Audio dropouts?

[BKC]

Anyone other than me noticing a lot of audio dropouts? I notice it more on Speed but it is on other channels too. I did a RBR but it didn't do a thing to help. HR20-100

Last night I timed it a couple times and it would have a quick dropout five times in seven minutes. Once in awhile you can notice a little stutter in the picture at the same time. Receiver taking a dump maybe? It's been like this for a week and it's starting to get annoying. lol TIA

[tsduke]

Yes, at first I thought it was just a particular channel, but noticing it on 2 or 3 channels so far.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167728

[BKC]

Well that's two of I guess. It's starting to get pretty old... :lol:

[tsduke]

Had a couple dropouts so far on ESPN HD during first 30 minutes of Iowa-NW game.

[tsduke]

These are really getting annoying. Is nobody else experience these dropouts?

[dwlevy]

Yes, I've been experiencing them as well, at least since the last software update on both of my HR20-100s. I haven't really noticed them on my HR20-700, but I do watch it less than the other two boxes.

They usually only last for a second, happen fairly infrequently, but do occur on multiple HD channels.

[bobnielsen]

A few days ago, one of the locals lost audio completely but it would return if I switched to another channel and back. It happened three times, but since then all has been normal.

[sigma1914]

I turned on Speed today & it had serious audio issues.

[RACJ2]

I was watching local PBS HD and had my first brrriippp in a while. Mainly been the sound dropouts lately.

[azjerry]

I've noticed on several different channels as well.

[Rob77]

yes...both on some national and local channels

[BKC]

I turned on Speed today & it had serious audio issues.

Thank you! That's the worst one for me. Now that someone mentioned it above, it was right around the time of the update for me too. :nono2:

[tsduke]

It got really bad on ESPN at one point today. I called and reported. This has to be a software issue because I'm getting it on both my HR22's.

[sigma1914]

I think the dropouts on ESPN2 & Speed are not software or HR caused, but problems with the channels and Directv's signal. ESPN had it bad a few years ago & Directv fixed it.

[Tom Servo]

At least for me, the brrrip audio dropouts are pretty constant on certain channels like Speed on the DVR.

Lately I've noticed that Animal Planet doesn't dropout like the other HD channels, instead it just st-t-t-t-t-t-utters for 10 or 15 seconds, then "pops" back to normalcy. Weird.

I'd really love to know what causes some HD channels to have audio dropouts but not others, and why it seems to affect some receivers more than others.

We just got PBS HD locally (B'ham) and it is the most dropout prone channel out of all of them, both audio and video. It's a mess. Strangely, when it debuted, our CW HD affiliate began getting worse. Makes me wonder if some of the other national channels begin acting up when channels are added/subtracted from whatever transponder they're on. Maybe it's a load balancing issue.

[TANK]

I had the drop outs last night on ESPN 2, they stopped when I went into the HR 23 menu to turn off DD. Never had any dropouts before the last firmware upgrade.

[techntrek]

Constant small brrrips and dropouts on some programs from the "big 3" lately. While watching a recent Law and Order recording last night there were entire sections where the audio track had a very slight - but very annoying - constant "vibration". Kind of like a brrrip but with the audio still understandable.

And yes, I think this has been much more prevalent since the last national software update.

[DarkAudit]

Lots of dropouts during the Venture Bros. last night. To the point that the return from break had nearly a minute of full silence. Funny though, it was only during the actual show. No dropouts during the commercial break.

[Miggity]

Yes I've been experiencing this on all channels for about 2 months.

[gnahc79]

ever since 0x368 it's been happening more often :(. Food Network, NBC, ESPN...except Disney Channel has been dropout-free.

[ndole]

Lots of dropouts during the Venture Bros. last night. To the point that the return from break had nearly a minute of full silence. Funny though, it was only during the actual show. No dropouts during the commercial break.

Big +1

Waited all that time for a new season, and it was almost unwatchable. I thought it was an issue with that receiver, so i huffed and puffed my way to the bedroom (where I have it recorded on the other HR unit) and saw that it had identical dropouts. LAME!:mad:
I was happy to learn that a.s. will start doing re-runs of the new episodes. So maybe I can see (and hear) what I missed for that whole minute.

[brucegrr]

Drop-outs here too. Annoying.

[Tom Servo]

No dropouts during the commercial break.

Of course not.
</conspiracy theorist>

:lol:

[berniec]

TONS of dropouts, every few minutes, during Monday Night Football on ESPN.

[weaver6]

TONS of dropouts, every few minutes, during Monday Night Football on ESPN.

Same here.

[Rocko62580]

TONS of dropouts, every few minutes, during Monday Night Football on ESPN.

Me too!

[hasan]

Me too!

Me three...at least on the recording, I couldn't watch it live.

[Doug Brott]

When you guys say "dropout" are you referring to the screen getting black and audio stopping completely for 3-5 seconds?

[Bill Broderick]

^ I just have the audio drop for 2-3 seconds. My screen doesn't go black. If it appears that I'm missing something important, I rewind a little, turn closed captioning on and read what I've missed.

[Doug Brott]

I've seen issues like this, and maybe it's just my TV that goes black so both audio and video are out for a few seconds. I'm pretty sure this is from the source, probably during the encoding phase. It's probably just happening on the MPEG4 channels (mostly HD, bu some SD). Either way, this is not a software issue on the STB. Doesn't mean it's not a problem and not happening, though.

I see it happen rather infrequently, especially over the last 2-3 weeks .. even before that, it was not often. Could be that equipment is being changed out and tweaked and we are seeing these momentary hiccups. Hopefully it will continue to improve as we move forward.

[Bill Broderick]

I'm pretty sure this is from the source, probably during the encoding phase. It's probably just happening on the MPEG4 channels (mostly HD, bu some SD). Either way, this is not a software issue on the STB.

I don't agree. The drop outs are not consistent from box to box. Just the other day, I had the same program recorded on two different HD DVR's. A drop out that occurred on one box, did not occur on the other.

[cygnusloop]

Lots of audio dropout on (my recording of) MNF on ESPNHD last night for me too. Almost always audio only, but there were a couple of times that it was accompanied by a blank (black) screen as well. When rewinding, they were always in the same spot (with the same duration and quality), suggesting that it happened during recording, not during playback.

[Doug Brott]

I don't agree. The drop outs are not consistent from box to box. Just the other day, I had the same program recorded on two different HD DVR's. A drop out that occurred on one box, did not occur on the other.

I've seen the dropouts occur during Live TV at the exact same time on 2 different STBs attached to two different dish distribution systems (one SWM, one WB68 attached to two separate dishes on my roof). What I saw may not be what is being described here, but it sure sounds similar.

[pecocus]

I've seen the dropouts occur during Live TV at the exact same time on 2 different STBs attached to two different dish distribution systems (one SWM, one WB68 attached to two separate dishes on my roof). What I saw may not be what is being described here, but it sure sounds similar.

I can't help but wonder if it's not the retransmission from DirectTV rather than the source material. I get it on our HD locals a lot, but my friends watching either OTA or via cable don't seem to see (hear?) it happening.

[sigma1914]

Lots of audio dropout on (my recording of) MNF on ESPNHD last night for me too. Almost always audio only, but there were a couple of times that it was accompanied by a blank (black) screen as well. When rewinding, they were always in the same spot (with the same duration and quality), suggesting that it happened during recording, not during playback.

To me, the fact that replaying where the dropout occurred, suggests that Directv's transmission or ESPN is at fault & not the boxes.

[cygnusloop]

To me, the fact that replaying where the dropout occurred, suggests that Directv's transmission or ESPN is at fault & not the boxes.

I think your likely correct, however, the fact that it is in the recording could also suggest it was a hiccup in the box (momentary lack of resources??) as the recording was happening. But, as I said, I think you are likely correct. Now if we could correlate the same hiccup on multiple boxes, well, then....

[alnielsen]

I'm getting audio studder intermittently from both live and recorded broadcasts on my HR receiver. Using the replay function on the remote corrects the problem. I don't use the SD receivers enough to know if it happens there too.

[hasan]

When you guys say "dropout" are you referring to the screen getting black and audio stopping completely for 3-5 seconds?

I'm reporting just an audio drop, video held fine, with no hint of a disruption. It's easy to confuse a lot of these issues (hence your request for clarification), but in this particular case, it is a very clean audio drop, just like a hole was punched in the stream. No stutter, no accompanying video issue, just a clean hole.

[tsduke]

Yup. As hasan said. Just an audio drop. Nothing else skips a beat.

[brucegrr]

Like Hasan said. No video disruption. No brrrpp. Just a brief spot of no sound 2-4 seconds long. This is an every day occurrence for me and multiple channels.

[brucegrr]

Now if we could correlate the same hiccup on multiple boxes, well, then....

Or type of audio connection hdmi,optical digital , rca etc.

[Bourbon]

HR21/100 0x368
Been dealing with this BS for a while. Definitely software related. I've had limited success in unplugging for at least a minute. Got an old HD Tivo unit upstairs with no problems.

