Support NeoGAF

[RDreamer]

So, I finally bit the bullet and bought a PS4 in a bit of anticipation of Dragon Age Inquisition (and more a need to try and reward myself after months of 60 hour work weeks and no days off). After a long day of work and anticipation and it's arrived, so I'm pretty happy about it. Open it up and I'm disappointed that the game that comes with it is a download that I'll have to wait a century to mess around with.... but that's a problem for another thread...

Anyway, I plug in the PS4 to try and set things up, and.... no video signal. Well, not no video signal, it's static. I unplug and replug and try different HDMI cords for a few hours. I get it to intermittently show a picture and then it goes back to fuzz after a second. For information sake, I have a Mitsubishi Projector that I use. It was my girlfriends when I moved in. It doesn't have an HDMI in, so we have an HDMI to DVI converter that just lives in the projector. Everything works fine. So after it's clearly not working on that I try and google search and get all sorts of different answers and try a computer monitor we have (Monitor also only has a DVI port). The PS4 works fine on that. I do the update and try all sorts of video settings using the monitor and then replugging into the projector. Then, I get signal. Perfect signal. I'm wary, but a bit happy I suppose. I start The Last of Us download and mess around on the Playstation store and stuff. Then our roommate comes and wants to play a game on the PS3, which means we have to use that HDMI cord. We unplug and then when we plug back in the PS4.... fuzz.... unplug... replug... unplug.... finally we get a picture. That works for a bit, but we're trying to figure out why it's doing this and then we get fuzz again after replugging it.

After looking this up we stumble on some talk of HDCP stuff. I don't really know what the hell any of this means except that it's apparently anti-piracy encryption that does nothing to actually stop piracy and mostly annoys everyone else. So, we turn off the HDCP option while it's plugged into the monitor and then replug into the projector and we get a signal! The signal is really weirdly fuzzy (all of the menu things have odd white lines coming out and the signal just doesn't seem stable at all). If we turn on the HDCP the signal goes straight to fuzz. But the weird thing is that if we unplug and replug about every 100 times or so we can get a fine signal...

It seems like the problem is definitely HDCP related, since it doesn't seem to be a connection issue. We can wiggle the fuck out of the cord and it does nothing, good or bad.

So I guess my question is, seriously what the fuck is this HDCP thing? Why does my projector port say "DVI-D(HDCP)" and it can't get a signal without HDCP turned off and the monitor I used just say DVI and it can? Why can I sometimes get a good signal? Why is the signal still shit even with the HDCP turned off? Did I just buy a $400 brick for this setup? How do I fix this?

 

[Kilau]

I can try to help.

What model number is the Mitsubishi projector?

HDCP as you have read can be a real pain in the butt, it involves a "handshake" of sorts between the two HDCP devices and it can be finicky depending on what device is powered on first.

You shouldn't need to wiggle the HDMI cable. If its a known good cable and the ports are known to be good, the digital signal will either be there or not. If something is loose then it would be harder to determine if something else was causing the problem.

The signal looking like crap could be the PS4 defaulting to 480p or feeding some other signal to the projector that isn't compatible.

Sorry you are having troubles. I've had my PS4 hooked up to an Optoma 1080p projector and it is very nice.

 

[RDreamer]

I can try to help.

What model number is the Mitsubishi projector?

HDCP as you have read can be a real pain in the butt, it involves a "handshake" of sorts between the two HDCP devices and it can be finicky depending on what device is powered on first.

You shouldn't need to wiggle the HDMI cable. If its a known good cable and the ports are known to be good, the digital signal will either be there or not. If something is loose then it would be harder to determine if something else was causing the problem.

The signal looking like crap could be the PS4 defaulting to 480p or feeding some other signal to the projector that isn't compatible.

Sorry you are having troubles. I've had my PS4 hooked up to an Optoma 1080p projector and it is very nice.

It's a Mitsubishi HC100.

The signal looks like crap, but it isn't that it's 480p crap. It's still in 720 like i have it set to, but it has weird static lines on everything, and a strange bar going down the side: http://imgur.com/dgFj3Dm (that picture is with HDCP off on the PS4... with it on, it's nothing but fuzz).

And it's just weird that once in a while just by plugging and replugging it in I can actually get a perfect signal (with the HDCP thing enabled on the PS4).

 

[perorist]

HDCP is there to prevent you from recording/ripping video/audio etc off of blurays and such, but doesn't actually stop anyone in practice as there's a bunch of ways to get around it. If the cause of your problem really is HDCP then you can buy a $20 HDMI splitter that'll bypass it.

 

[RDreamer]

HDCP is there to prevent you from recording/ripping video/audio etc off of blurays and such, but doesn't actually stop anyone in practice as there's a bunch of ways to get around it. If the cause of your problem really is HDCP then you can buy a $20 HDMI splitter that'll bypass it.

I've been looking at that, but I guess my apprehension now is the fact that with HDCP off on the PS4, the signal looks like ass. Is that the signal I'm going to get with the splitter? Or will I get the signal I can randomly get once in a while from plugging and replugging?

 

[Kilau]

I run my parents PS3 through an HDMI splitter so they can have seamless switching between the TV or when they drop the projector screen. There is no signal degradation.

OP the image you posted could be a result of the PS4 sending an unsupported video signal. I have an older 1080i plasma that will display a 1080p signal but its really messed up with artifacting and halos, etc.

Your projectors native resolution is 854x480 from what I am reading so that could be a problem.

If you can get a good picture with HDCP on, try powering on the devices and see if you can get the connection to work reliably. Projector on first then PS4 for example.

 

[crinale]

Yeah the projector's native res being 480P might be the problem, even if it accepts 720P and 1080i. Outputting 480P signal may help.

