I've been dealing with an annoying issue for about three years now where my TV, which I use as a computer monitor, randomly goes blank for 1-3 seconds. This started happening after I upgraded to a 4K screen. It seems to happen a lot more when I'm watching videos on YouTube or browsing websites with embedded videos, and it can occur even when I'm just switching between windows. I've tried everything I can think of: I've switched computers and motherboards, used three different ASUS 1080TI GPUs (all former mining ones), upgraded my HDMI cable, and checked the ports on the TV. My NVIDIA drivers are up to date, and I've even matched framerates. Lowering the resolution from 4K to 1080p hasn't helped either. The TV is a TCL 43s525, and I suspect this is a computer issue since I haven't noticed any problems when using the TV for other purposes. I'm really out of ideas here!
2 Answers
It sounds like a frustrating issue! Since you mentioned it happens more during video playback, have you tried disabling hardware acceleration in your browser settings? Sometimes that can help with playback issues. You could find the settings under 'chrome://settings/system' for Chrome or 'performance' in Firefox. Might be worth a shot!
My guess is it's the HDMI cable. Even if you’ve replaced it, you could be using cables that don’t support enough bandwidth. Look into getting a high-quality HDMI cable rated for HDMI 2.1, even if your GPU doesn’t support that version. We've seen cables being the cause of issues like this before when using a TV.
I just got a new one a few weeks ago that’s supposed to be good. [Here's the link](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MZYQ43S). Didn't notice a change though. What's the deal with HDMI 2.1?
I appreciate the suggestion! Unfortunately, it happens no matter what I’m doing, it just seems more frequent with browsers and especially YouTube.