[mickcris]

HR21/100 0x368
Been dealing with this BS for a while. Definitely software related. I've had limited success in unplugging for at least a minute. Got an old HD Tivo unit upstairs with no problems.

this is an issue with the mpeg4 channels. HD tivo cannot receive the channels that are having problems.

[jazzyjez]

I've seen a noticeable increase in audio only dropouts since the last s/w update on my HR20-700. Watching a recording of "Lie to me" (Fox) had, at a guess, around 20 dropouts during the hour-long episode. Each audio dropout was very brief, I'd guess about a second or less (i.e. partial to whole word missing), and there was no disturbance at all to the video which was perfect throughout - certainly no pixellation that would have been the first indicator of any signal strength issues.

[BKC]

My dropouts are still going strong. Most are audio only but every once in awhile if you watch closely the pic. will freeze for a split second. I really have to be paying attention to notice it though. Sure would be nice if this was fixed soon.........

[ehilbert1]

I'm also having lots of dropouts on recorded shows. It was on every show I recorded the last few nights on my HR20. I tested this and recorded the same shows on our R10 and the R10 shows were fine. I hope D* has a fix for this soon. It's getting really annoying.

[Stryker412]

The past few nights when viewing recorded material, I've had intermittent audio drops. I've had the box since April and this is the first time it's been doing this. Smallville the other night was almost unwatchable (not because of content) due to the massive audio drops. Then watching Californication last night, we had 2-3 drops.

I don't watch much "Live" TV anymore, so I will have to see if it's only on my recorded shows or not.

[mickcris]

I'm also having lots of dropouts on recorded shows. It was on every show I recorded the last few nights on my HR20. I tested this and recorded the same shows on our R10 and the R10 shows were fine. I hope D* has a fix for this soon. It's getting really annoying.

Were these shows recorded in SD on the HR20's or HD?

[ehilbert1]

Were these shows recorded in SD on the HR20's or HD?

It was in HD on my HR20. I'm going to try recording in SD on the HR20 tonight and I will see if it's just in HD. I tried again last night to watch Criminal Minds in HD and I had to stop. I was dropping audio like crazy.

[BKC]

I watched Criminal Minds OTA in HD and it was fine.

[walker]

same thing here. glad to hear (no pun intended) that I'm not alone. its becoming pretty annoying.

[Tom Servo]

So this thread is talking about actual audio dropouts and not the "brrrippp", correct?

I wonder if some of these issues are actually brrrippp issues; I get the hiccup on my TV but if I'm using the receiver in Dolby Digital mode, the brrrippp just gets muted for several seconds, which is actually more annoying since it cuts out ALL the audio.

Maybe this is the same problem just manifesting itself differently for different types of audio decoders?

[BKC]

For what it's worth I emailed DTV and of course they wanted me to call them. lol I just sent this thread back to them. Hi guys :D

[hasan]

So this thread is talking about actual audio dropouts and not the "brrrippp", correct?

I wonder if some of these issues are actually brrrippp issues; I get the hiccup on my TV but if I'm using the receiver in Dolby Digital mode, the brrrippp just gets muted for several seconds, which is actually more annoying since it cuts out ALL the audio.

Maybe this is the same problem just manifesting itself differently for different types of audio decoders?

No, it is not brrrp. It could be related (in that they are trying to fix the brrrp, and this is what we got so far...no brrrp, just a "hole". I'm not convinced either way (related or not), but we are talking about two easily differentiated symptoms, one is a brrrp (which this thread is not discussing) and the other is an outright clean hole in the audio. The two are impossible to confuse (in observation) in that they sound completely different.

[brucegrr]

I have brrpps and dropouts. Far far far more dropouts. Most every program at least once. Some programs far more often and some channels like ESPN or the Showtime channels it is pretty common.

I do not know if this is an HD only problem? I rarely watch any SD so I have no frame of reference.

[fornold]

I am noticing a lot of audio dropouts on Cartoon Network HD right now. Very annoying.

[tomlin]

I had the drop outs last night on ESPN 2, they stopped when I went into the HR 23 menu to turn off DD. Never had any dropouts before the last firmware upgrade.

I posted a longer version of this in the "HR2x 0x0368" forum (I don't have enough posts to give the actual URL)

I haven't noticed the brrrrrrrp for a while now, but the short (less than a second) audio dropouts have been more frequent. It's been approx 4 hours since I turned DD off. So far, so good.

I have an HR22.

[BKC]

You guys should email them if you have the time to mess with them. So far they have told me to reset the box several times even though I told them I already did that in the first email. It's pretty comical/sad. :D

[tsduke]

I called about the time this thread started.

[Davenlr]

I called about the time this thread started.

Im convinced it doesnt do any good to call them. They told me the last time I called them, that they do not even have DirecTv available to them in the call center, so they cannot even tune in a problem channel to verify its a nationwide problem that a RESET wont fix. Then they find out you dont have the protection plan, and want to send a $$$ tech to check it. Its next to impossible to convince them its a nationwide problem, so I just quit calling. My head hurts from banging it against the brick wall.

[gquiring]

You can add me to the list. Dropouts not bripps. I also have noticed a lip sync problem on TNT for days now. I reset the box and no better. I don't get it, I have had D* since 1995, back then it just worked. Today it's like we have beta service 24/7.

[ehilbert1]

I think it's just the HD channels. I recorded some things over the weekend in HD and SD on my HR20 and the HD channels had the audio dropouts. The SD recordings were fine. It really sucks that I have to record in SD. I called D* and they had no idea what it could be. All I know is it used to be just fine and now its unwatchable.

[sailermon]

It is definitely HD only and could be just MP4. My wife, who watches SD on a R-15 DVR asked me how I con stand to watch this and ask me not to upgrade her to HD until this is fixed.

I don't think the problem is the source material and suspect it is related to the software and/or compression. I have noticed subtle changes with each software release. Less blurps and more dropouts, but overall things are getting worse. I notice it the most on HD local NBC, KCRA-TV Sacramento, CA. This seems to be more prevalent during the weather, which has a lot of detailed graphics (radar). I am not an expert on this by any means but it makes me suspect the compression software. This would also explain why it happens so often during high action sports (ESPN).

I wish the software guys would spend more time fixing these basic picture quality related types of problems before adding extra "nice to have" features that are not critical like MRV, DLBB, thumbnails for cast and crew, media sharing, etc. Please get your priorities straight DTV and remember that customer satisfaction is everything.

[gquiring]

Watching Smallville tonight on ch 11 the audio dropouts during the last 15 minutes was beyond bad. Zero issues with the picture, just 3-5 second audio dropouts.

[brucegrr]

Continues to be annoying. On Thursday I watched ESPN, ESPN 2 and the NFL channel. (Basketball, football)

The audio dropouts were far too often on every channel.

I hope this problem is on Directv's radar. Calling tech support accomplishes nothing because the usual restart, reboot, etc answers change nothing. This is not an end-user issue. (something the end user can "fix") It is a hardware/software/program issue.

[Taltizer]

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIFnorail.jsp?assetId=P4960016#h:694.536

Someone will contact you and try to get your problem resolved asap its helped me in the past.

Directv's Office Of the President.
They are customer advocates

[brucegrr]

I sent the email. Got a call this morning. The lady who responded to my email was very polite and said she would check with the engineers about this issue. She has read this thread and is aware of the issues.

She told me they have nothing in their database about this problem.

She asked if I had called Directv and gone through "troubleshooting". I told her that we were well beyond doing this and that this is a hardware/software/program issue. (and not a tech 101, reboot, check the cable, etc issue)

We'll see what happens from here. I was very pleased with Directv's response. May not fix the problem but they were proactive and prompt in their response.

[brucegrr]

The lady from Directv asked if perhaps we could document specific time/program instances so here goes.....

Watched a HD recording of SyFy Stargate Universe, 4 audio dropouts.

Watched a HD recording Of National Geographic The First Jesus, 3 audio dropouts

[BKC]

They said they would call me but never did. Tell her to watch ESPN2 or Speed and answer her own questions. :D

[brucegrr]

I don't think the audio dropouts are an every customer problem.

[betterdan]

I have been getting audio dropouts too. I had no idea so many people had been getting them.

[mdwood]

I've been getting them for about a week too, some video blackouts as well. Watching the Packers/9ers game and the video drops every once in a while.

[Holydoc]

Audio drop-outs for me too here in the Florida Panhandle. I will see if I can remember to document time and channel for now on.

[jfor26]

I live in central PA and watching the eagles game tonight is horrible.!!!!!. not like i am missing much.

[Stryker412]

I had audio dropouts watching a recording of "Stargate Universe". Also, "Smallville" this week was almost unwatchable. Huge portions of audio dropped out. I think there was maybe one or two during "Friday Night Lights" as well.

[Todd H]

I'm getting audio dropouts, video dropouts, and brrrpps. Not happy.

