Super Bowl/Recording/DD audio dropouts

[pudge44]

I've had HD and the HR10-250 for just about a week. During that time, I've been concerned by picture blackouts (momentary disappearance of the picture while the audio continues unaffected), mostly while watching live TV programs on the NY-NBCHD feed from D*, so I was understandably nervous about how the Super Bowl would perform.

I normally keep dolby digital turned off in the HR10 options so I can have the option of using my TV's speakers, but turned it on for the game last night. Everything worked great through the pregame show -- I didn't notice any audio dropouts or blackouts.

I was not recording the pregame show, just watching. At 6 p.m., my Tivo kicked in to record the game itself, and immediately, the audio started dropping all over the place. No picture blackouts, but audio drops almost every minute for a second or two. I stopped the recording, and the audio drops stopped immediately. Didn't notice another one the entire game, though there were a few moments of audio stutter in the second half and a couple picture blackouts.

Anyone else noticed this problem? Is it simply "too much info" for the Tivo to handle?

I should mention I have the HR10 hooked to the TV (Samsung 42 DLP) via HDMI and to the AVR (a basic Samsung home theater in a box) via audio optical out.

[Budget_HT]

I had recurring audio dropouts once and was preparing to get a replacement HD TiVo from DirecTV. Then I discovered that the optical cable connector was not fully seated into the receptacle on the HD TiVo (it came out way too easily).

I pushed it in tight and tried again and the problems were solved. I had the HD TiVo nearly a year before that happened. I must have jarred it loose when adding or removing other components and cables.

This may have absolutely nothing to do with your problem, especially since the behavior seemed to differ depending on the settings (recording, etc.) of your HD TiVo. But, the HD TiVo is always recording, even when watching "live" TV, which is actually recorded and played back to/from the hard drive.