So it turns out that I can still be surprised. That I’m not as jaded and world weary as I thought. That I have not yet seen everything.

Long story short, we switched our home internet and TV from Shaw to Telus Optik.

That necessitated an installer to come over with a new modem and new set top boxes.

Of course, I was out of town on business when he installed the new equipment.

The new modem, and the box for the upstairs TV were installed with no problems.

The AV system downstairs was another story. The TV kept giving a “no picture” error message.

I swapped out the HDMI cable between the Telus box and the AVR. Twice. No change.

The installer was a nice guy, and smart. I texted back and forth with him a little, and he was going to swing by after work to give me a hand.

Then, all of a sudden, I had a brain-wave.

“Why don’t I read the manual?” I asked myself.

Why indeed?

So I skimmed the manuals for the set top box and the AVR. And that’s when it hit me.

Long story short: the broadcast box’s HMDI out is HDCP 2.2.

My 60-inch plasma TV, the second-oldest thing in the system, is not.

My Integra AVR has 3 HDMI inputs that are HDCP 2.2, one of which the broadcast box was plugged into.

It also has 2 HDMI 1.3 inputs, none of which I’m using.

So I plugged the HDMI from the broadcast box into one of those, and changed the default input for that source in the AVR, and voila: picture on the screen!

Doubtless this was old hat to some readers, but in my defense I spend all my time these days dealing with equipment that isn’t video.

Anyway, the moral of the story is read the manual.