[BKC]

Mine seem to be going to other channels now. There were quite a few dropouts during the nascar race yesterday. (ABC out of NY)

[CATCRAW]

I have the same issue with audio dropouts and it seems to be on all channels. I am sure that it started with the current sw download. I say that because I had a HR21 go bad and DTV replaced it with a new HR22. It was on the older version of sw when I installed it and it worked fine - no audio dropouts. A few days later the new sw download came and the audio dropouts along with it. So at least for me I can say it came with the latest sw download.

[direfan]

I am getting both audio dropouts and stuttering and pixellation. Very annoying. I have not called customer service as they will send a technician out. I think this is a problem at the DTV end.

[iamqnow]

same thing here. glad to hear (no pun intended) that I'm not alone. its becoming pretty annoying.
The audio dropouts are getting worse and very annoying. This is such a widespread issue one would like to think it is being addressed. Happens on every channel I watch, although it is worse on some of them.

[mndwalsh]

agreed with getting worse. Watched a recorded Dexter last night and it happened at least 6-8 times. Recording was from 11/22

[axiom]

Monday Night Countdown this week on ESPN HD had so many audio dropouts that I lost count.

[bkaczor@sbcglobal.net]

I have Direct HD and have Stuttering Audio on PBS, History and Science Channels. It is much worse on the PBS Channel. I talked to someone at Direct and he told me that they were having problems some kind of conversion process. I have been having this problem since installation and was told that they were working on the problem. I called several times and they told me I could take my business elsewhere. I would do just that if not for the holes in my new roof. It is just hard to believe that no one seems to care that their service is crummy. Maybe if enough of us complain, they will get it fixed.

[BKC]

If I had a choice I would leave. :)

[chrisfowler99]

Lots of dropouts during the Venture Bros. last night. To the point that the return from break had nearly a minute of full silence. Funny though, it was only during the actual show. No dropouts during the commercial break.

Same here...and a little bit at the beginning of this week's episode.

[Gern Blansten]

Seems that a majority of our recordings have sound drop outs with pixelation. Both network and DTV and is HD.

[Macfan]

When it drops out, the display on my receiver switches modes. It appears to be related to a dolby signal that drops out or something. i have an Onkyo 807. One night it dropped out for several minutes, and I was able to get it back by switching sound modes to something else and switching back. So it is repeatable if you rewind and replay, but it seems to be there if you switch modes and switch back. So I don't know, but it sure is annoying!

[berniec]

audio dropouts all morning on ESPN-HD 10:30-12:30am ET

[mjbvideo]

I have no confidence that they'll fix it. If they do fix it then another bug will be introduced. Bank on it. If the new Tivo has the same problems with BASIC functionality then this 14+ year customer will take his $148/month business elsewhere. I don't have any of the sports packages so that pretty much levels the playing field for me.
So for the past 1.5 years I keep hearing from the kool-aid drinkers that they are aware of problem xyz and it should be fixed in the next NR. Yada, yada, yada...blah, blah, blah. Why should we have to accept mediocrity?

[gquiring]

I don't think they will fix it either. These audio issues existed with the HD Tivo also. For a while the HR2x series was good on audio and then it became hit or miss with each firmware update. It's beyond my understanding how they continue to F this up and let it be broke.

I have FIOS in my area, I have been waiting for the rumors that they are getting a bigger DVR in early 2010. Once that happens my 14 years with DirecTV will be over. I always liked them until I got that HD Tivo which was riddled with audio issues. And now the rain fade issues on the newer orbits is just driving me insane. For $136 bucks a month I am not happy.

[blueoyster]

I have no confidence that they'll fix it. If they do fix it then another bug will be introduced. Bank on it. If the new Tivo has the same problems with BASIC functionality then this 14+ year customer will take his $148/month business elsewhere. I don't have any of the sports packages so that pretty much levels the playing field for me.
So for the past 1.5 years I keep hearing from the kool-aid drinkers that they are aware of problem xyz and it should be fixed in the next NR. Yada, yada, yada...blah, blah, blah. Why should we have to accept mediocrity?

Yup!!!
Sunday Ticket is the only reason I'm still with them.(OK maybe cause I can get STO and the Gonzaga hoop games also.) I've been with them for 13+ years so I've seen how good their PQ was in SD in the mid 90's to 2004. They had a pristine picture with very few audio drops. I'm sick of their phone crap. They do respond fast but problem resolution is a different story!!!:mad:

[Rob77]

As I have said numerous times, the engineering staff is spending to much time worrying about bells and whistles and not worrying about good basic picture and sound quality. This will eventually hurt them badly.

[Inches]

I think I know why it happens and if anyone wants to dispute it, fine. It has to do with disk access. When the room was quite (no TV or computer) I heard a bunch of disk activity coming out of the DVR. There was nothing going on like recording a show but paid it no mind thinking it was doing some house keeping.

While playing a recording with the volume low (while on the phone) I heard the audio drop out as the disk was making its noise. It seemed that if the disk access was a longer duration there was a video freeze as well. I tested this buy backing up a ways and the program played through with no brrrp or freeze.

I have yet to test this on a live program since I do the bulk of my viewing off of the DVR.

[gquiring]

The audio dropouts we are experiencing have no picture issues. I can rewind 10 times in a row and the exact screwed up audio will repeat itself every time.

[Inches]

The audio dropouts we are experiencing have no picture issues. I can rewind 10 times in a row and the exact screwed up audio will repeat itself every time.
My theory (again):
While recording there was one of those disk activities which would cause a hiccup in the recording. I have had these as well but I am making an assumption and have not proven this. I would have to watch a live program while recording it and hear the disk access.

[seern]

Well my issues with CNN have all been 'live' watching, but isn't even 'live' watching buffered on the hd so we are not actually seeing 'live' through put but a second or so delay. I am sure this is why if I am watching the same show on my H20 and HR 22, the H20 is slightly ahead of the HRxx. The only downer against this is the H20 is also having the drops and it has no hd.

[BKC]

My disk makes noise 24/7/365 unless I unplug it.

[Alan Mintaka]

I get a/v dropouts too. In my case there's a weird buzzing sound when the audio drops. When the video drops, it pauses with pixelation around the edges of things that were moving. Sometimes the audio drops out at the same time as the video, other times not. They both "catch up" with realtime when they resume, not much more than a second later.

These dropouts are brief in duration but frequent enough to be annoying. And when they happen in a recorded program I'd like to keep, my diastolic goes over 100.

There are threads in the DirecTV forum addressing these sorts of dropouts. Over there we seem to be of the consensus that these problems started occurring more frequently since the software upgrade to version 0x368.

DirecTV reps on the board (don't know if they're employees yet, I just resumed service in Oct) are maintaining that these problems are caused by "marginal hard drives", and that improvements in the diagnostic software in the 0x368 upgrade have enabled detection of the hard drive problems. This interpretation is being met with some skepticism.

Is it OK to post DirecTV thread links here? Here's the title of the forum and thread, anyway:

High Definition Digital Video Recording (HD DVRs) | Is there any fix, or workaround, for the 0x368 stutter glitch?

There is also talk that this started occurring during the "DLB NR", whatever that is. I posted a question about that at DirecTV so I might as well repeat it here - anyone know what that is? DLB NR? Is that a previous software/firmware upgrade?

I came here from Comcast because of even worse service, so I can't complain in that regard. However in doing so I had to leave behind a TiVo Series 3 HD DVR which can't do satellite reception. I use it for Netflix and Amazon movie downloads now. When I see the difference in software and performance between the TiVo and the DirecTV HR22-100...

Well, there goes my diastolic again. I'd better go for a walk!

[n3ntj]

Anyone other than me noticing a lot of audio dropouts? I notice it more on Speed but it is on other channels too. I did a RBR but it didn't do a thing to help. HR20-100

Last night I timed it a couple times and it would have a quick dropout five times in seven minutes. Once in awhile you can notice a little stutter in the picture at the same time. Receiver taking a dump maybe? It's been like this for a week and it's starting to get annoying. lol TIA

I haven't noticed lots of dropouts on live TV, but I see lots of them watching prerecorded shows the past few weeks. I rewind to see if it happens again and the audio doesn't dropout the 2nd time. This test is done to see if the audio dropout was related to a signal/feed issue or a local issue. They all seem to be local (software/hardware) issues, at least the past several weeks for me.

[SlimyPizza]

There is also talk that this started occurring during the "DLB NR", whatever that is. I posted a question about that at DirecTV so I might as well repeat it here - anyone know what that is? DLB NR? Is that a previous software/firmware upgrade?


DLB NR: DLB= dual live buffers; NR=national release. I forget which update contained the DLB but it was only a couple or maybe three ago. That said, the excessive hard drive activity is a frequently reported disturbance which began a couple of updates ago. I too have noticed pixelation and audio dropouts during the excessive disk churning which occurs without warning or provocation. I have a HR20-700. Not only does the disk drive activity occur at the same time the a/v acts up but it occurs when DLB is not active, on multiple channels, and affects playback as well as live TV. I've been checking into ATT U-Verse as a result of this new "feature" on my DVR.

