Seems like a good time to get a list of which HD MPEG-4 channels are still giving problems.
So, it's fairly well known that there are problems with the SAT feed that gives us audio dropouts on all MPEG-4 receivers with Dolby 5.1.
These dropouts have nothing to do with the hardware on our end, regardless of what DirecTV customer service may try to tell you.
If you have more than a random dropout every so often, then please post what channel is doing this and maybe the time/program you were watching, along with how many there were.
Things that will affect how bad these may be are whether you have Dolby set, and whether you're using your TV speakers, or running through an Audio Video Receiver. Some AVRs react much worse to these errors in the SAT feed than other AVRs, but the true source of the problem looks to be from the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 conversion process on the uplink.
The goal here is to gather useful data to point DirecTV to where they need to focus, much like rubbing a dog's nose in something to get his attention.
Please leave the rants,*****ing, etc. to one of the other threads, as "we know" it is frustrating but posting it here will only get in the way of "mining the data" and could become counter productive to the goal of this thread.
DirecTV has asked us to post which Audio Video Receiver we're using, as this affects the frequency and duration of the dropouts
This is merely a data gathering thread. Please allow it to be so, and vent on the other mile long thread about this subject, please
BKC said:
I would love to have this guy that wrote that email come and post. I would like him to explain how so many of us went to sleep one night and the audio was ok, got up the next morning with the blue light on after an update and had dropouts from that day on. I really don't like it when someone tells me what I didn't see.
It would also add a little creditability to what's in that email.
I could live with the dropouts until it's fixed if I weren't paying top dollar for the service. It's like a place advertising a 12 oz cup of coffee and only filling it 3/4 full but charging for a full cup. It's just not right.
Trying to keep a thread on track is like trying to herd cats.
Hopefully the rants & complaining will keep to a minimum as I asked in the first post.
The goal of the thread is to list the channels that have the most issues and which AVRs are being used.
Evidence: Audio Dropouts of up to 3-4 seconds, some (not all) with an audible "click" of AVR re-syncing
Occurrence: several per 30 min show
Channels: Numerous (maybe all) HD, with Bravo and Discovery, witnessed just last night
Source: HR20-700, DD = "on"
Connection: Optical
AVR: Onkyo TX-SR603X
Wow, its on pretty much all the channels I watch (except the local channels). Syfy, Cartoon, USA, ESPN and ESPN2. FX too. Cartoon is the worst for it though. Happens rarely on Fox News. It has been comical during Warehouse 13 where it seems to be timed to be a 1970's era censor. It has dropped out on crap, fraking, hell, and damn (I could tell from context and I got the fraking from a rerun).
Can we quit posting channels now? Looks like most of them have been reported. VOS, since you seem to be the only one with any DirecTV inside knowledge of this problem can you ask them to comment on the status and when the issue can be resolved.
Can we quit posting channels now? Looks like most of them have been reported. VOS, since you seem to be the only one with any DirecTV inside knowledge of this problem can you ask them to comment on the status and when the issue can be resolved.
While the channels may have been posted enough, please keep posting the frequency, length, and what your model of AVR is, as this looks to be the most important aspect as to how each of us see different amounts of these dropouts.
While the channels may have been posted enough, please keep posting the frequency, length, and what your model of AVR is, as this looks to be the most important aspect as to how each of us see different amounts of these dropouts.
While that may well be interesting shouldn't the main focus be to get DirecTV or whatever is causing the glitch in the DD audio stream fixed and not worry about how long AVR's are taking to recover from them?
While that may well be interesting shouldn't the main focus be to get DirecTV or whatever is causing the glitch in the DD audio stream fixed and not worry about how long AVR's are taking to recover from them?
The message I got today said this [the model] was important information to them and this was not "busy work".
Only after reading how some other models take longer than mine does, do I see now how some have this much more than I have had, since mine have been very short, but then my receiver doesn't take 1-2 seconds to cycle through the same glitch and some glitches that the receiver "sees" I don't hear as they are so short.
The message I got today said this [the model] was important information to them and this was not "busy work".
Only after reading how some other models take longer than mine does, do I see now how some have this much more than I have had, since mine have been very short, but then my receiver doesn't take 1-2 seconds to cycle through the same glitch and some glitches that the receiver "sees" I don't hear as they are so short.
Guess I just have to disagree with the direction that this is going then. It's like the old Doctor story about the man that says his arm hurts when he moves it like this, the Doctor says then don't move it like that anymore. Same thing goes, get rid of the glitch in the DD audio stream then who cares how long an AVR takes to recover from an error.
Also, maybe it's two different issues, one with error in the audio coming from the provider and the other an error being introduced by DirecTV. I logged drops at the same exact location in a Showtime east and west coast feed, which you said is probably error cause by Showtime.
Guess I just have to disagree with the direction that this is going then. It's like the old Doctor story about the man that says his arm hurts when he moves it like this, the Doctor says then don't move it like that anymore. Same thing goes, get rid of the glitch in the DD audio stream then who cares how long an AVR takes to recover from an error.
Also, maybe it's two different issues, one with error in the audio coming from the provider and the other an error being introduced by DirecTV. I logged drops at the same exact location in a Showtime east and west coast feed, which you said is probably error cause by Showtime.
I do see your point, and not sure why this information is so useful to the broadcast center, but they have asked for it and assured me it isn't "busy work", so I will try to keep being the go between and hope they will keep me in the loop to feed information both ways.
Just turned DD back on the other day to get some data. I haven't watched too much since turning it back on, but I got dropouts on:
Discovery HD
CNN HD
Animal Planet HD
Have an Onkyo TX-SR805. The dropouts usually last between 2 and 4 seconds. I don't really understand why they need this info though. I am hoping that they don't just come out with a list of recommended receivers to use with Directv instead of actually fixing the problem.
I very much doubt that will happen as everyone of them have this problem, and it's only that some have it for a shorter time than others. Mine doesn't last a second, but it's still there.
Folks, I've done a lot of cleanup in this thread. I appreciate some of you answering questions while I was sleeping, I genuinely do. But I feel the discussion was off topic and was in some cases bordering on questioning moderation. In order to avoid issuing infractions right and left I've simply deleted parts of this thread that didn't pertain to the topic.
If you have questions about what is appropriate to post or about any moderator's action, please send a message to a moderator or admin. Please do not post publicly.
Oh and by the way my HR24-500 had several audio drops on The Daily Show last night.
Channel: COMHD
Receiver: Yamaha HTR5940 Dolby Digital via coax digital audio out
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