HDMI Communication problem between Panasonic SC-BT230 and Panasonic TC-L37X2

[BrieDanielle]

Chris,

We've been emailing on Amazon. You told me to restart the conversation here.

In response to your email:
My TV is a brand new Panasonic TC-L37X2 37-Inch 720p LCD HDTV with iPod Dock. I have never connected other source components to it via HDMI. I don't have anything else besides the 230 and this TV that are HDMI compatible.
My Panasonic SC-BT230 5.1 Surround Sound System was purchased on eBay with a 10 day warranty.
It was listed as new "other": floor model in perfect working order. Everything else I've tried seems to work, just not the HDMI connection. The speakers, the DVD player, the FM Stereo, etc...
The HDMI cords I purchased were these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWNX:IT
In looking at them now, I see they are for 1080, and my TV is 720. Does that matter? In the item description, it says it is compatible with both.
I told you, I'm stupid about these things, so please forgive me. I honestly have no idea. I truly appreciate all your help.
____________________
For everyone else, here was our prior conversation:

I purchased 2 brand new, high quality HDMI cords, but it doesn't like either of them. It keeps giving me the U73 error, which means "turn power off and disconnect the HDMI cord." Period. No other instructions. Any idea what the problem could be? I read someone else, somewhere say they are proprietary and require you to use their own HDMI cord, but in their manual, they only recommend a cord with the HDMI logo, or their own cord. The ones I bought have the logo. I bought them on eBay and the seller's rating for these cords was very high, so no one else seems to be having the same issues I am. Do you have any suggestions for me? I am kind of technologically stupid, and I really have no idea what I am doing. I hoped following the instructions in the manual would work, but alas...


Hello, Brie,

Three possibilities with a U73 error: the TV you're connecting it to does not properly support HDMI/HDCP (HDCP is the security/content protection layer of HDMI), the HDMI cable is bad or the HTiB unit you got is a lemon (defective). There is no need for a special or proprietary HDMI cable. I use the AmazonBasics HDMI Cables] ($6.99 for a 2-meter length), and also some inexpensive cables from Parts Express for most connections, including the SC-BT230 and have no problems.

So the first question: what specific TV are you using (brand and model number)? And have you ever connected other source components to it via HDMI? It would be helpful to know what kind of TV you have as some just don't work properly with a "secure" HDMI signal. As for the cable, if you're a Prime member, then order one of the Amazon Basics 2-meter HDMI cables. It's $6.99 and you'll have it in 2 days with Prime membership. I don't expect this to solve the problem but it will rule out the cables. If the TV is "clean" (works with other HDMI/HDCP devices) and the cable doesn't help, then you may need to get a replacement BT230 from Amazon. The good news is that they cover return shipping for defective items.

Also, do me a favor... the Amazon review comments area isn't really a great place for tech support. If you could post the answers and continue this discussion over at our forum, you'll get a faster reply and more thorough answers. It's at Forum dot BigPictureBigSound dot com. There is no charge to sign up.

Regards,

-Chris

[MrBoylan]

Well, I'd have to say this is why I normally don't recommend buying electronics items on eBay. The cables are *probably* OK but are over-priced. Note the Amazon HDMI Basics cables for $6.99:

Amazon Basics 2-meter HDMI cable
You can actually get unbranded cables like the ones in this eBay post for $4 or less is you shop around. But I'd recommend the Amazon ones.

So, do you have a cable box or satellite receiver? Because your first test would be to connect either of these to the TV using the same HDMI cable, to the same input, watch some HD content and see if you see any error messages. If you don't the most likely explanation is that the BT230 system you got is defective. I know for a fact that the TV supports HDCP properly, so unless the TV is defective (unlikely but possible), then all signs point to the HTiB system. Contact the seller and try to get your money back. I'd recommend buying from a legit authorized dealer like Amazon because they'll send you actualy brand new products and will accept returns of defective products with no complaints or problems.

