Static Pop Sound when Changing Channels/Tuners with Denon 3802

[rrhardy]

I don't consider it a "compatibility issue" either - I had NO issues with another HD/DSS tuner (an RCA DTC-100) that was connected to the same amp (a high end Pioneer) by optical. But, considering that DirecTV is cutting ties with TiVo, it seems really unlikely that this problem will ever be addressed. I'm looking forward to the Comcast TiVo HD in mid/late '06 - assuming it gets reasonable reviews, it's "bye bye, DirecTV", for me.

[eroseme]

Quick item to consider: my Pioneer Elite VSX49TXi now appears to be intermittanly NOT shuting down the digital input when the HR10-250 spews garbage at it. This results in an incredibly nasty screeching audio output that does not "stop" (due to the breaker mechanism). I am well-trained now to always mute when starting a recording or even changing channels, so I have not actually heard the pop-then-drop for some time (heard the big nasty recently after having it muted for non-workaround purposes). I am concerned that the continual event may actually be having an effect on the receiver (I have always been more concerned about the speakers). If this component (HR10-250) can actually break very high-end audio equipment, then that appears to be more than a usability problem.

[Flepper]

My 10-250 has been working fine for over a year, but just started with the audi dropouts on optical output, especially when usiing DD. I hear a slight pop or click and the Denon AVR3300 loses lock on the audio signal and regains. It happens a lot some times and rarely on others. I hope my optical out hasn't just failed.

[SHOMan]

Your drop-out problem is not directly related to the problem discussed in this thread. I have noticed an increase in dolby-digital dropouts in the last month or two myself. That said, what you are experiencing is not the same issue as the big static pop noise.

Consider yourself lucky to not have an audio receiver that is prone to this issue. I believe the intermittent loss of dolby "lock" is an overworked CPU. Over time, your drive has become fragmented. This can cause both video and audio dropouts and stuttering.

Can you post the make and model of your AV gear? More as a point of curiosity, as they clearly won't be fixing anything on the HR-10 anytime in the next 30 years or so.

[Cookster]

I have a Denon AVR-3801 and two DirecTiVos (SD and HD). The Sony SAT-T60 SD TiVo works perfrectly. I can switch between DD and PCM with no glitches, and I can FF/RWD when playing DD, and it works fine.

However, with the HR-10, I often get a very nasty buzz from the 3801 when doing FF/RWD while watching a DD program. It happens about 50% of the time. It occurrs at the moment when you hit a scan button, and lasts for about a 1/2 second. It sounds like the DD error concealment in the tuner (repeating the last snippit of audio over and over again) was triggered by an invalid DD frame occurring at the moment the scan started. I haven't notice a problem when using 30 second skip, only when using normal forward and backwards scans.

I have not heard any problems with the DD audio during uninterrupted playback. And I haven't heard any audio problems when going from PCM->DD, or even DD->PCM, just DD->silence

Has anyone heard anything similar? Does it sound like this is related to the problems described in this thread, or is it more likely an unrelated problem?

[Flepper]

Thanks SHOMan. My receiver is a Denon AVR 3300. I replaced the hard drive with a Weaknees unit. The problem has gotten worse still. Last night, I had to disconnect the optical out and hook up with RCA. I tried 3 different optical cables, and tried connecting it to each of the optical inputs on the AVR 3300. The problem happens less often if I tell the 10-250 to play normal audio vice DD, but it still happens.

Thanks again, and you are correct, I've placed this post in the wrong thread.

[goatboy66]

Does anyone who was suffering from this problem know if it was fixed with the 6.3 upgrade?

Thanks

[chicagochris]

I am wondering the same thing. As soon as i get 6.3, this is the first thing i am going to test.

**crosses fingers**

[Bugkillah]

I was glad to see this thread get bumped back up, because when this thread was started, there was no imaginable chance of a 6.x upgrade. 6.x has been out for a while, on other non hd directivos...

Anyone with a non HR 10-250 with 6.x software confirm or deny the fix?

[TomB]

There have been some posts related to audio issues, so it is not impossible that they did something to affect this. Have not received 6.3 yet myself, so cannot test to see if my issues (slightly different, related to the Band & Olufsen surround sound processor) have been fixed.

[goatboy66]

I just got 6.3a this morning, did a quick test and no static pops, will test it thoroughly tonight to see if I still get the static pops. I really hope this is fixed. My receiver is a Pioneer Elite VSX49TXi

[chicagochris]

I just got 6.3a this morning, did a quick test and no static pops, will test it thoroughly tonight to see if I still get the static pops. I really hope this is fixed. My receiver is a Pioneer Elite VSX49TXi

Did you have the static pops before?

[pdawg17]

My Yammy never had static pops and now with the 6.3a update I have TONS of them...enough that I'm going back to 3.1.5f...sux...

[goatboy66]

Did you have the static pops before?

