TV Issue While Gaming off PC

[The Editor Guy]

Hello there! Hoping some like-minded individuals could assist with an issue I've been having.

 

I recently got a new TV to game off my PC. It displays 4K. I have really enjoyed the simplicity of gaming at 4K 60hz on a large screen. However, on some games the screens blacks out while still playing the audio from the game, and the only way to fix it is to change the input to something else, and back again. This only happens on certain games strangely enough, such as Audiosurf 1, Broforce, and Jackbox Party Pack, but it does not have ANY issues on games like Rocket League, Overcooked, etc. 

 

Seeing that it does this only on certain applications I have deduced that it cant be a HDMI cord issue, or port issue, and I don't think it would be a TV issue either. It also cant be a heating issue as temps are consistent, and I recently replaced my graphics card with a 2060 and the issue persists. It has to be something within my pc, drivers, or something. Any ideas out there? Oh, and as far as I can tell, switching to windowed display fixes it, but that's not exactly the fix I'm looking for. 

Thanks guys for any help you can provide.

[Guest]

I would say something in the background is trying to get your attention while playing your games. E.g allowing firewall access, or a notification etc.

[wron]

Maybe try to run the game as administrator, I had a similar issue and it worked for me.

[The Editor Guy]

@Netivity Thanks for the reply! Would this make sense though if it only happens in certain games? What way would I diagnose this? Thanks again!

 

@wron Thanks for the reply! I tried this, and unfortunately it didn't work for me... Thanks for the reply though!

 

I have also now looked into if these games were all the same version of directx, to see if the problem was there, but they all run on different versions.

 

If anyone else has ideas, I am all ears!!

[DakotaWebber]

try and change your scaling options in gf experience/amd adrenalin from gpu to display, or display to gpu, whatever it is currently, tvs scalers work a little different than monitors and usually cause issues

also see if there is a game mode on the tv

that should be why it works on windowed and not fullscreen, different games like rocket league use fullscreen in a different way, idk how to explain it

if it still doesnt work try to use windowed borderless whereever you can

[Guest]

Just now, The Editor Guy said:

@Netivity Thanks for the reply! Would this make sense though if it only happens in certain games? What way would I diagnose this? Thanks again!

 

@wron Thanks for the reply! I tried this, and unfortunately it didn't work for me... Thanks for the reply though!

 

I have also now looked into if these games were all the same version of directx, to see if the problem was there, but they all run on different versions.

 

If anyone else has ideas, I am all ears!!

Some games require firewall rights to play, and if the notification comes up behind the game, it might try and access the desktop while playing your game and get stuck.

 

Try alt tabbing out of your game on to the desktop. Also, now that @DakotaWebber Mentioned it, you might need to have a look at your refresh rate in display settings. Right click desktop, display settings, advanced, and check if the hertz are the same as your TV.

[The Editor Guy]

Thanks all for the continued support from this. 

 

@DakotaWebber I went into my Nvidia Control Panel and changed my scaling from display to GPU, with no luck. I do not believe this TV has a gaming mode. Any other ideas ? Also while trying this out, a different game while running in windowed mode CONSISTENTLY does this black out at the one point.  When this game (Suprapong) is loading into the arena screen (attached), right before it adds players, it blacks out without fail. When I come back to it it is playing normally, and will keep playing normally for a while, then suddenly black out again.

 

@Netivity I fiddled with firewall settings, and none changed anything. I have checked my refresh rate - running at 60hz as I expect it to. Thanks for the suggestion - any other ideas?

 

I have also attached a video of what was going on just to show. This is the situation I described above - it does this every time upon startup into this game, without fail - while other games seem to do it only periodically.

 

Thanks fellas

 

 

[DakotaWebber]

actually a strange issue to diagnose

do you have another monitor to plug in at the same time to see what the system is doing/ if it stays running? 

your system and game are still running so theres no crashes or anything with the driver it seems

maybe try setting the display resolution in windows to 1080p for a minute and just try the game again and see if the issue persists

maybe see if HDCP is interfering, i have to turn my monitor off and on again now and then watching netflix 

could you maybe also list the model number of your tv and what gpu you have?

also your tv is set to 1970 lol

 

[Wormhole]

try HDMI1 if that doesnt work try all HDMI ports.

