# Pink Screen



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Thought I'd share this&#8230;.

Just got a Bolt the other day from the White Sale.
I've been struggling with a "Pink" Screen for the last 2 days.
Uninstalled Hydra, issue was resolved. Re-installed Hydra, issue remained solved.
Thought it was related to another issue that was clipping the left and right of the screen. (TiVo was automatically using 720p instead of 1080i).

Today, Pink Screen returned.
Some more googling brought me to: Pink screen when starting up - Virgin Media Community

So, making sure my TV was on before the Bolt may have solved my Pink Screen (I'm using a Harmony 650 that was putting the Bolt to Sleep, I don't see a need for this, so I'm going to change the programming in the harmony remote).


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Pink screen is also a sign of a bad HDMI handshake and can be resolved with a higher quality HDMI cable if you're using an older "non-4K" cable you had lying around.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

dianebrat said:


> Pink screen is also a sign of a bad HDMI handshake and can be resolved with a higher quality HDMI cable if you're using an older "non-4K" cable you had lying around.


That was my 1st thought (and may very well be the problem). My cable is of high quality, and when I was troubleshooting I tried another of my cables, as well as the cable provided by TiVo.

FWIW, never had this issue with any other component.
(I hope its not the Bolt's HDMI board)


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Tony_T said:


> That was my 1st thought (and may very well be the problem). My cable is of high quality, and when I was troubleshooting I tried another of my cables, as well as the cable provided by TiVo.
> 
> FWIW, never had this issue with any other component.
> (I hope its not the Bolt's HDMI board)


How many of the other components are 4K and HDR capable? and just because a cable works, even though it's "high quality" if it's older it could be part of the issue, you also never mentioned if there was an AVR in the mix, and if the TV was 4K HDR capable.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Its a new HDMI Cable from BluejeansCable.

HDMI Cable, BJC Series-FE 28 AWG Belden Bonded-Pair with Ethernet
Running direct from Bolt to TV (non-4K and HDR)


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## Jed1 (Jun 18, 2013)

Tony_T said:


> Thought I'd share this&#8230;.
> 
> Just got a Bolt the other day from the White Sale.
> I've been struggling with a "Pink" Screen for the last 2 days.
> ...


You have two issues occurring at the same time and both are related to Hydra. The first is Hydra is stuck at 720p and can't detect your TVs native output resolution. If you install or reboot Hydra it will use 720p as that is the native resolution of TiVo Central. I have this issue and I have multiple resolutions checked. In order to fix this you will need to enter VUDU or Amazon Prime and play a trailer to a movie. This will force the TiVo to switch resolutions. When you exit one of the apps then the TiVo should recognize the different HD channel resolutions or use 1080i if set to auto.
The second issue is one the Bolt had when it was originally released and then fixed which relates to a color space issue. If you TVs color space setting is automatic or set to auto that handshake will sometimes fail or in the case of TiVo it is an issue with Hydra.
I took some pictures of what happens when your TV has the wrong color space set. I can set it on my Kuro.
This is the correct color space and the picture has the correct colors:









This is the incorrect setting and gives the colors a pink hue to them:









This setting gives them a green hue. This picture will look pink as the green hue is making the natural colors look pinkish:









In some cases the screen will be completely pink or green. If the HDMI cable is failing or lacks the proper bandwidth you will get sparkles in the picture or there will be no picture or sound at all.
In both cases this will have to be fixed by TiVo. See if you can set the color space on your TV manually to 4:4:4 as that is the native output of TiVos.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Jed1 said:


> You have two issues occurring at the same time and both are related to Hydra. The first is Hydra is stuck at 720p and can't detect your TVs native output resolution. If you install or reboot Hydra it will use 720p as that is the native resolution of TiVo Central. I have this issue and I have multiple resolutions checked. In order to fix this you will need to enter VUDU or Amazon Prime and play a trailer to a movie. This will force the TiVo to switch resolutions. When you exit one of the apps then the TiVo should recognize the different HD channel resolutions or use 1080i if set to auto.


