Brief Sound Interruptions
Rick5472
Contributor - Level 2

I have had Quantum FIOS for a while no but have noticed the sound briefly drops out (1-2 seconds) intermittently  on all my TVs.  I have rebooted all the STBs but still the problem remains.  I have read somewhere on this forum that it is a problem with the HDMI cables, but I can't believe that is true for the problems I am having on all 4 of my TVs.  Thanks for any help/info.

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
Hellenww
Enthusiast - Level 3

I came to the forums today to see if this was a wide spread problem. We've had it happening on all 3 of our tvs in South Jersey for over a week. We also rebooted the boxes with no fix and replaced the HDMI cable on the DVR.

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
schinfchin
Enthusiast - Level 3

Read your post yesterday and checked today if there are answers.

Don't know if the problem is same as yours, but I was watching MSNBC recently and had that problem on that channel. But when I switched to CNN, other channels, there were no problem. It doesn't happen everyday though.

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
Rick5472
Contributor - Level 2

Still happening on all 4 of my sets.  Tonight I am seeing it happening a lot during NBC news.  Surprised Verizon hasn't addressed this yet.  Anyone have any other suggestions?

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
kschles
Enthusiast - Level 3

I've had this issue happening intermittenly for a long time. Some googling shows some Verizon customers have been complaining about this issue for years. After changing out HDMI cables, tightening connections, powering up devices in different orders, and trying a combination of connections (TV, STB, and AVR); I've concluded it's the STB that is the problem. It seems to happen to me more when I'm watching live TV (sports, MSNBC); alhtough I've had it happen at other times. I've had the problem on two makes of TVs (2 samsungs and 1 vizio). While I normally have my STB sunning through my AVR and then to the TV, I had the same problem when I had my STB connected directly to my TV.

I found a possible workaround, but there are tradeoffs. You need to enter the user preference menu. This is not the same menu you enter by pressing the menu key on your remote. For quantum users, you need to press and hold the "D" button on your remote for about 5 seconds. This will bring up a white screen with several options, one of which is user settings. Press the user settings option. On the next screen you scroll down to "additional HDMI settings" and press OK. Finally you will see a screen that includes the option "audio output." Scroll to this. By default, it's set to "auto." Your other choices, which you can access by using your remote's arrow key, are "passthrough" and "L-PCM." Once you pick another setting, hit OK to finalize it. Selecting L-PCM may solve the audio drop problem. However, this means the STB is sending out a stereo (2 channel) signal instead of a dolby signal, so the quality of the sound might not be as good. 

I've chosen to leave my setting on auto for the time being and live with the periodic audio drops. I'm not particularaly happy about it. Many folks on various forums have contacted Verizon technical folks about this issue, but they don't seem to be aware of the problem or of much assistance. Changing out the STB seems to be a common response, which doesn't really help the issue.

Non-quantum STB owners have a different path to the user menu. Just google "Verizon change L-PCM setting" to get directions. If your problem is quite bad, you might want to give this a try and see if it helps.

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
Rick5472
Contributor - Level 2

I don't see a Users Setting option when I hold down the D key.  I only see something called My Dashboard.  I have fios quantum.  Need more info . Thanx

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Re: Brief Sound Interruptions
Justin46
Legend

@Rick5472 wrote:

I don't see a Users Setting option when I hold down the D key.  I only see something called My Dashboard.  I have fios quantum.  Need more info . Thanx


Verizon has changed the way to access the menu in the latest software release. What you need to do now is:

1) Power off the STB then

2) Quickly press OK and then Menu on the remote, wait for the User Settings menu to appear

3) Scroll down to Additional HDMI Settings and press OK

4) Scroll up to the Audio Output setting and use the left and right buttons to change the seeting to the value you want

5) Return to the main page, then press Exit

The above process should let you change the audio setting to see if different one helps.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV: Extreme HD, Internet: 50/50, Digital Voice
VMS Enhanced Service: 1 server, 2 clients
Keller, TX 76248 (VHO 1)