5.1 Audio Fix Implementation – Your Feedback Needed

[wd0423]

We’ve been trialing a fix for the 5.1 audio dropout problem with local HD channels in Austin, Texas and a few national HD channels. We’re pretty excited by the results and have begun implementing a plan to apply this fix across all our local and national HD channels. Before we start patting ourselves on the back, we need to be sure our efforts translate into an improved experience for our customers. We really want to hear from you about your experiences with Surround sound on these channels with the fix in place.

I doubt that any of you need these instructions but just in case:  Perform the following steps to verify your U-verse service is configured for Surround sound audio:

1. Select Menu on your U-verse Remote Control
2. From the Menu, select Options
3. From the Options Menu, select Audio/Language Options
4. From the Audio/Language Options menu, select Digital audio output
5. From the Digital audio output menu, select Surround sound
6. Select Save

Please post your comments/feedback here. I’ll be monitoring this post frequently for any feedback you want to share or questions you may have about this fix.  As we apply the fix to more channels, I’ll post those channel numbers here as well.

Thanks in advance for your help. The U-verse technical team greatly appreciates it.

[wd0423]

U-verse Operations has also upgraded the "Big 4" channels, i.e., ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX in the following VHOs:

• Dallas
• Detroit
• Indianapolis
• Los Angeles

I'll post locations and channels here as we get them upgraded. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

[Redwing55]

Just a quick one. Recorded 1210.  It is MUCH better, but I got 2 drops in the hour that I watched(skipped commercials though.)   The were also shorter induration. And, yes when I rewound and replayed, the drop was in the same place.

I live in Midland, MI which may be in your Saginaw region.

I'll keep my ears open and try to remember.  1602 should be a great test when I watch that.

Great to see a fix and I really appreciate asking for feedback.

[wd0423]

Thanks Redwing55. I will be aggregating the feedback you all provide and we'll use it to guide our next steps.

[Glynne]

Congratulations, So far so good.  A shame it took 2+ years to fix or track it down.  Tried many of the channels listed in the other post.  Weather Channel HD (DD 2.0) was the easiest to try first as it is easier to hear the problem w/music in the programing.  Tried other channels with full 5.1 streams also and heard no dropouts from my somewhat short samples.  Tried the Houston locals and though, not listed, seems you've got to some of them already patched.   Houston's channel 39 (KIAH) may have not been patched yet.

Current config:

Onkyo TX-SR606 & Samsung LN52A550 (passes through Onkyo first then LCD TV)

Component video (due to poor black levels on HDMI (perhaps your next challenge?) and TOS-Link audio

Glynne

[RCSMG ACE - Master]

Better late than never.  IMHO

[chrisw]

Tested ch. 1112 TBSHD, 7:30-8pm PDT

also ch. 1902 STARZHD East 8-8:30pm PDT

No issues, sounds great.

Using HDMI to send 5.1 to my receiver.

[darkenergy]

Watched White Collar on TNTHD recorded in St. Louis tonight and STILL had audio dropouts on my Yamaha surround sound receiver connected by optical cable....  NOT fixed.

[chrisw]

I'm having audio drop-outs on ch. 1904, Starz Edge HD.

Every other channel I've tested seems fine so far (1112 TBS HD, 1902 Starz HD East, 1932 Encore HD.)

[woecarlson]

My issue seems to have reversed itself (on a different STB) since we were initially installed. In the beginning, it was the 5.1 that had the dropouts, but since we swapped the DVR with a standard STB for the living room it's the Dolby 2.0 (Pro Logic) that does the dropouts, and boy does it ever! I just listened to a few of the channels on your list (1134 E!, 1854 SHO2HD for example) and it sounded like a bad cell phone connection.

Are you guys aware of a specific dropout issue with only the 2.0 Pro Logic sources?

Thanks,

[wd0423]

Thanks for the feedback Glynne. I need to verify but I believe we rolled out the fix for the black level issue with the last Client Release. When you get a chance, you might check that out if you haven't recently.

Thanks again.

[wd0423]

woecarlson - I wasn't aware of a problem with 2.0 Pro Logic sources. (I'll add it to the list.) Can you tell me your setup? Also, do you notice drop outs with any of your SD channels?

