No sound on my RSN HD feeds...Dolby Digital issue? Anyone else?

[David Taylor]

I am having something strange happening with my 722k in my living room. On Fox Sports SW (Ch 416) and other RSNs that I can get, I am not getting audio during game broadcasts on the HD feed. During some of the commercials (but not all) I get audio. All of the other channels I've checked I get audio. I have an HDMI cable going from the Dish receiver to the TV, and then a toslink optical out to the receiver. It has been working great for the last 18 months or so.

I think it is something with the Dolby Digital bitstream on the RSNs, and here's why:
1) My other receivers in the house (both 622s) work fine. They are just hooked up to TVs--no surround sound.
2) When I turn on my TV speakers in the living room, I get audio! It is just the dolby digital surround that is a problem.

I'd think that I was having problems with my surround sound receiver if it weren't for the fact that EVERY OTHER channel works flawlessly. There seems to be something funky the HD programming on my RSNs. The SD feed (which is not in 5.1) works fine. It is just the HD 5.1 feed that is an issue.

is anyone else out there seeing this problem? Please respond if you've seen this or are experiencing this issue. Thanks!

 

[goober]

Look under the audio options in the receiver and see what is selected..I forget what the option is for toslink

 

[David Taylor]

Look under the audio options in the receiver and see what is selected..I forget what the option is for toslink

You misunderstand. It works perfectly for EVERY CHANNEL EXCEPT for the HD RSN feeds and this only started a few days ago. Dish seems to have made some change that screwed up the Dolby Digital 5.1 bitstream on these channels.

 

[David Taylor]

Is everyone out there that gets their audio through their home theater getting audio from their HD RSN feeds (like Fox Sports Southwest)? Like i said, if I turn on my TV's speakers, I'm getting the audio. However, it is not being passed correctly where my home theater receiver can decode it--or that's what it seems like to me. Every other HD channel seems fine, but not the RSNs.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Is everyone out there that gets their audio through their home theater getting audio from their HD RSN feeds (like Fox Sports Southwest)? Like i said, if I turn on my TV's speakers, I'm getting the audio. However, it is not being passed correctly where my home theater receiver can decode it--or that's what it seems like to me. Every other HD channel seems fine, but not the RSNs.

I switched between the Red Sox game on the HD ALT channel (449) and the Bruins on NESN (434) last night and had no problems with the audio through my audio receiver...

 

[David Taylor]

Ok. That's good info to know. I have my system hooked up where I connect my Dish receiver to the TV via HDMI, and then output Toslink from the TV to my home theater receiver. Unfortunately, this is really the only way I can do it. Do you mind telling me how is yours set up?

Also, it is just strange that everything worked prior to a few days ago. I'm not sure what could have happened with Dish that caused audio issues with just these few channels....at least for me.

 

[king3pj]

Is everyone out there that gets their audio through their home theater getting audio from their HD RSN feeds (like Fox Sports Southwest)? Like i said, if I turn on my TV's speakers, I'm getting the audio. However, it is not being passed correctly where my home theater receiver can decode it--or that's what it seems like to me. Every other HD channel seems fine, but not the RSNs.

I run one Hopper to a Onkyo AVR through HDMI and then from the Onkyo to the TV. My other Hopper is wired the exact same way except the AVR is a Sony. My sound from Fox Sports Detroit HD is fine on both of them. It shows as 5.1 sound on both AVRs but Fox Sports Detroit actually only uses the front left and right speakers. I don't use optical cables though.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Ok. That's good info to know. I have my system hooked up where I connect my Dish receiver to the TV via HDMI, and then output Toslink from the TV to my home theater receiver. Unfortunately, this is really the only way I can do it. Do you mind telling me how is yours set up?

Also, it is just strange that everything worked prior to a few days ago. I'm not sure what could have happened with Dish that caused audio issues with just these few channels....at least for me.

That's exactly how mine is set up as well...

 

[David Taylor]

That's exactly how mine is set up as well...

