Intermittent audio dropout

[zebratres]

Hi All. Currently having an issue with audio dropping out when watching Freesat TV. I'm using a Freesat 4K 1TB box into a Denon AVR, out to Sony TV (with Freesat) via HDMI. Roughly a few times an hour the audio will drop out for a split second, and four or five times over a second or two. I have an old Sky dish and LNB (20+ yo) with 4 outputs; two go into the Freesat box, one goes into the TV. I've disconnected and reconnected all HDMI cables between Freesat and AVR and sat connectors into the Freesat box. I've tested the signal and strength and the Freesat box shows about 65%, quality 100%. I've used other sources through the AVR with no drop out. I've also watched the TV using it's own Freesat tuner ie using the dish input directly, again with no issues. Therefore I don't think it's the AVR, TV or the feed the TV gets from that part of the LNB. I'm thinking atm it's either a dish/LNB or box problem. I don't usually get any video loss but have done lately more than normal and assumed it's just the current bad weather. I'm a bit stumped, hence this post, and was wondering if the age of my dish/LNB might be the issue, or it's alignment? I was considering just getting a meter and LNB or even a whole new dish/LNB, and replacing the current one and realigning the dish, as it's not such a massive expense. Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[ozumo]

Is the video loss a black screen/sync loss with the TV or is the picture breaking up but still mostly visible?
Does it affect all channels?
Do you get the same issues when connecting the Freesat 4K box directly to the TV?

If the 4K box is not using wideband outputs from the LNB you could try connecting the feed the TV is using to the Freesat box to see if the issue remains. As the quality reading is 100% I'd rule out it being a dish alignment issue.

 

[zebratres]

Hi there, thanks for the quick reply. I get no video loss at all when the audio drops out and the issue isn't channel-specific. Connecting the Freesat box directly to the TV will be simple enough but will have to make a fly lead to use the TV's sat input into the box as the wires are buried in the wall. I don't know what you mean by wideband inputs, sorry, am a total noob compared to you guys! I guess the wires into the back of the box and TV have been just plugged in by me with no knowledge of what they are, or aren't. I had Sky for years and binned it all last year, but this issue has only been present for a few weeks. I have tried switching round my two sat inputs into the box and it hasn't made a difference, to either the audio issue or strength/quality. Will report back, much appreciated.

 

[ozumo]

If you had Sky Q it is almost certain to be wideband, assuming you have your own dish and don't have any kind of multiswitch for distributing signals around the house. Wideband allows the receiver to receive all signals all the time using 2 cables so up to 8 (IIRC) channels can be recorded simultaneously on a 4K Freesat box. The older universal/legacy setup would require 4 cables to do the same. I wouldn't mix wideband & universal feeds on the Freesat box.

How do I identify my LNB type? | Freesat

Help page covering the subject How do I identify my LNB type?

www.freesat.co.uk

 

[zebratres]

If you had Sky Q it is almost certain to be wideband, assuming you have your own dish and don't have any kind of multiswitch for distributing signals around the house. Wideband allows the receiver to receive all signals all the time using 2 cables so up to 8 (IIRC) channels can be recorded simultaneously on a 4K Freesat box. The older universal/legacy setup would require 4 cables to do the same. I wouldn't mix wideband & universal feeds on the Freesat box.

How do I identify my LNB type? | Freesat

Help page covering the subject How do I identify my LNB type?

www.freesat.co.uk

Sorry, didn't make that clear enough in my first post; it's never been SkyQ so must be a legacy one. The dish and LNB are from about 20+ years ago so well before that came along. Thanks for the explanation though, now I know what wideband means

 

[ozumo]

In that case you are free to try the feed connected to the TV. Another thing to try would be to drop the output of the 4K box down to 1080p. My inkling is that it is some kind of compatibility issue with the Freesat receiver and the AVR, perhaps caused by a recent update. Connecting the box directly to the TV would help confirm this. No harm trying a different HDMI cable too.

 

[zebratres]

In that case you are free to try the feed connected to the TV. Another thing to try would be to drop the output of the 4K box down to 1080p. My inkling is that it is some kind of compatibility issue with the Freesat receiver and the AVR, perhaps caused by a recent update. Connecting the box directly to the TV would help confirm this. No harm trying a different HDMI cable too.

OK, have changed the video settings and will run that way for a bit, it's not like I'm using the Freesat box for any 4K content anyway. Will see how that goes before I introduce the other steps, one by one, to try and see what actually works or not. Interestingly it seems by switching to 1080 it's make a big difference in the picture re. colour and brightness etc, reds in particular. Not sure it's that nice really but will see how it goes. Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it after having tried a bunch of things over the last few weeks before admitting defeat!

