Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
epstewart
Enthusiast - Level 3

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.

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

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

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
epstewart
Enthusiast - Level 3
No, the only connection between the DVR box and the TV is HDMI.
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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
Anthony_VZ
Master - Level 3

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.

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
epstewart
Enthusiast - Level 3

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 ...

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
epstewart
Enthusiast - Level 3

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.

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
snjnova
Enthusiast - Level 3

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.

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
epstewart
Enthusiast - Level 3
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.
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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
snjnova
Enthusiast - Level 3

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.

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Re: Audio sometimes missing on favorite channel
KaLin
Khoros Partner
Khoros Partner

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.

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