Sorry but unless the cables are both bad (again, unlikely) there is no easy fix, no set-up menu option that will make the error go away. And you'll probably have to replace that HTiB. If you can get your money back, do so. Acceptaing a replacement from the same seller may lead to the same problem. The unit is only $249 right now on Amazon with free shipping, full manufacturer's warranty, etc. I can't imagine it was that much cheaper on eBay, enough to merit the risk. Here's a link to the unit on Amazon with our affiliate code in there:

Panasonic SC-BT230 on Amazon.com

Good luck and let us know how it goes...

-CB

[BrieDanielle]

Thanks, Chris.

I'm disappointed there isn't a quick and obvious fix. I did contact the seller regarding the unit, and am now awaiting his reply.
I checked my little DTA from Comcast and there is no HDMI hookup. I went and checked my old, full sized Comcast cable box, and no HDMI hookup on that either. So I guess I'm out of luck. My only option is to buy a completely different HDMI cable and see if it works. I'd hoped to avoid buying a new cable, in case these are fine, but I will try that option before returning the unit.
I paid $220 total, no tax, no shipping for the system. I thought it was worth the risk, since he offered 10 days to try it out, had great feedback, and seemed to have an honest desire to please the customer. But you're right and I should have known better.
I'll let you know how it ends up.
Thanks again.
<3, Brie Danielle

[MrBoylan]

Well they say hindsight is 20/20! Good luck getting it sorted out. Hopefully the seller will make good on this purchase.

But I have another free tip for ya. If your cable boxes don't have HDMI outputs, then you are probably not getting an HD signal on your TV from TV channels, and this is a crying shame!

You have a couple of options: you can get HD boxes with HDMI outputs from your cable company (they might cost more per month than what you currently have, or they might not), or you can unplug the cable that is currently going into your cable box and plug it directly into the "cable/antenna" jack in the back of your TV. Then go into the TV's set-up menu, find the antenna/cable set-up option in the menu, make sure you choose "cable" and then do an auto-add or auto-scan. This will search through your cable channels and tune in anything that it can find. The channel numbers might be different from what you're used to on the cable box, but the quality of the HD channels should be noticeably better than what you're watching now (not to mention in their correct aspect ratio so people won't be stretched out). Some channels (like premium channels - HBO and such) may be missing - these can usually only be tuned in with a box. But if you just have "basic cable" then this direct connection should get all your channels.

Another option would be to get a cable splitter (these are not expensive, maybe $5-$8 - actually here's one for $2.99), and you can split the cable signal sending one output into your cable box and the other directly into your TV. This way you can tune into the TV's tuner for watch the high def broadcast network channels, and switch over to the cable box input on the TV to watch any of the premium channels in SD.

Try that out and it should at least give you a taste of high def on your HDTV while you're waiting for the Blu-ray HTiB situation to straighten itself out.

Regards,

-Chris

[BrieDanielle]

Hi Chris,

I'd be seriously considering your proposal of flying you here to do it for me, if I could afford to!

Okay, let's start from the beginning: I am not sure if I made clear to you before how utterly stupid I am when it comes to technology. I don't know what an HDMI cable is, or what it does. I don't know what a optical digital audio cable is, or what it does, and I don't have one. I don't know what the black cords with red, white, and yellow ends on them are called, or what they are for. I started with those.

I hooked them up to both the TV and the theater. After that, I hooked up the HDMI cable. When I turned it on, I kept getting the error to remove the HDMI cable. When I did, I could use the unit for everything except for watching TV, which is about 50% of the reason I got the theater, so it's necessary. And the manual does say I should be able to watch/hear TV with just those cords. I actually have been able to VIEW the TV, I just cannot hear it through the theater. As an experiment, I just unplugged the red, white, and yellow cords, and plugged the HDMI cable back in. Now it's not erroring. But I still can only view the TV, but not hear it. Also, even though it's not erroring, my TV is not recognizing there is anything in the HDMI port, because when I go to select it from the menu, it's gray. And, oddly, the old port that HAD the red, white, and yellow cords in it is still available. Do I need to reset something? Also, even though my manual says I may not need any additional cords for audio if I'm using the HDMI cable in the ARC port, it does only say "may not." Do I need a optical digital audio cable, then? Also, should it work if I have ALL those cords plugged in at once?

