo manual correctly).

Thanks for any input you can offer.

That is a pretty complicated and chopped up signal path, which definitely increases the odds of problems when using HDMI.

Unless you have plans to add another HDMI source soon, my first thought is that the 990's switching is serving absolutely no useful purpose and is instead adding one cable, two adapters, and a switch to the signal path. Going straight from BDP-83 to projector is going to be cleaner.

Other thoughts, if you want to retain the switching, are to get a short HDMI-to-DVI cable for the connection from BDP-83 to Model 990 and to remove the wall plate and connect the 25-foot cable directly to the DVI adapter at the Model 990's output. This will eliminate three points of connection and about four feet of cable, based on your cable config description. I suspect the points of connection are posing more of a problem than the cable length.

When setting up the BDP-83, definitely set the primary output to HDMI.

Update: -

Cable from BDP83 and 990 replaced with a 2' HDMI to DVI cable.
Run from 990 to projector replaced with a single 20' DVI to HDMI cable.

Problem solved!

So it appears that the HDMI to DVI adapters were causing the issue.

Thanks for the input gonk.

Glad to hear that you got it fixed!