G5 Audio Mystery

[JerryK]

Hi All, This problem has me baffled. I no longer suspect my alignment is involved. I welcome any help but you're going to need your Sherlock Holmes hat for this one....

On G5, I get audio & video on all in-the-clear stations. (TBN, and the radio stations at 953/955). Signal Strength approx 72 --- fine for me.

BUT My subscription stations on G5 have almost NO audio. If I max out my volume I can hear faint crackled audio. --- Again, my signal strength is around 72 for all these channels and the video is great.

I did an NPS Videocipher (not digicipher) re-hit on CNN. The rehit took, but had no effect on my audio for that channel.

This makes no sense! If the rehit doesn't help, why would I have perfect audio on TBN and the 900+ radio stations?


I think this is a clue: I have subs from 2 packagers, NPS (abs dig) and SRL(espn + networks for football season). I added the SRL stuff in September and this dual-service setup has worked great till a couple weeks ago. Could having 2 providers on that bird have confused my videocipher hardware and shut down the audio on all subscribed channels?
BECAUSE-- I didn't say it earlier, but the problem ALSO exists on W7 & W3, where my SRL networks live!

So any bird with SRL + NPS channels has lost audio on all subbed channels. :shocked

 

[mkm4]

Have you checked the audio settings in the VC module?
On a VC channel, press OPTION - 9 to pull up the VC menu.
I don't remember the rest of the options after that, so look around.

 

[1inabillion]

billion here

G5 Audio Mystery

I had that happen 5 or 6 years ago so i just reset my ird to factory plus i removed the vcrs module to reseat the module. that worked for me.

 

[JerryK]

You guys are suggesting the same thing a Skyvision tech told me this morning. I'm going to test it out after work.

I didn't realize that volume settings can be set by channel/transponder.

About the time these 3 birds went silent, I DID have some short 5 second power outages. The DSR922 came right back up so I assumed I was ok. --but maybe those dropouts made the videocipher module hose my volume on those sats.

Thanks! I'll report my findings tonight.

 

[JerryK]

Well, I think I've nailed the problem down.

ALL my VIDEOcipher (not digicipher) channels have lost audio. Forget G5 etc. Any satellite with VideoCipher channels have no audio.

I called NPS and they said my module probably has a battery gone bad or was hosed during my brief power outages earlier this month.

Thoughts? If this is true, is eBay the best place to grab another module?

 

[JerryK]

reseated the vc2...still no audio. Guess it's time to go shopping.

 

[1inabillion]

reseated the vc2...still no audio. Guess it's time to go shopping

Billion here

Darn

hope you find a good one!!

Billion

 

[Shawn95GT]

That sucks to hear. I noticed that these VC modules are freak'n expensive to buy!

I feel lucky that mine still works.

There was a guy selling VC modules in the classifieds a little while back. I'd post a wanted ad over there.

 

[mkm4]

Thoughts? If this is true, is eBay the best place to grab another module?

Yes, it's true.
If you find one on ebay, make sure it has a new battery. You can find refurbished ones for less than $50.

 

[JerryK]

I'll probably grab an eBay unit.

I'm seeing batteries for sale. Have any of you attempted to change the battery yourself? (soldering involved)

 

[tdti1]

Did you try removing the module and cleaning the contacts and replacing it?

I have done may VCII+ boards for myself and a few for some buddy's, it is not hard though if it is not your feild I would get ATS or a tech to do it for you.

 

[JerryK]

Yeah, I pulled it last night. Since I'd have to trash the VCII anyhow, I'm tempted to risk 5 bucks on a battery first.

Looks like it's soldered in there pretty simply.

 

[tdti1]

If the battery is dead your unit ID would have changed, if it went dead it is to late to change the battery, once the ID is lost the unit is a door stopper.