I did contact the seller and he did say I could return it. But he also said they had tested every function before selling and it worked flawlessly. Whether that's true or not, I'd definitely like to exhaust every option before paying money I really don't have to ship it back to him, and then pay even more for a new system. I just need to make sure I'm not doing something retardedly wrong before I return it.

Tomorrow I will call Panasonic, but their tech support line had a 45 minute hold last time when I called about a different issue, and then weren't at all helpful. I don't expect much from them. But I will try, and report back. Please let me know if you recognize something I'm doing wrong, or could do differently, from my new explanation.

Thanks again.

<3, Brie Danielle

[MrBoylan]

Hi Chris,

I'd be seriously considering your proposal of flying you here to do it for me, if I could afford to!

Okay, let's start from the beginning: I am not sure if I made clear to you before how utterly stupid I am when it comes to technology.

Noted. I see you're in Seattle. My sister lives outside Seattle. I'd send her over but I don't think she'd be much help. Might make for an interesting evening though, watching TV with no sound and trying to get your Blu-ray player to work.

I don't know what an HDMI cable is, or what it does. I don't know what a optical digital audio cable is, or what it does, and I don't have one. I don't know what the black cords with red, white, and yellow ends on them are called, or what they are for. I started with those.

The black cable with white, red, yellow is composite video and analog left/right audio. It is also completely unnecessary so unplug it. HDMI handles both the audio and video so it's really all you should need. To keep things simple, let's start with just the Blu-ray/DVD player and see if you can get sound and picture from that. All you need is an HDMI cable connected from the HTiB to the TV's HDMI 1 INPUT. That's it. Hook it up this way, power off the TV and HTiB once for good measure, then turn everything back on and select the HDMI 1 input on the TV. Now play a Blu-ray Disc or a DVD. Do you get sound from the HTiB system and a picture on the screen when you select the TV's HDMI 1 input? If so, we can move on to the next step, if not, we will need to take a closer look at this, any error messages, etc. But you definitely should disconnect the red/white/yellow cable as it's only going to make things more confusing.

I hooked them up to both the TV and the theater. After that, I hooked up the HDMI cable. When I turned it on, I kept getting the error to remove the HDMI cable. When I did, I could use the unit for everything except for watching TV, which is about 50% of the reason I got the theater, so it's necessary. And the manual does say I should be able to watch/hear TV with just those cords. I actually have been able to VIEW the TV, I just cannot hear it through the theater. As an experiment, I just unplugged the red, white, and yellow cords, and plugged the HDMI cable back in. Now it's not erroring. But I still can only view the TV, but not hear it. Also, even though it's not erroring, my TV is not recognizing there is anything in the HDMI port, because when I go to select it from the menu, it's gray. And, oddly, the old port that HAD the red, white, and yellow cords in it is still available. Do I need to reset something? Also, even though my manual says I may not need any additional cords for audio if I'm using the HDMI cable in the ARC port, it does only say "may not." Do I need a optical digital audio cable, then? Also, should it work if I have ALL those cords plugged in at once?

It says "may not" because not all TVs have ARC (Audio Return Channel) support, but yours does - only on input 1, so make sure you are connecting *ONLY* the HDMI cable, from the HTiB's HDMI output to HDMI input one on the TV. You should not need any other cables between TV and HTiB.

After success with a Blu-ray or DVD, now switch the TV over to whatever input it needs to be on to watch TV. And, on the remote control for the HTiB system, switch it to the "ARC" input using the remote. I think the button on the remote you need to hit for this is the "RADIO/EXT IN" button which is next to the iPod button and just below the Mute button. Cycle this until it says "ARC" on the front LCD display of the Panasonic HTiB. Now do you get sound from the TV?

If you are still having trouble, then you might need to repeat the "Easy Setup" (yeah, right!), which you can access from the set-up menu. "Start" on the remote, then "Others" then "Setup" then "Others" then "Easy Setup." IT will walk you through a series of questions which are fairly straightforward but if you get tripped up, then ask here and I will explain.

I did contact the seller and he did say I could return it. But he also said they had tested every function before selling and it worked flawlessly. Whether that's true or not, I'd definitely like to exhaust every option before paying money I really don't have to ship it back to him, and then pay even more for a new system. I just need to make sure I'm not doing something retardedly wrong before I return it.

