CoStar will work on one television, but not another??

[Hand_O_Death]

Well ok got my replacement two days ago and oddly it works fine on my Samsung TV in my living room, but I need it to work on my Westinghouse (vr4625) in the kids room for streaming movies.

Initially I had issues with the remote not working and customers service had me good the Q, =, and space bar all at the same time (assuming that resets the Bluetooth).

I then get it all set up but notice that when I still plug it into the Westinghouse, I get the splash screen and then blackness. The TV recognizes the input (screen turns blue when I shut it off and black when back on) and I get the the"ding" noise when I hit the power.
Now I have tried three different inputs on this TV and two different cables. I plug my laptop into the hdmi and it works fine. I change the resolution (1080p and I, and 720p) and screen size of the CoStar and still nothing. And no issues with the Samsung TV.

CoStar says that they do not have Westinghouse on there supported list but that it should work. Westinghouse still has not gotten back to me other than as generic email.

Any suggestions?





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[tobor]

Not to sound like an a-hole, but have you pressed the V button to see if it brings up the app menu? Or try pressing the Netflix button. It might just be a glitch displaying the Co-Star wallpaper. Your TV is indicating that it's getting a video signal, and the sound indicates that the Co-Star is working.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

You don't sound like an "A-hole" at all. I can not even begin to remember any of the large amount of times that I forget to do something simple and stupid like that. But yes, I have pressed every button about 12 times on the remote. But thank you for the thought though.

I am really stumped about what it could be. Other HDMI devices work on the ports so I am hoping that after the long weekend Westinghouse will just tell me it was some weird Firmware thing and email me a fix to pop on a USB drive.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[tobor]

It's funny that after I saw your post, I encountered my Co-Star displaying a black screen instead of the normal wallpaper. Also, I occasionally get the halo-spiral live wallpaper instead of the default Co-Star background.

When I first received the box, I installed a couple of launchers from the app store. They allow you to choose a wallpaper. After I uninstalled the first one, I noticed that I would still intermittently still get the default wallpaper from the launcher even though it was uninstalled. I was fiddling around with the Systems menu and noticed that my Co-Star has a live-wallpaper process that runs in the background despite the fact that the device doesn't have a menu allowing to choose wallpapers.

I'm throwing all this out because there's definitely something wonky going on with the Co-Star's wallpapers that might manifest itself in a manner that inhibits proper display. I doubt this is what's causing your particular problem, but if you have installed a 3rd party launcher I'd be interested. In fact, you might try installing one and then checking to see if the device works on your Westinghouse.

The only other thing that I can think of is that the Westinghouse TV isn't doing a full HDMI handshake with the Co-Star. I have a similar problem with my old Roku box and my Philips TV. There is a known problem with a number of TVs and older Rokus where the TV will spazz out with the HDMI signal and go to a black or green screen. Roku has responded to this issue in their forums, but have not taken active steps to correct it on their end. When I encounter this problem with my Roku and Philips TV, I have to unplug the HDMI cable on the back of the Roku and then plug it back in....this forces a new HDMI handshake between the devices and the video will come on then.

Sorry for the rambling post; it's an intriguing problem. Please post more info as it becomes available. I'm curious what's going on.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

No, I agree with you that I think that there is an issue with the Westinghouse and CoStar not being on speaking terns right now. Now sure why, but I am still badgering both companies for an answer.

 

[rbess1965]

I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these and would like to know your opinions on them. I'm also looking for the Googletv forum on here but haven't figured out where it is yet.

Message brought to you by the amazing Droid Razr Maxx

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Well, when I got it set up in the living room it took a while to set up Plex, but I found it was the only way to stream from my NAS. This was the major reason for me getting the device. It is severely unsupported app-wise. I want the Xfinity Player (Comcast), Vulkano (Slingbox like unit), HBO Go, and PogoPlug (the app my NAS is made to work with). None of them are supported or even work sideloaded. Web browsing is pretty Meh, but I am sure a wireless keyboard/mouse combo would rectify that issue.
I also do not use it as a pass through device which is supposed to be a major feature of GTV units.

If I get the device working on the TV I need it to function on, then it will be work the $100. If not, then it is getting returned.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Update: CoStar sent me the following email pretty much saying that it was Westinghouses problem.

"This issue would be a software conflict between your Westinghouse TV and the CoStar. Our CoStar device supports the most current version of HDCP, which is a form of copyright protection. You will need to contact Westinghouse to find out if there are any available updates for your TV model as the issue only occurs with this TV. If the issue was a problem within the CoStar you would have the same issue with any TV that you connected it to.

If you need any additional assistance feel free to contact VIZIO at 1-877-878-4946 or chat with us at chat.vizio.com"

Guess I will forward the problem to Westinghouse, who still have not gotten back to me, and see what they say.

 

[twosted]

My co-star has worked pretty well. I was having some issues but it was caused by the HDMI CEC setting being set to on. You could try changing that.

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Update (again): Westinghouse FINALLY emailed me back saying that they "apologize for the inconvenience" but the CoStar is just not compatible. No reason why our any attempt to rectify it. I emailed then back asking why and if the HDCP could be the issue. We will see but really wishing I bought the Roku now.


Is there a cec setting on the CoStar because my television does not have that option?

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[twosted]

Update (again): Westinghouse FINALLY emailed me back saying that they "apologize for the inconvenience" but the CoStar is just not compatible. No reason why our any attempt to rectify it. I emailed then back asking why and if the HDCP could be the issue. We will see but really wishing I bought the Roku now.


Is there a cec setting on the CoStar because my television does not have that option?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

Yes, Settings> Devices> HDMI CEC

 

[Hand_O_Death]

Well thank you for the suggestion but it was set to off. I tried both settings and a bunch of other things. Only thing I found was setting it to RGB does not even show the Splash "V" screen. No other changes other than whatever resolution I set it to, it shows in the info box on the TV. Just black screen until i hit the power button (Which then makes the beeping mind) then it turns to blue.

 

[Brad Forman]

thanks. I've been spending the past 2 days on the phone with vizio trying to figure this out. looks like I will be calling Westinghouse Monday!