Audio skips on recorded HD locals when playing from 622 DVR

[Miggity]

Weird problem. Only happens when I playback shows recorded to the DVR from my HD satellite locals. Does not happen when you watch live. I have a 622.

Every time I playback a DVR recorded show from one of my 4 HD locals the audio skips randomly every now and then. Often enough to be really annoying, especially on Jeopardy.

Any ideas?

edit: oh yeah, other channels the recording work fine. this is only on the HD locals for Portland, OR spotbeam!

 

[Miggity]

OK this is a serious problem now. Getting worse everyday. Shows recorded off Fox and ABC HD locals are totally unwatchable. They work fine live.

I am in Portland, OR and on a 622 with optical audio out.

 

[Pakbackr]

I have the problem with my local ABC channel in Raleigh area, but it is on the E* feed, not OTA. I also have the occasional lip sync issue. It was so bad Sunday night that we couldn't watch Desperate Housewives.

 

[npdavis48]

Audio skips on recorded HD locals when playing from 622 DVR in Miami

I have a 622 DVR from Dish Network, and live in Miami, FL. Everything was fine up until approximately 2 months ago when we started having this audio skipping problem. Dish Network has been very responsive, but doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to resolve this problem. I am now on my third (!) newly refurbished receiver, and still have audio skipping. When I call the dish tech (sometimes I'm lucky & speak to someone in the U.S.) and tell them that this is a known problem reported on the Internet they tell me that Dish does not have any known issues with the Receiver.

As others on this chain have reported, the problem only occurs on the local channels when playing back from the DVR. But what is even more perplexing is that it is not ALL the programs. It does not seem to affect "live" shows such as Dancing With the Stars. All my other favorite shows, Greys Anatomy, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, Private Practive, Lipstick Jungle have this audio skipping problem. The only way that I am able to watch my shows is by watching live and enduring the commercials or playing back from the DVR with closed captions.

I'd be interested to know if this issue occurs with providers other than Dish Network.

 

[whatchel1]

Known issue

This is a known issue with all ABC & FOX stations across the entire US. It is only ABC & FOX. They both use 720p for HD transmission so may be somehow related to how the stations are being encoded for these nets.

 

[Gorbash]

My problem stems out to ALL the channels. Not just locals. An e-mail stated that it is a known problem, but the techs don't have a solution, and to keep my receiver off when not using it to get an update when it is available.

I'm torrenting all the shows that have audio problems, which in my case is a lot of shows. Good thing my ISP doesn't have a bandwidth cap.

 

[smjbh5]

Same issue in the SF Bay Area

My problem stems out to ALL the channels. Not just locals. An e-mail stated that it is a known problem, but the techs don't have a solution, and to keep my receiver off when not using it to get an update when it is available.

I'm torrenting all the shows that have audio problems, which in my case is a lot of shows. Good thing my ISP doesn't have a bandwidth cap.

Doesn't happen during the entire show, just portions of it. I've noticed it on FOX and CBS.

 

[D12]

A lot of locals are having this issue, more due to the analog to digital transition, an unforeseen issue. It does happen while you're watching it, but it happens so fast and low you don't notice it. On playback it's more noticeable.

 

[kklier]

I have the problem with my local ABC channel in Raleigh area, but it is on the E* feed, not OTA. I also have the occasional lip sync issue. It was so bad Sunday night that we couldn't watch Desperate Housewives.

I have the same issue with ABC. I'm in Durham this was recorded on a 722.

 

[lsjimm]

I live in the St. Louis area and am having the same problem. It started about 4-5 months ago. Three 722's later and no better. It is local channel 4HD(CBS), and local channel 5HD(NBC). on recorded playback. The audio skips intermittenly. Quite annoying. They finally gave my complaint to their engineering dept., and that's the last I heard. Also, while I am at it, the travel channel HD video hangs at times during live play.

 

[boomerang]

This started on my 3 month old 722 yesterday. I get audio dropouts on recorded programs sometimes with video skipping ahead. I also get video freezes on live programming. The audio continues, but the video freezes and catches back up after maybe 5 seconds or so.

 

[boomerang]

Update if anyone is interested. I'm going to try to simplify this some.
Recording two shows, same time slot, one on TLC and one on Locals, both on 61.5. I'm watching the show on TLC time delayed. It's jumping ahead, both audio and video (same time). Original two recordings end and a second show on TLC is recording. I'm watching this one too time delayed, having finished the first and moved right on into the second. There is no other recording going on.

The second TLC show is now jumping ahead (both audio and video) until the overlap from the previous show ends. Then, it starts to freeze on the video while the audio continues. If I just wait it out, the video will catch up to the audio. Ten minutes before the end of the show, I catch up to live. This should not happen. We time delay like this all the time and and we should have been able to watch to the end skipping commercials. Clearly the freezes are sections that have not been recorded.

Then I go back to watch the local show that was recording the same time as the first TLC and I have 30 minutes of black screen. I FF through and there is nothing.

I'm more documenting this for myself than anything. I'll call Dish tomorrow on this. I thought I'd document it here in case anyone might be interested.