[tvjay]

The ESPN dropouts during football games this past weekend sound like truck problems. The reason I say this is because the picture never disappears, only the audio. Then when the audio returns it sounds like that of a telephone hybrid interface. It is sometimes common practice to have a backup telephone link for audio on remotes of high importance.

[tsduke]

There may be truck problems from time to time, but I'm convinced the audio dropouts are a Directv problem. I get the same thing on several channels and I'm really getting annoyed by it.

[tvjay]

The gym at my apartment complex day was dropping audio/video today and they don't have DirecTV. Plus, my local cable company is having issues with local channels. Is there something in the air?

[SuperZ06]

There may be truck problems from time to time, but I'm convinced the audio dropouts are a Directv problem. I get the same thing on several channels and I'm really getting annoyed by it.

I agree.

Audio Dropouts mostly at night and on HD channels, but happens on all channels.

[SuperZ06]

Audio dropout @5:16pt on CNN during Presidential Address.

[hdtvfan0001]

Audio dropout @5:16pt on CNN during Presidential Address.
Yes....watched on 3 different channels and 3 HDTV's at the time, and only CNN dropped out - Fox and CBS were solid.

[schlar01]

I had about 5 on House last night.

[vanpatrick]

I've noticed audio dropout during recordings of Dexter on SHOeHD, but interestingly enough it does not happen on all my DVRs for the same recording/same channel/same time.

So I know it's not the broadcast-- it's something else, either unique to the DVR or wiring that the problem occurs on.

Also, so far, I'm only seeing this on recordings, not live.

[soloredd]

I had audio drops last night on 696-1 (Comcast SportsNet Bay Area HD) during the Warriors game. I also was flipping to the Oregon game on 206-1 ESPNHD and didn't have any audio drops. Was pretty annoying, the drops were only a quick second and about 2-3 minutes apart.

I just watched my recording of The Office and didn't have dropouts from last night's episode. Prior to last night, the last 4 episodes all had the dropouts. Strange indeed. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Just random.

[direfan]

I actually watched the Office from this week and there were a ton of dropouts. DTV really needs to man up and fix this.

[gquiring]

I have been watching a lot of HD today, audio issues continue.....

[CrownSeven]

This has been happening for me. I got them to replace my DVR, but its still happening.

I have my DVR hooked up to my Onkyo receiver, so I did a test. I turned off the receiver and instead turned up the volume on my TV to get the sound through the HDMI cable instead (was hooked up to receiver through Optical connection). Guess what, no drop outs.

I'm thinking this is related to digital/dolby sound only.

I'd be curious if others out there are experiencing this with no audio receivers hooked up at all, and just piping the sound through their televisions?

[BKC]

I turned off my DD and it made no difference in my dropouts. I didn't try without the sound system though.

[CrownSeven]

Try connecting the sound directly to your TV and see if it still happens.

[BKC]

No. lol

[iamqnow]

I have been watching a lot of HD today, audio issues continue.....
Continuing and getting worse. Really getting tired of this.

[scottchez]

My DirecTV 2 year contract just ended.

Is this issue just on my HR20-100's (I have two)?????

Is it worth asking for newer models and I they wont replace, switch to some other service?


I have tried the Nation Release version and others, no difference no matter what version of software I am on.

[gameguru1360]

I read somewhere on some other forum that by switching from using a toslink optical audio cable to a digital coaxial works. Well I just went down to my local radioshack and picked up a digital coaxial cable and my hr23-700 still has the hiccups. So I'm thinking it's the directv receiver.

Speed channel for me hiccups like crazy

[BKC]

Speed channel and ESPN are by far the worst for me.

[gameguru1360]

I experienced the same hiccups with a panny bluray player going through a toslink optical selector, so I tried going directly to my onkyo's 2nd optical input and that fixed the problem. I thought that by doing the same thing with the hr23-700 would fix the problem, but it doesn't....seems to be the hr23-700 and all the other hd dvr's

[CrownSeven]

OK, well I think I was mistaken about the optical connection vs HDMI Connection.

I had a program recorded that had the audio drop out. I tried replaying the program using the HDMI cable to pipe the audio to the TV directly, and the drop still happens, but its just much more subtle.

When it happens over the optical connection connected to my Onkyo receiver, it just takes longer for the receiver to recover.

Since this is happening over any audio connection, to me it seems like its a problem that DirecTV will have to solve. And they better do it soon, its getting VERY annoying.

[gameguru1360]

yep it's very annoying. I've noticed this hiccup even in the recordings. Live broadcasts I can understand about the streaming feed, but to have it recorded sucks!

[The Big Bad]

I've noticed audio dropout during recordings of Dexter on SHOeHD

I too have audio dropouts on my recordings of Dexter (and Californication, which is also on SHO). Up until last night I only noticed them on these two shows, but then I also got a few on yesterday's recording of ESPN's 30 for 30 on Gretzky.

I'm running my audio through the HDMI, which runs through my Denon 2310ci receiver, and then to the TV.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Seems like a DTV issue to me.

[scottchez]

I seem to only get them from my over the air tuner for locals.

Could it be my signal strenght is too strong for OTA? ITs always 90 to 100 percent.

Just trying to figure out a fix since DirecTV is not fixing it right now.

[sammib]

Lots of dropouts here. Brrrrrrrrrrrrip problem has gotten much better here . Hardly happens anymore. Trade one problem for another. Get those Directv engineers on it.

[gquiring]

Lots of issues on Syfy also, I recorded a lot of movies this past week and all of them have audio only issues. I use a HR22 with the TOS link.

[boggsaz]

We get the audio dropouts here too, but they are only on one of the DVR's.
I seems that the brrrriips have been fixed. Thankfully.

1. HR20-700, okay no dropouts. HDMI connection to Philips LCD HDTV.
2. HR20-700, has dopouts every day. HDMI connection to the same TV.
3. HR20-100, okay no dropouts. HDMI connection to the same TV.

It seems to happen daily on the shows that we DVR on that box.

Since the last software update, at least the brrriiips seem to be gone.

[hoosierfan227]

Lots of dropouts here. Brrrrrrrrrrrrip problem has gotten much better here . Hardly happens anymore. Trade one problem for another. Get those Directv engineers on it.

I agree the Brrrrrip has gotten better. Watching "The U" last night on ESPN had audio drops almost every minute for less than a second. Very annoying.

[gquiring]

There were a couple of dropouts during the season finale of Dexter tonight.

[Steady Teddy]

^Yes I noticed a couple of audio dropouts on Dexter also (HR20-700). And there were dropouts galore on ESPN all morning Sunday. This is annoying as hell.

[RVD26]

There were a couple of dropouts during the season finale of Dexter tonight.

I've gotten dropouts during every episode of Dexter this season. :mad:

[SuperZ06]

I read somewhere on some other forum that by switching from using a toslink optical audio cable to a digital coaxial works. Well I just went down to my local radioshack and picked up a digital coaxial cable and my hr23-700 still has the hiccups. So I'm thinking it's the directv receiver.

Speed channel for me hiccups like crazy

For me as well, getting unwatchable.

[techntrek]

Brrrrrips gone, now lots of dropouts. On movie pay channels and network TV programs. Putting in my 2 cents so it gets counted...

[ehilbert1]

I can't record anything in HD on my HR20. If I do the audio poping and dropouts are so bad you can't watch anything. I called D* for the second time and I was told they have no idea what the problem could be. My HR23 is working great. I do have the PP. I was thinking about getting a replacement for the HR20, but then they would extend my contract by "mistake" again. They've done that 3 times before even though I have the PP. I'm at a loss here. Any ideas?????

[scottchez]

Drop outs all gone for me now. Only thing I changed was my over the Air Antenna. I took the Amp off.

Wonder if it was somehow overloading something.

[Holydoc]

Scott,

Where you overloading my DVR too? I don't think that your set-up was the only cause for all of the above posters' problems. :)

[gquiring]

It may have been a coincidence I watched 4 shows last night and not one audio drop. Let's keep our fingers crossed:)

[BKC]

The dropouts were alive and going strong on Speed and ESPN last night

[digitalfreak]

Getting them here too. I've also had some instances where my Onkyo receiver would switch from Dolby Digital 5.1 to Mono. The only way to get audio back is to stop and start if I'm watching a recording, or change channels.

Should we call support? !rolling

[gquiring]

So much for my good night, watched a good amount of SpikeHD today and loaded with dropouts.

[brucegrr]

I doubt calls to support will do much good. They KNOW this is an issue. (and they are aware of this thread)

[mikewsu]

Happens to my HR20-100 all the time. It's driving us nuts.

[scottchez]

Still no more problems now that I cleared up my over the air antenna issue.

Maybe my problem was unique.

[BKC]

I doubt calls to support will do much good. They KNOW this is an issue. (and they are aware of this thread)

Not to mention they'll just deny there is a problem that 25 or 30 resets won't take care of. It's only been a month and a half, it should be cleared up soon.

