1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,560 It used to be that trying to hook up something to a TV or monitor was like dumping garbage onto a truck. 2 00:00:06,560 --> 00:00:10,800 You'd plug in some analog cables, and the TV would just show whatever it was sent. 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:16,000 If the picture looked off in some way, such as having weird colors or being the wrong size, 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,360 it was up to the user to troubleshoot the problem. But these days, most digital screens and video sources 5 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:25,240 will support a standard called Extended Display Identification 6 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:31,000 Data, or EDID. The purpose of EDID is to allow devices to talk to each other 7 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:36,240 and share information about their own capabilities, so both devices are on the same page. 8 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:43,400 The basic way it works is that when two devices are connected by a protocol that supports EDID, such as HDMI or DisplayPort, 9 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,760 the display will tell the source device its manufacturer, 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:49,760 model, and supported resolutions and color spaces. 11 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:55,720 The source device will then take this information and output a video signal which fits those parameters, which 12 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,960 is part of how auto settings on something 13 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:03,840 like a game console works. Once the source receives the EDID information from your screen, 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,760 it can automagically output the game at the correct resolution and color space, 15 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:12,600 and even enable HDR, if appropriate. 16 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,040 Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. 17 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,240 Like many other things in tech, the addition of processing 18 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,400 to make setup more convenient introduces a number of things 19 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:28,520 that can go wrong. One minor annoyance is because EDID data has to be processed 20 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:32,720 at every point in the device chain, you might experience longer delays 21 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,720 if you're routing a source device through a receiver. 22 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:40,280 So be prepared for some black screen time when you first turn everything on. 23 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,560 But larger issues can also arise. 24 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:49,720 You see, because modern interfaces like HDMI feature hot plug support, meaning you can plug or unplug it 25 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,920 while the system's running, the connector has a special pin 26 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:58,320 to detect when it's being hot plugged. When a device detects a voltage on the hot plug pin, 27 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:03,920 it starts the EDID process. But sometimes devices don't read the hot plug signal 28 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:07,680 in the same way as it can be implemented inconsistently. 29 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:12,920 So the EDID exchange never happens. And as a result, you get a blank screen. 30 00:02:12,920 --> 00:02:16,360 As one device in the chain may think it's not connected to anything. 31 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:21,000 But even if you're not struggling with your setup completely refusing to work, equipment coming 32 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:26,440 with incorrect EDID information coded in is a more common problem than we'd all like. 33 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,240 A device like an AV receiver might actually be capable 34 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:34,960 of accepting a surround sound signal. Yes, EDID works with audio too. 35 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,280 But thanks to bad EDID information and attached device 36 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,800 like a set top box or a Blu-ray player might not send it along. 37 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:48,120 Since that particular receiver doesn't say, hey, I can support Dolby Digital Plus. 38 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,440 Frustratingly, this is often a firmware issue caused by programming oversights, 39 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:57,640 meaning that a hapless home user can't just easily fix this on their own. 40 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:00,760 And actually a similar culprit was behind the recent issue 41 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:07,360 in which certain Sony TVs couldn't display a Dolby Vision signal at 4K at 120 Hertz. 42 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:11,600 Which of course was disappointing for owners of a gaming PC or an Xbox Series X. 43 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:15,280 You see, EDID actually has character limits which appears to keep these displays 44 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,720 from telling the video source what it supports because they just support so much stuff now. 45 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,960 Other times devices might receive the correct EDID information 46 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:29,080 but not do the correct thing with it. For example, a computer plugged into a display nose 47 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:34,480 through the EDID that the display can support a large range of resolutions and a range of refresh rates. 48 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:38,480 But instead of picking the native resolution at the highest refresh rate possible, 49 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,240 it might default to something completely different. Meaning you have to go into the settings yourself 50 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,400 and adjust everything which kind of defeats the whole point. 51 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:51,880 If you're having problems with EDID, there are special EDID emulators that you can program yourself 52 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:58,340 to ensure the correct information is being passed along. But of course it's often easier simply to take a minute 53 00:03:58,340 --> 00:04:02,160 and check that the settings you can adjust are the way you want them. 54 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:06,140 It's a little annoying that we haven't figured out how to make EDID work correctly 55 00:04:06,140 --> 00:04:09,400 without intervention every time. But hey, we also haven't figured out 56 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:15,680 how to make self checkouts not totally suck. So here we are. 57 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,160 So thanks for watching guys, if you liked this video, hit subscribe, give us a thumbs up 58 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:23,960 and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions for topics that we should cover in the future.