On 722: Audio Dropouts on Viacom (Comedy, VH1, MTV, Cartoon Network) + FOX-NYC

[BobMurdoch]

Although the viacoms have been an issue for months, the WNEW FOX NYC digital feed just started flaking in September.

FOX is behaving the worst. I'm getting tons of audio dropouts (about .5 to 1 second long in duration) every 5-10 seconds. Occasionally the picture is pixellating as well. Kind of like what happened with the ABC feed a few years back. Green blocks occasionally hit the screen, and every now and then the screen goes canary yellow for a few seconds.

SOMETHING is going on at the head end, because everything was fine in the summer AND all the other channels are fine. I had an installer come over who checked the switches and changed the LNBs but still no change.



The Viacoms don't get the picture breakups but the audio keeps dropping out. Anyone else seeing this?

BTW, I am feeding them through an Integra Audio receiver through the optical output NOT through the HDMI. I am feeding the HDMI output with a video signal through an Oppo 3:1 switcher (which has not caused problems on any other channels AND was working fine for 8 months before all this started earlier this month). Did they tweak the compression somehow or issue a software update that broke something?

 

[mheckman]

I'm seeing the same thing on Fox (WFFT Fort Wayne, IN) - haven't noticed it elsewhere, but I also don't watch much of the Viacom networks.

Makes the shows pretty much unwatchable, IMO. I haven't noticed the pixellation, but then again, I can't stand watching the Fox shows for more than a minute because of the audio drops.

I've got a 722 that's a couple of years old, but the dish and install are new as of mid-August after a move. Feeding HDMI to an Onkyo HT receiver.

Glad to know it's not just me, but looks like I'm stuck with Hulu or some such until this is resolved.

 

[mheckman]

I'm in chat with a Dish CSR, who says they have multiple reports of this problem, and are sending reports to engineering.

 

[loopup2u]

San Diego

Yeah, it is happening for me as well, Local Fox-69 in San Diego, have my 722 hooked up via HDMI to a onkyo reciever.

Like a previous person stated pretty much makes content unwatchable.

 

[FitzAusTex]

I'm getting one second audio dropouts on my 622 pretty regularly (HBOs, Showtimes, etc). My audio is hooked up from my 622 via optical to a Sony receiver which glows blue for a multi channel decoded signal. Each time I get a dropout, the blue ceases, and the current audio format crawls across the Sony receiver display. This crawl of the current format allows me to easily "see" for about 15 seconds that there was just an actual dropout.

 

[BobMurdoch]

My Pay TV channels (HBO, Showtime, Max, Starz) have actually been pretty well behaved. No dropouts in HD channels on either my 622 or 722.......

It is confined to any Viacom owned basic cable type channels and now the Fox feed. I've switched over any timers to their SD equivalents to stay away for now, but the Fox content in SD looks awful... PLEASE find out what you did to break it E* and correct it, since none of FOX's problems happened since early September. The Viacom channels have never worked properly (and I am at max reception levels as the guy who had a nifty app on his IPhone showed me after putting in my zip code and seeing what the best possible reception could be from my location... wish I got the name of it.....)

 

[mheckman]

I had no audio issues with Fox on Sunday (10/11) - NFL, Simpsons, Family Guy were all fine this week.

Hopefully whatever it was is now fixed.

 

[dmendenjr]

Drop out was bad on Cartoon Net HD on Sunday Night around Midnight Eastern. Flipped over to the SD channel - no problem. (had to catch last season's finale to the Venture Bros before next weeks season premier)

 

[tlc1145]

I am having a similar problem in Columbus on Fox 28...but only seems to happen on the HD feed late at night. The SD feed is fine and the commercials are fine. It is really bad during the cartoon shows on Sunday night.

Called in to a CSR last nite to just report it. Too isolated to be a rcvr or dish issue.