Pi 4 HDMI woes

[ohmycommodore]

@mitu No it's just black. So it's a no signal basically. I'll give that a try later, thanks.

[ohmycommodore]

Some notes, to myself, if nobody else:

One thing I hadn't tried that I finally did, just to check it off the list... boot with no card in the Pi. Still nothing with the Sony, and I do get loader text on the TCL.

Going all the way back to just HDMI safe 1, with no overclock, no anything else... Once again, nothing on the Sony, and the TCL works fine (albeit with a smaller-than-fullscreen image, so perhaps this HDMI safe mode is pushing out 720p on this 1080p TV, and/or it just needs the usual overscan tweak).

[ohmycommodore]

@mitu OK while connected to the TCL to set up the basics, I got in via my Mac and get this:

pi@retropie:~ $ tvservice -s
state 0x6 [DVI CUSTOM RGB full 4:3], 640x480 @ 60.00Hz, progressive
pi@retropie:~ $ tvservice -m CEA
Group CEA has 4 modes:
           mode 4: 1280x720 @ 60Hz 16:9, clock:74MHz progressive 
           mode 16: 1920x1080 @ 60Hz 16:9, clock:148MHz progressive 
           mode 95: 3840x2160 @ 30Hz 16:9, clock:297MHz progressive 
           mode 97: 3840x2160 @ 60Hz 16:9, clock:594MHz progressive 
pi@retropie:~ $ tvservice -m DMT
Group DMT has 1 modes:
  (prefer) mode 4: 640x480 @ 60Hz 4:3, clock:25MHz progressive 

And I'm pretty sure I'm correct that if the Pi is connected to one of the Sony TVs I'd get the same output from those commands (ie. this is just reading from the Pi itself, not anything connected to it).

[mitu]

hdmi_safe will set the resolution to 640x480 and ignore any - preferred - resolutions reported by the display.

If you get no display without any sdcard plugged in, then the issue is not with the RetroPie image, but it may be with the cable/HDMI port on the TV.
Have you tried changing the HDMI port on the TV or setting the HDMI input used as a 'Game' input ?

And I'm pretty sure I'm correct that if the Pi is connected to one of the Sony TVs I'd get the same output from those commands (ie. this is just reading from the Pi itself, not anything connected to it).

Try to do that, it should show if the TV is reporting the video resolutions supported or if there's an issue with the HDMI connection between the Pi and the TV.

[ohmycommodore]

@mitu Will do, thanks. Yes, the most interesting test for me has been the no-card boot. That I get something on the TCL but not the Sonys... tells me the Pi/HDMI/cable/adapter chain is working correctly.

If so, then it's something with the Sonys, so hopefully trying Game Mode and any other tinkering on that side of the equation shows some life. I can also work with nothing else connected to the Sonys, to rule out any kind of "priority" issue. I don't think there are new firmware updates for the Sonys, but I can check again while I'm at it.

At this point, it must be something to do with the intersection between Pi 4 (since my earlier Pis work frustration-free) and Sony (or at least these particular Sonys).

[ohmycommodore]

@mitu And the result... I can't get anything from this Pi 4 on either of the two Sonys with this most basic HDMI safe 1 setup, even if I make sure the TVs are set to Game Mode, and there are no other inputs connected. Tried different cables and adapters, different ports, etc. All that stuff is in good working order.

As before, I can get RPie up on the TCL with HDMI safe 1 (and, I assume, with some config tweaks that are less safe, if you will).

So at least I know I wasn't crazy in the first place... but, I'm left truly stumped.

[Schmuppes]

@ohmycommodore Which HDMI port on the Pi 4 are you using? I've had this before when I thought I could use whichever of the two and got no signal whatsoever. Then I learned that apparently if you're using just one HDMI output, it needs to be the one next to the USB-C port.

[mitu]

@Schmuppes said in Pi 4 HDMI woes:

Then I learned that apparently if you're using just one HDMI output, it needs to be the one next to the USB-C port.

Either port should work fine, there are no constraints when using a single HDMI output.

[ohmycommodore]

Not much more that I can try here.

I have a small 7 inch HDMI screen that was originally part of my kids Kano system. That works fine with the Pi 4, just like the TCL TV I've mentioned. I expected that. My wife has a large TCL at her office that I'd expect to work. Probably not worth the drive for that.

I tried Sony once more with a variety of things like hdmi_force_hotplug=1, monitor mode (hdmi_group=2 hdmi_mode=82) instead of TV mode (hdmi_group=1 hdmi_mode=16), and framebuffer_priority=7 to force the second HDMI port. As well I turned config_hdmi_boost way up to 9 and even 11. None of this fixes the issue.

So I'm still stumped. It must be a Sony thing, but I can't isolate what exactly. The two Sonys I have are about 5-6 years apart, so I'd assume some difference there, but that's not enough for me to get a whiff on one over the other, so I'm probably done shuffling between the two as I keep experimenting.

That said... the newer Sony is a 4K model so I suppose I could look at targeting that in the config. I'd expect a big fat nothing though the way this is trending.

[Loki688]

I had a similar fight with my LG, after much frustration I traced it back to 4K detection that caused a lot of problems. Forcing the Pi to output 1080p solved all my problems.

In my (!) case I had to add /boot/config.txt:

hdmi_group=2
hdmi_mode=82

[ohmycommodore]

@Loki688 Yeah I was wondering if trying that "monitor" mode would work. I had tried it earlier today with no luck.

[Loki688]

@ohmycommodore I'm not sure where I got my values (to long ago), but I do know that other people used other values...

[Loki688]

Based on your "tvservice" output, have you tried ?

hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=16

[ohmycommodore]

@Loki688 Yes, one of the first things I did.

[Loki688]

Ah, after some googling, I found the table I used, my tvservice output was not helping me either:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9781119415572.app3

[bob1961]

@Loki688 just scanning through this thread. Not sure this will help, but I ran into a similar issue and it was driving me nuts. The problem I found is the pi itself won't let the mini hdmi cable seat completely in the socket. Shaved a bit of cable boot on the connector side with an x-acto knife so it could seat properly and haven't had an issue since.

[ohmycommodore]

@bob1961 It works fine on another TV though, a small, cheap TCL. And then I had it working on a small 7 inch HDMI screen too. So I'm not sure any literal hacking will work here. And the inputs on the Sonys work for other devices.

[ohmycommodore]

But nuts is pretty much where my head is at on this, yeah.