HwS audio loss when using optical cable to AVR

[oryan_dunn]

My Dad just recently got a HwS install, and I hooked up the Hopper to the AVR (Yamaha HTR-5840) via optical. On a pretty regular basis, he'll lose audio completely. This usually happens when changing channels. He'll go to ESPN, no sound, channel up, ESPN 2 has sound, go back to ESPN, which now has sound. He said he was watching something the other night, fell asleep, and woke up, and didn't have sound, so it must have lost sound on it's own. Prior to this, he used the same optical cable with the OTA tuner in his TV without issue, and hasn't had any issues with the Blu-ray player and the AVR.

This sure seems to point to a problem with the Hopper. Tonight, I'm going to try a different optical cable. Any other thoughts?

He has the audio set to DD/PCM, volume leveling off, and line level out.

 

[TroubleshooterMike]

If you adjust the audio output setting to PCM only that should fix it.

 

[oryan_dunn]

If you adjust the audio output setting to PCM only that should fix it.

Except you wouldn't get 5.1. DD/PCM should work without issue.

 

[gdarwin]

Make sure the optical cable is pushed in on both ends and clicks in.

 

[oryan_dunn]

So we troubleshot a bit more tonight. I took over an older receiver as well as several optical cables. The issue occurred with all the cables with both receivers. I think tomorrow he's going to schedule a call. In the times when there was no audio via optical, there was still audio via analog out, as well as via HDMI to his TV. His receiver predates HDMI.

 

[oryan_dunn]

Dish is going to send him a new hopper. I'll report back if that solved the problem.

 

[harshness]

It is probably time for a modern AVR in any event. They are surprisingly inexpensive these days compared to what they cost almost eight years ago when the HTR-5840 was new.

 

[oryan_dunn]

He's looking at either upgrading the AVR or getting an Oppo BDP-103. The AVR he has now has 6ch analog in, so the BDP would be able to handle all the high res formats just fine, leaving the AVR to handle sound only. The Blu-ray and Dish are the only two HDMI devices he has, and probably won't add anything else in the near future. Until Dish broadcasts uncompressed audio, optical is fine. Upgrading the AVR really doesn't get him much.

 

[harshness]

Upgrading the AVR really doesn't get him much.

Upgrading the AVR gets a lot more than you think. Many of the new ones feature automatic room calibration, much higher switching speeds, scene capability, HDMI passthrough when they're not on and in the higher price ranges, HDMI splitters, Internet features, flexibility in input combination and assignment and a shot at supporting future possibilities. I get a surprising amount of use out of Pandora thanks to it being built in to my AVR.

 

[oryan_dunn]

Upgrading the AVR gets a lot more than you think. Many of the new ones feature automatic room calibration, much higher switching speeds, scene capability, HDMI passthrough when they're not on and in the higher price ranges, HDMI splitters, Internet features, flexibility in input combination and assignment and a shot at supporting future possibilities. I get a surprising amount of use out of Pandora thanks to it being built in to my AVR.

The only thing on that list that my Dad would possibly use is the room calibration, but he has a pretty decent matched speaker setup as it is (full towers and no sub). He only uses the default sound mode (no scenes, direct mode (no extraneous ADC and DAC conversions), and uses only the DACs in his Marantz CD player (which would be replaced by the Oppo). He wouldn't use HDMI splitters or passthrough, doesn't use any internet services (buys his music on CD and SACD), switching speed isn't an issue, etc. For him, his money is clearly better spent on a better CD/SACD/Blu-ray player, which the Oppo fits perfectly.

If he needs those features, he could upgrade the AVR years down the road, when they would have even more features. Plus, most of the cheap receivers don't do direct DSD-analog, which he wants (even though it probably doesn't make much of a difference).

 

[kwindrem]

You may know this already but most AVRs that have multi-channel inputs bypass the internal speaker processing requiring the device to duplicate it: levels, delays, EQ, bass management, etc.

You didn't mention what Blu-Ray player your Dad currently but most modern AVRs support all the hi-res audio formats. There may be no need to upgrade the BR player. The Oppo units are first rate but are not low cost. A new AVR could be about the same or possibly less money.

If your Dad isn't using a programmable remote, source switching is greatly simplified with an AVR that includes HDMI switching since the TV input remains set to the input coming from the AVR.

 

[KAB]

You may know this already but most AVRs that have multi-channel inputs bypass the internal speaker processing requiring the device to duplicate it: levels, delays, EQ, bass management, etc.

You didn't mention what Blu-Ray player your Dad currently but most modern AVRs support all the hi-res audio formats. There may be no need to upgrade the BR player. The Oppo units are first rate but are not low cost. A new AVR could be about the same or possibly less money.

If your Dad isn't using a programmable remote, source switching is greatly simplified with an AVR that includes HDMI switching since the TV input remains set to the input coming from the AVR.

I agree with all the above, especially moving any Oppo money to a decent AVR.

 

[oryan_dunn]

You may know this already but most AVRs that have multi-channel inputs bypass the internal speaker processing requiring the device to duplicate it: levels, delays, EQ, bass management, etc.

You didn't mention what Blu-Ray player your Dad currently but most modern AVRs support all the hi-res audio formats. There may be no need to upgrade the BR player. The Oppo units are first rate but are not low cost. A new AVR could be about the same or possibly less money.

If your Dad isn't using a programmable remote, source switching is greatly simplified with an AVR that includes HDMI switching since the TV input remains set to the input coming from the AVR.

His current receiver certainly does have 6ch analog mutlichannel inputs, and using those does bypass any processing. The issue is the current bluray player has only has HDMI out, not 6ch analog out. So, to get high res audio, he'd need either a new Blu-ray or AVR. Most budget AVRs (<$500) don't do proper DSD.

The options are to get a new AVR that does proper DSD which will be >$500, and sell his current for ~$50 on craigslist. Or, he could get an Oppo BDP-103, sell the Marantz CD player (which for some reason still fetches some nice coin on ebay), sell his Sony BD, and his Yamaha 5-disk DVD/SACD player ( I figure a total of about ~$250 conservatively based on past ebay sold listings). So the Oppo would cost about $250 then.

He currently has a Harmony 650, and is 2 devices past his limit, so a new AVR wouldn't solve that, but the oppo would consolidate the 3 players into one.

No matter his current equipment scenario, there's no reason the optical out from the Hopper shouldn't work. Hopefully the new one will work.

 

[oryan_dunn]

My Dad got the replacement hopper yesterday, and it also has the same issue. I tried my hopper 1 with the same optical cable and receiver I tested at his place, and didn't have any issue. It sure seems like it's a software bug in the new hopper.