 

[ozumo]

The colour change is seems odd. If you change it back to 4K do they return to normal? Do the picture settings on the TV change when using different resolutions, HDR/SDR settings maybe?

 

[Satspot]

Assuming you are using HDMI PassThrough between the Denon and the attached units have you got it configured correctly. Do you have by any chance Digital Out connected as well as HDMI. Classic area for dropout. Make sure all cables are tightly connected up too. You don’t give a model number for the Denon unit but here’s an example of a Denon configuration

https://manuals.denon.com/avrx1100w/na/en/GFNFSYkabkahie.php

 

[zebratres]

Right, sorry for the super late reply. Had to test all these things out while not really having enough time to watch TV. I think I've found the problem; the Freesat box doesn't like being set on Surround (Settings>Picture & Sound>HDMI Audio Output). If it's set to Stereo I get no dropout at all, as soon as I switch to Surround it starts dropping out within minutes. I'm guessing this is a bug as it'snow impossible to listen to anything in Dolby? Not a major pain but pretty sure it should not be doing this. Thanks for your help btw, really appreciate it.

 

[Satspot]

Right, sorry for the super late reply. Had to test all these things out while not really having enough time to watch TV. I think I've found the problem; the Freesat box doesn't like being set on Surround (Settings>Picture & Sound>HDMI Audio Output). If it's set to Stereo I get no dropout at all, as soon as I switch to Surround it starts dropping out within minutes. I'm guessing this is a bug as it'snow impossible to listen to anything in Dolby? Not a major pain but pretty sure it should not be doing this. Thanks for your help btw, really appreciate it.

You need to send the audio in it’s original format (PCM) to the Denon AVR and let it process the various formats it has available to it. If you’re happy enough with what you have so be it but as I pointed out you need to use HDMI pass through to the Denon and let it process the surround side of the audio.

 

[ozumo]

You need to send the audio in it’s original format (PCM) to the Denon AVR and let it process the various formats it has available to it.

If you send PCM it means the satellite receiver has already done the decoding. To make the Denon do the processing the receiver will have to send bitstream.

 

[Freesatuser]

Hi All. Currently having an issue with audio dropping out when watching Freesat TV. I'm using a Freesat 4K 1TB box into a Denon AVR, out to Sony TV (with Freesat) via HDMI. Roughly a few times an hour the audio will drop out for a split second, and four or five times over a second or two. I have an old Sky dish and LNB (20+ yo) with 4 outputs; two go into the Freesat box, one goes into the TV. I've disconnected and reconnected all HDMI cables between Freesat and AVR and sat connectors into the Freesat box. I've tested the signal and strength and the Freesat box shows about 65%, quality 100%. I've used other sources through the AVR with no drop out. I've also watched the TV using it's own Freesat tuner ie using the dish input directly, again with no issues. Therefore I don't think it's the AVR, TV or the feed the TV gets from that part of the LNB. I'm thinking atm it's either a dish/LNB or box problem. I don't usually get any video loss but have done lately more than normal and assumed it's just the current bad weather. I'm a bit stumped, hence this post, and was wondering if the age of my dish/LNB might be the issue, or it's alignment? I was considering just getting a meter and LNB or even a whole new dish/LNB, and replacing the current one and realigning the dish, as it's not such a massive expense. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hi Zebratres,
I was very interested to read of your problem as I have exactly the same thing with two different boxes and it has been driving me mad. I have a satellite dish with quad LNB. I have one Freesat box connected up with both leads, I have one box connected up with one lead and the other lead goes to an old Sky box (because it has some different channels), and Another old Sky box with both leads connected. So as you will see only 3 of the 4 LNB connections are used.
I only get this intermittent sound problem with the feed I am getting through the FreeSat boxes.
Did you find a solution? I will not be happy if this is down to the freesat boxes not being able to deal with Surround sound as that is something I really like, especially when watching action movies.

 

[Strig]

I have the exact same issue too - It's pretty frustrating that this seems to be quite a long standing issue that has not been dealt with in subsequent patches

 

[zebratres]

Hi Zebratres,
I was very interested to read of your problem as I have exactly the same thing with two different boxes and it has been driving me mad. I have a satellite dish with quad LNB. I have one Freesat box connected up with both leads, I have one box connected up with one lead and the other lead goes to an old Sky box (because it has some different channels), and Another old Sky box with both leads connected. So as you will see only 3 of the 4 LNB connections are used.
I only get this intermittent sound problem with the feed I am getting through the FreeSat boxes.
Did you find a solution? I will not be happy if this is down to the freesat boxes not being able to deal with Surround sound as that is something I really like, especially when watching action movies

I didn't I'm afraid. I think I read somewhere that it's a bug and tbh Freesat support are fairly poor and I gave up. Still annoying though.