Another thing, when the freezing was occuring, I checked and had a SS of 43 on TP19 on 61.5. I've got to believe it's a receiver problem.

 

[Jim S.]

I've got to believe it's a receiver problem.

The problem with audio dropouts on 720p satellite-delivered locals might be a receiver problem if it started with the Turbo firmware upgrade, as some people have suggested. (I don't have HD locals, so I can't verify that.)

But the problem that only seems to have developed in the last week or two, with various HD channels having video freezing as well, which certainly doesn't appear to be the same as the locals problem, doesn't seem to have started with a firmware upgrade. I wonder if it's an encoder problem.

 

[boomerang]

The problem with audio dropouts on 720p satellite-delivered locals might be a receiver problem if it started with the Turbo firmware upgrade, as some people have suggested. (I don't have HD locals, so I can't verify that.)

But the problem that only seems to have developed in the last week or two, with various HD channels having video freezing as well, which certainly doesn't appear to be the same as the locals problem, doesn't seem to have started with a firmware upgrade. I wonder if it's an encoder problem.

I sort of follow you. I woke up this morning wondering if this is something I should just wait out and see if it gets fixed. Was this firmware upgrade recent? I seem to remember the Turbo HD firmware coming down shortly after getting my HD setup. If it's the encoder, it's hardware then?

It's really maddening to miss 5 minutes of a 30 minute show in this manner. You miss enough to lose all continuity.

 

[Jim S.]

There has not, as far as I know, been any update to the 622 firmware since the Turbo HD upgrade.

What puzzles me is, if this is a software problem, why can't Dish just revert to the previous version? That's why I'm wondering if they've changed encoders in another effort to get more channels in less space, and screwed something up in the process.

 

[Lightfixer]

I've had my 722 for almost a year now, and I have the same problem with the audio breaking up that all of you have described. It only happens when I play back recordings of Jeopardy, Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Grey's Anatomy (all FOX and ABC). When I watch them live, I have no problems. But I did notice last night when I was watching Dancing w/the Stars (live), some commercials had broken up sound, but the show was fine. I'm on my third 722 receiver, and still have the same problem. The service tech is coming out this Friday. From what I see here, he won't have a clue what's wrong. I'll print out this thread and show it to him. I live near San Francisco.

 

[big-j1]

WALK UP PEOPLE stop being lemmings

I HAD ENOUGH! All of this is BS. My audio drops are not just on the HD locals, but almost everywhere. A contract works both ways. If they can not hold up the contract terms it is null and void. I had a tech out to my house, which Dish charged me $29.00, and he had never heard of it and told me it was my non-dbs approved connectors? They sent out a new receiver (622) of course the same issue is happening. Every time I call the CSR has no idea what I am talking about, nor does the stupervisor. I told them to send me out two new 722's to replace my 622's to see if they will work or cancel the service. They asked where can they ship the return boxes to and when I would like the service disconnected? I am done, good bye, so long. Six months of not being able to use the DVR, unacceptable. At least acknowledge the problem! Real On Demand Here I come. I can not wait to get back to cable. At least I am trying to convince myself of that.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! JUMP UP AND DOWN ABOUT THIS PROBLEM!!!

 

[Jim5506]

GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!

 

[Lightfixer]

The service tech came out and told me he's never heard of this problem. He called tech support and they said that they are aware of this problem, but don't have a resolution yet. I called Dish and got them to credit me back the local station charges since this started. I'll be asking for more credits until this is fixed. I suggest everybody do it - might get them to move faster. In the mean time, I drug out an old turnstile antenna I had and hooked it up to the antenna jack. Works great! I pull in all the network stations from 40 miles away with a signal strength of 80 or better. No more broken up sound, video is beautiful. Only bad thing is I can only record those shows to TV1. I'll see how it goes before I cancel Dish's local channels.

 

[dproehl]

622 Audio Cut-Out - Portland, OR

This seems to be one of the few places this on the web this audio skipping is being talked about. I thought I'd include my story in case it helps unlock anything for anyone looking deeper into this.

I'm running the same HD DVR receiver being discussed here (622) - and I'm on my second one because of this problem. My issue is a tad more isolated, however. It seems to only drop out the audio (cutting in and out) on recorded animated programs on FOX (The Simpsons and King of the Hill are two I record on a regular basis). I'm running the audio from the 622 into a Yamaha Receiver, over an optical cable. However - because it's a two tuner DVR, when I watch the same program on the other TV (analog - SD) the audio is still cutting out - so I know it's not the way the Yamaha is dealing with the audio - but how it's being recorded.

Everything else - all other stations, HD and SD, are fine.

The audio cutout makes the shows unwatchable. It started when we upgraded to the HD receiver. I'm in Portland, OR - and watching on KPTV FOX-12.

I saw a tech in the neighborhood installing another system for someone, and stopped and asked him if he'd heard about it and he said he hadn't run into it yet.

Thanks for the posts suggesting a refund from Dish for the non-working channels. I don't want to change out another receiver - it's a pain, and I don't think it will help until they acknowledge the problem and real fix.