Blue Flashing Screen When Connecting to Sony Receiver with HDMI Cable

Question

I'm trying to avoid buying an AppleTV by simply using my MBP and the Rowmote Pro app for my iPad. I have a MiniDisplayPort to HDMI cable which works great connected to my 55" Sony HDTV but I would prefer to use my home theatre speakers (vice the HDTVs) by plugging the cable into my Sony Receiver and allowing that to route the video to my TV. The problem is that when I plug the cable into the receiver's #3 HDMI port and then switch the receiver's input to HDMI 3 the MBPs display repeatedly flashes blue as if trying to detect a display. I've tried resetting the PRAM with no success. I would like to avoid the TosLink option, keeping it simple with just the one cable.

Answer 1

You can get a video output from a Mac in the absence of a display. That's called running "headless" or sometimes "server mode." But the Mac will only offer about four choices of headless resolutions, and if there is a way to extend that number, I don't know how to do it.
An item like a receiver may or may not have its own EDID (display driver). Generally speaking the ideal would be that it would just do a pass-through of the EDID of whatever display it (the receiver) is connected to. But for sure inconsistencies arise as inputs get switched around on the receiver or TV, and also as the Mac goes into and comes out of sleep mode. These are all factors that can cause the Mac to end up a lost puppy.
The Detective prevents this from happening by providing a continuous EDID connection from the Mac's perspective. So even though input switching is taking place at the receiver (or TV), the Mac never sees it, and in that case it provides a consistent output.