# Pink Screen (of death?) when streaming



## ginginlala (Jul 15, 2011)

Hello,

For both Amazon and Netflix, 100% of playback attempts end with the app crashing to a full pink screen within 2 seconds of playback commencing.

Doesn't happen on any other apps (tried Vudu, Youtube).

Never saw this prior to new update. Not trying 4k or anything, this is standard 1080p streaming.


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## NoNose (Nov 27, 2015)

ginginlala said:


> Hello,
> 
> For both Amazon and Netflix, 100% of playback attempts end with the app crashing to a full pink screen within 2 seconds of playback commencing.
> 
> ...


It's an HDMI problem. Cycle your TV off/on to permanently re-sync the HDMI connection. Has worked for several folks after the update.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

It seems I got it fixed finally. Long story.

First, my setup. I have a Pioneer Elite AVR. I have a DirecTV Genie, a Panny BluRay player, A Chromecast and of course a Tivo Bolt connected. The Tivo serves up OTA, Netflix and Amazon. They are fed into a Panasonic 50" plasma (S60 panel).

The first thing I tried was to unplug and replug the HDMI cable on the Tivo while the screen was pink. That worked temporarily. Only for that session. It was mentioned elsewhere here to power cycle the TV. So, I shut it all off and turned it back on (power cycled the TV, right?). No joy. I shut it all off and disconnected the master power for ten minutes. Still no good. Went and grabbed a longer HDMI cable and connected the Tivo directly to an unused input on the TV bypassing the AVR. Nope, didn't work either. What I finally tried was a variation on the first suggestion. Power cycled the TV while the Tivo was the selected input and I had the pink screen. It WORKED! Pretty bizarre.

I then tested all of the possibilities. Power all off then back on, switch inputs, shut off on other inputs etc. Still working.

I'll keep this rant short. I have been doing home theatre work as a subcontractor about 15 years now. We have had more than a few issues with HDMI. Have come to despise it. We have even had a small number of clients that we had to put on component video and digital audio to resolve handshaking issues. I'll end it there.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

rpiotro said:


> ...
> 
> I'll keep this rant short. I have been doing home theatre work as a subcontractor about 15 years now. We have had more than a few issues with HDMI. Have come to despise it. We have even had a small number of clients that we had to put on component video and digital audio to resolve handshaking issues. I'll end it there.


There isn't actually anything wrong with HDMI - if they hadn't infested it with DRM worthless restrictions it would be a great one cable solution. I am not sure what "theft" they actually think they prevent by this infestation, all I can see they have done is piss off honest customers.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

Well, I thought it was fixed but not really. I had all of the supported resolutions checked but last night during my experimenting I had it set to auto and it picked 1080P. I just turned it back to all so that it would do native for better picture quality and 1080p/24 on Netflix. Doing that it no longer works no matter what I do. Left on auto (1080P only) it will work but of course no 1080P/24.

This crippled box is unacceptable as it worked fine prior to the latest update. I only have four days left of my 30 day return. I'll call support tomorrow and see if they have anything to offer.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

UPDATE!

Yesterday I opened a case with support via their online system. I got an email reply this morning instructing me to call tech support. They are very much aware of this issue and are working on it. They may have a solution as early as next week.


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## drooplug (Dec 6, 2015)

Based on what I have read, HDCP has been completely defeated. I think maybe HDCP 2.2 is viable, but it has no backward compatibility.


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## TiVoMargret (Feb 3, 2008)

If you are experiencing the red/pink screen during streaming playback, it is because you have an older TV and when the TiVo last rebooted the TV was on and the two didn't correctly negotiate HDCP-compatibility.

Typically unplugging the HDMI and plugging it back in should solve this problem. (Until the box reboots again with the TV turned ON.)

You can also reboot the TiVo with the TV turned OFF.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience. I expect this to be fixed with an upcoming minor update. (Which *might* be out before the holidays, but I'm not sure yet.)

--Margret


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## Kremlar (Jan 22, 2009)

TiVoMargret said:


> If you are experiencing the red/pink screen during streaming playback, it is because you have an older TV and when the TiVo last rebooted the TV was on and the two didn't correctly negotiate HDCP-compatibility.
> 
> Typically unplugging the HDMI and plugging it back in should solve this problem. (Until the box reboots again with the TV turned ON.)
> 
> ...


My TV is less than 6 months old and experiencing the issue. Between this issue and the Plex issue the last update released was a major fail. Can the update be rolled back?? These issues are giving TiVo a bad name.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

TiVoMargret said:


> If you are experiencing the red/pink screen during streaming playback, it is because you have an older TV and when the TiVo last rebooted the TV was on and the two didn't correctly negotiate HDCP-compatibility.
> 
> Typically unplugging the HDMI and plugging it back in should solve this problem. (Until the box reboots again with the TV turned ON.)
> 
> ...


Older TV? My TV and AVR are less than two years old. How new do they need to be? I agree with others here. This update was a major fail!


