Toslink Dolby Digital Output Problem

[John F]

Hello , I have a Series3 TiVo and am having an issue with getting a Dolby Digital signal out that can be locked onto by my surround processor. If I set it up for Dolby to PCM I get a complete signal, but if I choose Dolby Digital I get TiVo sound effects but no other signal. I use antenna signal only. TiVo support is of no help as they say that Dolby to PCM is the correct setting;Then why offer a choice?? My previous HD Tuner output an optical Dolby Digital signal that my processor would lock on to so I know the signal path is OK. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[briankasper]

Hello , I have a Series3 TiVo and am having an issue with getting a Dolby Digital signal out that can be locked onto by my surround processor. If I set it up for Dolby to PCM I get a complete signal, but if I choose Dolby Digital I get TiVo sound effects but no other signal. I use antenna signal only. TiVo support is of no help as they say that Dolby to PCM is the correct setting;Then why offer a choice?? My previous HD Tuner output an optical Dolby Digital signal that my processor would lock on to so I know the signal path is OK. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I recently experienced a similar, but not identical problem -- the optical digital output from my S3 was intermittent.

I've connected the audio output of my S3 to my receiver using both an optical digital cable and the 2-channel analog outputs. I have my receiver set to "auto" mode: if it detects a signal on the digital input, it uses that; otherwise, it falls back to the analog inputs. The input in use is indicated by LEDs on the front of the receiver.

For the first 2 months after I bought the S3, there were no problems; then early last week, the digital signal from the S3 became intermittent, as evidenced both by the sound coming from my speakers and the indicator LEDs on the receiver. I know this wasn't a problem with the source data in the S3, because the dropouts would happen at different points in the program if I replayed it. The dropouts occurred with both live and pre-recorded shows.

I swapped out the TOSLink cable and tried a different optical input on my receiver, but neither of these steps had any effect. I performed a software restart of the S3, but this didn't fix the problem.

Finally, in desperation, I unplugged the S3, waited a minute for all the capacitors to discharge, and plugged it back in. This worked -- I've now had no problems with the optical digital output for a week or so.

Of course, this isn't exactly the problem you're having, but you might try unplugging your S3 to see if it resolves your problem as well.

-B

[ewilts]

Hello , I have a Series3 TiVo and am having an issue with getting a Dolby Digital signal out that can be locked onto by my surround processor. If I set it up for Dolby to PCM I get a complete signal, but if I choose Dolby Digital I get TiVo sound effects but no other signal. I use antenna signal only. TiVo support is of no help as they say that Dolby to PCM is the correct setting;Then why offer a choice?? My previous HD Tuner output an optical Dolby Digital signal that my processor would lock on to so I know the signal path is OK. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I use the Dolby Digital setting and it's working flawlessly for me. My source is Comcast cable and the Dolby output is very noticeable on channels like Discovery HD.

.../Ed

[sfhub]

I noticed a similar problem also. It started happening after the 8.1 upgrade, but could just be coincidental.

I have my S3 connected by HDMI to my TV.

Basically there are 2 problems.
1) If I set to Dolby Digital output, I'm getting delayed audio output. When I watch LiveTV or a recorded show and press Advance or Instant Replay, the video will show up and half a second later the audio is heard. The audio is still in sync. I do not hear any audio feedback for the button press, so possibly this is a problem with the S3 mixing in the audio feedback for the button press before sending out the digital audio. If I change the audio to Dolby Digital -> PCM it fixes the problem.

2) same problem as #1, except it happens even with audio set to Dolby Digital -> PCM. When I get stuck in this mode, nothing seems to fix the problem except rebooting the S3.

3) There is a second more aggressive version of this delayed audio effect. If I press TiVo to get to TiVo central and navigater to message and settings right away, I see the video feedback of the cursor moving down, but the first 3 button presses do not have audio feedback, then it kind of fades back in by the 4th down arrow. Now this audio loss is unaffected by both reboot and Dolby Digital -> PCM setting. I seem to always be getting it. It appears this started happening after the 8.1 update, but I cannot say if that caused it or was just coincidental. I also got CableCARDs installed the same day as the 8.1 update.

I have 2 S3s and they are both behaving this way now. I'm connected to a Sharp LCD TV. I've yet to check if the analog audio out is affected by this problem.

[John F]

Thank you, Everyone. I will try the re-boot and see what happens. John F.

[John F]

Thank you everyone. Tried the reboot,no luck!