[gquiring]

It turns out DirecTV is aware of the problem. Here are the details:

The bottom line is that this problem happens due to errors in the broadcaster's AC3 digital audio data stream, and those errors cause DirecTV's MPEG4 encoders to "brrrrp". So the problem truly lies on both ends .... the broadcasters need to improve their equipment to eliminate those AC3 audio errors, and DirecTV should improve their equipment to be less susceptible to these audio errors.

Posted by user rga8350 ....
"I work for a local TV station and we have become aware of the "motorboating" of DirecTV audio followed by an audio dropout. Our viewers have complained about it for weeks.

DirecTV's tech management says the problem is caused when the AC3 encoder at the video source sends out extraneous packets of information. DirecTV's equipment bounces the extraneous packets back and forth several million times in a fraction of a second, causing the "motorboat" ripping sound everyone is complaining about, followed by a short period of no sound. The DirecTV gear detects the error and cuts if off. When the cut-off occurs, that kills the sound for a fraction of a second. Then the sound picks up again. All this happens in less than a second, but it's annoying. We also have anecdotal eports that the errors spoil DVR recordings. I noted three motorboat incidents in just the first three minutes of this weekend's Oklahoma football game.

These extra packets are errors in the AC3 data stream, and DirecTV's gear appears to be unable to handle them. DirecTV's CSR's have been instructed to tell anyone who complains "We are aware of the problem and are working on it." DirecTV doesn't know why their equipment can't handle AC3 audio errors. They are working on a "band aid" solution, which is a software patch which will remove the "motorboat" buzz and replace it with silence. I don't think subscribers are going to stand still for programming with holes in the audio, so DirecTV has to find a permanent solution.

Some broadcasters are experimenting with all sorts of fixes including very expensive Dolby audio frame synchronizers, but that is just an experiment and probably won't work. Until DirecTV figures out a way to process out the AC3 errors this problem is going to continue."

[mickcris]

I also have not heard a Brrrrip in a while (I can't remember the last time I heard one), but they have been replaced by the audio dropouts. I am getting the audio dropouts a lot on only the HD channels.
I had been getting the Brrrrips alot, so I also feel that they are the same problem that has sort of been "fixed".

[BKC]

I shot them another email today just to rattle their cage a little and believe it or not the "engineering dept" called me. Of course they wanted to do resets and check the wires in the back of the receiver and seemed to be a bit disappointed I had already done that. LOL

Of course they haven't heard of this problem. Not to mention they have never heard of this forum. Long long silence time and I finally told them if they didn't have any more questions my wife could listen to silence on the phone as well as I could, I was busy.

She listened to silence for another 10 minutes or so and then they said they were going to transfer her. Another guy comes on the phone and said he didn't know if it would be fixed today or tomorrow but it WOULD be fixed. !rolling

I swear those people thrive on blowing smoke......

They did ask for the address to this forum though.

[gquiring]

There is no doubt in my mind calling DirecTV for any technical issue like this is a colossal waste of time. They are never going to have their real engineers speak to the customers directly. I have tried calling them on several issues and always got the reboot answer. They also have denied issues that were much larger than this one which has been the most frustrating part of dealing with DirecTV. What be interesting to know is how does DirecTV pass on the 'real' issues to the folks that can make a difference.

[BKC]

Amen http://www.rpmwarrior.net/images/smilies/yes.gif

[scottchez]

Does this mean this issue is related to the confirmed issue in LA in this post?

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=169808

It turns out DirecTV is aware of the problem. Here are the details:

The bottom line is that this problem happens due to errors in the broadcaster's AC3 digital audio data stream, and those errors cause DirecTV's MPEG4 encoders to "brrrrp". So the problem truly lies on both ends .... the broadcasters need to improve their equipment to eliminate those AC3 audio errors, and DirecTV should improve their equipment to be less susceptible to these audio errors.

Posted by user rga8350 ....
"I work for a local TV station and we have become aware of the "motorboating" of DirecTV audio followed by an audio dropout. Our viewers have complained about it for weeks.

DirecTV's tech management says the problem is caused when the AC3 encoder at the video source sends out extraneous packets of information. DirecTV's equipment bounces the extraneous packets back and forth several million times in a fraction of a second, causing the "motorboat" ripping sound everyone is complaining about, followed by a short period of no sound. The DirecTV gear detects the error and cuts if off. When the cut-off occurs, that kills the sound for a fraction of a second. Then the sound picks up again. All this happens in less than a second, but it's annoying. We also have anecdotal eports that the errors spoil DVR recordings. I noted three motorboat incidents in just the first three minutes of this weekend's Oklahoma football game.

These extra packets are errors in the AC3 data stream, and DirecTV's gear appears to be unable to handle them. DirecTV's CSR's have been instructed to tell anyone who complains "We are aware of the problem and are working on it." DirecTV doesn't know why their equipment can't handle AC3 audio errors. They are working on a "band aid" solution, which is a software patch which will remove the "motorboat" buzz and replace it with silence. I don't think subscribers are going to stand still for programming with holes in the audio, so DirecTV has to find a permanent solution.

Some broadcasters are experimenting with all sorts of fixes including very expensive Dolby audio frame synchronizers, but that is just an experiment and probably won't work. Until DirecTV figures out a way to process out the AC3 errors this problem is going to continue."

[texasbrit]

It's actually San Francisco, but yes.
One thing to note. I know that in some cities there have been changes to the settings of the DirecTV MPEG-4 encoders that virtually eliminate the "brrrp" events but you get dropouts instead.....

[berniec]

tons of dropouts for the first quarter of the St. Petersburg Bowl on ESPN tonight

[steve053]

I've had constant audio drop-out since the last national release. They last from a tenth of a second to two seconds - happen on all channels, including OTA. Never had a problem before this last national release.

HR20-100

[powerplay]

I have dropouts all the time, both live and recorded of course. It is very annoying watching a program and have a dozen dropouts during the 1 hour show.

[Stewpidity]

I had constant audio and video dropouts during Sundays Dolphin/Titans game the screen would black w/ no audio for a few seconds, then brrp and it came back

[gquiring]

I am starting to notice a trend, I don't get very many dropouts on my locals, but SyFy, TNT, USA and FX are constant issues.

[gitarzan]

I am getting a lot of audio dropouts on CNN and other channels. Should I be concerned this is causing wear on my Onkyo receiver with my HDMI connection? It makes a lot of clicking noises trying to sync the audio.

[DCSholtis]

Had a bunch of audio dropouts on my local ABC station today while watching the Cavs game.

[gitarzan]

Has anyone reported this issue to DirecTV? What do they say?

[BKC]

They say:

"Hummm I've never heard of that. Reset your receiver, did that help?" "Try unplugging your receiver and letting it sit for a few minutes and plug it back in. Did that help"

[delco7]

I'm getting the audio dropouts on most channels also. It does seem to be worse on the HD channels though. Started after the last NR. D* is clueless. Another reason I'm going to Comcrap after 11 years on D* !:bad_nono:

[Stuart Sweet]

I was not seeing a whole bunch of dropouts until the recent rainy weather here in SoCal. I do tend to think it's not because of rain fade on my receiver so much as the signal being degraded in transmission. I see the same dropouts OTA.

[homebase]

Had to reset one our HR22-100's today as there was no audio on any channel.

A) I thought we lost the Yamaha head unit, but thankfully we didn't
B) as a last ditch effort, reset the box. Suddenly all was well.

Then came here today and noticed that others are having the same problems.

God I love this board!

Cheers,
Homebase

[betterdan]

Drop outs all the time here on various channels. local Fox, national Fox News and Speed channel seem to be the worst

[brucegrr]

Has anyone reported this issue to DirecTV? What do they say?

Go back and read from post 67 on. Reported. Sent to engineering.

[vilos]

Getting numerous dropouts on NBA-TV and ESPN. Really severe on NBA-TV.

[mciembro]

I don't know if I agree it's a disruption in the stream from broadcasters - we have had some major dropout/stutter issues with Discovery Channel (278 HD) tonight during Mythbusters. It's occurring in the program and in the DirecTV advertising.

Besides Discovery we also have seen major issues with the local FOX affiliate, again the HD version.

I have tried three things tonight as I've been reading this thread. First, I switched my AV receiver to analog inputs so it's decoding the digital stream. The dropouts/stutters continued. Next, I activated the DoublePlay feature and the problems became much, much worse - which to me indicates the hard drives in these units are the main issue. They're too slow to keep up with the content. Finally, I switched to the non-HD feed of Discovery and haven't had a single dropout since. (Both DoublePlay feeds are recording non-HD content now.) Again I think this points to a hard drive throughput issue.

Incidentally, we have seen very few of the brrrrp issues.

[leprechaunshawn]

I was watching Planet Green tonight and had several quick dropouts during the hour or so I was watching.

[PMA]

Earlier in this thread is a URL to contact DirecTV on issues such as this. It goes to the Office of the President. I went ahead and made contact about an hour ago and just received a call from D* to inquire about this and ask a variety of set up questions. They acknowledged the problem and said it is being worked on. They told me to call them again in a week if I had not heard from them directly before that. The person on the call seemed genuinely interested in solving the issue and collecting information that could help them investigate.