Yes, that took me a bit to find, and when I did I was having trouble getting the 1080i to "stick". In Audio & Video Settings in Hydra, when I de-selected "Auto" and selected 1080i (even though TiVo still says 720p is preferred), it took me awhile to realize that the "back" button set the resolution to my selection (my 1st TiVo)

De-selecting Auto, and having 1080i selected survives a re-boot.



Jed1 said:


> The second issue is one the Bolt had when it was originally released and then fixed which relates to a color space issue. If you TVs color space setting is automatic or set to auto that handshake will sometimes fail or in the case of TiVo it is an issue with Hydra.
> I took some pictures of what happens when your TV has the wrong color space set.
> 
> See if you can set the color space on your TV manually to 4:4:4 as that is the native output of TiVos.


Yes, that's what I'm seeing (but no sparkles in the picture).
If the problem reoccurs, I'll dig out my TV manual and see if I can set the colorspace.

Thanks.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Handshake issues continue&#8230;
This morning I got the "HDMI connection not permitted" message.
Turning the TV Off and On again resolved the problem.
(I still have the Harmony putting the Bolt to sleep, I'll try keeping it always on (which it is anyway)


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## Jed1 (Jun 18, 2013)

Tony_T said:


> Handshake issues continue&#8230;
> This morning I got the "HDMI connection not permitted" message.
> Turning the TV Off and On again resolved the problem.
> (I still have the Harmony putting the Bolt to sleep, I'll try keeping it always on (which it is anyway)


Don't put the box to sleep or standby as you will always have this issue. This happened when the Bolt was first released and it appears that it is broken with Hydra again. Rolling back to the old UI should eliminate this issue. There is some older threads in the Bolt section about this issue.
Some one will have to report this to TiVo Ted. It is possible they know about this as I do remember seeing him post something about color space issues with Hydra.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Jed1 said:


> Don't put the box to sleep or standby as you will always have this issue. This happened when the Bolt was first released and it appears that it is broken with Hydra again. Rolling back to the old UI should eliminate this issue. There is some older threads in the Bolt section about this issue.
> Some one will have to report this to TiVo Ted. It is possible they know about this as I do remember seeing him post something about color space issues with Hydra.


OK, I'll keep the TiVo of standby, I also thought that this might resolve the issue.

How can I report this to TiVo_Ted?
I'm new here, I don't see any PM options.


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## Jed1 (Jun 18, 2013)

Tony_T said:


> OK, I'll keep the TiVo of standby, I also thought that this might resolve the issue.
> 
> How can I report this to TiVo_Ted?
> I'm new here, I don't see any PM options.


TiVo_Ted
Click on the Info tab and then "start a conversation".


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Thanks, I just send him a note and a link to here.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

*So, keeping the TiVo always ON solved the HDMI Handshake and Pink Screen issue.*

Now, I realize that there is no reason to Turn Off (Sleep) the Bolt, but it bothered me that I had no choice in the matter.

So, I later realized that since I use a Harmony 650 remote, that I could put a delay of a few seconds on the TV Power ON, thereby having the TV turn ON _after_ the Bolt wakes up*

Lets see if this works 

* In MyHarmony: Device->TV->Change Device Settings->Power Settings->Turn Device Off when not in use, then add 5 seconds or so Delay before Power On of TV


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## TiVo_Ted (Oct 3, 2000)

Okay, I'll jump in here. We are definitely aware of the pink screen issue. With gen4/Hydra, we have expanded our 4k colorspace to support rec.2020 vs. gen3/Encore which only supported rec.709. This gets us closer to the rec.2100 support required for HDR. We reproduced this problem on a LeEco TV, and discovered an additional issue where it didn't support 1080p60 by default, and we won't allow you to choose a default resolution that isn't 60hz or better. This may also cause the box to fall back to a lower resolution. If you'd like to help figure this out a bit more, please post the exact model number of your TV and the color and refresh settings it supports. Thanks!


