Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel

[epstewart]

Occasionally, when I turn on my Cisco CHS 435 multi-room DVR, my favorite channel has no sound.

I live in Baltimore County, MD. The channel in question is 526, the HD feed of the WETA-26 PBS station in Washington, DC.

When this happens, all the other channels' sound is OK. I can't get sound back on 526 by switching to another channel and switching back. I can get sound back with this trick:

1. Switch to another channel.
2. Begin recording whatever is showing on that channel.
3. Switch manually to channel 526.

Now channel 526 has sound. I then can stop and delete the current recording-in-progress.

I believe the trick works because it forces the DVR to switch to the other tuner for 526.

It is posible that the audio drops during or at the end of an earlier recording of channel 526 that I had set the DVR to make, such that when I turn on the DVR later on, 526 is the active channel and it has no audio. That seems to be the pattern, but I haven't really confirmed it.

I am using IMG 1.9. The S/N ratio for the DVR is shown as 23 dB. I have no other known problems with the DVR or the two other Cisco set-top boxes in my home.

I have no reason to believe that the audio problem has to do with the WETA source signal, as the trick I outlined above brings the audio back successfully, and I have never had a problem with 526 on my TiVo units with CableCards.

Does anyone have similar experiences to share ... or maybe even a solution? Thanks.

[Anthony_VZ]

Are you using a coaxial connection between the box and the TV?

[epstewart]

No, the only connection between the DVR box and the TV is HDMI.

[Anthony_VZ]

That is very curious. To try to fix the sound issue, press menu, then go to CUSTOMER SUPPORT, then IN HOME AGENT, then SET TOP BOX AUTO CORRECTION. If that does not work please send me a private message.

[epstewart]

OK, thanks. I am now in the process of working with Lee_Vz, via private messages, as Anthony_Vz, is away for a few days. Lee is set to initialize my DVR box on his next night shift ...

[epstewart]

I want to express my thanks to Anthony_VZ for helping solve the problem, via private messages. We went through a sequence of attempts to fix the "audio dropping on Ch. 526" problem that involved:

1. Initializing the DVR, which Anthony did from his end at an agreed on time when I wasn't using the DVR to watch or record programs. This didn't help.
2. Sending me a replacement DVR. This didn' help either.
3. Arranging for an experienced field technician to visit my home to check the signal strength for channel 526. The tech did that, and the signal that he tested was good.

I told Anthony after the tech had left:

Destin Ford came out and observed the problem with no audio on Ch. 526 on the two DVRs I have right now. He tested everything and thought everything was OK. The signal levels are OK, and there were no bit errors on Ch. 526. He did some fancy testing with his handheld equipment, but I have no idea how that works. He did some swapping out of splitters and swapped out the gray box outside. He has no real explanation for the dropped audio on 526. He has asked two of his higher-ups, Mike Joyce and Dave Fling, to research the problem further. He wants me to give him/them a couple of days or so, then I plan to call him to see if there is any resolution. He thinks it may be a problem that no one has ever reported, though. Or, it may be a problem specifically with the Cisco DVR's firmware, and swapping out my boxes for Motorola may be the answer.

Today I woke up and turned on the DVRs, both of which were in standby overnight tuned to Ch. 526, a situation that up to now unfailingly would produce an audio-less picture when the DVRs were turned on. I had audio on both DVRs! I wrote Anthony:

One day after the tech's visit, the new is good. Both of the DVRs I have right now did not drop audio on Ch. 526 overnight. Before, they always did drop audio on 526 between when I last watched the channel the night before and the next morning when I fired up the DVR, still set to 526.

The tech, Destin Ford, replaced the Optical Network Terminal box outside my house and, inside the house, swapped out some of the splitters, including the first splitter in the sequence, a three-way splitter. He told me that he found one of the lines in the original ONT not to have connected tightly enough, which he said can easily happen, even for a competent and experienced installer. I don't know whether getting the connections tight, replacing the ONT, or replacing the splitters made the difference, but something seems to have fixed the problem, at least for now.

So it looks like "problem solved." I post this in such great detail because it may help others who have "gremlins" in their FiOS service. A visit from a competent and thorough field tech may exorcise them. They can be caused by factors that even the technician isn't sure are factors. Just getting tight connections and properly working intermediary equipment — the ONT, the signal splitters — can cure certain phantom-like ills.

