[ha1156w]

It was my first thought too. Multiple cables, multiple inputs, etc. (there are 4 on this set). Known good cables, tested on other sets too. It's definitely internal to the set. Is there a way to get it to display error codes? I know the KDL-40XBR4 can do that (Display -> 5 -> Vol(-) -> Pwr), but my -XBR9 doesn't acknowledge it with that sequence.

Now here's where it gets weird. Normally an inactive input won't show up in the input select menu, but instead shows grey and is non-selectable. When it does the "no signal" behavior described above, it shows that input as active and allows you to select it. It'll still give a "no signal" screen when you select that input though. Even more interesting is that certain devices that use the HDMI control protocol, such as my Chromecast or Samsung Blu-ray player, will show up as an additional input (not a standard numbered input, and this is normal behavior), along with the proper device name and show as active. But again, when selecting them, it'll show up as "no signal" once switched to that input. It's getting the data stream, and it sees the device ID info properly, but it just doesn't identify the presence of an MPEG-2 stream as one would expect.

Tonight I retested to confirm the status of the problem. Chromecast came up on HDMI2 with no problem. Power off the set, power on, and the input shows as "No signal" even though the input is shown in white font (selectable/active) and the Chromecast device shows as an additional selectable input per HDMI Control protocol. This almost sounds like an intermittent failure of the MPEG-2 decode chip, but I don't know which board it lives on.