I bought this unit from a very reputable seller on Audiogon and he kept insisting the unit works - he tested it thoroughly. I tend to believe him/her. I cannot give up on this. I thought about it and came up with some theories:
I connected nothing but component video and optical audio to all devices including to my TV and powered up. It worked. Sounded fine. Yes the volume needed to go up to 50 or 60 but it works - all channels have sound. The picture for the TiVo is terrible - very noisy. Hmm.
Next I connected nothing but HDMI across all devices. This time the unit worked for my BluRay but froze up when selecting the TiVo. I did get a picture but no sound.
In my earlier tests of HDMI cables I noted that the best I get is 1080i and DD 5.1 from my TiVo even when connected via HDMI (yes I enabled 1080p on the TiVo). Why do I need HDMI for this source? So - I connected an optical audio cable from the TiVo to the Krell and switched the Digital Audio input to that leaving video on HDMI. Now I get sound and picture rather quickly and it does not freeze up. The picture is great. The sound is great. I'm getting 1080i and DD 5.1
My BluRay works fine - 1080p DTS HD MA.
In conclusion I believe all 4 bullet points I listed above contributed to my problems. With patience and trial and error we got it working. Thanks!
- even when I went back to optical audio / component video connections I still had an HDMI cable connecting the Krell to my TV. It wouldn't surprise me if some piece decided to reject the connection and somehow lost sound but not picture
- the unit seems to freeze up and stop responding to even the buttons on the front of the unit. It can only be restored by me turning it off using the power switch on the back of the unit. When it powers back up it is responding again. Cable TV equipment tends to generate lots of noise that can be problematic for sensitive equipment. When I first bought the Krell Showcase years ago I went thru a similar exercise where I reduced the noise coming into the unit from the cable equipment via my TiVo. My Showcase still freezes up maybe once a month. Could that be a source of problems for this newer unit?
- I have not used the HDMI connections in my devices ever. Years later - how much dust built up in them? Did I clean them .. ???
- do all these cables I have not used since Noah's Ark actually work?
I connected nothing but component video and optical audio to all devices including to my TV and powered up. It worked. Sounded fine. Yes the volume needed to go up to 50 or 60 but it works - all channels have sound. The picture for the TiVo is terrible - very noisy. Hmm.
Next I connected nothing but HDMI across all devices. This time the unit worked for my BluRay but froze up when selecting the TiVo. I did get a picture but no sound.
In my earlier tests of HDMI cables I noted that the best I get is 1080i and DD 5.1 from my TiVo even when connected via HDMI (yes I enabled 1080p on the TiVo). Why do I need HDMI for this source? So - I connected an optical audio cable from the TiVo to the Krell and switched the Digital Audio input to that leaving video on HDMI. Now I get sound and picture rather quickly and it does not freeze up. The picture is great. The sound is great. I'm getting 1080i and DD 5.1
My BluRay works fine - 1080p DTS HD MA.
In conclusion I believe all 4 bullet points I listed above contributed to my problems. With patience and trial and error we got it working. Thanks!