As I mentioned previously there are defined standards and test conditions, the dilemma is caused by certain brands that have chosen to design and ship HDMI products without going through the HDMI/HDCP certification process.
Yet there is still a chance a handshake issue may arise but in many instances the problem reported is with an HDMI product that has
not been certified.
For your information the HDMI software (called a stack) is supplied by Silicon Image and then this is revised by the respective S/W design team. Another HDMI situation is the CEC standard (part of HDMI 1.3), here the Japanese video display brands have good coordination between themselves but the Korean and Chinese brands are all over the map...
The standards are there, the problems are caused by brands that choose to operate outside to avoid paying the certification fees and so that they can ship out products sooner.
Though on a different note the same issues exist on the optical players for DVD and Blu-ray, certain Chinese factories refuse to pay the royalty and certification fees.. Guess which brands have many reported issues..
Just my $0.00...