# Roamio Basic HDMI Power?



## Weezknight (Nov 11, 2013)

I wanted to add one of our old Blu-Ray players to the kids' playroom where we have an old TV with just 1 HDMI input.

When I went to add the Roamio to our 3x HDMI switcher, I noticed that the switch LED's didn't light up meaning there was no power being transferred to the switcher. Because of this the Roamio will not send a picture over the switcher. I thought pretty much everything these days carried 5V power over the HDMI. It's odd to me that the Roamio would not do this. 

The only time the switcher would power up was if I turned on the Blu-Ray player, which, then would send the 5V signal over the HDMI.

Is this true? The new Roamios do not send any power signal over their HDMI connection?


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## Ky_Shag (Jan 26, 2012)

yes seems that way
I had to add power to my hdmi switch
5v via usb cord


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## Weezknight (Nov 11, 2013)

Ky_Shag said:


> yes seems that way
> I had to add power to my hdmi switch
> 5v via usb cord


Thanks, I'll give it a try. There is a 5V Adapter plug on the side of the switch, so I'll dig up an old cell charger from the basement.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I thought those things got power from the TV leg, since that's the one that's always connected and not switched?


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## Weezknight (Nov 11, 2013)

Dan203 said:


> I thought those things got power from the TV leg, since that's the one that's always connected and not switched?


Not sure, but maybe because they have the "auto switch" capability they get the power from the component side.


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## Weezknight (Nov 11, 2013)

Well, it looks like some more troubleshooting may be involved. Hooked up the 5V and it powered the switch right up. Excellent!

However, the Roamio is now passing through a garbled signal. It's pink/green and flashes around, almost like when an old VGA cable was missing a pin. Took out the switch, hooked the Roamio direct, and everything was fine. Put the switch back in, and same thing.

Tested the switch in the living room with 3 different HDMI components, and all of them sent their signals fine through the switch. So it's not the switch inputs. 

Something from the Roamio is not sending the proper signal when the switch is involved, but every other component I have in the house seems to play nice with it.

Is there a setting in the Roamio that needs to be changed? Why would it work with a direct 1-to-1 hookup, but not through the switch?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

My Roamio Basic supplies some kind of power over HDMI because it is able to power the Redmere HDMI cable connected to it. Without power from HDMi the Redmere cable will not work.

And I also have a Redmere HDMI cable connected to my Roamio Pro. The Roamio Basic goes to my XBOne. The Roamio Pro goes to my DUO processor.

EDIT: Yes the Roamio Basic HDMI supplies some kind of power. I just connected it to a two port auto HDMI switch with nothing else connected to the switch. It lit up the LED.


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## cronuscronus (Apr 14, 2014)

Ky_Shag said:


> yes seems that way
> I had to add power to my hdmi switch
> 5v via usb cord


Hi there. What USB hub are you using that is working? I am using an IOGear GHDSW4KIT and it doesn't work with the tivo... same issue with the LED just flashing.

It's a bummer because it works with all my other devices .


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## chicagobrownblue (May 29, 2008)

Weezknight said:


> I wanted to add one of our old Blu-Ray players to the kids' playroom where we have an old TV with just 1 HDMI input.


Does the old TV have component video and audio inputs? That should work fine.


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## wmblanken (Aug 5, 2007)

I had the same problem described above, bought roamio plus and would not work with my unpowered 3X1 Monoprice HDMI switch. I bought a monoprice 3x1 powered switch (model 8462) and this works great. The configuration I have is Sony XBR TV (circa 2008), tivo roamio plus, and Sony blu ray player. The monoprice switch has auto switching, turn on the blu ray, it switches. Turn off the blu ray, goes back to tivo.


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## nooneuknow (Feb 5, 2011)

wmblanken said:


> I had the same problem described above, bought roamio plus and would not work with my unpowered 3X1 Monoprice HDMI switch. I bought a monoprice 3x1 powered switch (model 8462) and this works great. The configuration I have is Sony XBR TV (circa 2008), tivo roamio plus, and Sony blu ray player. The monoprice switch has auto switching, turn on the blu ray, it switches. Turn off the blu ray, goes back to tivo.


Just potentially beware of Sony Bravia TVs. Many of them (as reports from others have proven, beyond my own experiences) have a hard enough time doing HDMI direct with base-Roamios, and a switch makes things worse (I've tried several, and many different cables).

The monoprice switch I've tried (out of a few brands), but only worked for me before my base-Roamios: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=4088&seq=1&format=2

4X1 Enhanced HDMI® Switch w/ Built-In Equalizer & Remote (REV.3.0)
Product ID: 4088 (HDX-401E)

I think the "built-in equalizer" might be the biggest issue-contributor (for my scenario). I've also had the roughly the same issues with base-Roamios and a Samsung TV.

The current Roamio software helped resolve most of my direct-link issues, but the HDMI switch results are still what I would call "undesirable".

There's a lot of "YMMV" involved with HDMI switches. The same one I listed (as well as those I didn't) worked with TiVo HDs and Premieres, with the same TVs.


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