Deep Dive into HDMI Resolution Troubleshooting
I ran into an issue with my server where my Yamaha TSR-5810 (RX-V581) receiver connected to an Optoma projector would display a blank screen during the POST/BIOS phase. I immediately suspected that HP’s BIOS couldn’t handle the low resolution of 720x480 reported by the projector, with the main suspect being the vintage DisplayPort to HDMI 1080p converter I was using. The immeddiate diagnosis was that the HP’s BIOS couldn’t handle the low resolution of 720x480, as reported by the projector, and the main suspect was the vintage DisplayPort to HDMI 1080p converter I was using.
You can hardly blame HP for not handling the 720x480 (480p) resolution, considering any hardware of the last 20 years typically handles at least 1024 x 768. Nevertheless, the completely blank screen stumped me for an hour. The obvious initial suspect was the Displayport to HDMI converter, so I ordered a modern, 4k version, only to find that it produced the same issue. More head-scratching ensued.
Eventually, by reducing the number of variables and connecting the PC directly to the projector, the BIOS menu showed at the princely 4k@60Hz resolution, to my sheer surprise. At this point, I assumed it was one of the not uncommon HDMI/EDID negotiation issues and hoped Yamaha Customer Service could offer a way to force and lock the displayed resolution — something I believed some of their models supported, but which, as they later clarified, was actually a video upscaling feature.
