Repost from unofficial BBB community: I'm disappointed with my experience with the BBB.

Repost from unofficial BBB community:

I’m disappointed with my experience with the BBB. A serious limitation (for me) is that it has a max resolution of 1280x1024. It’s also incompatible with my Sharp Aquos HDTV over HDMI. I even flashed the TV to the latest firmware in hopes that the BBB would recognize the EDID and display correctly. This didn’t work either.

I’ve never had an issue with devices connected to HDMI on this TV. I have a Raspberry Pi hooked up to it right now. Be aware of the limitations of this device and hope that it’s compatible with your TV/monitor.

Here is my attempt to troubleshoot the problem and recommendations.

http://goo.gl/hj5rq

The BeagleBone is not a set-top box, dammit. Stop expecting it to behave like one.

The Blackbone will output 720p according to CEA specs just fine.

BTW, the Ethernet is not connected over USB.

@Mans_Rullgard I expect it to display correctly over the built-in HDMI connector. Then I can use it however I please.

The monitor might be sending confusing EDID (it happens disturbingly often). Did you try forcing the video mode to 720p?

No, I didn’t try that. This is an older Sharp 46" LCD TV from 2008-09. It doesn’t have many options in the setup menu. That’s why I updated to the latest firmware for this TV but that didn’t help either.

There is a good chance that the BBB is just plain incompatible with this TV. I had the assumption (wrongly) that if an computer has an HDMI interface, it will work on any HDMI display. I’ve never had issues with any other device on this TV. I have a Raspberry Pi connected right now.

I can’t be the only one excited about this computer that has made the same assumption.

@David_Anders You’re right - I wish I had done that too. I RMA’d it back to the manufacturer, so perhaps they can dump the EDID from the board before hooking it up to their own monitor to test it? Anyways, when they send it back I will make sure to provide this information if I get the same result.

@David_Anders That is good information to know. I’m learning more about how HDMI works because of the BBB.

If you’re really interested, the full spec for HDMI 1.3a is freely available at http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/specification.aspx and the DVI spec at http://www.cs.unc.edu/Research/stc/FAQs/Video/dvi_spec-V1_0.pdf

I’m updating this post. This issue was completely my fault, not the BBB. The mini-HDMI cable I bought from Newegg was defective. I bought a mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter and all was fine.