• Thanks for visiting the Kaleidescape Owners' Forum

    This forum is for the community of Kaleidescape owners, and others interested in learning about the system, equipment, services, and the company itself.

    It is run by a group of enthusiastic Kaleidescape owners and dealers purely as a service to this community.

    This board is not affiliated in any way with Kaleidescape, Inc.
    For official technical support, product information, or customer service, please visit www.kaleidescape.com

  • You are currently in "Guest" mode and not logged in with a registered account.

    The forum is free to use and most of the forum can be used by guests who are not registered....

    ... but we strongly encourage you to register for a full account. There is no cost to register for a full account.

    Benefits of registering for a full account:

    • Participate in the discussions! You must have a registered account to make posts on the forums. You will be able to start your own thread on a topic or question, or you can reply to other threads/discussions.
    • Use the "Conversation" feature (known as "private messaging" on other forums) to communicate directly with any of the other users here.
    • Access the Files area. The "resources" area of the forum contains many "Favorite Scene" and Script files that can dramatically increase the enjoyment of your Kaleidescape system. Go directly to great scenes in your favorite movies, created by other owners, and add automation to playback of your system with Scripts.
    • You won't see this annoying notice at the top of every screen!😊

    It's easy and free to register for the forum. Just click the "Register" button in the upper right corner of this page, and follow the instructions there.

Set up question

So not certain if this is a set up question or a different category, but while watching movies at times I notice a quick flicker of white flash on the screen from time to time. My only thought was maybe it was a 'hiccup' during downloading the movie(s). Thoughts? Thank you.
 
You mention "movies," so I assume it's more than one movie, and if that's the case, I doubt it's a download issue (but could be if it's only one or two movies). Most of the glitches people experience are HDMI related, either EDID issues, or cable issues. Can also be a network problem.

The more components in the chain, the higher the risk of occasional dropouts or other video glitches. We usually troubleshoot starting at the easiest thing first, and that's usually cables, and then if there are other components in the chain, we connect the player directly to the display and try to repeat the problem. If that's all good, we add the components one at a time back to the chain.

If no problem is found in the system, you can:

1. Have your dealer contact Support to check the logs to see if anything stands out as an issue. (It helps to have the exact date/time you saw the issue.)

2. Visit your ophthalmologist, you may have a torn, or separating retina.

Jim
 
Well thankfully I'm not the only one seeing it so no need for any doctors. Fortunately, there are only 2 steps in the chain: Kscape to receiver to projector. I may be able to check if it is the receiver if I disconnect the receiver from it and check. Thanks Jim!
 
BTW, I wasn't kidding about that "retina" exam (but glad to hear you're fine). Last year I had a client call me to tell me that on occasion he would see White flashes. We never could find a problem, but a friend joked he should get his eyes checked, so I passed that along and he did in fact see his eye Doc. It turned out his retina was separating, and he had several tears that needed to be surgically repaired, and the Doc told him that's why he was seen White flashes. He's fine now.

Yes, I'd run the HDMI directly to the PJ and see if it repeats.

Jim
 
To determine if the behavior is specific to a particular title, wait until you see the flash again and then rewind and watch the scene over a few times. If you repeatedly see the flash at the exact same moment, then it is likely a problem with the media file. If the flashes are in fact happening at random moments, you can rule out an issue with the media file and focus on troubleshooting environmental things like what Jim outlined above.

Before you contact K support (if it does come to that), try pressing a unique series of buttons on your remote each time you see the flash. Use something like '555' or '888' that you wouldn't normally press. This allows K to easily identify when the button presses occurred, providing a fairly precise timestamp to investigate. Fair warning though... in all likelihood, the logs may only report that there is an HDCP failure, or a network disconnect (or something else) versus identifying exactly what component is causing the headache. Typically, it will provide a general direction to look at, but it will still be up to you (or your dealer) to narrow down the possibilities and figure out what is breaking.

Good luck!
Andy
 
Before you contact K support (if it does come to that), try pressing a unique series of buttons on your remote each time you see the flash. Use something like '555' or '888' that you wouldn't normally press. This allows K to easily identify when the button presses occurred, providing a fairly precise timestamp to investigate. Fair warning though... in all likelihood, the logs may only report that there is an HDCP failure, or a network disconnect (or something else) versus identifying exactly what component is causing the headache. Typically, it will provide a general direction to look at, but it will still be up to you (or your dealer) to narrow down the possibilities and figure out what is breaking.

Good luck!
Andy
Is that true?? I've had Kaleidescape for 15 years and never knew you could just press number buttons to log a time-stamped event that techs can then find! Super cool... thanks for teaching us that!
 
It is true, we usually ask clients to press 5555, but I suspect other numbers work as well.

