HDMI is a standard connection device for televisions, game consoles, media streamers, set-top boxes and video projectors and is an important part of any entertainment setup.

HDMI is supposed to make it easy to connect all of your devices with a single HDMI cable for both audio and video. To do this, connected devices must be “licensed” to communicate with each other using a standard known as HDCP.

This ability to recognize and communicate between media and devices is called the “HDMI handshake.” If the handshake is not working, it means that the HDCP encryption built into the HDMI signal is not being recognized by one or more of the connected devices. This usually results in you not being able to watch your movies or play your video games.

There are a few things you can do to get around this problem. Here's how to troubleshoot HDMI issues.