Surround sound and audio problems - Page 2

arcimedes · 26-10-2010, 09:14

I have used a Yamaha DSPAX620 since January 2002 and havent heard any problems with 5.1 sound or normal sound. I have had the same SA V+ for what seems like forever

Perhaps Yamahas are better at decoding

dave t · 06-12-2010, 23:38

Ok, it's happening again right now.

All on demand content (films untested - I am not wasting money testing this!) is now broken for me, in that the audio is shifted entirely to the left channel. This includes both HDMI to the TV directly, and optical to my receiver.

It was fine yesterday, and the day before.

Normal TV channels are fine, and HD channels work as they should with 5.1 surround.

The preview channel that shows whilst you bring up the TV Choice listings also has the problem.

Is anyone awake now to test this? For a fair test - try 30 Rock HD (any episode) as that was what I was trying to watch. I watched the first 10 or so yesterday, and they were fine - not now.

Wild Oscar · 09-12-2010, 17:48

I don't know how competent you are at 'electrickery' , but I'd suggest taking the top cover off of your amp , getting a tin of suitable solvent cleaner (from Maplins for example .. ) and giving the circuit board and components a good clean!

dave t · 10-12-2010, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Oscar

I don't know how competent you are at 'electrickery' , but I'd suggest taking the top cover off of your amp , getting a tin of suitable solvent cleaner (from Maplins for example .. ) and giving the circuit board and components a good clean!

No need - recently had it serviced due to a relay/IC controlling the rear channels breaking (see earlier in the thread for that bit - it was causing confusion in the beginning because it was intermittent). It's got a clean bill of health now.

Furthermore, after my post above I discovered the problem could be partially fixed by rebooting the V+ box. I say partially, because it fixes any live-TV problems, but NOT recorded ones, or some on-demand.

The latest situation is now:

If Live-TV goes wrong - reboot - fixed
If On-Demand goes wrong - reboot - sometimes fixed (messed up films remain so for example)
Recorded programmes are stuck, as the fault is with either the signal or the box, and the audio is recorded incorrectly.

Note that this fault affects both the 5.1 optical audio to my receiver, and the 2 channel HDMI audio going to the TV, so it is NOT my amp doing this as it is out of the circuit when using the TV audio.

If one channel or programme has broken audio, other channels often work, as do any correctly recorded programmes, and DVD/BluRay ALWAYS work flawlessly.

Latest example of a programme showing audio faults:

Living HD - Chuck (Thurs 9th Dec 2010)
Dialogue was shifted to the left rear channel, with music effects coming from the centre channel. As if the speaker setup had been rotated about 100 degrees counterclockwise relative to the listener. When I switched to the TV audio, it was all on the left channel. I know this could likely be fixed by rebooting, unfortunately I couldn't reboot to fix this, as the box was recording something else too. Had to scrap the HD Chuck and record it from the +1 in SD - rubbish solution!

And yet, at the same time that Chuck was not working, all other HD channels broadcasting in 5.1 were fine (I went through them). This is odd, as it suggests a fault with the specific channel, but I have yet to find another customer with the problem, so...

Time for a 3rd V+ box?

1st: SA V+ Overheats and locks up
2nd: Samsung V+ Stable in use, but messes up 5.1 surround almost daily.
What will number 3 bring? :-|

ps - out of interest, does anyone reading this watch Chuck on a surround system? Since it moved to Living, any background music during the show seems to be heavily weighted to the rear channels, even when the audio is seemingly working correctly. Is this the programme? It never did it on Virgin One. Dialogue and surround effects (doors, gunfire) all come from the right places.

fiveupfront · 12-12-2010, 21:20

I hope this helps you determine the problem.

I am watching Chuck on a Sky+ HD system, episode recorded 9 Dec 2010 but I'm watching it from the hard drive. I have EXACTLY the symptoms you describe.

Speech and other main audio is predominantly coming through rear-left channel and supplementary sound effects are coming from the front speakers.

I have no problems that I am aware of with any other programme, live or recorded, and my system appears to be functioning normally. I did also notice that last week's Chuck sounded "odd" and wondered if it was a novelty episode with some sort of super-surround sound effect.

Given the huge disparity between our viewing technology, I hope this helps you point the finger, presumably at the way Chuck is being broadcast.

I look forward to hearing any further updates.

Tim

dave t · 12-12-2010, 21:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by fiveupfront

I hope this helps you determine the problem.

I am watching Chuck on a Sky+ HD system, episode recorded 9 Dec 2010 but I'm watching it from the hard drive. I have EXACTLY the symptoms you describe.

Speech and other main audio is predominantly coming through rear-left channel and supplementary sound effects are coming from the front speakers.

I have no problems that I am aware of with any other programme, live or recorded, and my system appears to be functioning normally. I did also notice that last week's Chuck sounded "odd" and wondered if it was a novelty episode with some sort of super-surround sound effect.

Given the huge disparity between our viewing technology, I hope this helps you point the finger, presumably at the way Chuck is being broadcast.

I look forward to hearing any further updates.

Hi Tim,

Since my post I got some response from the Virgin Media forums. It turns out that it might not be just me afterall. Two others on there reported the Chuck episode as being messed up (audio on the left channel only). This was on both optical and HMDI stereo.

But since you watched it on Sky+ HD, that settles it that it's Living/Chuck that caused that problem (not the V+ box or Virgin), and may not be relevant to the original problem I had, as I get it on FilmFlex and on demand content too.

I will need to keep a note of programmes and times/dates so I can do a decent comparison. As I only just started making the list, I only have Chuck so far, which isn't helpful.

If anyone is willing to help investigate this, please bookmark this thread or subscribe, and I will post any future programmes with date/time and a short description of the apparent fault. Please post your own, if any, too - though audio dropouts via optical are a seperate issue, so leave those out of here for now.

fiveupfront · 16-12-2010, 23:11

Just to update, watching this week's 16 Dec episode from the hard drive as per the week before - all is as it should be this week.

Perhaps somebody finally realised the red plug goes in the RED hole...

DAVE O · 26-12-2010, 09:49

Hi Dave t - I have been having problems with audio as well and its been going on now for around 2 months but is intermittent. I have a V+ box (One of newer samsung ones) connected using optical cable to a sony amp. This was happening really bad when watching Film4 HD on Christmas eve,so switched to SD and the audio was fine. I am going to check now to see if the left/right channels are affected as I haven't noticed. Have you had any problems recently?