WCAX(Burlington,VT) news surround sound issue

[tanman]

I've got a 622 Dish receiver which works fine for us.About a week ago I noticed something didn't sound quite right at times on my 5.1 surround system.Finally traced it down to no center speaker sound on WCAX local news broadcasts.AVR display is showing normal display for a Dolby Digital broadcast.
All other shows are fine-all other channels are fine.
I can't get Wcax OTA so I can't compare.
So I would be grateful for any Dish customer with a surround system that can view WCAX and reads this forum to reply.All 3 of you.

 

[Jim5506]

Call the station and report it, they may have a problem they need to fix.

 

[tanman]

Call the station and report it, they may have a problem they need to fix.

Certainly have considered that option but was hoping for independent verification first.

 

[boba]

Certainly have considered that option but was hoping for independent verification first.

What is it a toll call? Do you have a problem that you don't want an answer to?

 

[NYDutch]

What is it a toll call? Do you have a problem that you don't want an answer to?

Verification could help in determining the source of the problem. I do receive both the Burlington, VT and Albany, NY DMA's here, but I don't have a surround sound system and can't help the OP.

 

[tanman]

Finally got around to calling WCAX.Was told(with a hint of condescension) that the problem was not at their end but had to be at Dish.I'm afraid this is going to turn into one of those issues where each company blames the other.Time to see if DIRT can put me in touch with someone.

 

[sam_gordon]

What you need to find out is whether OTA has center channel.

More than likely, the news is produced in stereo. The station may (or may not) have a box to "fake" 5.1. If not, and if it's produced in stereo, that puts audio on channel 1 & 2. In a 5.1 system, that's the L & R front surrounds (center channel is 3, L&R rears are 4 & 5, subwoofer is 6.

What do commercials sound like? Syndicated shows?

 

[tanman]

WCAX is the "flagship"of the Burlington,VT stations.Their broadcasts are definitely in Dolby Digital-it sounds like the center channel is missing.The national news is doing the same thing-no center channel.Some commercials are fine some are not.Some programs are fine.Guess I need to keep a log but it seems to be the same shows that work or don't.

 

[tanman]

An ad for Ford did not work neither did head and shoulders.An ad for Xarelto is fine.All 3 were played in a row.

 

[ncted]

An ad for Ford did not work neither did head and shoulders.An ad for Xarelto is fine.All 3 were played in a row.

Ads are difficult. Some are not produced in DD. Also, Dish might insert ads, so it is hard to say where they are coming from. I'd complain to Dish, but I also wouldn't expect a helpful response. Doing it publicly (but nicely) on Facebook or Twitter might get better response. That got them to fix a problem not that long ago pretty quickly where people on the WA were seeing different (and wrong) things than the people on the EA.

 

[sam_gordon]

Ads are difficult. Some are not produced in DD. Also, Dish might insert ads, so it is hard to say where they are coming from. I'd complain to Dish, but I also wouldn't expect a helpful response. Doing it publicly (but nicely) on Facebook or Twitter might get better response. That got them to fix a problem not that long ago pretty quickly where people on the WA were seeing different (and wrong) things than the people on the EA.

I doubt the station is sending DD through the plant. Again, the easy (relatively) check is to see if another MVPD (or ideally OTA) has the exact same problem. If it shows up on multiple sources, more than likely the problem is the station. If everyone else has it fine, but Dish is bad, the problem is with Dish.

I bet you the programming you're not hearing center channel on is only produced in stereo and either the station or Dish is not converting it over to 5.1. If you're listening in stereo, you won't notice.

 

[ncted]

I doubt the station is sending DD through the plant. Again, the easy (relatively) check is to see if another MVPD (or ideally OTA) has the exact same problem. If it shows up on multiple sources, more than likely the problem is the station. If everyone else has it fine, but Dish is bad, the problem is with Dish.

I bet you the programming you're not hearing center channel on is only produced in stereo and either the station or Dish is not converting it over to 5.1. If you're listening in stereo, you won't notice.

If Dish could/was willing to convert local news broadcasts to 5.1, why wouldn't they do it for everything? As it is, there are way too many shows I watch which come in as 2.0 or even 1.0 (looking at you The Daily Show).

 

[sam_gordon]

If Dish could/was willing to convert local news broadcasts to 5.1, why wouldn't they do it for everything? As it is, there are way too many shows I watch which come in as 2.0 or even 1.0 (looking at you The Daily Show).

One word... $$$. There are plenty of boxes that will take a stereo feed and "fake" 5.1. Also, that would require other boxes to take the encoded feed from a provider, decode it down to video & individual audio, run it through the device to "fake" 5.1, then reencode it for transmission.

 

[ncted]

One word... $$$. There are plenty of boxes that will take a stereo feed and "fake" 5.1. Also, that would require other boxes to take the encoded feed from a provider, decode it down to video & individual audio, run it through the device to "fake" 5.1, then reencode it for transmission.

I understand what you're saying about the equipment cost, but I am not sure which side you are arguing with the information. Dish is willing to do it for a random local TV station in Vermont, but not Comedy Central (or HBO for that matter)?

 

[tanman]

A few things.I've been watching WCAX for years and old as I might be getting I think I would have noticed a missing center channel before-it's quite distinct. Also stations (and ads)that broadcast in stereo show up as stereo on the avr.
Also thinking of getting a month of PSVUE since they carry WCAX.I have contacted DIRT and will see what they come up with.
Also WCAX was quite adamant that they were broadcasting in 5.1 .

 

[sam_gordon]

I understand what you're saying about the equipment cost, but I am not sure which side you are arguing with the information. Dish is willing to do it for a random local TV station in Vermont, but not Comedy Central (or HBO for that matter)?

I'm not arguing anything. It is possible Dish is messing up the feed. If that's the case, the station may/may not even know. To me, it's 50/50 whether the problem is with the station or Dish. What needs to happen is find out if the problem exists on other MVPDs or OTA.

 

[NYDutch]

I don't know what technical details might be included in retransmission agreements, but is it possible that an agreement could require Dish to retransmit the programming exactly as received without any modifications?

 

[Jim5506]

Wouldn't it be more economical for Dish to pass the channel through unaltered than to remux the audio or do anything to the digital signal?

 

[ncted]

Wouldn't it be more economical for Dish to pass the channel through unaltered than to remux the audio or do anything to the digital signal?

I would certainly expect that to be easier. However, I could see transcoders getting misconfigured accidentally (or maliciously I suppose) for sources that Dish doesn't pass through as is, which, as I understand it, essentially means everything. At a minimum, I'd expect Dish to add encryption, and in most cases, they probably down-rez and reduce bitrate.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't know what technical details might be included in retransmission agreements, but is it possible that an agreement could require Dish to retransmit the programming exactly as received without any modifications?

Sure it's possible. I'm not saying Dish is doing anything deliberate, just that it's a possible failure point.

Again, until it's confirmed (by listening to another MVPD or OTA signal), the issue might be at the station.