[The Editor Guy]

Thank you all for the continued support from this. 

 

@DakotaWebber Indeed, very strange... And I'm sorry but I need to clarify a fews things from your post - 

Yes I have another monitor to diagnose. What would I be looking for, and how? I changed the tv resolution to 1080p and the issue DISAPPEERED completely. Good to know to diagnose I suppose? How would I go about seeing if HDCP is interfering? I have the Seiki SC55UK700N as my TV, and my newly upgraded graphics card is the RTX 2060 card listed here - https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX75289  

Thanks for the help man.

 

@Wormhole I have tried all HDMI Ports on the tv, and this problem persists on all of them. Thanks for the suggestion though!

[The Editor Guy]

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT - So when trying Dakota's idea of the 1080p test, I found that my TV's recommended res is 3840 x 2160 , but there is the level up - 4096 x 2160. I hated using this res at the start of owning this tv because of how my desktop would be displayed over the actual monitor boundaries (As the pixel count on the TV is 3840, not 4096). I tried to set it as 4096 and fired up the game - full screen at 3840 x 2160 and the issue did not show itself. While this requires more testing to see if this works, this really isn't a fix for me. It scrunches up my desktop and I feel it should work at the native res as well.

[The Editor Guy]

Yet another interesting development - this seems to have fixed the issue with the one game, but the issue persists in another game... Man this is a strange one.

[DakotaWebber]

if the change in resolutions worked then im 100% sure its your tv and its scaler

pcs and tvs dont really interact that well, ESPECIALLY over HDMI, i always had issues with my old tv as a monitor not showing the right boundaries and the image was always blurry, so i just went full vga 

 

maybe try to get a displayport to hdmi adapter and see if that works?

[The Editor Guy]

Thank you for the help @DakotaWebber. If that's the case I will try a displayport to hdmi adapter. Is there anything else I can try or is this the last hope? And if its the tv's scaler, then why does it work about 1/2 the time with these 4k games?

[The Editor Guy]

ISSUE IS SOLVED (as far as I can tell...)

 

I purchased a DP to HDMI Adapter and it hasn't shown the issue since! Thank for the help!!!!

 

C

[Kisai]

3 hours ago, The Editor Guy said:

ISSUE IS SOLVED (as far as I can tell...)

 

I purchased a DP to HDMI Adapter and it hasn't shown the issue since! Thank for the help!!!!

 

C

This is not "really" the correct solution. If it works for you, then what is the adapter doing that the straight HDMI connection does not?

 

The DP to HDMI adapter is just switching the DP signal to a HDMI encoding and probably limits it to HDMI 1.4 (4K@p24). You may want to check. It's also possible that it's not a HDMI 2.0 cable. Just from the symptoms, it sounds to me like the games that aren't working correctly are trying to run at a resolution that the TV doesn't actually support (which are different in DP and HDMI modes on Monitors too.)

 

The correct way to fix what is going on is to bring up the monitor's settings when the screen goes blank to see what input resolution it's trying to use. As an example, I have a computer monitor that I use as a TV, The TV output from the TV box only supports 1080i60 or 1080p24, but the monitor will not run at 1080p24.

 

The "GPU scaling" option is the correct solution when the desktop is not set to the right resolution. So if you run something that has a natural 720p or 1080p output, the 1080p should result in a perfect pixel doubling, 720p is pixel tripling. 

 

The native resolution of the panel is 3840x2160, so your PC should be using 3840x2160. If you are using an nVidia or AMD card, you may need to find the "output is a TV" type of option which enables 720p output. 

 

So if you can figure out what mode the game is trying to invoke, changing the resolution to 1080p or 2160p should fix it. Some games may need to go edit configuration files when the setting isn't in the GUI.