[jgcox00]

Throwing my issue on top of the pile... ESPN on 206 the audio drop outs make it almost unwatchable... switch to channel 73 and the audio is rock solid. Hope it gets fixed before ESPN is dropped from channel 73!

[LoveDoc143]

Sigh ... almost all night watching 'Heroes' on NBC here. Every few minutes, audio dropout. Sometimes for a "brrrt" second, sometimes for a few seconds with complete Dolby dropout. Happens both on live and recorded playback (on two tuners). Called DTV, just got a 'reset your tuner' junk response.

Meh. This's getting very old - very fast. Oh well .. my ticket is in the hat as well I guess.

[RexB]

Same here in the Seattle area, audio/video dropouts, brrrrps and momentary black screens on all HD channels for the past two months. D* said "reset" might fix it. Been there, done that.

Perhaps the new satellite in orbit will "ease" the bandwidth load, or whatever, and lessen these repetitive dropouts. My fingers are crossed for any fix.

[BKC]

The good news is the price increase is right on schedule.

[RexB]

!rolling

Yep we can count on that, even with negative inflation

[BKC]

I may reset my bill :D

[gquiring]

Sigh ... almost all night watching 'Heroes' on NBC here. Every few minutes, audio dropout. Sometimes for a "brrrt" second, sometimes for a few seconds with complete Dolby dropout. Happens both on live and recorded playback (on two tuners). Called DTV, just got a 'reset your tuner' junk response.

Meh. This's getting very old - very fast. Oh well .. my ticket is in the hat as well I guess.Really strange I just watched the 2 hour Heroes and no audio dropouts. I guess it depends on the local feed, mine is NY. But I am noticing more and more dropouts on the nationals and virtually none on the locals.

[crawdad62]

Just came here and saw this thread. The reason I'm visiting is to see if anyone else has noticed the audio dropouts. I guess they have. Mine was very spotty until the last few weeks. Now it's to the point it's annoying. I've noticed it on both our local news broadcasts and national programming. I don't think I've heard it on any SD channels. I was watching Cartoon Network HD last night and it was particularly bad. I could hardly watch "Ed , Edd & Eddie"!:D

[delco7]

I've been having the audio dropouts on most channels since the last NR. I had perfect audio before then. While I am more than happy to blame D*, during the holidaze, I was watching a football game on Fox OTA, and lo and behold, audio dropout, with corresponding frame freeze on video. Hmmm....WTF? It's got to be something from the network source. BTW, turning DD off on the HR21 doesn't have any affect on my particular setup. Onkyo using toslink. It'll probably get fixed on the next NR. Any bets? :nono:

[gquiring]

I watched a lot of SyFy yesterday, audio dropouts were in full bloom:mad:

[BKC]

Last night on Speed for the Supercross it was non stop dropouts. It's been over two months now.

[Stewpidity]

watching the Pats/Ravens & having quite a few audio dropouts. I was watching on a different TV with Comcast and had no audio issues at all...this is getting annoying plus the Versus issue could cost them customer when my agreement is up in May

[SFjr]

It's really bad on the ESPN channels and our our local FOX HD via DirecTv. I have to switch over to the antenna to watch FOX HD because the dropouts are so bad.

Like others, I notice them on most HD channels - of course, I hardly watch SD anymore, so I cannot vouch for what happens there.

[swillotter]

i'm a service tech for dtv and have gone to two case management calls for this problem in the last month . i hate being in this situation since there is nothing the tech can do to fix the problem..just replace the lnb..maybe the receiver and pray not to get a repeat on it...i've tried to educate customers that there is nothing i can do that dtv needs to fix it somehow

[gitarzan]

I have a growing list of issues with DirecTV including audio dropouts. My two years ends today. I really hate to leave but all of the problems have been annoying. Maybe I will see if I can suspend my service for six months or until new receivers or something better comes along. It will be a good to see how long I can go with off air locals and internet TV and catch up with my media center projects.

[mrcon0728]

I have been having many dropouts as well. HGTV, NFLST and other channels. This is getting frustrating, have been with D since the beginning. If these issues continue I just may finally switch to FIOS. I would hate to do this because this issue and the HD DVR issues are the only real problems. Really would be hard to say goodbye to NFLST, which I get every year, but the audio is just becoming a major annoyance!

[gquiring]

If Verizon would increase their storage on their DVR I would switch tomorrow. I get too many outages because of rain since upgrading to HD.

[tsduke]

I emailed the ellen address about this issue again because calling does no good. I really didn't get much better help here when they called back. Said she couldn't find any info on the issue and wanted to replace my receivers. NOT!! I'm getting pissed now actually. This is ridiculous. Update the software already Directv and fix this issue!!!

[gquiring]

I emailed the ellen address about this issue again because calling does no good. I really didn't get much better help here when they called back. Said she couldn't find any info on the issue and wanted to replace my receivers. NOT!! I'm getting pissed now actually. This is ridiculous. Update the software already Directv and fix this issue!!!You need to get her office to look at this thread.

[tsduke]

You need to get her office to look at this thread.

Link was in my email and we talked about it. Claimed she couldn't read it without logging in. I was walking through an airport when she called so I didn't try to figure that out.

[gquiring]

Link was in my email and we talked about it. Claimed she couldn't read it without logging in. I was walking through an airport when she called so I didn't try to figure that out.I just read the thread from my laptop that has never logged into DBSTalk and I had no issues reading the thread. So another line from D* .......

[brittonx]

I have been having significant audio dropouts on only one station for the last 3 years. It is our local Fox affiliate coming over the satellite. (Channel 31 in Rochester, NY).
It seems to be worse during Prime time and possible worse when two shows are being recorded but I cannot be certain of that.

[brittonx]

I wonder if the existing DirecTV STB hardware is becoming maxed out with all the new capabilities they have been cramming into them. With the sometimes sluggish guide and menu performance, I suspect the CPUs are at their limits.

[gquiring]

I sent an email to Ellen, lets see what happens.

[BKC]

One OTA channel, no cable, FIOS and UVerse are just things I read about on the internet, and with Dish no DNS..... I'm stuck here..... :nono2:

[gquiring]

I got a call from Ellen's office. They want to replace my DVR. I chatted for a few minutes with her office and they don't at this time see any issues with it being at their end. I don't buy it but the person who called did listen. My issues are still the nationals, I am not getting any drop outs on my locals (ABC, FOX, CBS or NBC). I did try and relay that on to her that if my equipment is at fault why do the locals have no issues? I can tune in TNT or SyFy and easily get a few dropouts each hour.

So it looks like more people need to call in and log their issues. At this point they don't see a problem.

[BKC]

I got a call from Ellen's office. They want to replace my DVR. I chatted for a few minutes with her office and they don't at this time see any issues with it being at their end. I don't buy it but the person who called did listen. My issues are still the nationals, I am not getting any drop outs on my locals (ABC, FOX, CBS or NBC). I did try and relay that on to her that if my equipment is at fault why do the locals have no issues? I can tune in TNT or SyFy and easily get a few dropouts each hour.

So it looks like more people need to call in and log their issues. At this point they don't see a problem.

Of course it isn't their fault, is it ever? http://www.speedinfinity.net/forums/Smileys/default/chuckle2.gif

[brucegrr]

Since I am the one who made the first (or second) contact on this issue.....I sent Directv another email (to their customer advocacy dept)

On November 21, 2009 I contacted you about the problem with audio dropouts. I was told this issue was going to be looked at.

I told you there was a large number of people complaining about this in the DBStalk forums.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=167900

People are calling tech support and being told to reboot their receivers, etc. This of course does NOT fix this problem.

A person posted today that they contacted Directv through this email feature and was told that the problem was not on Directv's end. If it is not Directv's problem then whose problem is it?

If there are audio dropouts across a broad spectrum of channels then an individual broadcaster is not the blame. This is either a problem on the head end or a hardware problem. (either the DVR or a combination of the DVR and the audio equipment the customer is using)

I would appreciate being contacted about this.

Thank you for your help.

I will let you know what response I receive.

This is a Directv problem.

[BKC]

Cool. I contacted them on Nov. 13 and several more times since then and they called me once. No joy.......

[BKC]

In fact I just looked and I have seven different "Reference #s" LOL

[brucegrr]

In fact I just looked and I have seven different "Reference #s" LOL

you are special :)

I hope this problem get sfixed SOON.

It is complete 100% BS for Directv to suggest this is not a Directv problem.

I had audio dropout on three different channels last night.

Bruce

[gquiring]

I'm not tracking the software updates these days, is there any way to see if a national rollout was done around Nov 2009? What else could have changed around that time to start the issue?

[tsduke]

I'm not tracking the software updates these days, is there any way to see if a national rollout was done around Nov 2009? What else could have changed around that time to start the issue?

You can see the last update on your receiver. Mine were updated 11/3.

Right when the problem started!