Jim
 
Just make sure it is not something you would normally use (like don’t press REWIND multiple times). It simply provides K a unique set of button presses to key in on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm also seeing these white flashes. I've checked with other sources and it doesn't happen. It happens both on the covers list and in movie (so not tied to video playback).
 
If it is white speckles all over the display, the HDMI cable doesn't have enough bandwidth, it's dropping too many data packages that error correction can not make up for. Most modern displays cut off the image completely when error correction can not encounter adequately. I have seen this on older TVs.

If you get drop outs which the image goes away and comes back in short time but repeats this occasionally, the HDMI cable has enough bandwidth but HDMI receiver on the display side can not equalize the voltage amplitude and/or the skew rate (timing on the rise and fall of the square wave) isn't ideal. Shorter cables generally cause this as the voltage drop is low and the signal amplitude arrives too high to the HDMI receiver end. You can double the length of the HDMI cable until the drop outs stop. This is more of an issue for 4K HDR signals with much high bandwidth. They have much faster rise and fall rates.

Both issues are due to manufacturers not following the specifications. My Sony displays don't like any HDMI cable longer than 2 meters. So I know Sony products like the voltage amplitude a bit on the hot side. Lumagen equipment on the other hand works best with 3 or 4 meters HDMI cables. Finding the correct synergy is a bit of science and a bit of art. Unfortunately, cables are very complicated in electronics. I work in electrical power generation, distribution and transmission. It is the same deal though now you are dealing with up to 250,000 Volts. Some cable manufacturers bank on this fact and try to sell you a 6 foot HDMI cable for $20k. I won't say that cable is not better than a $100 cable but diminishing returns apply.

As Jim (Cinelife) suggested, work with your dealer and try a few different length HDMI cables until you have one that works. If you want to handle the troubleshooting yourself, make sure you buy good quality, tested and certified HDMI cables. Also, make sure to buy from a retailer with a good return policy because you might need to try a few different length cables until settle on one.

Let us know how it turns out and feel free to ask questions here.
 
I've dug into it. Talked to KScape and Anthem. Basically a known issue with new 8k anthem boards, and Anthem is working on a fix. Kscape has given me some workarounds to try (basically reducing hdmi bandwidth). I'll see how those go.
 
I’m seeing the same issue with my Arcam AV40 upgraded with 8k board. I have tried different cables. Do you have more info on the 8k bug. probably common chipset issue.
 
I've dug into it. Talked to KScape and Anthem. Basically a known issue with new 8k anthem boards, and Anthem is working on a fix. Kscape has given me some workarounds to try (basically reducing hdmi bandwidth). I'll see how those go.
any updates?
 
So I had this happen to me. I replaced my AV Receiver. I swapped out HDMI cables (twice.) That wasn't it. In the end I sent my JVC projector to the shop and they had to swap out the DD Board. I was not amused.
 
Hey folks, you can work around this issue by setting the Chroma to 4.2.2 or limiting the output to 10.2 on the kScape. This worked for me. Its a known issue with the 8k Anthem boards.

That said, Anthem told me this morning a beta will be rolling out soon with the fix for this.
 
So got a new projector recent that has better resolution and is laser based. Noticed it happening again but this time dark flashes similar to the 'hand shake' that occurs when switching inputs on your receiver. No drop out of audio though. Finally got a tech guy to come out from best buy and he messed with settings on both receiver and kscape. He mentioned that there is also a hidden menu on the denon receiver. Not certain which of his settings is what helped but not a single drop out of video feed since. Hope this can help others.
 
I saw the glitch happen with hdmi artifacting with Star Wars set. Even with rate limiting hdmi. Anyone else see it still?
 
I replaced my aging AV receiver (Onkyo TX-NR676) with a new Onkyo TX-RZ50. And now I've started seeing these white flashes too, in various movies. My HDMI cable is the same as before, but I think the RZ50 supports higher bandwidth (and 8K video) compared to the 676 I had before.
I had already replaced my HDMI with the Monoprice 8K HDMI cables that were suggested here at some point, so those are the ones I'm using.

Any ideas?

As for the suggestion to use the remote to send some characters, how do I do that with the "Second Screen App" on my iPad?
 
I replaced my aging AV receiver (Onkyo TX-NR676) with a new Onkyo TX-RZ50. And now I've started seeing these white flashes too, in various movies. My HDMI cable is the same as before, but I think the RZ50 supports higher bandwidth (and 8K video) compared to the 676 I had before.
I had already replaced my HDMI with the Monoprice 8K HDMI cables that were suggested here at some point, so those are the ones I'm using.

Any ideas?
If you haven't done so, make sure your new receiver has the latest firmware installed.

Does audio also stop when you see a white flash, or is it just the video that drops?

Andy
 
Back
Top