ABC (network) Center channel problems?

[TBlazer07]

I have noticed for many months that while watching the ABC Network using optical digital connection to my A/V RX I am constantly losing sound from the center channel. The center channel randomly goes off and on.

It happens watching BOTH OFF-AIR (NYC DMA) through my HR20 and through DirecTV sat and doesn't happen on all programming but it's always the same programs (there are quite a few of them). It seems to mostly be programming that is not broadcast in HD (news shows like 20-20, regular shows like Shark Tank and many others).

I don't experience this on any other network or channel, just ABC.

[gfrang]

Just checking it now in Boston locals, caught the end of Teen Kids News. Watching CityLine now Center channel is fine now will check again later when more sd channels come on.


Update:All is fine in this neck of the woods. Their was a problem with every thing breaking and total drop out in ABC ch 4 a few weeks ago but must have fixed it.Center channel is fine on both ota and D*.

[Jeremy W]

It's definitely not the network. It's probably your local affiliate.

[TBlazer07]

It's definitely not the network. It's probably your local affiliate.

My "local affiliate" is "THE network." :) WABC in NYC. It seems to have been going on for a long time all over the country.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=2405710&postcount=9
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=999420&page=3
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2272271&highlight=abc+center+channel#post2272271
http://forums.highdefdigest.com/hdtv-programming-info/6591-abc-hd-problems-2.html
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/167799-audio-problems-new-vip722-dvr.html
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=166877
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=78215
http://tivobeta2.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=372183

[Lee L]

There is something funky about the way ABC distributes everything that causes the affiliates to have poroblems, seemingly randomly. We have had the same issues posted above pop up a couple of times here and calls or emails to the engineering staff of our local station got them cleared up. I am pretty sure others in local subforums at AVS have had similar results. Not sure if some piece of equipment resets or goes bad or what, but it seems to be a some interaction between teh national feed and the locals.

[litzdog911]

It's a common ABC issue. Still happens too often with our Seattle ABC channel, too .... both DirecTV and off-air.

[Jeremy W]

My "local affiliate" is "THE network." :) WABC in NYC. It seems to have been going on for a long time all over the country.
It happens all over the country, but the problem is with your affiliate. Even though your affiliate is owned by and shares facilities with the network, they still have to go through the same encoding process every other affiliate does, and that's where the audio gets screwed up.

[TBlazer07]

It happens all over the country, but the problem is with your affiliate. Even though your affiliate is owned by and shares facilities with the network, they still have to go through the same encoding process every other affiliate does, and that's where the audio gets screwed up.

Your explanation sure sounds like the "Network" is the problem sending a bad feed to all the "affiliates." Why would dozens of ONLY ABC affiliates ALL be sending out bad signals?

Are you also saying that the national ABC feed sent to those with DNS is DIFFERENT than the "local" feeds I get from ABC through DirecTV? If that's the case why would channel 396 (ABC east national) have the same problem as my "local" feed (ABC 7 NY) AND my OTA feed?

It obviously seems to be a problem originating from the mother ship. I can't imagine all these ABC affiliates having the same problem.

[litzdog911]

More likely not all ABC affiliates have the exact same audio processing equipment. We still see issues with a few Fox affiliates suffering the "brrrrppp audio" problem (now typically more a "dropout" issue), and that issue only affected affiliates with certain MPEG/AC3 encoding equipment.

[Jeremy W]

Your explanation sure sounds like the "Network" is the problem sending a bad feed to all the "affiliates." Why would dozens of ONLY ABC affiliates ALL be sending out bad signals?
They're not all sending out bad signals, they have just had similar problems in the past.

[GenTso]

This sounds similar to my issue, though I don't think I've noticed it occur on ABC. The two instances I can recall dropouts on the center (voice?) channel were Saturday while watching "We Were Soldiers" on either TNT or TBS and yesterday watching "Hunt for Red October" on HBO.

There have been other occasions as well, these are just the two specific instances I can think of. As I described in the other audio dropout thread, I'll hear voices and background noises/music in a comparatively reasonable volume 99 percent of the time, but sometimes the voice track will all of a sudden go practically silent while the background noise/music remains at the previous volume.

I simply assume that the dropout is on the center channel since it is most dialog on that channel. And if I remember correct, you can hear something coming through the center channel, but it's very muted compared to the music or sound effects.

[Jeremy W]

The two instances I can recall dropouts on the center (voice?) channel were Saturday while watching "We Were Soldiers" on either TNT or TBS and yesterday watching "Hunt for Red October" on HBO.
While it is certainly possible that both of those channels had technical difficulties on Saturday, I'd say it's more likely that something is wrong with your setup.