[Jedon]

I'm a brand new customer ( Jan 8 ) and had about a 1 minute audio dropout on Comedy Central while trying to watch Southpark last night. I haven't read the whole thread yet but perhaps if can can coordinate and see if ever we are having the same audio dropout on the same channel at the same time then we can determine if it's the DVR/LMB etc or if it's on their side. Maybe make a log in this thread:
Jan 12 8:15:30 PM 8:16:30PM Comedy Central
I didn't note the time, that was just an example.

[BKC]

I hope this problem get sfixed SOON.

It is complete 100% BS for Directv to suggest this is not a Directv problem.

Bruce

http://www.speedinfinity.net/forums/Smileys/default/bingo.gif

[wavemaster]

D* is actually sending another tech tomorrow to tell me my system is OK. What a waste of resources. The rep even insisted that they have never heard of this? Talk about BS.

After the 100th call about it it would be flagged in the CS software and "known" by anyone that sat at the CS desk and looked at the screen. I would be willing to bet there is a well scripted response the techs are supposed to follow in response.

The fact that they are hiding from it points more and more to them and not the provider. Why would they even begin to waste the resources of sending a tech here again if it was someone else s fault?

I just wish they were honest about it.

[gquiring]

You can see the last update on your receiver. Mine were updated 11/3.

Right when the problem started!Same here 11/3!! That's too much of coincidence for my reasoning.

[brucegrr]

Well Directv called in response to my email.

Not too helpful....

When I tried to mention this thread (which she was aware of) she told me she couldn't speak to me about any other customers problem. She wanted to focus on my problem alone. I told her the forum thread was relevant to the problem because it showed that it is not an isolated problem and that it is not specific to one broadcaster or DVR or setup.

I told her, once again, that I thought it was a Direct problem. That the sheer number of forum posts suggests it is a Directv problem. Either on the head end OR an equipment issue. Either way it is a Directv problem.

I did say that Onkyo AV receivers were mentioned a number of times in this thread and I wondered if there could be any connection? Of course the answer was to disconnect the AV receiver. Not gonna happen.

I am quite happy to help Directv get to the bottom of this. I am not quite happy to get the stock Directv answers to fixing the problem. Rebooting, replacing receivers is NOT going to fix this.

Bruce

[BKC]

There's a surprise lol

[BKC]

I thought I would rattle their cage again. Looks like it will be taken care of. :lol:

Thanks for writing us back.

I'm sorry to hear that your audio problem has remained unresolved. I want to assure you that we value your business and we want to make things right.

I just wanted to let you know that I have re-forwarded your email for special handling. A specialist will respond as soon as an agent is available (likely within 48 hours). For immediate assistance, please call us at 1-800-531-5000.

Thanks again for writing. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

[Stuart Sweet]

Folks, let's continue the discussion here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=161262

[gquiring]

Folks, let's continue the discussion here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=161262That's really a different issue is it not? I am well aware of the bripps from many months ago but I have not had one in ages. These are just mutes, no sound for a second or two. I'm not sure it's right to combine the topics?

[brucegrr]

Yeah this is specifically audio drop outs. I made the mistake of posting the link for this thread on the other thread and caused a bit on confusion.

My apologies.

According to Directv they are monitoring this thread. If so then it is important to post relevant problems with audio drop outs.

I have not had a brrppp in a long long long time. Audiodrops? About 15 minutes ago.

[BKC]

Folks, let's continue the discussion here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=161262

wth? Nothing to do?

[brucegrr]

I sent Stuart an email. We can disregard his request to move the discussion.

[BKC]

I already did lol

[Davenlr]

Ill add my name to the list.... Watching CNN coverage and have noticed at least 6 audio drop outs (short enough they didnt even trigger a signal loss on the a/v receiver (Denon toslink connection))...and this was on coverage as well as CNN's commercials. Been going on for weeks, but Ive just ignored it up until now.

[brucegrr]

Ill add my name to the list.... Watching CNN coverage and have noticed at least 6 audio drop outs (short enough they didnt even trigger a signal loss on the a/v receiver (Denon toslink connection))...and this was on coverage as well as CNN's commercials. Been going on for weeks, but Ive just ignored it up until now.

You raise an interesting point I have not considered before. MY AV receiver is quick to react to Dolby/non Dolby or audio signal changes. But these audio drops never cause any change with the audio receiver.

Hmm..........

I know we are close to another software release. I am curious to see if this problem is fixed.

[gquiring]

My Yamaha receiver detects the dropouts, I see the display change when it occurs. I wish I had known when I spoke to Ellen's office that there was a software update exactly at the time this problem started, that clearly tells me what caused the issue.

[BKC]

I told the lady who was supposed to be an engineer (yeah right) that when she called. Didn't seem to mean much to her

[Davenlr]

I know we are close to another software release. I am curious to see if this problem is fixed.

No.

[brucegrr]

:(

[BKC]

:(

http://www.speedinfinity.net/forums/Smileys/default/yeahthat.gif

[Rocko62580]

Well Directv called in response to my email.

Not too helpful....

When I tried to mention this thread (which she was aware of) she told me she couldn't speak to me about any other customers problem. She wanted to focus on my problem alone. I told her the forum thread was relevant to the problem because it showed that it is not an isolated problem and that it is not specific to one broadcaster or DVR or setup.

I told her, once again, that I thought it was a Direct problem. That the sheer number of forum posts suggests it is a Directv problem. Either on the head end OR an equipment issue. Either way it is a Directv problem.

I did say that Onkyo AV receivers were mentioned a number of times in this thread and I wondered if there could be any connection? Of course the answer was to disconnect the AV receiver. Not gonna happen.

I am quite happy to help Directv get to the bottom of this. I am not quite happy to get the stock Directv answers to fixing the problem. Rebooting, replacing receivers is NOT going to fix this.

Bruce

I also have an Onkyo receiver, and it appears that this may be compounding the problem.

[hardcorrwin]

been having a consistent problem with hockey games on Comcast Sports Bay Area/California HD. Even last night's game that was simulcast on NHL HD had the dropouts, so it seems to be coming from Comcast Sports, but a DTV issue. I have a Yamaha HDMI receiver.

[chudgins]

my audio dropouts seem to only be happening on my black HR-21, haven't noticed it on my HR-20 or H-20 or any of my standard def receivers. Mine is also happening on multiple channels. Thought it might be a problem with my new Sony LCD TV as the audio is gone from the TV speakers and receiver that is getting the signal from the TV. I have the HR-21 connected directly to the receiver and when I switch over during a dropout, I'm still getting the audio from the direct connection making me believe it's something with the HDMI connection, cable or my TV

[John Carter]

I would appreciate knowing if there is a DBSTalk thread devoted to Directv video 'hiccups', too ? I get video 'brrpps' on Directv ABC (720p) broadcasts as well as Fox (720p) and would like to know of other members experience.

[hdtvluvr]

I have a Yamaha RXV-3900 and have audio dropouts on recorded material. Haven't noticed any dropouts on live shows.

This week, I was trying to catch up on the CSI's and NCIS episodes that I had recorded. They were totally unwatchable due to the audio dropouts. The "digital" flag on the yamaha kept going off too during the audio dropouts. While I was trying to watch recordings I was also recording the original CSI. I decided to watch a few minutes live and didn't have any dropouts. I switched to the recording and the dropouts were terrible.

Is this a HD issue? Or a DVR issue? Of course, all of these shows are CBS and I recorded them off the D* feed. Friday, I pulled the plug on the DVR and was able too watch Grey's Anatomy without too many audio dropouts. However, while watching the Private Practice crossover show the dropouts started back and occurred for several seconds every 30 seconds to a minute. It became unwatchable.

Using a HR20-700

[Spoffo]

I've had them consistently, but not very frequently, and they seem to be more associated with recordings from certain channels (especially Showtime for me) than others.

I just caught up with this thread and haven't read through all 10 pages, but, since the problem seems to be associated with digital audio to various receiver brands, has anyone tried switching to an analog audio connection to the receiver to see if they go away?

I'm mainly using an early silver HR20 with external hard disk, feeding an Onkyo receiver via optical.

[SFjr]

I am going HDMI from my HR20-100 to my Onkyo 805 and I get them very often. My audio flag on the Onkyo also shows the audio drop and then re-establishes a Dolby Digital connection. I only watch HD channels and so I can't say if it affects SD channels also. It's horrible on ESPN channels and my local HD via DirecTv. I have to switch to my antenna it's gotten so bad on the local channels. Have to go back and redo my series links...

[akopperl]

Are all of the audio dropouts repeatable if you rewind and try to replay that segment?

I had an HR21 DVR for about 2+ years and never experienced any issues of note until the November software update. After that update, I began to experience occasional audio dropouts (all repeatable if I hit rewind). They always seemed to occur on the same shows or networks - shows of note Dexter and Heroes.