 

[RDreamer]

OP the image you posted could be a result of the PS4 sending an unsupported video signal. I have an older 1080i plasma that will display a 1080p signal but its really messed up with artifacting and halos, etc.

How do I get the PS4 not to send that, though? That's what's so baffling. Clearly once in a while it works, but I can't seem to figure out why or what makes it do that.

Your projectors native resolution is 854x480 from what I am reading so that could be a problem.

Huh, I had no idea it was that low of a resolution. It certainly doesn't look it, anyway.

If you can get a good picture with HDCP on, try powering on the devices and see if you can get the connection to work reliably. Projector on first then PS4 for example.

Can't get it reliably. It literally seems like once out of every 100 or so plugs is when it'll just randomly work. No pattern to it.

Yeah the projector's native res being 480P might be the problem, even if it accepts 720P and 1080i. Outputting 480P signal may help.

Putting the PS4 on 480P does nothing at all to the problem. It just looks even worse, lol. It still is completely fuzzy with HDCP off, and has static shit with it on.

 

[foolishoptimist]

If you can get a picture just by changing resolution and wiggling the cable, it's not going to be HDCP.

The PS3 also has HDCP encryption, so you'd get the same issue on that too. But you're not.

I vaguely recall there being a few reports of HDMI port issues at the time of PS4's launch. I'd suspect it's a fault with your PS4, based on what you're seeing.

 

[DonMigs85]

Have you tried switching out or replacing the HDMI to DVI adapter?
Anyway that projector's probably gonna make games look pretty grainy or have a nasty "screen-door" effect, might wanna look into getting a 1080p projector or a cheap HDTV.

EDIT: That projector is OLD, it first came out in 2005. It probably doesn't even officially support any of the HDMI standards except maybe the first one.

 

[Syriel]

It's a Mitsubishi HC100.

The signal looks like crap, but it isn't that it's 480p crap. It's still in 720 like i have it set to, but it has weird static lines on everything, and a strange bar going down the side: http://imgur.com/dgFj3Dm (that picture is with HDCP off on the PS4... with it on, it's nothing but fuzz).

And it's just weird that once in a while just by plugging and replugging it in I can actually get a perfect signal (with the HDCP thing enabled on the PS4).

That image corruption has nothing to do with HDCP.

It is either:

1) Unsupported input resolution
2) Unsupported input timing
3) Projector is going bad
4) GPU on PS4 is going bad
5) Video RMA on PS4 is going bad

The most likely options are the first two.

 

[RDreamer]

That image corruption has nothing to do with HDCP.

It is either:

1) Unsupported input resolution
2) Unsupported input timing
3) Projector is going bad
4) GPU on PS4 is going bad
5) Video RMA on PS4 is going bad

The most likely options are the first two.

Why does that only happen with my new PS4, then? Every other device we've ever plugged into this works fine. We have 2 different PS3s that look fine. We have a 360 that looks fine. We usually run them all on 720p. This we've tried every resolution. Also, why does it randomly look perfect when plugging and replugging it in?

 

[DarkJC]

When the HDCP handshake fails you can't see anything, it'll look like a bunch of random bands of color on the screen.

Also, why does it randomly look perfect when plugging and replugging it in?

Sounds like it could potentially be a cable/port issue?

 

[foolishoptimist]

Why does that only happen with my new PS4, then? Every other device we've ever plugged into this works fine. We have 2 different PS3s that look fine. We have a 360 that looks fine. We usually run them all on 720p. This we've tried every resolution. Also, why does it randomly look perfect when plugging and replugging it in?

Do you know anyone else with a PS4 that you could test with?

 

[RDreamer]

When the HDCP handshake fails you can't see anything, it'll look like a bunch of random bands of color on the screen.

With HDCP on, it looks like a slightly colorful static. Like the snow on an old TV without any antenna signal.

Sounds like it could potentially be a cable/port issue?

I've tried 3 HDMI cables that all work with other devices just fine. Also, it randomly working happens whether I'm plugging or replugging the cable from the ps4 port or the projector port. Doesn't seem to matter which.

Do you know anyone else with a PS4 that you could test with?

Nope.

 

[Occam]

Maybe it's the hdmi port of the console.

Suggestion: Test the console on a native 1080p display using an hdmi cord.
Try more than one hdmi cord.

Whatever the cause, I would assume many (or most) PS4 games are borderline unplayable at 480p due to small text being unreadable (even SDTV NTSC had 525 lines). You are also missing out on the joy of HD graphics because you can't see all the beautiful details. I'd seriously consider upgrading to a modern display or projector.

 

[xtradi]

Mitsubishi HC100 only support 1080i and have native resolution of 854x480, no wonder the picture is weird.

 

[RDreamer]

Maybe it's the hdmi port of the console.

Suggestion: Test the console on a native 1080p display using an hdmi cord.
Try more than one hdmi cord.

Whatever the cause, I would assume many (or most) PS4 games are borderline unplayable at 480p due to small text being unreadable (even SDTV NTSC had 525 lines). You are also missing out on the joy of HD graphics because you can't see all the beautiful details. I'd seriously consider upgrading to a modern display or projector.

Mitsubishi HC100 only support 1080i and have native resolution of 854x480, no wonder the picture is weird.

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this. It doesn't look bad. I went from a full 44" HDTV (which my ex wife has now) to playing on this thing and I don't feel like I'm losing any detail or anything. It looks good. If it's turned to 480p on a ps3 or this ps4 it does look like trash, yes, but on 720p with my PS3 it looks damned good. And I actually got the PS4 to randomly get a good signal and played some of The Last of Us and it looked magnificent. It looked better than PS3 The Last of Us on my 44" HDTV when I last played that, that's for sure.

 

[DonMigs85]

you'll probably be really impressed if you get a native 1080p projector. Optoma is a good value for money brand.