UPDATE - Solved the PS5 / Denon HDMI Blackout & Handshake Issues (Hardware Voltage Flaw)
Hey everyone, I wanted to provide a final update on the HDMI blackout and handshake dropouts I've been experiencing with my setup. After weeks of testing, we finally tracked down the root cause—and it was a physical electrical flaw, not a software or cable bandwidth issue.
The Misdirection
For the longest time, I was troubleshooting the completely wrong section of my chain. I was laser-focused on the
PS5-to-Denon connection because my Xbox Series X, which actually pushes a higher 40Gbps bandwidth, was passing through the receiver to the TV flawlessly. Because the XSX worked perfectly, I falsely assumed the Denon-to-TV leg of the chain was rock solid.
The Troubleshooting Rabbit Hole
To figure out why the PS5 was dropping, I ended up diving into the Samsung TV's Service Menu to monitor the raw HDMI receiver data. I found that I could temporarily fix the black screens by drastically widening the HdmiRx PLL_BW (Phase-Locked Loop Bandwidth) and increasing the HOT PLUG DURATION buffer from 800ms to 1800ms.
This proved something critical: the TV was constantly losing the Hot Plug Detect (HPD) signal, and it was heavily tied to thermal drift. When the Denon was cold, the signal jitter was terrible. When it warmed up, it stabilized. However, relying on Samsung's volatile service menu settings wasn't a sustainable fix.
The Real Root Cause: Pin 18 Voltage Sag
The true culprit was
Pin 18 (the 5V power line) on the Denon’s HDMI output port.
It turns out the Denon’s internal power delivery for its HDMI board was experiencing minor voltage sag (likely dropping slightly below 5V). Because the TV uses that 5V line to return the Hot Plug Detect signal on Pin 19, every time the Denon's voltage dipped, the TV thought the cable was physically yanked out of the wall. This caused the random 1-to-2 second black screens.
This fluctuating voltage was also polluting the HDMI ground reference, which completely explains the random CEC crashes and eARC handshake failures I was dealing with on the side.
The Solution
Instead of dealing with warranty claims or buying an expensive EDID spoofer (which often breaks VRR anyway), the silver bullet was a simple
5V HDMI Power Inserter (like the RUIPRO).
I plugged the inserter directly into the Denon’s HDMI output.
- It severs the Denon's weak internal 5V line.
- It injects a perfectly clean, unwavering 5V from an external USB charger.
- It leaves the high-speed FRL video data pins completely untouched.
Since injecting stable external power, the Hot Plug Detect line never drops. The blackouts are 100% gone, CEC is snappy, eARC is flawless, and my TV is safely back to its factory default settings.
If anyone else is pulling their hair out over random black screens with their PS5 and an AVR—especially if another console works fine on the same display—stop looking at the data bandwidth and start looking at your 5V power rail!