I want to put in a good word for all the Verizon personnel I've dealt with so far: Anthony_VZ, Lee_VZ (who substituted for him at one point), field tech Destin Ford, original installer Troy Robinson, the counter personnel at the local Verizon store. They have all been competent, friendly, professional, polite, patient, thorough, and lots of other good things. They have been willing to go the extra mile in helping to solve my problem. This is in contrast with my recent experience with Comcast, and it makes me glad I switched to Verizon.

[snjnova]

We are in Northern Virginia and just had FIOS installed 10 days ago - not having had cable before and finally upgrading our 15 year old DSL line. 

We are having a similar problem with our service. We have a Cisco 435HDC and the sound frequently disappears when we switch to 526, the WETA HD channel. The non-DVR STB in our other room got sound when this one didn't. Also, that box status on the web site said it had not been activated, nor would it let me set up a recording. So I called support, the tech tried resetting the box, but nothing helped so they sent a new box, which I installed this morning.

That box would not activate, either automatically or using the manual process so I called and the tech said she would activate it and to try in 15 minutes. That seemed to get it working - I can now initiate a recording, and the listing on the web site now says it can't retrieve the STB details, which I guess is better than not being activated.

But our sound problem continues. We recorded two shows on 526 tonight from 6 to 7 PM. The first show started out without sound and then the sound started up after about 3 minutes. The second show started out fine and then lost sound after about a minute - and it never returned.

We haven't watched any other TV today, but 526 did work the one time we checked.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm posting here only because it's a similar problem on the same channel.

[epstewart]

Despite my earlier post, I find that the problem with dropped audio on channel 526 has persisted, and a friend who lives in my area says he has the same problem on his Verizon DVR as well. This problem seems to crop up when the DVR is "sitting on" 526 when it is in standby but not when it is in standby on other channels. It can switch to 526 to make a recording while in standby, if you set it up to do so, so it may lose sound with you being unaware of the problem until later, when you discover to your chagrin that a recording has been made without sound. You can use various menu choices to tell the DVR to reset itself or reboot, and that gets sound back on 526. Also, some but not all sequences in which you manually change the channel and then change back to 526 will reliably restore audio to 526. I can't speak to your problems with getting your DVR activated in the first place and able to be seen online. Those are separate problems. I can confirm that the 526 dropped audio problem does not affect non-DVR set top boxes, except when you try to use home sharing to play an audio-less recording that sits on the DVR. My assumption, shared by my friend, is that there is some occasional X factor that is possessed by the 526 audio stream and by few if any other channels, and there is some bug in the DVR firmware that causes the DVR to stop using the 526 audio when the X factor occurs ... but only when in standby while sitting on 526. So we can hope that some future firmware update will fix it. Until then, we'll just have to live with it.

[snjnova]

Not sure about the inactivation failure and that box is on its way back.

We did succesfully record another pair of programs last night on 526, so now I guess we'll always wonder if we can count on 526 being recorded with audio. I do wonder if it's a problem with WETA. Before we put in the FIOS connection, we were getting TV from a roof antenna and the WETA signal would regularly cut off completely for a few seconds although other channels were working properly. How does VZ get its signal? Direct feed from studio or off the air?

Also, there is a note below my original post about my problem being resolved through private channel but I have not heard anything.

[KaLin]

snjnova,

You received an email with a link to your private support case.  If you cannot find the email, go to your profile and click on the link under "My Support Cases" to interact with the agent that is working on your case.

[snjnova]

Got it - thank you. I was looking for mail from Verizon and this was from Community Mailer at lithium.com - am surprised it wasn't blocked by my spam filter.

[snjnova]

Our case has been referred for support so I'm posting this only to provide additional data points for anyone who searches and finds this.

I just looked at our recordings using the non-DVR STB. The two that were fine are still fine. The one that loses audio after a few minutes also losed audio on that. However, the one that on the DVR STB starts out with no audio and gets audio a few minutes in - is fine on the non-DVR box.

The DVR box uses HDMI to feed an LCD HD TV, while the non-DVR is using the video/L-R feed to an old CRT TV.

I checked the WETA web site and their FAQ indicate that Cox and Comcast have direct fiber-optic feeds of their signal, implying that other cable companies to not. Does this mean they're using off-the-air pick up? If so, could there be some issue with the antenna/receiver/translator used for the WETA HD signal that is not playing well with the DVR STB?

