I just bought a 52" Samsung LCD and it was showing no signal through the HDMI cable within a couple of days of getting the setup. I call Verizon and complain, they send me another box. It is working OK but I researched the issue after the problem and find out Samsung LCD with an HDMI cable don't match up too well with FIOS.

I call Verizon back and bitch. They blame the TV...Samsung blames Verizon...They offer to send me composite cables so I am now more pissed...I ask why they don't alert their customers to the issue and I am like WTF....I bought it through Amazon and they told me to call Samsung and if they can't fix the problem I can send it back...free shipping back to them...I will then buy a Sony.

Everyone with FIOS should be aware of this.

The same sort of problem exists with some Samsung (and other TV's using the same chips inside) TVs and some DirectTV boxes... I belive there's some wierdness with the HDMI ports on the Samsungs that causes the wierd issues.  One simple answer that has worked for DirectTV users I've conversed with online is to get a A/V receiver that supports HDMI, and run the connection thru it... this often gets everything synced up and working.  It's not easy to fix otherwise, the chips involved have a hardware flaw that a firmware update can not fix.

Of course, sending it back and getting a different TV would work, or using the Component (not composite) cable.  I can't tell the difference in the picture when using Component or HDMI at most resolutions.

I have a Sharp Aquos... great bang for the buck... a little more than a Samsung, but much less than a Sony (at least when I bought it).  The Sonys have a great picture as well.

I have friends with Samsungs with Comcast as their provider. Their TV's work without a problem...

When I was talking to the VZ rep, I kept calling the cables component cables...they were calling them composite....i got them yesterday, and the factory labeling says composite...I don't know what Aquos you have but the Samsung cost me just over 2G's...the Sony was about 2 hundred more.

I'll have to read up on the AV receiver work around....

HDCP problem?

HDMI is the biggest fucking scam foisted on the AV world since gold-plated speaker wires.

AHHHH HAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Fucking THANK YOU!!!!!


I must have spent 3 hours trying to figure the stupid thig out, before I quit.    

You da man

What's a FIOS?

I am actually a FIOS tech support rep. I can tell you this is a thorn in our side. In all honesty, this is a problem I see at least once a day.

Is there a problem with the FIOS set top box? Yes. Is there a problem with the Samsung HDMI port, yes. Let me explain.

I have gotten fed up trying to explain to customers their brand new Samsung Tv  continues to get the "searching for signal" error. I called Samsung for the answer. I was told by the SAMSUNG rep they have a "second generation" HDMI port on their TVs and are not always backward compatible. I asked him what this "second generation" HDMI port was, and how it differed, but did not get any answer.

The SAMSUNG rep informed me that MOST of the TVs have a firmware upgrade available on their website, which I confirmed.

Regardless, the issue is being addressed on both ends. Samsung has offered the firmware upgrade, and Verizon has created a new 1.7 firmware for their set top boxes. The typical workaround is to use component cables at the moment. A common mistake people assume is they lose resolution by using component. This is not true at the 1080i resolution. Component will support up to 1080p which FIOS is not capable of at the moment. There is no loss.

Believe me, it sucks telling people this, especially because I know Samsung makes a great product. Everyone is aware of it, and we are taking measures. I have a Samsung DLP LED tv which seems to be immune to this issue, but there are also a load of Samsung Tvs that arent. In my experience, this ONLY affects Samsung LCD and Plasma Tvs. I have not yet had any issues with the DLP or DLP LED tvs.

I apologize for the lack of knowledge of the rep that you spoke with. There are some out there, but for the most part we are all very well educated (at least in my office). Verizon puts us through at least 8 weeks training before we even touch a phone, and training and education is ongoing.

Verizon FIOS hasbeen a great company to work for, with AMAZING pay and benefits, especially considering what we do on a daily basis.