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

In addition to Pink Screen and "HDMI connection not permitted" (both corrected when I turn the TV off and on again), TiVo Auto Detects 720p when the correct resolution is 1080i (in 720p the display is over-scanned). Deselecting "Auto" and selecting _only_ 1080i resolves the issue. Display supports 1080i, 720p and 480p

I have an old Panasonic Plasma, model TH-50PHD7UY.
I've attached the specs from the manual.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

rc11 has made Pink Screen worse.
With rc09, turning the display off then on resolved the issue, but with rc11, I'm stuck in Pink.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

How do I roll back to rc09, I can't get out of this fu&%ing Pink Screen


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

ok, did a hard reset of the display (pulled the plug), and that resolved the Pink. I hope this lasts.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

I still cannot understand how a $30 Roku can properly do an HDMI handshake and properly detect my display, yet TiVo is unable to do so.


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

TiVo_Ted said:


> Okay, I'll jump in here. We are definitely aware of the pink screen issue. With gen4/Hydra, we have expanded our 4k colorspace to support rec.2020 vs. gen3/Encore which only supported rec.709. This gets us closer to the rec.2100 support required for HDR. We reproduced this problem on a LeEco TV, and discovered an additional issue where it didn't support 1080p60 by default, and we won't allow you to choose a default resolution that isn't 60hz or better. This may also cause the box to fall back to a lower resolution. If you'd like to help figure this out a bit more, please post the exact model number of your TV and the color and refresh settings it supports. Thanks!


Hi Ted,
A year ago I checked out TE4 on my Bolt Vox 3tb unit that was connected to a 10-year-old Panasonic plasma TV. Everything looked OK visually but I wasn't happy enough to stay with it. So I downgraded to TE3.

A year went by and I recently decided to give TE4 another chance. The good news is I did like the new menu system this time around. The bad news is that my TV was now afflicted with the pink screen problem. I assume there was an upgrade that changed colorspace settings such that my TV no longer plays nicely with TE4. As proof, I downgraded back to TE3 and the problem immediately went away, proving that there was nothing wrong with my TV per se.

Is there anything that can be done for this? I called TIVO Support but they told me the problem was my TV and denied any knowledge of past issues with HDMI/color space.

Thanks,
Rob from AZ
TiVo user since 1999


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Rob,

I was able to resolve the Pink Screen issue by turning on my Panny Plasma after my Bolt (also resolved an HDMI Handshake issue). 

First try with a Hard Reset (Unplug both the TV and the Bolt, then Plug in the Bolt, wait a few minutes, then plug in the TV)
If this solves the Pink Screen, then try leaving the Bolt ON, and turn off the TV as you normally do, wait a bit, then on as you normally do

I use a Harmony 665, so I was able to program the delay (I use the Bolt Power Saving options, so when the bolt is 'asleep', I need to wake it before the harmony turns on the TV)


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## AZrob (Mar 31, 2002)

Tony_T said:


> Rob,
> 
> I was able to resolve the Pink Screen issue by turning on my Panny Plasma after my Bolt (also resolved an HDMI Handshake issue).
> 
> ...


Thanks, Tony. I had seen your posts before but I was hoping to find a solution that did not involve the extra steps of going into Standby. In any case, I decided yesterday that TE4 was lacking in one important aspect: the Now Showing screen is less contrast-y, with it's black on gray format, than TE3. This matters to the nearsighted individuals in my household - we don't want to strain any more than we do now to see what's recorded. So until TE4 becomes more user-friendly in this respect, I'm going back to TE3. Too bad, because I now like it more otherwise...

Thanks for your help.

Rob


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## Endymion_ (Sep 9, 2011)

Tony_T said:


> Yes, that took me a bit to find, and when I did I was having trouble getting the 1080i to "stick". In Audio & Video Settings in Hydra, when I de-selected "Auto" and selected 1080i (even though TiVo still says 720p is preferred), it took me awhile to realize that the "back" button set the resolution to my selection (my 1st TiVo)
> 
> De-selecting Auto, and having 1080i selected survives a re-boot.


