Adventures in AV: I'm a home cinema expert, and even I get caught out by this simple cable issue

Isn't it frustrating when things don't just work?

I'm used to my fair share of software gremlins in the products I test every day, which makes troubleshooting my system at home a bit easier. The usual answer is to turn something off and turn it back on again, but that solution doesn't solve every issue.

The problem I've been having relates to playing Dolby Vision content to my Sony OLED TV via my Sky Stream box, which results in some odd visual artefacts: little white spots flashing up randomly when streaming content in the dynamic HDR format.

Most people, including my housemates, would gladly ignore these, but not me. Instead, I began trawling through the settings of my TV and Sky Box, and swapping between the HDMI sockets to negate the issue.

Nothing seemed to work, and if I used the passthrough HDMI socket on my soundbar, then the picture would cut out entirely.

This is when it dawned on me: is my HDMI cable not up to the task? Scrolling through the Sky forums, I found many users claiming that the Stream puck comes with a high-speed cable, and one post even claimed that it's a better idea to use the cable that comes in the box.

However, being the rulebreaker that I am, I disregarded this advice. One perk of being surrounded by AV and home cinema gear 24/7 is that I am never short of an HDMI cable, and I quickly found a 4K-rated high-speed cable.

I switched the cables around, played the latest episode of the once excellent, now extremely disappointing Euphoria on HBO Max in 4K Dolby Vision, and like magic, the issues were resolved.

It sounds simple and obvious, but I think many of us, myself included, just presume that the cables supplied with our home cinema products should do the job, but that's not the case.

Now, I know that discussing digital cables is a contentious subject. Many of our readers have expressed disdain towards the pricey "snake oil" HDMI cables that make all sorts of claims and can run you hundreds (sometimes thousands) of pounds, and to be honest, I'd recommend steering clear of those too, unless you are the most die-hard home cinema enthusiast with money to burn.

But your run-of-the-mill certified high-speed HDMI cable is the real deal, and one of those doesn't have to cost all that much. I've spotted plenty on Amazon for anywhere between £5 and £10, and they can be a quick, cheap and effective way to solve issues in your home cinema set-up.

And for troubleshooting needs, it's surprising how often a picture-related issue can be fixed by double-checking that you're using the correct HDMI cable and socket.

While I'm at it, some TVs require you to select the correct setting for your HDMI sockets; for instance, my previous Philips OLED907 and current Sony A80L TVs required me to go into the input settings and select "enhanced format" to unlock some HDMI 2.1 features, including VRR and 120Hz gaming.

These are simple fixes that often get overlooked, so if you're dealing with picture problems of your own, do yourself a favour and check your cables before you start spiralling in the settings menus.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

As well as the best streaming devices

And read our full Sky Stream review