My Home Theater picture goes away randomly?

Question

I have an LG dvd player/surround sound unit, model number LHT754, with an LG plasma screen and Xbox 360 hooked into it via HDMI cables. When we are watching a dvd, at random times the screen will go black for approx. 5-10 seconds, but the dvd will continue playing and we can still hear the sound. At other times, the screen will go snowy for 5-10 seconds, with the sound still working, but then the dvd will stop after the 5-10 seconds. When we press play, it will start playing again like nothing happened. It does not do this all the time, and not on every dvd, and not even on the same dvd twice. Sometimes it will not do it at all, and once or twice it has done it several times in one session. It does not do it when watching cable, nor does it do it when playing the XBOX, but only when using the dvd. Anyone have any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it? I know it is under warrenty, but I am trying to avoid having to be without my surround sound for that long while it is fixed.

Answer 1

If you are using a cheap HDMI cable, it might not be able to support the bandwidth required by the Xbox.  Though it doesn't do it while playing games, movies probably have a lot more information being streamed at once.  Try a different HDMI cable if you have one, otherwise hook it up via component cables and see if the problem persists.

Answer 2

It's very difficult to tell. There are several possible causes and as an intermittent problem it's difficult to pin down which one is the culprit with certainty. It's by far the most frustrating type of problem ... sorry.

The suggestion of a bad cable is one possibility ... but I very much doubt it's the HDMI cable (as suggested by another respondent) since a) the HDMI isn't connected to the DVD player, and b) even a very poor HDMI can easily handle SD resolution. You don't say how the DVD player is connected.

The description you gave strongly suggests a DVD player problem, but the only way to be sure would be to keep everything the same except substiute a different DVD player. If the problem goes away .. it's the player. If not, it's not and you can consider cables, switches, etc (whatever is in the circuit, basically. Remember to consider that a specific input jack on the receiver or TV could be the problem).

I can't say more ... you are just going to have to try switching out components until you find what solves the problem.

Good luck.