Understandable. And considering how you had things hooked up, it's possible that the U73 is just a spurious error message from having things connected incorrectly, but we can only figure that out if we start from scratch and take this one step at a time.

Tomorrow I will call Panasonic, but their tech support line had a 45 minute hold last time when I called about a different issue, and then weren't at all helpful. I don't expect much from them. But I will try, and report back. Please let me know if you recognize something I'm doing wrong, or could do differently, from my new explanation.

Thanks again.

<3, Brie Danielle

Try the above and let me know how it goes. The only thing that concerns me is that you say the HDMI input is greyed out on your TV. Not sure why this is, but you might need to go into the TV's set-up menu and enable the input if someone has specifically disabled it (a helpful friend, perhaps, who knew you were not using the HDMI inputs at the time and wanted to simplify things for you?). To make sure the HDMI 1 input is enabled, go into your TV's Set-up Menu ("Menu" on your TV remote), move down to the wrench icon for Set-Up, and get into the option for "input labels" - take a look at "HDMI 1" and if it says "Not Used" then use the left/right remote buttons to select anything OTHER than "Not Used" - I would suggest "Blu-ray" or "HOME THTR" - whatever label makes sense to you.

This actually might be causing the U73 error, though I would have thought the TV would be "smart" enough to know that you started using that input.

But do check these things out and let me know if you make any progress.

Good luck,

-CB

[BrieDanielle]

Chris,

Don't you ever sleep?

Are you considering coming to visit your sister soon?

Okay, I went into my TV's setup menu and "activated" the HDMI ARC port, and named it. I set the theater's input to "ARC." First, I tried to watch TV by setting my remote to the "TV label," and I can see picture. I changed the theater's input to ARC, but I still can't hear it. I clicked on "start" to do the "Easy Setup" (which I don't think I had actually been able to do before, due to all the erroring.). But when I hit "start," my TV changes to the "HDMI label," and when it does that, the screen is black. I can't do anything, because I can't see it. I tried a different HDMI cord, just in case, with the same result.

Hrm... :-/

I had been able to watch movies before with the red, white and yellow cord, sound and picture, no problem. But now that the only thing connecting the TV to the theater is the HDMI cord, when I just put a DVD in, I got the U73 error again. I also noticed that when I went to make sure the cord was in securely, it's more wobbly than I would think is okay. So perhaps the port is loose. Is that fixable?

If the HDMI port is bad on the theater, is it still possible for me to watch TV with sound on this unit? The manual says it is, but I haven't been successful yet.

/sigh... thanks.

<3, Brie Danielle

[MrBoylan]

At this point, you seem to be doing everything right. The TV *should* switch to its HDMI input when the HTiB is connected to it and pwoered up (because of VIERA Link), but you should be able to see the menu up on the screen when it does so. If you don't see anything up on the screen, then something is broken. Honestly you should never see a U73 error unless something in the chain is not HDCP compliant or something in the chain is broken. Either the TV, the cable or the home theater system is faulty. First get the new HDMI cable ($7 - linked above), try it and see what happens. Assuming the cable doesn't fix it, then without getting a second source that uses HDMI (like an HD cable box), you can't really tell for sure which device is to blame but the fact that the Panasonic unit was open box before you bought it points to that. Let the seller know you are going to buy another HDMI cable to make sure it's not the cable (so you are going to need a little time) but I think you're going to need to return it.

Using the red, white and yellow outputs could work *but* it will never be high def so the quality is never going to be that great. You should get what you paid for which is a functional Blu-ray Home theater system that works with HDMI. I don't know why the seller would make you pay for return shipping of a defective product but at this point, I think returning it is your best option.

Anyway... let us know how it goes.

-CB

[BrieDanielle]

Chris,

I keep playing with it, trying different things, configuring the cords different ways, and I did end up with something different. And though I agree that the unit is probably faulty, it is an odd thing the way it's working now and I was wondering what you thought.