I am having a similar issue here. All of my cables are high quality monoprice and I am using a monoprice box. But in troubleshooting my issue has persisted even with a direct connection to the Panasonic plasma (TH-50PHD8UK).

This is an older 1080i set (2005) with 1366x768 resolution, but ever since solving the 4TB internal drive problem by moving to an external drive, my Bolt started preferring 480p and only giving an option for 720p. I re-ran the intial setup and manually selected 1080i but this did not seem to survive a restart. Or maybe it was a soft-off. Come to think of it, it must have been a soft-off as I since turned that feature off. Afterwards I re-ran the initial setup and could not seem to force the Bolt to use 1080i at all, despite nothing having changed. I'm a little confused about how you resolved this, did you turn the TV on and then the Bolt, or the Bolt and then the TV? And what's next after this, just never turn off the Bolt? Hope for no power failures? It's rather frustrating, because although I am actually okay with 720p for this TV, I have found that for most video/TV/movie sources, 1080i actually looks slightly sharper with this set, which is why I'd really rather use it. But at this point I just have no option to manually force 1080i without forcing an initial setup again which is a huge pain in the ass, particularly if it only resets itself again.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Try a hard reset of the Bolt and Panny, with the Panny after the Bolt and see if you see 1080i as an option in Settings->audio/video-Video Resolution. And if so, only select 1080i (I have the older TH-50PHD7UY)


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## Endymion_ (Sep 9, 2011)

Well that did not do it. Although I did use it with the monoprice switchbox, I really don't tend to think it would cause the problem, it's a high quality box. But then it always could be nagging things so I'll never know unless I pull everything apart and direct-plug it again. Possible it could be a cable between the three devices, oh well more troubleshooting.

I miss the old style TE3 interface for video settings. Now that I think on it, that interface told me that 1080i was incompatible also, but if I simply cycled through the modes and hit the thumbs up button I could convince it that 1080i worked. That's just not possible with TE4 interface now. :sadface:


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## David_K (Aug 11, 2019)

I stumbled across this thread a few days ago when I started having the same problem. 50inch Panasonic TC-50PS14, manufactured in April 2009. Connected to a Tivo Bolt, no problems for ~1-2 years (had been attached to a Premier before that). Suddenly, the Pink/Purple or whatever color you call it shows up. I determine it is only the Tivo Bolt causing the problem, as the FireStick attached to the TV does not get the same pink/purple hues. If I remove the HDMI cable and reinsert it (at either the TV or the Tivo end), the problem is fixed (until I turn the TV off and then back on again). I order a new, high quality cable from Monoprice, thinking it was an HDMI issue that a better cable would solve. Nope, same problem.

I move the TV to another room, exchanging it with a smaller Vizio. Both TVs work fine in their new locations. No evidence of pink/purple on the Vizio now attached to the Bolt, and the Panasonic, now attached to the Premier again, is fine, too.

I had taken Tivo up on the offer to trade in an old Series 3 (HD) unit's lifetime for a new Bolt with Lifetime, so I put the Panasonic back in the bedroom and attached it to the new Bolt. And I thought it was fine--until I came back later in the day. Problem still remains.

It is very reproducible. I do not put my Tivos in standby, so they are, I guess, "always on". The TV, of course, gets turned on when you want to watch it. When it is turned on, the pink/purple hues are there. I can eliminate them, as I said, by removing and reinserting the HDMI cable. The other way to fix it is to go into the Tivo "Audio and Video Settings", and, under "Video Resolution", just make it change what it is doing. Since it defaults to "Auto", and this is usually 1080p 60fps, I just need to pick something else (like 1080i), exit the settings, and then the colors revert to normal. I can then go back to Auto and get back to normal resolution, too. As soon as I turn the TV off, all progress is lost, and restarting the TV will bring back the abnormal hues. Even if I turn the TV off with it on something other than Auto (like 720p), the hues will return upon restarting. 

