ATV2 and HDMI Switchers

[secondcup]

I did a search and didn't find a definitive answer on this. Will the ATV2 work properly when used with an HDMI switcher? I'm using one for the lack of inputs on my tv. My old ATV1 worked fine in this set-up...with the new ATV2, the picture occasionally flickers and goes black (seems like an HDMI issue), but also when you look at "About" in the settings, it lists the TV resolution as 480p (which it's not, it's an HDTV).

Can anyone confirm that the switcher is the issue? Thanks!

 

[taylortm]

I had it working...

When I first got my ATV2, I also needed an HDMI switcher. I bought one online from Amazon.

It worked PRETTY well. It did occasionally flicker and seem to have trouble "locking on" to the ATV2 signal. Seemed like the ATV2 kept trying to renegotiate the link or something. At times, the flickering would not stop until I manually switched away from -- and then back to -- the ATV2. But most times, the flickering stopped, on its own, within about 10 or 15 seconds.

Like I said, it worked. Once it properly synced, it reported the proper resolution and all was good. However, I was ultimately frustrated by it and ended up buying a new A/V receiver for my setup. Of course, that's just a really expensive HDMI switch (the receiver). And, while it fixed my problem (mostly), it too causes brief issues where the ATV2 sometimes takes a few extra seconds to negotiate the link. The only negative effect, now, is that it sometimes takes about 5 seconds of extra time (after switching over to ATV) for the receiver to figure out it should be using the HDMI and all that. It's probably the receiver's fault and not the ATV's.

Bottom line: that switcher works, albeit with some coaxing from time to time.

 

[tmpix]

HDMI switch works for me

My ATV2 works well with an HDMI switch. On the ATV2 my TV shows up as 720, but a PS3 runs through the same HDMI switch at 1080p.

 

[hardax]

I've read the biggest problem people have with the AppleTV2 is with auto switching switches. Seems teh ATV is always sending out a signal, even in sleep mode so it messes up the auto input switching feature of these HDMI switches.

 

[secondcup]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

I took the switch out of the equation and plugged the ATV2 straight into the tv...same issues. My tv is an older HDTV (tube!) with a single DVI input. I'm using an adaptor to go from HDMI to DVI, and now I'm guessing this is what's causing the problem. I don't suppose the ATV's are too often defective out of the box?

Next step is to find a more modern TV to try it with!

Thanks again.

 

[KevinC867]

When I first got my ATV2, I also needed an HDMI switcher. I bought one online from Amazon.

It worked PRETTY well...

Bottom line: that switcher works, albeit with some coaxing from time to time.

FYI - I am using exactly the same HDMI switch and have no problems with it at all. The remote control works great and allows me to integrate the switch control into my Harmony remote setup, so the presence of the switch is transparent to the operation of my system.

 

[secondcup]

Just found this:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/apple-tv-update-reportedly-causing-screen-flicker-issues-with-hd/

Which seems to describe my problem exactly. Seems like an issue with the latest version of ios.