HDMI port blown on Denon Receiver AVR S710W

[Deb719]

This is probably a stupid question and I apologize in advance: Last night my TV went black - after trying everything I could think of I called Comcast. The excellent technician guided me through many steps as he said that the cable box was fine from his end. He finally had me plug the HDMI cable from the cable box to a different port on my Denon receiver. The cable immediately came back. So my question: Should I take this as a bad omen and get a new receiver or can an HDMI port fail but the receiver still works fine on the other ports. Thanks for any info. This forum has helped me for and hopefully will again

 

[10tacle]

Same thing happened to my Onkyo receiver just months after it was out of warranty. So far, no other HDMI ports on it have failed, and that was nearly three years ago. Not sure what series/model level quality your receiver is, but both Onkyo and Denon's low/entry level receivers are not of good quality (same with many other major receiver OEMs like Pioneer).

I suspect the failure was attributed to the receiver getting too hot in a console with only minimal airflow. I wired a 120mm PC case fan that was sitting around and that's now used in the console to keep things cooler. Not sure if that is a factor on no more failures or not. Often cheaper internal components like capacitors have a lower tolerance of heat than higher quality ones.

With that said, when I'm ready to upgrade receivers for the move to a 4K home theater system next year, I will definitely budget for a higher quality range of receiver.

 

[Deb719]

My model is mid-range - and there is good airflow around the receiver - but it sounds like it might be just that port - so unless anyone else tells me that I definitely need a new receiver - I guess I will wait to see what happens

 

[10tacle]

Yeah I wouldn't worry too much. You certainly aren't going to damage it with one dead HDMI port while in use. This could have simply just been the result of a poor soldering job from the factory or even a faulty HDMI connector itself that QC inspection overlooked. It happens in all kinds of electronics.

 

[Deb719]

Okay - thanks very much for your help 10tacle - I appreciate it.