I'm hoping for a solution, but I'm not sure if one is forthcoming...


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## David_K (Aug 11, 2019)

Well, after studying this thread a little bit, I set the Tivo to go into Standby mode, and made sure the Harmony woke the Tivo up AFTER turning the TV on. This will take care of the problem. If, for some reason, the Tivo is not in standby, I'll have to go through the Settings menu as I stated above. But fortunately, this is the televsion in the master bedroom, and generally only gets turned on at night before bed, so the Tivo is usually asleep and this is not a problem. Clearly an issue with the old Panasonic plasma, but what are you going to do...


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## TomInPa (Feb 2, 2020)

David_K said:


> Well, after studying this thread a little bit, I set the Tivo to go into Standby mode, and made sure the Harmony woke the Tivo up AFTER turning the TV on. This will take care of the problem. If, for some reason, the Tivo is not in standby, I'll have to go through the Settings menu as I stated above. But fortunately, this is the televsion in the master bedroom, and generally only gets turned on at night before bed, so the Tivo is usually asleep and this is not a problem. Clearly an issue with the old Panasonic plasma, but what are you going to do...


Has this problem ever been fixed by Tivo? I have the same problem with a new Bolt and old Panasonic TV. Tivo says they fixed the software problem and I need to return the Bolt because it's a hardware problem.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

I also had this problem with my Bolt and Panasonic TV. 
I resolved the issue by turning on the TiVo a few seconds before turning on the TV (program with my harmony remote)


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## David_K (Aug 11, 2019)

TomInPa said:


> Has this problem ever been fixed by Tivo? I have the same problem with a new Bolt and old Panasonic TV. Tivo says they fixed the software problem and I need to return the Bolt because it's a hardware problem.


Honestly, I do not think this is a Tivo issue, because it doesn't occur with other TVs (at least none of my other TVs). But the solution has been simple, to turn the Tivo on just after the TV comes on. I keep it in standby mode and then turn it on. This works for me because the location of the TV (master bedroom) allows it to be in standby mode typically when the TV is turned on. If the Tivo was not in standby, it would be a problem--like would be the case if this was my family room TV.


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## TomInPa (Feb 2, 2020)

Tony_T said:


> I also had this problem with my Bolt and Panasonic TV.
> I resolved the issue by turning on the TiVo a few seconds before turning on the TV (program with my harmony remote)


Mine works the other way around. Turn the TV on, then bring the Tivo out of standby. If it was the TV second, I could disable st


David_K said:


> Honestly, I do not think this is a Tivo issue, because it doesn't occur with other TVs (at least none of my other TVs). But the solution has been simple, to turn the Tivo on just after the TV comes on. I keep it in standby mode and then turn it on. This works for me because the location of the TV (master bedroom) allows it to be in standby mode typically when the TV is turned on. If the Tivo was not in standby, it would be a problem--like would be the case if this was my family room TV.





David_K said:


> Honestly, I do not think this is a Tivo issue, because it doesn't occur with other TVs (at least none of my other TVs). But the solution has been simple, to turn the Tivo on just after the TV comes on. I keep it in standby mode and then turn it on. This works for me because the location of the TV (master bedroom) allows it to be in standby mode typically when the TV is turned on. If the Tivo was not in standby, it would be a problem--like would be the case if this was my family room TV.


Yes and No. The Tivo would work with other TVs. The TV works with other HDMI devices. It's either a backward compatibility problem that Tivo did not get right or it's spurious transient signal from the TV that is confusing Tivo. Either way, only Tivo could fix the problem.


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## leiff (Aug 24, 2005)

My Panasonic plasma has had this problem with my ti vo bolt for a long time now. It wasn't always this way I remember after a certain software update. Anyways I resolve the issue by quickly changing the resolution in the Tivo settings. For me, the quickest way to do this , is to quickly turn to The Weather Channel or CBS or NBC which are the last 3 1080i channels in my Comcast guide, since I have my Tivo set to native resolution


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