Home audio & video forum: Samsung DLP HDMI "Mode Not Supported"

Thanks you, for those of you who are reading this to help me out, but I've already solved this problem myself. The reason I am writing this is because of a ridiculous problem that's stumping many new HDTV owners, especially Samsung DLP owners like me. I hope this helps anyone who has the same problem.

I recently bought a new HDTV and upgraded to Verizon's FIOS TV service, which is outstanding, but that's another topic. Very soon after the tech. installation guy left, I was experiencing problems with the Motorola set-top-box (STB). The box was connected to the TV via HDMI and was working fine when the tech. guy installed it, but soon the TV was reporting a "Mode Not Supported" error when the channel was tuned to anything other than a HD channel.

I immediately knew what the problem might be, but I for god's sake couldn't fix it. Until I could fix it myself, I was using some low-quality component cables which surprisingly gave pretty good picture, but HORRIBLE sound compared to the HDMI connection.

After some DIY and hours of scourging the internet for over a week, I found out exactly what the problem should be and fixing it was now only a matter of time.

Contrary to what some forums may cite, the problem lies in the format the STB is sending the picture over the HDMI cable. If your TV doesn't support the signal, it will obviously report an error such as the "Mode Not Supported" error I was receiving.

In my particular case, the STB was sending non HD signals to the TV in 'standard definition' 480i. The problem was that my TV wont accept the resolution 480 interlaced, the 'i'. So to fix the problem, I had to access the STB's hidden menu and eliminate the 480i option for 480p instead. As soon as I did, PRESTO! No more HDMI errors.

I hope this helps anyone who needs it,

Simon

P.S. Other than that non-existent error now, I'm in love with my new DLP TV. Have fun watching your HDTV over HDMI!