Yes, pretty much consistently if I left any Tivo menu (except the guide) and started to watch an HD program. Regardless if I started up something saved on the drive or going to a live HD channel. Pop-fiz-crackle-no sound. The only way to get the sound back was to toggle to audio settings on the receiver or power it off an on. I hope tonight’s tests that I do show the bug has been fixed.

[boylan]

I've had 6.3 for a week now, and I don't think I've heard it since. Of course, maybe I just haven't noticed since I kinda got used to it - so I'm kind of in a "Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence" spot right now.

[goatboy66]

Well I've not had one static pop so far, usually had them at least 50% of the time, went from the now playing list to Earl, Office, saved HD movies and then from the list to live HD channels and no static pop, my goodness, this might be fixed!

[JohnDG]

Well I've not had one static pop so far, usually had them at least 50% of the time, went from the now playing list to Earl, Office, saved HD movies and then from the list to live HD channels and no static pop, my goodness, this might be fixed!

Well... at least now we have an idea that the DD stream processing code was changed in this release. The next questions are, "What did they do?," and "Is it causing the '15-20 second dropout' problem?"

jdg

[MikeE.]

My Yammy never had static pops and now with the 6.3a update I have TONS of them...enough that I'm going back to 3.1.5f...sux...

Same here - I never heard the static pop on my Yamaha DSP-A1 until the "upgrade" to 6.3a arrived this week. Now I get a loud static pop everytime the HR10-250 switches from PCM audio to Dolby Digital audio.

Mike

[Bugkillah]

From pcm to dd? Or the other way around?

[MikeE.]

From pcm to dd? Or the other way around?

When it goes from 2 channel PCM to Dolby Digital I get the pop.

[MikeE.]

When it goes from 2 channel PCM to Dolby Digital I get the pop.

To clarify more, I can be watching (for example - any channel that is 2 channel audio) CNN (ch. 202) and my receiver displays DOLBY PROLOGIC. I then change channels to HBOHD (ch. 71) and my receiver switches to DOLBY DIGITAL accompanied by a loud popping noise when it changes over.

This never happened with 3.1.5f and started after the update to 6.3a. I use an optical cable from the HR10-250 to the Yamaha for all audio.

[pdawg17]

To clarify more, I can be watching (for example - any channel that is 2 channel audio) CNN (ch. 202) and my receiver displays DOLBY PROLOGIC. I then change channels to HBOHD (ch. 71) and my receiver switches to DOLBY DIGITAL accompanied by a loud popping noise when it changes over.

This never happened with 3.1.5f and started after the update to 6.3a. I use an optical cable from the HR10-250 to the Yamaha for all audio.

Interesting...I have a Yammy (5590) and do not get that kind of popping...I get random repetitive popping when on PCM channels...

[goatboy66]

To clarify more, I can be watching (for example - any channel that is 2 channel audio) CNN (ch. 202) and my receiver displays DOLBY PROLOGIC. I then change channels to HBOHD (ch. 71) and my receiver switches to DOLBY DIGITAL accompanied by a loud popping noise when it changes over.

This never happened with 3.1.5f and started after the update to 6.3a. I use an optical cable from the HR10-250 to the Yamaha for all audio.

This sounds like exactly what I used to have happening. After the popping, do you get the audio or is it silent? On mine it was silent after the pop and I had to toggle the DD settings on the receiver to get the audio back.

[SHOMan]

Wow, here we are almost a year later, and from what I am reading, 6.3 may have fixed "the issue" for those audio receivers that were popping.

That said, it seems like the "fix" may have introduced the problem to audio receivers that were fine before the update.

I have been reading the posts on the audio problems associated with 6.3, and I would rather have the static/pop issue than losing audio every 30 seconds on OTA playback.

Hopefully by bumping this thread up, we can get some more folks who had the "affected" audio receivers to confirm that their popping is now gone.

For those of you who are experiencing the problem for the first time, my heart goes out to you. D* may never fix this issue. It took my wife almost a year to stop yelling at me everytime I didn't remember to mute and the loud popping scared the crap out of her. If you have read this thread, you know how hard I tried to get this escalated to engineering. Even had an actual, real life engineer (or a good actor) on the phone one night for 30+ minutes. He agreed that the HR-10 was to blame. That said, nothing was done to fix it. Until now, perhaps.

Let's see a few more posts from the folks who have been living with this since Day One.

[SHOMan]

I forgot to add that I have not received my upgrade yet, so I don't know if it fixed my static pop or not.

I will post as soon as I know.

[ikey78]

I got 6.3 last night. Tested the Dolby Digital issue this am and it seems to have been fixed. Got no popping in 10 minutes of use.

When you go from playback of a recorded show to live TV, which would normally precipitate the pop, there is now about a 1 second gray screen that was not there before. This may be allowing the recorder to stabilize. Also get this slight delay when changing channels.