Hmmmm. It sounds like something minor changed in the signal for ONLY the HD FSN channels that introduced digital sound incompatibility between my Dish receiver, my TV and my home theater receiver. Crazy. I am really hoping that someone else is seeing the same thing. Also, I hope that whatever they did doesn't eventually happen to other channels on Dish! The only way for me to fix it (most likely) is to buy a new HT receiver and run the audio through it first via HDMI.

I'm still hoping that whatever they did will get "undone" and I'll magically get audio again on those channels. I gotta watch my Texas Rangers in HD--and with sound!

 

[David Taylor]

And just to reiterate, what is *REALLY* weird is that some of the commercials on 416 HD HAVE SOUND--*AND* are in DD 5.1! Whereas the Rangers games (and some random soccer game i checked on another RSN) and some of the commercials were completely silent.

 

[ibanez_ax]

I only get sound out my left and right front speakers on 416 HD. My receiver indicates that it is 5.1 sound but I can't make any adjustments to get the sound out of the other speakers.

 

[David Taylor]

I only get sound out my left and right front speakers on 416 HD. My receiver indicates that it is 5.1 sound but I can't make any adjustments to get the sound out of the other speakers.

That is good info. It sounds like there is something very wonky about their audio on 416 HD. Mine indicates that it is 5.1, but I get *NO* sound. Yours indicates 5.1 but you only get 2 channels. They have something messed up. It is confusing my home theater receiver to the point where I don't get any audio at all!

 

[David Taylor]

Can someone from the DIRT team help me out with this? I think we can get it resolved if we get this information to the right technical people at Dish. There is just something screwy about the way they are sending the audio portion of the DH RSNs. My receiver shows it is getting a 5.1 signal, but I get nothing. Another guy on here is showing 5.1 but only getting sound on 2 speakers. If there is only stereo, it needs to be sent across as stereo--not 5.1. I think that is what is confusing my (and likely others') home theater receivers.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Ok. That's good info to know. I have my system hooked up where I connect my Dish receiver to the TV via HDMI, and then output Toslink from the TV to my home theater receiver. Unfortunately, this is really the only way I can do it. Do you mind telling me how is yours set up?

Also, it is just strange that everything worked prior to a few days ago. I'm not sure what could have happened with Dish that caused audio issues with just these few channels....at least for me.

That's exactly how mine is set up as well...

Sorry, I misread your post. Actually, I'm using HDMI for video from the Dish receiver to the TV, and Toslink also from the Dish receiver to my home theater receiver....

 

[David Taylor]

Ah, ok. Yeah, that is different than my setup. Regardless, it sounds like there is something funky if it is showing 5.1 on another person's receiver and only delivering 2 channels and showing 5.1 on mine and giving no audio (except on a few random commercials).

 

[ZachS@DISH]

I can submit a technical problem report for this problem. If you could just PM with your account information, receiver number (R00/R01) and the software version of the receiver it is happening on. Thanks.

 

[David Taylor]

PM sent. I think if the right technical person "in the know" saw this they might think: "aha! yeah, I made such-and-such a change a few days ago--it must be having some effect on certain home theater receivers!"

 

[ZachS@DISH]

If anyone else is having this issue with channel 416 please PM your account information. Thanks.

 

[David Taylor]

Worth noting is the guy who's receiver registers 5.1 but is only getting 2 channels. I think this is related somehow. My receiver has a diagram of the signal being sent and it will show graphically if it is only getting Dolby Digital 2.0, 5.1, or no signal at all. You would THINK that mine getting no sound would register in it showing no signal, HOWEVER it shows that it is receiving a 5.1 signal even though there is no sound. I've never seen this on any other channel or any other dolby digital source (blue ray, DVD, PS3, etc.). If there was no audio signal detected, I could see that. That' s just not the case in this scenario. Weird.

Also, sorry if I'm repeating myself. I'm just trying to make all of the details as clear as possible.

 

[king3pj]

I said that's how mine shows too. It says 5.1 but only front left and right are actually used. I don't think that's a tech problem though. It is encoded as a DD 5.1 signal so it shows as 5.1 on the receiver. FS Detroit just isn't sending any sound over the other 3 channels. It came through the exact same way for me when I had cable.