My projector kills my SageTV client on HTPC?

[Brent94Z]

Hey Guys,

I've got a weird one for you that I've been unable to figure out and hoping that maybe somebody might have an idea.

I bought a new Epson projector right before Superbowl. Whenever I turn on my projector and it boots up and the screen comes on, it kills my SageTV client on my HTPC. The only way to recover from this is to reboot the HTPC!?!? It is not the IR from the Epson remote turning something off as it kills it about 5 seconds or so after I turn the projector on.

The only thing I can think of is it has something to do with the HDMI "backfeed" but I can't explain WHY it kills Sage. What I have is a Pioneer SC-07 receiver with two HDMI out ports. One port goes to my TV and the other to my projector. My HTPC is connected to the SC-07 with an HDMI cable as well. Turning my TV on has never killed Sage but my projector has never NOT killed it no matter the order or how I turn it on. It kills only the client on the HTPC and the service still works fine... recordings continue and the HD300 in the other room works as well as the HD300 (also connected to the SC-07) will work. Rather than just reboot, I normally just turn on the HD300 and use it when I want to use the projector. In fact, yesterday I even tried turning on the projector while I was watching a show on my HTPC. What happened was Sage "went away" and I had my normal Windows screen BUT the SageTV audio continued in the background (no minimized icons indicating Sage was running). I let it go on for several minutes and it continued to play until I hit "stop" on the remote. And, just like every time before, trying to restart Sage on my HTPC does nothing... I double cick my SageTV icon and I get an hourglass for about a half second but nothing more ever happens. I've tried clicking it like 10 times and even waiting 10 minutes but nothing happens. Weird part too is that it seems like the only thing that is being affected is SageTV. I can open browser windows and do other stuff on the HTPC but if I want to use the SageTV client on this machine then I have to reboot the HTPC and it'll come back. Now, if I leave the projector running and reboot the HTPC, then I can use the HTPC with the projector no problem... I just can't turn ON the projector when the SageTV client is running.

Any ideas? What I haven't tried yet but will when I get a chance is swapping my TV and projector HDMI ports. Also, I'm going to try shutting down the client, turning on the projector, and then seeing if I can restart the client... if this works then at least I won't have to reboot

Just curious if anybody has ever seen any external device like this kill SageTV and if so, how did you fix it???

Thanks!

[Olias]

That's an odd one! If audio is still working, perhaps the Sage client isn't really being "killed". It may be some dual monitor weirdness going on, i.e. when the projector is turned on Windows detects a second monitor (or additional resolutions and refresh rates) and for some reason the client tries to switch to it but can't.

What do the Windows display properties look like after turning on the projector? Does it detect two monitors or just one? Is the projector capable of the same resolution being used for the TV?

Hmmmm....

[ccsmoke]

I agree with Olias...if setting the same resolution/Hz has same issue would try...


I think that receiver will only convert one HDMI and passthough the other. So if the TV is being converted, the projector maybe getting an unsupported resolution/Hz from Sage/Video Card.

With the receiver converting to support resolution of the projector and native from sage to tv might fix it.

To do this you may have to put the projector on HDMI 1 and tv on HDMI 2 on the receiver and find a setting in receiver to set the conversion (for projector) to HDMI 1. Reasoning behind putting the projector on HDMI 1 is the settings may not be saved on a power cycle as well as conversion maybe HDMI 1 prioity.

You also may try to shut off the HDMI control off on the receiver so it doesn't convert the first powered on device.

Just some things to try.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by Olias

That's an odd one! If audio is still working, perhaps the Sage client isn't really being "killed". It may be some dual monitor weirdness going on, i.e. when the projector is turned on Windows detects a second monitor (or additional resolutions and refresh rates) and for some reason the client tries to switch to it but can't.

What do the Windows display properties look like after turning on the projector? Does it detect two monitors or just one? Is the projector capable of the same resolution being used for the TV?

Hmmmm....

Well, I do run a dual monitor setup (clone) but not using the projector. On my video card I have a VGA output to the TV and the HDMI to the SC-07. The VGA output is never "on" really and only a backup in case something goes flaky with the HDMI. The HDMI cable from the video card goes into my SC-07 and from there it outputs to the TV and the projector. When I turn on the projector the SC-07 does do some "adjusting" because some of the lights on it blink once or twice. This IS when Sage dies. That is why I was thinking something along the lines of a "backfeed" from the HDMI killing it.

Normally when the client is running I have the SageTV bar in the task bar. I say it kills it because Sage is not there anymore. Other items (my other programs I have running) remain and it is just SageTV that goes away AND will not restart by double-clicking the icon. You might be right in that it isn't totally killed but it is killed far enough that I can't seem to "fix" it without a reboot

I did try last night to first shutdown the SageTV client and then start the projector and when the projector was up and running with my Windows screen I then started up SageTV. This DID work. So, whatever happens does appear to be related to the HDMI "stuff" being done in the amp and backfeeding to the video card and then to SageTV. Both my TV and my projector are at 1080p.

Thanks!

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by ccsmoke

I agree with Olias...if setting the same resolution/Hz has same issue would try...


I think that receiver will only convert one HDMI and passthough the other. So if the TV is being converted, the projector maybe getting an unsupported resolution/Hz from Sage/Video Card.

With the receiver converting to support resolution of the projector and native from sage to tv might fix it.

To do this you may have to put the projector on HDMI 1 and tv on HDMI 2 on the receiver and find a setting in receiver to set the conversion (for projector) to HDMI 1. Reasoning behind putting the projector on HDMI 1 is the settings may not be saved on a power cycle as well as conversion maybe HDMI 1 prioity.

You also may try to shut off the HDMI control off on the receiver so it doesn't convert the first powered on device.

Just some things to try.

Thanks for the suggestions! The projector and SC-07 appear to be handling things fine though because when the projector starts up and Sage dies, I do have my normal Windows computer screen on the projector.

I have tried some stuff with the HDMI control as well. I'll look back into that because I fiddled with that a while ago and don't remember all that I did.

If the control stuff doesn't work, I am going to try switching the HDMI1 and HDMI2 around and see then if my TV kills Sage when turned on but that is a last resort because it is a pain to get to. LOL

Thanks!

[Fuzzy]

do you have fullscreen exclusive mode set in sage? it may be losing direct access when the HDMI sync happens. Try turning off FSE in sage, and see if that makes a difference.

[Brent94Z]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

do you have fullscreen exclusive mode set in sage? it may be losing direct access when the HDMI sync happens. Try turning off FSE in sage, and see if that makes a difference.

I do have that enabled and thought about that too but discounted it because the TV worked fine and the amp has to sync that up. But, it is a very good point and very easy to try so I will revisit that for sure Thanks!!!