I didn't resolve it unfortunately. Freesat support also appears to be quite poor and I gave up. I know this was a while ago but I think I found this might be an actual bug that they never addressed but I can't find the source for that.

MOD NOTE
Posts merged

 

[Strig]

I have the exact same issue too - It's pretty frustrating that this seems to be quite a long standing issue that has not been dealt with in subsequent patches

I had an update through the web chat with Freesat:

We are aware of a sound issue that has occurred which is currently under investigation. This will be resolved within a software update. For now you will just need to leave it on "stereo" while we await this update. I do apologise for any inconveniences caused by this matter.

OK thanks - is there an ETA for the next firmware drop?

Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated date of when this will be released. I can assure you that this should be soon.

 

[zebratres]

I had an update through the web chat with Freesat:

We are aware of a sound issue that has occurred which is currently under investigation. This will be resolved within a software update. For now you will just need to leave it on "stereo" while we await this update. I do apologise for any inconveniences caused by this matter.

OK thanks - is there an ETA for the next firmware drop?

Unfortunately, we do not have an estimated date of when this will be released. I can assure you that this should be soon.

Ah good luck with that then. Part of the reason I bought the box was because of the app and you could use it to set and control recordings. That doesn't work either and they told me a year ago the same thing ie we're working on it etc blah yawn

 

[b33k34]

I didn't I'm afraid. I think I read somewhere that it's a bug and tbh Freesat support are fairly poor and I gave up. Still annoying though.

I didn't resolve it unfortunately. Freesat support also appears to be quite poor and I gave up. I know this was a while ago but I think I found this might be an actual bug that they never addressed but I can't find the source for that.

MOD NOTE
Posts merged

Same issue here - has been doing it for ages. I've largely resolved it by not watching anything on my Freesat box which isn't really a solution.

Pretty much the only thing I watch is Channel 4 new each night. Which I record and watch back (sometimes near live). It's usually fine for most of the programme but dropouts start after about 30 minutes or so. Box is connected to a Yamaha AV amp and a long cable to the next room so NOT easy to connect direct but don't think that's the problem anyway - pretty certain it's a box issue. There's no picture dropout and there doesn't appear to be any dropout at the amp (ie I think the amp thinks its getting sound all the time, but there are gaps.

 

[Grumbles69]

Hey Guys hi, I'm new here and have the exact same problem. 75' Sony TV, Denon Amp and Freesat 2tb Recorder. Playback starts off fine but after around ½ hour the dropouts start. I have tried everything bar the last couple of posts so I am keen to see if this works for me.
What I can tell you is Don't spend out on new hdmi cables. I decided as a last ditch attempt to pay out for highly upgraded hdmi cables that were definitely not let's say, particularly cheap ( in for a penny , in for a pound) desperate mentality to get the problem fixed.

I will let you all know after I have tried changing the output to stereo if it makes a difference. If it does its a bit of a sore win as 5 hdmi cables that I paid the best part of £200 for have been unnecessary and I have had them too long to return. (A fool and his money are easily parted)

Thanks for all the suggestions to solving this very annoying problem. If it is the box output them I suppose it could have been worse, it could have been the amp, ouch!
Speak soon

 

[zebratres]

Hey Guys hi, I'm new here and have the exact same problem. 75' Sony TV, Denon Amp and Freesat 2tb Recorder. Playback starts off fine but after around ½ hour the dropouts start. I have tried everything bar the last couple of posts so I am keen to see if this works for me.
What I can tell you is Don't spend out on new hdmi cables. I decided as a last ditch attempt to pay out for highly upgraded hdmi cables that were definitely not let's say, particularly cheap ( in for a penny , in for a pound) desperate mentality to get the problem fixed.

I will let you all know after I have tried changing the output to stereo if it makes a difference. If it does its a bit of a sore win as 5 hdmi cables that I paid the best part of £200 for have been unnecessary and I have had them too long to return. (A fool and his money are easily parted)

Thanks for all the suggestions to solving this very annoying problem. If it is the box output them I suppose it could have been worse, it could have been the amp, ouch!
Speak soon

Sorry you also have this. I have to say their support is awful. The two main reasons I got this box were to use the app, and because it worked with Dolby. Neither are true, and their only response for months has been 'yeah we know it doesn't work and are working on it'. Been like that for about 18 months since I bought it.