BDP-S7200's serious problem with 3D

[robegian]

Weird problem with my BDP-S7200: after having played James Cameron's "Avatar" 3D blu-ray (first 3D BD ever played), during the normal use with standard (not 3D) BD, but also with DVD, CD etc., the device randomly switches the TV's resolution to 2880x1080 60Hz and back to 1920x1080 24Hz, or better it tries to do the former, because the TV is just Full HD (1920x1080) and doesn't support 2880x1080.

Later I tried several other 3D blu-ray discs and they don't even play: the TV (a Sony KDL-50W808C) shows a black screen with "1080p 3D" printed on the upper left corner, then the writing disappears and a new one appears: "2880x2205 24Hz". Then total black, "1080p 3D", total black, "2880x2205 24Hz", and so on, indefinitely (the movie never starts).

Any idea about how to get rid of this situation?

By the way, I disabled 4K support in the BD player.

P.S. How do I perform a hard reset or something (just resetting the unit via its menu doesn't help)?

[robegian]

I still have to check if the BD player connected directly to the TV works regularly even after hours of use, but in the meantime I found a thread (in German) speaking exactly of the same problem:

http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-276-5797.html

That guy sent the AV receiver to service, where its processor was re-initialized and then the device  behave normally. If I want smooth 3D playing back, it's likely I'll have to do the same.

[robegian]

... and finally I think I nailed it down: it's the HDMI1 port of the AV receiver.

I connected the BD player to the HDMI5 port of the AVR and all worked beautifully. Then I connected it back to the HDMI1 port: all the problems showed up in flying colours (mostly black, actually). Connected again to the HDMI5 port: no problems at all. I'll monitor the situation to check if it's stable.

In any case, I think it's advisable to send the AVR to service repair — and eventually, looks like the BDP-S7200 has nothing to do with this little mess.

[Anonymous]

Excellent!  Glad you managed to crack this puzzle 

Also, the diagram you drew is very good too.  And yes, i also remember those 'scuzzy chains'  

Have fun.

[robegian · Accepted solution]

STOP PRESS!

I thought I had discovered the culprit (AVR's HDMI1 port), instead those problems began again after a couple of hours on port HDMI5 too. It was like HDMI ports were dying on me. A nightmare!

BUT... after quite a long series of tries, I finally tracked down the source of all these problems, which in fact is from BDP-S7200's side: just setting HDMI Deep Colour Output to OFF (originally it was set to Auto) made all problems disappear, on all HDMI ports. At least for now! Let's hope this is the Final Solution — I'll keep you informed 🙂

[robegian]

I tried enabling Deep Colour again, but not in "Auto" mode, rather in the 10bit fixed mode, and until now the whole setup still works well. By the way, I tried "Auto" again just for curiosity and it's confirmed this messes all up like it did before.

Also, in the AVR, I have been suggested to set the MON.CHK parameter to SKIP, although this didn't seem to affect anything (in good nor in bad). Disabling or enabling CEC (Bravia Sync in the Sonys) didn't seem to have good nor bad effects on the performance as well — although I've been strongly suggested to disable it on all devices (presently it's disabled).

P.S. The AVR's VIDEO MODE was always set to DIRECT.

P.P.S. I've also been suggested to avoid to set YCbCr/RGB to "Auto", and instead to make it match the AVR's setting.

[robegian]

Some further updates. 

In the BDP-S7200:

• If I keep HDMI Deep Colour Output set to OFF, all is functioning properly, with snappy performance (with CEC enabled or disabled, it doesn't matter).

• If I set HDMI Deep Colour Output to 10bit, the setup is working only with CEC disabled on all devices. Transition to 3D is somehow struggling a bit at the beginning — then the playing goes on smoothly.

• If I set HDMI Deep Colour Output to 12bit or 16bit, provided CEC is disabled, things work well for a while but eventually problems arise.

• If I enable CEC while HDMI Deep Colour Output is 10, 12 or 16bit (that is, anything but OFF), heavy problems arise.

All this was NOT happening before I played my first 3D blu-ray on the BDP-S7200 — that is, 2D movies played smoothly regardless of all these settings. Perhaps playing the 3D BD «triggered» some obscure parameter in my setup, or perhaps some subtle failure has happened in the AVR in that occasion, so probably it's still advisable to send the AVR to service.

[Anonymous]

Just confirming if you are still experiencing NO issues when the bluray player is directly connected to the TV?

Either way, it does seem really odd that you are getting these issues, even directly through a third party av reciever.

[robegian]

If the BD player is connected directly to the TV, there are no problems at all, regardless of the setting (Deep Colour, CEC, etc.).

Actually I'm considering to set the connections that way even in the case the AVR is fixed.

[robegian · Accepted solution]

Since the BDP-S7200's SBM (Super Bit Map) option works best when you have Deep Colour active (at least this is what I remember to have read somewhere), I tried some further configurations (actually, all possible configurations). One works and seems particularly interesting: setting YCbCr to 4:2:2 allowed setting HDMI Deep Colour Output to Auto with no problems (regardless of CEC settings). Either 3D or 2D blu-ray discs play regularly.

P.S. A similar problem was fixed this way (these problems are more frequent than I thought):
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/149-blu-ray-players/1444599-resolving-black-flickering-screen-new-blur...

[AndrewCarpenter]

Hi, a 7200 owner here, not had any issues with mine at all, apart from today I came home and it didn't turn on or anything, but I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it's now all working as it should, not sure why it did that....