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## Eskimo2 (Dec 14, 2015)

TiVoMargret said:


> If you are experiencing the red/pink screen during streaming playback, it is because you have an older TV





Kremlar said:


> My TV is less than 6 months old and experiencing the issue.





rpiotro said:


> Older TV? My TV and AVR are less than two years old.


Hahahahaha.. Owned.


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## TiVoMargret (Feb 3, 2008)

Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".

If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.

--Margret


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## Eskimo2 (Dec 14, 2015)

TiVoMargret said:


> Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".
> 
> If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.
> 
> --Margret


I was really just poking fun, for the record..


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## Kremlar (Jan 22, 2009)

TiVoMargret said:


> Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".
> 
> If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.
> 
> --Margret


Email sent. I am using an Insignia NS-55D420NA. I know it is HDCP compliant, but not sure if it's HDCP 2.2.


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## mmcisaac (Feb 25, 2007)

I'm experiencing the same issue. I got the Bolt, set it up at my house, tested it for a few days. Took it to my friend's house, and streaming goes to pink screen of death immediately when invoking netflix or amazon. Help!


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## Walternate (Dec 5, 2015)

TiVoMargret said:


> Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".
> 
> If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.
> 
> --Margret


I sent an email, no response.


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## ginginlala (Jul 15, 2011)

I had an "a ha!" moment when I saw the suggestion above to use the HDMI cable that came with the Bolt. I had been using whatever cable I had my cable box plugged in with. Probably very old. 

Guess what. The Bolt cable has made things worse! Hahahaha. Now I get awesome pink screen on both Amazon and Netflix, on the latter before I even play anything. Vudu and Hulu work absolutely fine. 

I'm close to giving up and returning this piece. This is shredding the good faith I've had in TiVo for the last 5+ years or so.


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## ginginlala (Jul 15, 2011)

Heh. Since I posted that, without doing anything: Netflix started working. Hooray! And then Netflix went from working to playing streams for a second before crashing to pink again. 

I don't understand this. It's an HDMI handshake issue but it only affects certain apps and it seems to appear, disappear, and change form, almost randomly.


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## Walternate (Dec 5, 2015)

TiVoMargret said:


> Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".
> 
> If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.
> 
> --Margret


Are you going to share "the fix". Still waiting on an email.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

TiVoMargret said:


> Sorry, I said "older" and I probably should have said "not HDCP 2.2 cooperative".
> 
> If you are experiencing the red screen, please email [email protected] with the subject "red screen" and include your TSN. I believe I have a fix for you.
> 
> --Margret





Walternate said:


> Are you going to share "the fix". Still waiting on an email.


When Margret says, "I believe I have a fix for you", she could mean that TiVo is working on a fix that will be pushed to all affected units, or (maybe more likely) that a fix will be pushed (initially) to only the units of users who have reported having the problem. The least likely way of fixing anything would be by emailing some secret-handshake fix for users to apply themselves. You'll know you have the fix when your unit starts working properly.


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## Walternate (Dec 5, 2015)

Lol, looks like I may have received the "secret handshake" from Margret. Amazon and Netflix are working again, at least for now. You were right, no email required.

Thanks Margret and David.


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## Kremlar (Jan 22, 2009)

Walternate said:


> Lol, looks like I may have received the "secret handshake" from Margret. Amazon and Netflix are working again, at least for now. You were right, no email required.
> 
> Thanks Margret and David.


I tested this AM and only saw a quick red screen flash that went away on its own. May be fixed for me as well.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

Yup, Sent the email three days ago. Tried it last evening and it works!

Only one last minor glitch left. When Amazon starts to stream the actual show, I get audio but a black screen. If I hit pause or info that screen displays. I have found a simple workaround. Hit the back button then the screen displays. Press select on the "resume" option and good to go. Only on Amazon. Netflix and Hulu are fine.

A minor annoyance with an easy workaround but I would prefer a permanent solution.

Anyone else experiencing this?

BTW I have tried it with the supplied HDMI cable. Even running it into the TV directly with the same result.


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## apw2607 (Nov 17, 2012)

rpiotro said:


> Yup, Sent the email three days ago. Tried it last evening and it works!
> 
> Only one last minor glitch left. When Amazon starts to stream the actual show, I get audio but a black screen. If I hit pause or info that screen displays. I have found a simple workaround. Hit the back button then the screen displays. Press select on the "resume" option and good to go. Only on Amazon. Netflix and Hulu are fine.
> 
> ...


Yes. However, the issue above is related to the amazon app itself and a bug. Its being evident since the bolt was originally released Its not related to the hdmi handshaking issue. That started after the last firware update.


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## rpiotro (Oct 20, 2005)

apw2607 said:


> Yes. However, the issue above is related to the amazon app itself and a bug. Its being evident since the bolt was originally released Its not related to the hdmi handshaking issue. That started after the last firware update.


And fixed!!

I tried Amazon last night for the first time in several days. It just worked. I don't know if there was a fix to my bolt or Amazon fixed some issue with their streaming but it starts to play without dealing with the black screen. All issues have been addressed in the last week or so and all is well.


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