[johntxloon]

Doesn't work in 76244 on the local channels.. Still locks up audio

[jeff92k7]

I have been a TV customer for about 2 weeks now and really hadn't noticed much of the audio drops.  I did occaisionally get a very brief "glitch" where the sound would go away for a split-second.  It basically seemed like a timecode sync error between my Denon AVR and the Uverse DVR.  I would get that glitch about once every 20-30 minutes during 5.1 encoded programming.

Last night, I noticed that I didn't get any glitches (or as many).  We didn't watch much TV last night, but we did watch ABCFamily HD and USA HD for about 30 minutes each.  I did get one glitch in the ABCFamily show, but it didn't seem to be the same type of glitch I had heard before and seemed almost like it may have been in the source material.

I'll keep checking, and will post back if I do get any errors, but so far, it seems better.

Jeff

DFW, Texas area

[wd0423]

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darkenergy wrote:

Watched White Collar on TNTHD recorded in St. Louis tonight and STILL had audio dropouts on my Yamaha surround sound receiver connected by optical cable....  NOT fixed.

---

Were they accompanied with video events or just the audio? Did you experience this with any other channels on the list?

[wd0423]

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chrisw wrote:

I'm having audio drop-outs on ch. 1904, Starz Edge HD.

Every other channel I've tested seems fine so far (1112 TBS HD, 1902 Starz HD East, 1932 Encore HD.)

---

Did you notice any problem with the video when you experienced drop-outs on 1904?

[wd0423]

Thanks for the feedback folks! We know you didn't sign up with U-verse to help us make it better, but the truth is your feedback is very valuable to us. If you experience 5.1 audio drop-outs on one of the HD channels we listed as upgraded, it would be helpful if you could note in your feedback if you also had a problem with the video or if was audio-only. A description of your equipment is also helpful. You don't need to provide that in every post. 

Regards,

[Summertom]

I have been tormented by the 5.1 dropout issue for about 18 months since I joined U-Verse. I am happy and thankful that attention is now being paid to it. I watched USA HD network and Syfy HD network for 2 hours last night. Where there was once dropouts was now silent and perfect. I am using a Yamaha V-496 receiver with an optical link.

I know this sounds a bit greedy, is there a chance the local networks will be fixed in time for football season beginning in a couple of weeks? I live in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. I'm sure a lot of people would like to see this happen.

Thank you for finally solving such an irritating problem.

[wd0423]

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Summertom wrote:

I have been tormented bu the 5.1 dropout issue for about 18 months since I joined U-Verse. I am happy and thankful that attention is now being paid to it. I watched USA HD network and Syfy HD network for 2 hours last night. Where there was once dropouts was now silent and perfect. I am using a Yamaha V-496 receiver with an optical link.

I know this sounds a bit greedy, is there a chance the local networks will be fixed in time for football season beginning in a couple of weeks? I live in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. I'm sure a lot of people would like to see this happen.

Thank you for finally solving such an irritating problem.

---

The plan is to get the local HD Big Four channels upgraded as quickly as the needed new headend hardware can be made available to us from the supplier. Two weeks might be a bit aggressive but I wouldn't rule it out.

We are extremely pleased to see our efforts translate to an improved audio experience for our customers. Root cause analysis turned out to be much more complex than many of us thought it would be. 

[SomeJoe7777 ACE - Geek]

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wd0423 wrote:

We are extremely pleased to see our efforts translate to an improved audio experience for our customers. Root cause analysis turned out to be much more complex than many of us thought it would be. 

---

I figured that the problem was highly complex.  This type of jitter issue can take huge efforts to diagnose.  Thank you for your efforts to correct the problem.

I recorded some programming last night on one of the channels that's listed in the announcement as one of the ones where the fix is implemented.  I'll be watching it and analyzing the audio on it tonight and will let you know the results.

I also saw that you mentioned that the black levels issue on HDMI was supposedly addressed in the last firmware update, I'll check that out as well.

Any news from your group on the baseball game recordings problem as described here?  There are many people waiting on a fix on that as well.

I only wish there was more communication between your Engineering group and the front-line tech support and premises technicians.  To this day, a majority of them still do not know that 5.1 audio drops are even a known issue, and hardly any of them know about the HDMI black levels problem.  Its frustrating to a customer who calls in that they are walked through needless troubleshooting steps and improper information for these issues.  How many truck rolls were dispatched because of 5.1 dropouts when there wasn't a thing that the premises tech could have done to solve the problem?

