Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

WOW! Smiley Indifferent I can't believe a tech actually said something that stupid and/or insulting.

Quote "He even called his tech support line and they told him that it's "normal" for "standard def"

Anthony, you got hosed. If this were true all SD channels would sound like this. Or is CC substandard definition? For someone employed by Verizon to tell you this is an insult to your and anyone's intelligence. I would expect an apology from at least The Sanchez on this. Also, it's so untrue as HD only affects the video definition as the audio is still AC3 or Dolby Digital.

I would retrain these techs as they are the best advertising DirecTV can get.

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Re: Audio Quality Problem
digitaldarknes5
Contributor - Level 1
Yeah, I was pretty **bleep** about that, but I'm a pretty calm person.. The tech that was onsite was just repeating what HIS tech support said to him.. Crap always rolls from the top down..
Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

I just got back from a neighbor's house where she has Verizon HD. All three channels (WGN, Comedy Central & Discovery) had AM audio on the SD channels and CD audio on the HD channels.

Why can't Verizon run the HD networks in SD?

I know they do it with WTXF 29 Philadelphia as the SD is letterboxed or center cut from WTXF-HD depending on the AFD signal being used (I wish they did that with WCAU and/or WBAL, ugh!) so why not simply run their HD net in SD?

Then again they could replace the SD boxes with ones that are HD compatible (like CECB boxes for DTV) run all the HD channels on their proper channel numbers and drop the SD compatible channels to free up space. However, that's a rant for another thread.

If we can get clean audio with the HDs we should have it with the SDs. Or can't you do local advert insert with the HDs? Hmmm. 😛

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Re: Audio Quality Problem
digitaldarknes5
Contributor - Level 1
This got fixed for two days, now it's right back to AM-quality. Can we have some follow through or maybe a permanent solution?? This is really poor service, guys.... I'm still willing to renew my contract, but not if this isn't resolved.. I've been more than patient with this problem... If i called my local cable company with this complaint, I can almost guarantee that it would be fixed within a couple weeks... I don't think i'm asking for too much. Just fix the audio on Discovery and Comedy Central in Tampa.
Re: Audio Quality Problem
csellner
Enthusiast - Level 2
New FIOS customer as of a little over a month.  I've noticed that sometimes the video comes in and out and tonight I think it was the whole connection because I was watching a program in delay by pausing in the beginning so I could FF through commercials.  Well, with 5 mins left in the delayed show, it lost connectivity and I wasn't even able to RW to see the end of the show!  This was using the component cable.  I also have HDMI so switched to that and the picture is better, but on the channels you mention with problems with audio, I don't have sound at all.
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Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

The answer to the audio problem may not be what is heard, but what is seen. Seen via a spectral analysis. I've had someone from http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiostv post links for two WGN sound clips, one each from Verizon and Comcast. I opened both mp3s with my Adobe Audition and viewed them with spectral view to see ..

The Comcast clip had a naturally varying top end extending between 15,000 and 17,000 hertz depending on the original audio.

The Verizon clip had everything above 7,000 hertz chopped. It looked like a trimmed hedge.

This visually shows Verizon is putting out substandard audio without ambiguity. I also opened an mp3pro file (mp3 with SBR, HE-AAC is similar to mp3pro) and found the same top end chop as this mp3pro did not decode properly with my AA (this software can decode and encode SBR clips, just not this one). I'm not saying this is why, just that it is a similar situation.

Verizon needs to both look into the situation and look at the audio (through spectral analysis) to see the problem. Ears may deceive but eyes rarely lie. 😉

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Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

Once again I have AM sound on WGN, Comedy Central and Discovery in VH08. Here's the photo that shows the issue.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r21983249-AM-quality-sound-on-Comedy-Central-WGN-and-others~start=20

The top image is Comcast while the bottom is Verizon SD, both are Comedy Central. I hope this can be monitored at Verizon by someone who cares about these kinds of things.

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Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

http://www.geocities.com/ajc_trw/sound.htm

I've started a page to visualize what bad sound looks like. The top graph is what Comcast viewers where hearing while viewing the same channel at the same time. The program had treble, but not for Verizon viewers.

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Re: Audio Quality Problem
qwerty1234
Enthusiast - Level 2
What is this, I thought Fiber could carrry more bandwidth than cable...BTW am I the only one to notice that video quality on CC SD is a little compressed too?
Re: Audio Quality Problem
Drew_from_Dover
Contributor - Level 2

qwerty1234, I noticed that too, the picture is softer than normal. This has to be a problem in the way Verizon distributes the channel that they don't have in the HD version. It's odd how it's the usual suspects (WGN, Comedy Central, FX & Discovery) all SD without treble but HD sounds normal. And the local ads on the SD sound normal until they return to programming.

Yea, FiOS is supposed to have enough bandwidth for lots of channels. This may be the bandwidth they choose to use to run the channels from the satellite dishes to the local VHOs.

I still say if all boxes were HD compatible they wouldn't have to waste bandwidth on redundant SD compatible channels. But that's another rant.

Thanks again qwerty1234, you're another person fighting the good fight for good sound and your efforts are appreciated by many. Smiley Wink

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