Also there is a new digital output setting that may have helped.

The machine is much faster when pulling up menus. Sorting season passes is lightning fast.

[goatboy66]

It's been a week now and no pops. I think we just passed the 6.3a upgrade distribution deadline so all should have it by now, any luck SHOMan?

[SHOMan]

The one second grey screen and slight delay does suggest that, as we had previously thought, the problem had to do with timing of the switch from PCM to Dolby Digital.

As of last night, no 6.3a for me yet. I have only forced one call a couple of days ago, and didn't have any luck. I know from other threads that many are still waiting, so we will see.

So are you guys NOT having the dropout problems?

[ikey78]

No dropouts or static pops so far. No other issues.

[Bugkillah]

Just got 6.3a, and after resetting some old settings, I checked for the snap/crackle/pop, and NONE! This is awesome, I'm assuming it was addressed with the update.

[bullitt]

I've been experiencing this since my 6.3 upgrade but intermittently and usually on shows that have been TiVo'd with Dolby Digital using Optical. I have a Sherwood Newcastle Pre Amp Processor.

[Philbert1]

Hi All -

I received the 6.3a update on Friday (updated from 3.1.5f) on my unhacked HR10. I've got a Pioneer 49tx which is nortorious for the "static pop" bug when watching HD.

With 6.3a, after many, many hours of HD viewing, switching channels, etc, I've only heard the "static pop" once. While I'm a little upset that it's still there, this is a HUGE improvement over 3.1.5f, which "popped" about 50% of the time when switching HD channels or watching pre-recorded HD shows.

So overall, I'm very happy with this upgrade:-)

- phil

[TurboVR4]

I was getting static pops consistently with my Sony E9000ES Pre-amp about 90% of the time with 3.1.5f on regular PCM and DD recordings when performing the 30 seconds skip on my with Digital Output cable via Fiber connection. Now with 6.3a I get an occasional static pop about 5% of the time. A huge improvement!

[steady teddy]

I have a Yammy DSP-A1 and had NO audio popping before the 6.3 update. Now the damn thing sounds like Rice Krispies. :mad:

I read over at the DBS forums that people were advised by D* to turn Dolby Digital OFF. What the hell kind of fix is that?! I'm able to watch some digital cable programming via my QAM tuner and have no audio popping through my DSP-A1 so there's nothing wrong with my AV receiver.

As if this isn't enough, I have been getting the same popping noise on my new HR-20 for the last couple of weeks. I called D* and suggested that, even though the HR-20 and HR10-250 are two different pieces of hardware, maybe there's something in the latest software for BOTH units that might cause this. The rep told me that Tivo is responsible for software updates for the HR10-250, not D*.

I have an appointment set up for a tech to come out but my guess is it's a software issue, not hardware. And the fact that my HR-10 250 sounded fine before the 6.3 update confirms that, I think.

[neildallas]

I just got my Theta Casablanca back after getting some upgrades. No static previously with any TiVo software release but I'm getting them now. I called Theta and was told that TiVo's power supply causes digital jitter that overwhelms the new and improved (right!!) Theta components. I was told there are other devices that cause this problem as well. Theta said to send them my HD10-250 and they would modify it to eliminate the problem.

I haven't done it yet because I need a three week time frame for the modification.

[heel99]

I am also getting this problem with a brand new TiVo HD and a brand new Samsung HT-X70. Loud pops whenever we fast forward, pause, rewind with dolby digital. With PCM there are no problems, but we want surround sound.

Any ideas??

[RifRaf]

yes - i get a similar problem on my S3 - loud digital noise whenever switching tracks.

I'm running the 9.2a code with TiVo desktop v2.5 a PC over standard Ethernet cabling. I'm also using the optical connectors from the S3 to my sound system. All songs are fine as they play without issue on other iPods and such. It never used to happen with previous 8.x versions of the TiVo software.

Triple Thumbs Down for playing digital music with the latest TiVo.

[JimSpence]

This is the forum for the DirecTV HR10-250. You need to check in the S3 HDTiVo forum.

[JohnDG]

Does anyone know if this occurs and/or was fixed on DTV's HR20/HR21 DVRs?

I've seen some threads on a "buzz," etc., over on the DBS forum, but I wondering if these receivers are vulnerable to the LOUD POP issue. That is, is this just an annoyance on the HR20/HR21, or is speaker damage a possibility?

jdg

[jjmpeters]

Hello JohnDG and welcome to the thread!

This seems to be a problem with VOD with the new receivers as documented here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=114787




Does anyone know if this occurs and/or was fixed on DTV's HR20/HR21 DVRs?

I've seen some threads on a "buzz," etc., over on the DBS forum, but I wondering if these receivers are vulnerable to the LOUD POP issue. That is, is this just an annoyance on the HR20/HR21, or is speaker damage a possibility?

jdg