[epstewart]

I find it very interesting that you have a channel 526 recording that lacks audio until partway through when played on the DVR box itself, but has audio right away when played via home sharing on a non-DVR box! Would you double check that and confirm that I have understood you properly? Thanks very much. I have had recordings that lack audio for the first few minutes and then regain it. I have never tried streaming them to a non-DVR box, though. In my tests I found that the problem exists whether I connected the DVR to the TV via HDMI or via component video, by the way, so it looks like the type of connection is not the culprit. .

[snjnova]

Went back and checked. Yes, the program that has no sound at the beginning of the recording when played through the DVR STB has sound for those first few minutes when played back through the non-DVR STB. I did notice that the first few minutes of the recording were promotions for other shows and a commercial - and there was a noticeable static pop sound when it got to the point that Gordon Peterson started talking at the actual beginning of the show - and that is the exact point where the sound started when played through the DVR box.

[epstewart]

I appreciate your double checking. I have a real hard time explaining the different playback behavior between the DVR and the ordinary STB! Presumably there is occasionally something in the program material as recorded that triggers the weird playback on the DVR, yet is taken in stride by the ordinary box. Under the assumption that the DVR, when in standby and set to channel 526, is (perhaps) making a transient recording all the while, maybe that same trigger knocks out the channel's audio occasionally, such that only extraordinary measures by the user can get it back. I have flirted with the notion that possibly the trigger might happen when WETA turns on a secondary audio program or the descriptive video service, which might occur only after the initial promos and funding sources have finished being shown. It is most perplexing, and I would have to say it's a bug in the DVR firmware that is ultimately to blame, since there should be no transitions or dropouts in the source program from which the firmware can't recover on its own.

[snjnova]

I'm still waiting to hear from the tech on our "private" action. But a search of the forums here shows some similar problems with audio on other channels - the solution was to replace the Cisco DVR STB with one from Motorola. I just talked to one of my co-workers who is a heavy WETA watcher and she has a Motorola and has not had problems.

So I guess we wait to hear from the tech and then plead for a Motorola.

[snjnova]

I submitted the form yesterday afternoon as requested and am still waiting for someone to contact me as promised. We just had an automated email thanking us for contacting the support center and referring us to the In House Agent.

Yes, I know I can reset the box whenever I want and that will restore sound. However, we do leave the house sometimes and will want a recording that work. We also don't like having to initiate a 10-15 minute reset to watch one channel.

Will Verizon provide us with an extra TV and STB so we can watch one channel until the show ends and have the other TV and STB ready to go on 526? And have someone initiate a reset before every recording?

I'm sorry to sound so cynical but the deadly silence for 24 hours followed by an automated email referring us to the automated support is useless. How do I escalate this and get it resolved? Friends with Motorola boxes report no problems.

[KH-OrnEsh1]

Hi snjnova, 

Please allow 48 business hours for verizon to reply to your issue.  Please also check your support case for any further communication.  You can also communicate through the support case page if you have any further concerns.  

[epstewart]

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@snjnova wrote:

I'm still waiting to hear from the tech on our "private" action. But a search of the forums here shows some similar problems with audio on other channels - the solution was to replace the Cisco DVR STB with one from Motorola. I just talked to one of my co-workers who is a heavy WETA watcher and she has a Motorola and has not had problems.

So I guess we wait to hear from the tech and then plead for a Motorola.

---

I am unsure why no one at Verizon has offered to switch me to Motorola equipment. Is that an option?

[snjnova]

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@epstewart wrote:

I am unsure why no one at Verizon has offered to switch me to Motorola equipment. Is that an option?

---

The post I found on this said that Verizon preferred the Cisco box because it would auto-activate.

We heard from someone who said a tech would come tomorrow afternoon to check the cables and splitters. I don't think that's it but they have to try their thing. Assuming they don't do anything else, the sound will fail again within a day or so. At that time, I'll swap our DVR and non-DVR boxes. If my theory is right, then the non-DVR box (moved to the living room) should work fine. And the one in the bedroom with the DVR should then have sound problems. And since they're both coming off the same optical converter that should prove the theory that it's the Cisco DVR STB. Will post as things happen.

[snjnova]

The tech came by, measured the signals, and said everything was OK. Then he looked at the cables. We had used the existing in house RG-59 coax, which I installed in the 80's for our roof top antenna, and that's not rated for HD. So I just pulled and terminated a length of RG-6 and we'll see how that works over the next few days. We're supposed to let him know if the problem persists. I'll post here as / if anything changes.