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Force change resolution to apple tv?

T

tivoboy

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 15, 2005
4,072
869
Anyone know how to force change the resolution of the NEW 2015 apple tv? One used to be able to press and hold MENU and SELECT UP but that doesn't seem to work.

I have a 720p Plasma connected to a receiver and cannot get any image to display. When first plugged in, the apple tv will display an image with some garbled colors on the right side and then the screen goes dark and I can't get anything to display.
 
Yeah, can't seem to get it to sync at all with a 720p tv.. even plugging it into a 1080p tv, and then switching it, taking it back to the 720p tv, doesn't work. won't sync. I've tried the 50hz and 60hz settings.
 
I was also having problems, as I had with the ATV3, as my TV only supports up to 1080i.

Phoned Apple and after an age I got two answers:
1. The ATV4 scans when it first starts so it will pick up a lower resolution if your TV needs it.
2. Mine did not want to play ball, so the apple guy spoke to someone and came up with the new handset shortcut which is to hold the menu and home keys until the unit blue light flashes quickly. It then cycles the resolutions

This still did not work for me so we attached it to a PC monitor through HDMI. I finally got a picture, went through set up and manually set it to 720. Reconnected it to the TV ( through my ONKYO receiver) but still no picture! We left it here for me to play as it looked like my TV , which is 10 years old, was not compatible.

I moved all the furntiture and units and connected the ATV4 directly to the TV...perfect picture.

Reconnected everything through the receiver, but nothing other than I could get a picture for about a second if I turned the receiver off and on

I have checked all my HDMI leads and they all work when connected direct.

I have established that the new ATV4 does not want to play with my ONKYO TX-NR708 receiver which is just 4 years old! So there could be compatibility issues with other kit?
 
Last edited:
yeah, I'm going through an onkyo 70x something receiver, and then into my 55" professional panny plasma. (I know I know, I need to replace it but it's mounted and all wired up nicely!)

Damb you apple make me buy a new 65" UHD tv!
 
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Looks like the common denominator is ONKYO. Strange though as my ATV3 works perfectly, as does everything else that is connected through the receiver.
 
yeah, same here.. amazon fire, slingbox, tivos, roku and apple tv gen 2 and 3.. but not this puppy.. must be a sync problem or possibly HDCP?
 
HDCP should not come into play at the home screen, only when playing "protected content" ? But yes , it does seem that some type of handshake is not occurring. Maybe Apple fell out with Onkyo ? :)
 
I would like to try to cycle resolutions because my ATV4 does not show any kind of image on my 720p/1080i HDTV. Is it possible ATV4 is stuck in 1080p mode because it does not recognise the TV is not capable of this resolution?
Which is the hold button on the new remote?
 
Yep "home" sorry.

Mattefox, let us know how you get on.

The "self scan" did establish the correct resolution for my set up, but it would not play through my AV receiver.
 
Home doesn't work for me at all..I tried home and HOLD home and then HOME HOME, and most likely HOME HOME HOME for sure as the VOICE OVER was on when I connected it to another TV, and that is what HOME HOME HOME does.
 
So, I've tried hold menu AND home and got nowhere... i honestly didn't try Menu and volume down there.. will try that.
 
I eventually managed to configure mine to a resolution that actually works (as opposed to the ones that are reported as working, but don't in my current setup), only to find that the ATV now randomly changes resolution when it feels like it anyway. So though I've told it to output 720p60, sometimes when waking from sleep, and always when loading certain apps, it will happily change to some variant of 1080i/p that just results in a flickering mess...
 
some content is actually different, so I think it could try and force a change based on the app or content being played..so that doesn't work at this point
 
Adeuk said:
Phoned Apple and after an age I got two answers:
1. The ATV4 scans when it first starts so it will pick up a lower resolution if your TV needs it.
2. Mine did not want to play ball, so the apple guy spoke to someone and came up with the new handset shortcut which is to hold the menu and home keys until the unit blue light flashes quickly. It then cycles the resolutions
Click to expand...

Should have gotten back to that agent and ask if he is drunk... Menu and Home is the same as Power/Home on an iPhone/iPad and soft-resets the device. Very useful in the event of a crash.

There is a shortcut but I can't figure it out for the life of me. I was leaning on my remote and it triggered itself. Unfortunately the ATV stopped responding to most Sirimote commands after switching to 1080p/60hz leading me to unplug it to regain control.
 
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