OK, I'm there, again. Experiencing a flaky HDMI connection using the Solo Controller. In my case I have a 10" Toguard TV as a monitor which does a good job of auto-detecting when connected to the HDMI output connector on my Lenovo laptop, so the TV does not appear to be faulty. Found a ribbon cable to leave plugged into the Controller's HDMI connector, with the tablet holder bracket tightened down to hold the cable in place. Sometimes the whole system works, more often it does not. Tried the "cycle the GoPro" fix (no luck, if the poster meant: detach the GoPro, turn it off, then turn it back on, then re-insert it into the gimbal). Tried lightly pressing the plug on the end of the ribbon cable where it plugs into the Controller connector, after reading about a 3D printed part that someone claims fixes the problem by lightly pressing the connector on the Controller. No luck with that approach either. Could be I am just unfortunate to have a flaky solder joint somewhere, in the Controller, in the HDMI ribbon cable, or maybe even in the typical HDMI 3' cable that I have (although it works fine with other devices). From what I have read, a poor electrical connection with HDMI circuitry can be very hard to troubleshoot due to the time it takes for the handshakes to happen. So after searching a bit, I'm just not finding a SlimPort adapter for my Nexus 7 that appears to be a worthwhile purchase. Can you recall which product you bought from which supplier?
(replying below to my own post an hour ago)
I have discovered a reliable (so far) startup sequence that appears to ignore (a) differences in HDMI cables, (b) does not require adding stress to the Controller's HDMI connector, and (c) does not require powering the GoPro off and on.
1) With all components
off (Controller, Solo, your monitor device), connect an HDMI cable between the Controller and a monitor with an HDMI input port. (
No need to include your tablet/phone for this startup sequence.)
2) Power
on the monitor. Wait for a display message indicating that it is waiting for an HDMI signal. This may take more than a few seconds.
3) Power
on the Controller. You should see some size of "3DR" text displayed
on the monitor, with an advancing bar indicating progress. May not be pretty, but the "3DR" text in 3DR colors should be displayed.
4) Power
on the Solo.
Wait 15-20 seconds until the monitor displays video from the GoPro.
Patience is important for this procedure to work.
In my case, the Toguard TV flickers slightly but is usable. This may be because the device claims that it is set up for a 640 display (which I have not discovered how to change), and some have said that the Solo Controller's output is 720. This difference may or may not be related to the root cause of the screen flicker. BTW, I did notice that when I connected the Toguard to my laptop's HDMI output, the Toguard self-adjusted to the 1920 display size of my laptop's output (and displayed a message about that).
Another thing I noticed when trying different sequences: the Toguard may store and display the last image received from the GoPro, which can be puzzling or misleading when trying to troubleshoot.
Although I tested the above procedure several times, it is still possible that moving a cable or other component will result in an intermittent connection. But for now, success!
