Cable Card/beIN Sports channel 598-audio only

[sharonp]

I have recently upgraded to the Ultimate HD package and had to change out my STBs to get all the channels.  I have one TV using the CableCard and I can ONLY get the audio for beIN Sports (channel 598).  I spent some time on the phone troubleshooting with Verizon, they sent me a new card but it has NOT resolved the problem.  Any one have any suggestions to get this channel working properly?  All the other channels seem to come in OK on the STBs and the cablecard, but channel 598 is audio only on the cablecard TV.

Thanks,

Sharon

[Sur1]

Were you able to fix this problem?

[tns2]

What STB?  I know BEIN is a mpeg4.  I don't know if a box which supports only mpeg 2 would still give you sound or not.

[sharonp]

No, I still can't get a picture with a cable card on this channel--598 BeIN Sports.  I get it fine on my STB on other TVs in the house so it's not a total loss.

[PJL]

What make and model of TV do you have?  It may not be decoding the MPEG4 stream properly.

[sharonp]

It's an older Panasonic model TH-42PX50U made in 2005.

[PJL · Accepted solution]

It probably doesn't support the MPEG4 video decoding properly at that age, as I said.  You might query Panasonic for a possible upgrade patch.

[sharonp]

Thanks.  I believe you've id the reason for my problem.  I checked on the Panasonic page  but there is just not enough detail on my model regarding MPEG4, so it's probably safe to say it was manufactered before this format became a standard. 

So are there other channels I don't know I'm NOT getting because of the MPEG 4?  The TV in question is in a location that doesn't get much use....

Thanks again for your help

Sharon

[PJL]

Some sports packages and possibly Spanish are in MPEG4, and future HD additions will likely be in MPEG4.  Some premium channels may be converted too.

[tns2]

Among others they previously announced as being converted to MPEG4 sometime after April 15, 2013 are:

ES.TV
558 HBO Family 906
ESPN Goal Line/Buzzer Beater
571 HBO Family (West) 907
Tennis Channel
592 HBO Latino 912
World Fishing Network
597 HBO Latino West 913
Cars.TV
599 MoreMax (West) 923
Pets.TV
633 Action Max 924
MyDestination.TV
674 Thriller Max 926
Recipe.TV
676 W Max 928
Comedy.TV
695 At Max 929
MGM HD
744 ESPN 3D 1002 

Because they ran low on equipment in the exchange programming they delayed the conversion, but may be close to doing so now.  ESPN 3d itself has announced they plan to shutdown, so that one may not occur.

They have been adding additional channels, mostly sports channels and some foreign language channels, as mpeg4.  It is expected that any new premium, sports, or channels in the Ultimate package only, will only be added as MPEG-4 channels.  The above mentioned channels leave them some room to add additional channels, probably all to be added as MPEG-4.