Rogers digital sound dropouts..Argh..anyone know what causes them?

[Mao Tse Tongue]

Now and then--more often than I like, thank you very much--the sound drops out of my Roger's digital signal. Like today it's doing it every couple of seconds. Anyone know what causes them and how I can fix them, other than assasinating Ted Rogers later today (kidding)??

I've tried resetting, does nothing. Help.

 

[drlove]

It happened to me recently as well. Tech support told me I needed a new SIM card and possibly a new phone. I made them credit my account $25.00 for the inconvenience and then got a hardware upgrade with a brand new SIM installed. Haven't had any problems since.

 

[chris123]

Umm, I'm thinking this is a cable TV issue rather than a cell issue. Do a google on the problem, it happens to me occasionally and there are a few forums discussing it. I can't remember the cause and soultion though!

 

[tboy]

This happens to me as well....I also find that on stations such as CBS, the video signal "stalls" and skips to the point where I don't watch that station any longer.

Oh, I can't wait until the mandatory switch to all digital in 2009 *grown*

 

[keeferz]

I have noticed the same thing, but only with a U.S station

 

[Papi Chulo]

I used to have that problem with Rogers.. and Cogeco, but not with Shaw.. by far the best of the large cable operators in Canada

 

[bennyboy68]

noticed the problem only on my HDPVR - all other digital boxes are fine.

 

[Bopper2]

I'm in the States and I notice the problem when watching CBC on my Time Warner cable. Very annoying.

 

[red]

typically its because LE is tapping your cable and recording what you are watching.

 

[bennyboy68]

typically its because LE is tapping your cable and recording what you are watching.

lol...

 

[hairyfucker]

this is the benefit of digital. sound and video is either there or not. in this case there are various differing formats and technologies of compression and transport that need to be merged together and get to you.

if there is an disruption of the stuff that is coming your way then some of the technologies will try to compensate. if the disruption is too large by way of bad info (i.e. packet corruption) or just plain missing for some reason you will be a dropout.

so the digital realm provides more and cleaner video and audio with more capabilities but also is not as forgiving.

 

[Binky]

so the digital realm provides more and cleaner video and audio with more capabilities but also is not as forgiving.

I disagree, anolog has far superior video and sound.

I have Rogers (The Red Menace) digital cable here and there isnt one channel that doesnt freeze or pixelate, this happens during evrey show I watch.

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

I disagree, anolog has far superior video and sound.

I have Rogers (The Red Menace) digital cable here and there isnt one channel that doesnt freeze or pixelate, this happens during evrey show I watch.

On other boards people blame outdated cables that come into the house, and that Rogers has to come and wire new cable. Any other theories?

I'm trying to watch Sarah Polley's movie right now and it's doing it every five seconds.!@!!&%##!! I can't believe I'm the only one driven crazy by this!!

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

BTW, just did a reset on the box and it went away (for now).

 

[Papi Chulo]

On other boards people blame outdated cables that come into the house, and that Rogers has to come and wire new cable. Any other theories?

It could also be the cable and jack in th house / apartment. Mnay of these are old and not suitable for a digital signal / internet. Old buildings are most likely wired with RG59, not RG6.

Also.. most cheap splitters are not suitable for digital signal / internet.

 

[hairyfucker]

I disagree, anolog has far superior video and sound.

I have Rogers (The Red Menace) digital cable here and there isnt one channel that doesnt freeze or pixelate, this happens during evrey show I watch.

You are not disagreeing with what I said.

To be slightly more precise. Digital has the potential to have better audio and video if properly implemented and provided. Some purists will argue that the dynamic range of digital is more limited than analog. This is debatable since this is an implementation issue as well as what the human body can decipher but I digress.

The biggest issue, on average, is that the analog implementation is more forgiving than digital is to any interruption or corruption of the signal. Additionally any artifacts incurred in the analog realm are normally "ramped in" whereas in the digital real they are "switched in". Think sine wave versus square wave. A square wave of digital implementation can approximate the sine wave to a non-discernable level if the sample rate is small enough. But the sample rate size is a function of the technology and funding available.

The reason that the digital "revolution" of television that everyone is experiencing is not superior is due to both the industry and the provider. The industry defines a direction and the provider interprets this direction as well as defines a profit level desired (or in the case of nonprofits, a funding level available). Thus there are compromises, technology transitions, and incompatibilities that must be resolved. These issues are based in both business and technical decisions and solutions.

There is also the additional issue of selection of technology which if chosen prematurely or incorrectly will have less than desired effects on your viewing please for years to come which is aggravated by the business side again.

As many have pointed out here, gains can be made simply implementing better cabling along the delivery route. This gets back to the technologies and forgiveness again.


BTW - Mr. MST. Resetting the box is just clearing an error that may or may not come back. There is the possibility that the box is trying to compensate for errors and eventually the error build up overruns the buffer. You may have a faulty box or possibly receiving an excessive amount of errors due to some external issue like a connection or cable.

 

[blackdog]

Some dropouts or interuptiouns are caused by ECMs being sent into the stream to eliminate pirate access to the system.

 

[OnTheWayOut]

Happens on Star Choice too

This has happened from day 1 with Star Choice too, seems to be only the HD channels, mostly the US ones. Some times it happens every few minutes, some days not at al. Had a nice long chat with a SC rep about it, he claims it's due to the many varied compression types but will lessen or go away once the US is all digital next year. We'll see .......

One way around it may be to turn on Closed Captions to catch what they said when the dropouts occur.... for me I don't care for words scrolling where some chick's nipples are poking out at me! LOL