[mibrnsurg ACE - Geek]

I have a hunch the HDMI black level has been addressed; a couple weeks ago I started sensing my 2 lightening settings on my Panasonic plasma were looking 'washed out'.  I had to lower the brightness on those 2 settings to get them to 'look' right. 

Don't think they are completly addressed as I still use those 2 settings, but have to say the lesser of the 2 lighening settings has been working much more than before.

Chris

__________________________________________________________________________

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-866-465-1496 for direct TS to avoid Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

[bedwards_1]

Gee for a company that "cares nothing about it's customers," you guys are doing a bang up job!

Check this thread: http://utalk.att.com/t5/TV-Programming/STARZ-ON-DEMAND-HD-only-in-stereo-not-5-1/td-p/246773

[wd0423]

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SomeJoe7777 wrote:

---

wd0423 wrote:

We are extremely pleased to see our efforts translate to an improved audio experience for our customers. Root cause analysis turned out to be much more complex than many of us thought it would be. 

---

I figured that the problem was highly complex.  This type of jitter issue can take huge efforts to diagnose.  Thank you for your efforts to correct the problem.

I recorded some programming last night on one of the channels that's listed in the announcement as one of the ones where the fix is implemented.  I'll be watching it and analyzing the audio on it tonight and will let you know the results.

I also saw that you mentioned that the black levels issue on HDMI was supposedly addressed in the last firmware update, I'll check that out as well.

Any news from your group on the baseball game recordings problem as described here?  There are many people waiting on a fix on that as well.

I only wish there was more communication between your Engineering group and the front-line tech support and premises technicians.  To this day, a majority of them still do not know that 5.1 audio drops are even a known issue, and hardly any of them know about the HDMI black levels problem.  Its frustrating to a customer who calls in that they are walked through needless troubleshooting steps and improper information for these issues.  How many truck rolls were dispatched because of 5.1 dropouts when there wasn't a thing that the premises tech could have done to solve the problem?

---

I was not aware of this issue with recorded content. This is a lame response, but this would fall into another piece of the puzzle I don't typically get involved with. It doesn't prevent me from passing this on to those who do however.

[trparky]

Is there a potential that this hardware change at the headends will fix possible picture/audio feed issues too?

Why I ask is that for some time now I've been experiencing issues in which the audio and video would freeze up for a second or two on Comedy Central HD.  SyFy HD has the issue too but not nearly as bad as Comedy Central HD.

I've had Tier-2 involved in which they said nothing was wrong with my line.  I even monitored my line stats during the hiccup and there were no corrected or uncorrected blocks, no dropped TCP/IP packets, etc.  Happens on both DVR and STB in both live and recorded mode.  Wiring in the house is all Ethernet.

So wait, you're saying that all new encoder hardware is needed at the uVerse video headends?  Yikes. *shudder* Can't imagine how much those boxes are.

[ManuelM]

I just tested it and the audio dropped once on CNN HD.

[chrisw]

I can confirm that the HDMI black level issue is fixed. Last month I pulled up HDNET's calibration program and the black levels were spot on, and I didn't have to change a thing on my new HDTV - unlike when I tried a few months back.

I'm going to hit record while I review some channels, that way I can just rewind and see if the picture has problems that I haven't noticed at first and check for problems on the other TV as well. I think this would be a good idea for anyone who's testing.

[PJAndrews]

Hi There - I am located in the Orange county, California market and I tested a few of the channels referenced in the list...I can say without hesitation that the audio drops are still present when the audio is set to surround sound.

PJ Andrews

[evansf1]

I have a Denon AVR-1609 connected via optical cable to the Motorola non-dvr box and an hdmi cable from the Motorola box to my Panasonic TC-P42G25.  I've recently noticed that on various HD Movie Channels (HBO's, Showtime's, Cinemax, etc) that the volume will randomly jump up to high levels for 1-2 minutes for no rhyme or reason.  And there are still audio drops although it happens less frequently.  I'm in CT.

[click_clack]

I'm in San Antonio and using an Onkyo TX-SR674 receiver with audio fed from DVR to receiver via optical cable and ESPNHD ch 1602 seems to not drop the sound anymore.  Clearly it dropped before.

[ManuelM]

So I'm not the only one in the Orange County area that still has problems. Audio drops on Comedy Central HD as well.