I connected it using the red, white, and yellow cords, so I could see the setup screen. In the setup, I made the input ARC. I also made the TV's default speakers the theater. Even in doing so, it kept playing the volume through the TV. I reconnected the HDMI and disconnected the red, white, and yellow. I turned the TV and unit off and back on. Now I have TV sound playing through the theater!!! But it still errors when I try to play a DVD.

The reason this is so odd is because originally, when I had all the cords plugged in, I could play DVDs fine, sound and picture. Now I only get sound and the U73 error. So I added back the yellow cord, since that says it's video, thinking it could use that to see the picture, and since it was already playing sound, that should've completed the circuit. But it didn't change anything. I still can't see the DVD picture, and I still can't see the setup menu.

I just wonder why I now finally have TV sound through the surround, when I couldn't get them to work for TV for anything in the world before. And why I used to be able to watch movies through the system, even when I couldn't get the TV part to work, but now that the TV sound works, the DVD picture won't show.

I'm so confused. Due to the error, I have to assume the unit is faulty, but in one way or another, I've gotten everything to work, using different configurations. Just never at the same time.

Any new insights?

I did purchase a brand new Philips HDMI cable from Target, just to try a different cord altogether, and it produced exactly the same results. (Luckily, I simply returned it.) I also called Panasonic and, as I expected, they were not at all helpful. She told me to run the red, white, and yellow cable through my cable box, but my DTA doesn't have those inputs. It runs everything through a coaxial cable, which this unit doesn't have.

Amazon's price went down. Way down. I wish I could buy it now. Sadly, my money is wrapped up in this one, and I wouldn't be able to buy a new one until I'd returned this one and gotten my money back. And by then it may be too late. Grrr. Such is life.

~Brie Danielle

[MrBoylan]

Hi, again, Brie,

It's frustrating to hear of your frustration, because it's even more clear now that you have a defective unit, or that the unit was damaged in shipping. Again, with your TV and HTiB, you should never get the U73 error with a good HDMI cable. The fact that the unit partially works with TV sound but generates the U73 error on DVDs is testament to the fact that it's just not behaving properly.

I can probably get you up and running with sound and picture for DVD and for cable, but it's not going to be High Definition. It's going to be standard definition. And that's not what you paid for. And frankly, that sucks.

If you want to get picture and sound from your unit, without the error message, then disconnect the HDMI cable entirely, use only the yellow video cable from the HTiB to an available input on your TV. This will get you picture for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs. The sound is already coming from your HTiB system so you don't need to connect the audio output from your HTiB to the TV.

Now, to get sound back from your TV to the HTiB, you'll need a fiberoptic digital audio cable. This will go from your TV's fiberoptic output to one of the two available fiberoptic inputs on the HTiB system. Once this is connected, switch over to the opt-in-1 input on your HTiB system using the RADIO/EXT-IN button on your remote and you should get sound from the TV going through your HTiB speakers.

Again, I'd really recommend shipping this unit back to the seller and insist that the seller pay the return shipping as the unit is clearly defective. As mystifying as this stuff may be to you, it's not actually rocket science and I've worked with enough of these systems over the years to know that it is not working properly. Just because you can get sound and picture from it using the standard def output doesn't mean that it is working properly. And if it was damaged in shipping, then the unit may have other problems that you just have not discovered yet.

Also, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, it sound like your "DTA" is not giving you high definition picture to your TV. I'd recommend unplugging the coax cable that is currently going into your DTA and plugging that *directly* into the coax antenna jack on the back of your TV and doing the "auto channel set-up" (Page 13 of your TV manual). If you don't have your TV manual any more, then you can find it here:

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-e...model.TC-L37X2

Direct link to download: http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/TCL32X2.PDF

Then you should be able to tune in your local cable chanels, and some pay TV channels in true high definition just by using the TV's built-in TV tuner. You should see a noticeable improvement in picture quality this way. If you have premium channels, then you will probably need to ask the cable company to send you a high definition cable box in order to view these (and you would plug that coax cable into the new cable box, with an HDMI cable between it and the TV).

Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes with the yellow video and fiberoptic digital cable. I really think you should just return the unit, but if you want to try to make the broken one work, then I suspect using the yellow cable and the fiberoptic digital cable will do the job.

-CB