I think my STB may have been the problem but time will tell. I uncovered this problem when the TV said no signal. The first Rep didn't mention anything about a potential compatibility problem. I have the latest Samsung with the 240 refresh rate...maybe i wont have a problem.

If HDMI will give me the best picture that is what I want. I don't want component cables.

How can i tell if i have the latest STB firmware? I must have the latest Samsung firmware because there is no download at their website. How come no 1080p?

The HDMI is just a condensed version of the component cables. Same colors in and speaker channels........ just a smaller package.

Just use component. It's the same video quality.

How does FIOS work?  Is there a demarcation device installed outside your house?  Does it supply a phone line for voice, an ethernet port for data, and a coax cable port for video?  If so, once the signal is converted to coax cable output, and a coax cable is sent to the DVR receiver (you do have DVR don't you?), FIOS is no longer part of the equation. The TV does not care where hte coax comes from.  It is oblivious to the fact that all 3 services came to yoru hosue on a fiber optic cable.  Once the Demarcation device breaks out coax cable for the video, the cable receiver you have (I hope it's a DVR ) does not know it came from FIOS, and that is should behave imporperly.  This is truely weird.

BTW, I have fiber to the house myself from Comporium.  I get all 3 services from a sigle fiber optic cable as well...they just don't call it FIOS.  No issues for me, but then again, i don't have a 52" Samsung.

guess i'm lucky.  Samsung 52" HD with Verizon Fios.  No problems here.

Stupid question.


















Tag for answer.  

Let me Google that for you

What's a FIOS?


Stupid question.


















Tag for answer.

HDMI is a purely digital connection. It is a mechanism for sending the exact pixel values recreated by the source device as a line/frame image. Interleaving or progressive, lossless sound or not, it does not matter, the transmisson is all digital (at 320MHz - supporting much higher resolution than 1080 today)

This eliminates the need for separate fiber or coax to send the digital audio (Dolby, DTS, etc) to your reciever while having to perform a Digital to Analog conversion of the signal for a Y/Cb/Cr component video cable.

Of course, if the component cable now carries analog signals you hope that they have been filtered and smoothed in order to avoid the aliasing inherent in digital signals. This is why you may recall CD players talking about "oversampling" in the past. There's a whole bunch of boring engineering with regard to Nyquist, phase linearity and the associated digital (interpolating) and analog filters required to do this. Those analog signals then need to be re- converted to digital data for the LCD TV to display them on its pixels. TV's have scalar engines to make low resolution data fit nicely to the screen resolution, but we'll leave that aside for the moment.

So, the TV now needs to sample (hopefully at a much higher rate than 2x the bandwidth of the component signal and try to figure out where the start and stop of each line and frame is, and measure the Analog to Digital result at the right time in order to reproduce the digital frame. Invariably this is not a perfect process, and you will technically lose some data accuracy.

Whether it is noticeable for moving images can be argued - it is somewhat more obvious on video games with static fine lines and text, but it does depend on the front-end signal processing of the TV you view the signals on.

so is this because Samsung is already using HDMI 1.4 and didn't make sure they were backward compatible?

Try disabling the Samsung AnyNet feature.

It's been 2 years since I bought my TV, so the prices have changed.  As for your comcast friends, sure, the Samsungs do work with a lot of different equipment; I was just stating that the issues with some equipment are a known issue––.  

As to the cables... if you are using 3 RCA jacked cables for just the video, with 2 more for L & R audio, those are Component video cables.... Composite Video passes all the video over just one.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video

I had a problem with a Samsung 450 series and 330 series from last year. Both sets refused to make a stable audio connection using a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 3250HD box with DVI and audio cables. Sound would cut out when left on any one hd channel for too long (hours at a time.)

When connected with HDMI through the 4240HDC, the 450 couldn't get sound at all. This is through Cox cable. I have to use the Component setup to get it to work.

Frustrated. Picture quality with a Samsung is great though. Any firmware upgrades for these models?

check www.samsung.com for firmware updates...