My HR21 died this week - the unit began to constantly freeze and reboot itself. I got a replacement on Friday (HR23) and installed the unit. The only change I made from the HR21 setup was I decided to use the HDMI cable that DirecTV provided as I had another use for the cable I was previously using. The DVR came with software dated April 2009. I used the unit for about 30 minutes on Friday and had no issues. Overnight it was upgraded to the November release. I began to use the DVR for extended periods of time this weekend and I am getting more dropouts than ever before. For most shows, I get dropouts every 4-10 minutes, however most of them were not repeatable. If I hit rewind the scene would play cleanly over 90% of the time. I did notice that if the front display of my receiver lost the audio signal - it was repeatable. When the audio signal format remained on the display, the audio dropout could not be replicated. The only show where I did not get any dropouts was the Golden Globes which I watched tonight from 9:20 PM to 11:00 PM.

At this point, I am totally confused. Am I getting an increase in dropouts due to the change in HDMI cable? Is my receiver (Integra) to blame? Did I get a bad HR23? Very frustrating. I may change the HDMI cable tomorrow and see if that improves things - but this is extremely hard to diagnose and time consuming. Also, I don't want to return or send my receiver in for repair unless I am certain it is to blame.

[dsm]

Just for grins, try disabling Dolby Digital. This always eliminates the dropouts for me. The release before last I thought they had finally gone away, but with the latest release I get them again. I have an Onkyo receiver and personally I'm suspecting there is an incompatibility with the box and an Onkyo receiver. A few others please post your receiver brands if you have this issue.

steve

[celticpride]

I have the onkyo 805 av receiver hooked up with my hr21-100,and i have been losing my audio on cbs for the last couple of weeks. I had to turn off my dolby digital during the nfl playoffs saturday, after 30 ent by i turned dolby back on in my dvr and it worked the rest of the game. my wife is to the point where it wouldn't bother her at all if i switched to another provider,(i also lost audio during the mentalist ,ncis, and big bang theory.)

[BKC]

I tried turning off DD a long time ago and it didn't work on mine.

I just did a search at another forum and I was watching the Truck race on Speed on 10-31-09 and noticed all the dropouts so I ask if anyone else was having the problem. I just looked and the last software update downloaded on 10-29-09....... hummm

[BKC]

I'm back to square one. DTV had sent me an email asking me to call. I just called and they said "We show your issue as being fixed" http://www.speedinfinity.net/forums/Smileys/default/harvey.gif

[gquiring]

Nothing fixed on my end, I watched some TNT today and lots of audio dropouts.

[akopperl]

Are certain DVR models worse than others?

I had an HR21 hooked to an Integra receiver and had some dropouts - but they occurred infrequently and I was always able to replicate the dropout. My HR21 died and I replaced it with an HR23. I still get the same number of dropouts that can be replicated (easy to detect as the display on my receiver drops the format as well). However, now I get a large number of dropouts that can not be replicated (they are so short in duration that the display on my receiver does not drop the format). They occur so often on some channels that the shows become unwatchable.

[hdtvluvr]

Well, I started to watch Cold Case tonight (recorded yesterday) and it was unwatchable due to the dropouts. Video had issues too. The video seemed to stutter.

I did a red button reset and that cleared everything up. All of the audio and video was back.

I did the red button reset last week and it cleared things up for about 2 hours of shows before it started again.

We don't watch very much live so I don't know if I have audio dropouts during live shows. Is everyone here just having audio issues on recordings or does it happen on live stuff too?

[gquiring]

Tonight I got an audio dropout on NBC's Chuck. It was pre-recorded and I rewound and bypassed my Yamaha receiver and used the audio on my Panasonic V10 Plasma via HDMI and the result was very interesting. No dropout but instead it was garbled junk. I am going to now assume the dropouts are bad data streams from DirectTV and our receivers are smart enough to just mute it.

THIS IS CLEARLY A DIRECTV ISSUE, and I hope the D* folks are reading this.

I am going to send Ellen's office another email and suggest a few others do the same thing. This is getting very tiresome.

[akopperl]

As I believe other people have mentioned, I switched Dolby Digital off and the dropouts stopped. I was watching The Express on HBO and I was getting a dropout every 3-5 minutes - I switched Dolby Digital Off -- no more dropouts for the last 75 minutes.

The one thing that I want to get clarified (particularly from HR23 owners) is whether the dropouts can be replicated by rewinding and replaying the scene in ALL cases. With the HR21, I could always replicate the dropout but they were few and far between (about 1-2 per night). With the HR23, I get the same 1-2 that can be replicated - but the majority cannot be replicated. If I replay the scene, I can often hear what was previously missing. I'm trying to decide whether I should return my HR23 (its only 3 days old) or if the HR23 behaves differently from the older units.

[hdtvluvr]

Here's a thought of what we might add to posts when dropouts occur:

A/V Receiver
D* Receiver
Channel - OTA or D* feed
Live or Recording

Here's mine:

A/V Receiver
Yamaha RXV-3900

D* Receiver
HR20-700

Channel - OTA or D* feed
Both

Live or Recording
Recording. We don't watch much live stuff so don't know about live material.

[BKC]

Mine happen with DD on or off, happen with or without audio receiver. Speed is the worst and ESPN is second.

[SuperZ06]

Watching (or trying to watch) Barrett-Jackson on Speed HD. Stopped counting after 25 audio dropouts the first hour. Sometimes it's every minute , sometimes none for 10 minutes. 2 months now, sometimes acknowledging the problem sometimes denying it. THIS SUCKS !! :mad::mad:
All I know is that it better be fixed by NASCAR time or I am out !!
Are you listening D* ?

[BKC]

I think it's quite clear no one from DTV reads here. lol

Only a few weeks until the duels and Speed carries them, I'll be ready to stick an ice pick in my ears before those two races are over.

[betterdan]

I tried turning of DD last night and it did stop the audio drop outs on Fox News. I switched to a local channel later and I still got a few bbbrrriips though. I just switched it back to DD.

[djwww98]

So how long have these people been doing digital tv? And they don't have it figured out yet? :nono2: How much longer is this going to go on? How much longer before I get my money back?

[akopperl]

A/V Receiver
Integra DHC-80.1

D* Receiver
HR23-700

Channel - OTA or D* feed
D* feed only

Live or Recording
Both

Last night, I connected an optical cable to my HR23 and set my preamp to use HDMI for video and optical for audio. I still got some dropouts that caused my Integra's display to show that it had lost the audio signal. However, with HDMI - I was getting audio drops every 4-10 minutes on many channels (oddly enough the Integra display did not acknowledge the drop by displaying a loss of signal). Therefore, the optical cable improved things somewhat.

Until last week, I was using an HR21 (HDMI for both audio and video) and I was only experiencing dropouts similar to what I am getting with the optical cable now with the HR23. I don't understand why I am getting significantly more audio dropouts using HDMI for audio with the HR23. What is different in the HR23 that would cause more audio dropouts than the HR21 using HDMI for audio?

[07A3]

Watching (or trying to watch) Barrett-Jackson on Speed HD. Stopped counting after 25 audio dropouts the first hour. Sometimes it's every minute , sometimes none for 10 minutes. 2 months now, sometimes acknowledging the problem sometimes denying it. THIS SUCKS !! :mad::mad:
All I know is that it better be fixed by NASCAR time or I am out !!
Are you listening D* ?

Well at least I know I am not alone. I had been having trouble with our local NBC channel (Orlando) since November, but since I only watch The Office and 30 Rock I didn't think much of it. This week I started watching Barrett-Jackson on Speed as well and I am getting dropouts every 1-3 minutes, just like the ones on NBC. I have not noticed this any other channels, and I have not had this issue since I got this equipment (HR21 w/ external hard drive) 2+ years ago. I normally only watch Barrett-Jackson and F1 on Speed, so I had not noticed it until now. I was thinking maybe it was a dish alignment issue, but it appears it is probably software related since these issues seem to coincide with the last update (no issues before then). I hope they fix it soon...it is very annoying.

[Champcar#1]

Just updating members that here on the Oregon coast audio dropouts of Speed the last two nights during Barrett-Jackson also. My Yamaha receiver RX-V2500 shows the surround sound readout dropping out also. This has been an issue since I had HD installed about 5 months ago.

[wavemaster]

So how long have these people been doing digital tv? And they don't have it figured out yet? :nono2: How much longer is this going to go on? How much longer before I get my money back?

Thats funny stuff there.

D* won't even admit that they have had complaints. They just lie about it.

I have a case manager calling twice a week now after 2 service calls to the house. The last call he said quite specifically that after talking to the DVR software development dept. that they have never heard of any audio drop out issues, and to tell me that it is the source.

Well if the folks that need to fix the issue say they have never heard of it - good luck on a fix. Thanks for the lies D*. What a POS way to do business.

And for all you fanboys with your blue and white pom-poms that continue with the party line (its the stations fault) ANSWER me this.

If while watching a show on your dvr (we have 6 that we can reproduce it on) you have the audio drop out, you then jump back and the audio is there perfectly - how can this be the source? Obviously the "source" sent the full audio, otherwise it would not be there when you went back - it would always be gone.

To get an honest answer would be really refreshing.

[leprechaunshawn]

Holy crap!! I'm watching SportsCenter right now and just had 6 dropouts in less than 5 minutes.