Any AV8/9 + SkyHD/xBox 360 owners have the same problem ?

[jont]

Not sure where to go now folks ??

Kit - as per signature

Problem: A couple of months ago I started to notice a distortion from my surround rears when watching programmes (both live and recorded) on my skyHD box with either 5.1 or DPL soundtracks ... the distortion took the form of a reduced volumes and almost a 'ringing timbre' sound (not a telephone !) with a noise that was the surround sound channels but like being played back through greaseproof paper and the 'buzzing' that it makes ... if I switched other audio modes the noises were still there unless I went to stereo/mono (which obviously cut out the surround channels) ... the problem also stopped if I switched channels on the sky box, but would sometimes return later if I switched back ...

A second audio problem developed whereby the similar distortions would happen but in reverse (ie the front channels would distort but the surrounds would be audible) ...

And a third problem was a medium-pitched tone would start playing if the sky box was left in pause or FF/RW for more than 10-15 seconds ...

I noticed that the same 'buzzing rears' problem sometimes happened while watching the Miami Vice and Batman Begins HD-DVD's through my old xBox 360 add-on (connected via SP-DIF) ...

Actions taken:
Checked all connections between components and AV8 and P7 ...

I swapped around the speakers to rule out any duff Micro's - no change. My AV8 is setup to send surround channels to both surround and rear when in 5.1.

Replaced the optical lead from the sky box - no change

Got an optical to coax converter and fed the sky digital audio in on that - this did not resolve the issue ...

Took the AV8 to Crustyloafer and got the firmware upgraded from v4 to v5 to see if that helped - no change ...

I reported the fault to Sky and paid to have my HD box replaced (as the original one was a now six weeks out of warranty !!) - and within 15 mins of having the new box I switched to BBCHD and sadly got the same problem ...

Sent the AV8 to Arcam with problem description and has been returned with 100 hours testing and no problem found ...

Anyone had anything similar or have any ideas ? ... 'coz its driving me mad !!

thanks

Jon

[sharger]

Hi

I've got not to disimilar set up to you and guess what I've got the same problem, but only with Sky+ and only intermitantly. I get over it by switching AV8 on and off again(trigger switches off P7).

I know thats not a solution but I'm totally baffled, so if you do find out I'd love to know

cheers

Steve

[jont]

Thank God there's someone else and I'm not imagining it !! ... at first glance you'd blame the optical output/software on the sky boxes (but as you don't have an xbox it'd be hard to just go with that ...)

Asked kevshed the same thing as he has similar kit but he's had no problems ... anyone else ?

Jon

[sharger]

I have got the 360 and the HD DVD add on..... but I have not really experienced any problems with them.

The noise I get is a high pitched 'tinny ringing' which I put down to the sky+ box but whats behind the issue I don't know

[jont]

Sorry - didn't see it in your kit ... the sky prob sounds the same - does it ever swap over between fronts and rears ?

Got HD-E1 now so don't have to worry about xbox hd-dvd and can concentrate on sky box audio ...

Jon

[sharger]

I only get it from the rears not the fronts or center..... hope I'm not tempting fate now!!!!

[jont]

Do you have your 5.1>7.1 set to rears, sides or both ? ... wonder if that is confusing it ?

I guess my worse nightmare is that Arcam's tolerances on the DSP receiving the signals are a tight spec and thomson's are somewhat looser and never the twain shall meet !!

Be nice if someone found out it was a software bug and could be fixed from sky's end ...

[DLC Tyke]

I've got a crackling noise intermitantly out of the left rear, swaped everything around and eliminated it. Arcam have had my AV9 for 4 weeks now, still no joy!!

[Clem_Dye]

I had some crackling from the centre front when using my AV9 the very first time that I used it. Since then, I haven't noticed anything obvious, but it does seem that there might be an issue bubbling-up here.


Clem

[jont]

Picking up the AV8 today and hooking back in to the system - will let you know how it goes ... also got sky coming back out on a free visit tomorrow so I hope it plays up when the engineer is here and will test another HD box ...

Jon

update - spent 3 hours yesterday pm dismantling and rebuilding system - and still no joy, same sound problem kicked in on odd programs ... hoping to get it again this morning then will leave it on (mute) and hope that it stays until engineer gets here !

[jmfmacra]

Similar experience for me - For the last 1 1/2 years, I've had the hi-freq ringing come from my left rear on occasion when playing DVDs. It's rare though - maybe once every two months. Sounds like the tweeter is going bad - swapped the speaker leads, problem moved to right rear. As my sig shows, it is via DV27A-AV8-P7. I had finally given up on finding the cause until now that I see others may have the same problem. It only happens when playing DVDs and not watching cable (Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR) HDTV, FM radio, IPOD.

[jont]

jmfmacra - Had my first DV27A-AV8 noise appear yesterday as well - don't think it was just the player objecting to the Foo Fighters dvd ;-) ... have contacted Arcam again and hope I can get a solution to this :-(

Jon

update 1/8 - after an unsuccessful software workaround the AV8 will shortly be heading back to Arcam again for testing on their skyHD setup ...

[jont]

Well I know it's been a while since updating this thread but we now have some answers !!

My AV8 has been back with Arcam and they have been able to replicate and identify the issue ... *but* it has not been fixed (yet) ...

They have worked out that there is a problem with the DSP chip software and how it reacts when there is a short drop out of the incoming digital audio signal (if you recall I got this problem whether connecting via optical or co-axial).

Unfortuately this software was written by the DSP manufactuer and Arcam are now working with them to try to get the problem resolved ... which should hopefully take the form of new code in a future software update ... there is no hardware problem or fault with the chip ...

So at least we know that a) I'm not going mad by imagining it ... b) mine is not the only AV8 in the world to suffer (it is being returned as Arcam have been able to replicate the fault in an AV8 they have at their offices) ... c) normal service will be possible at somepoint in the future !!

As soon as I hear from them about any progress with the code I'll let you know ...

Jon

[jmfmacra]

jont, that's great news... I never followed through with my dealer. Just a few days ago, I had the ringing noise in my center channel - that never happened before - it was always my left rear. I can easily believe it's an issue with short dropouts of the digital audio because the center channel ringing happened exactly at the the transition from a commercial break going from ProLogic to Dolby5.1 on an HD cable channel. I saw the AV8 display try to go to Dolby5.1 but it flickered back to PL and back a couple times then settled on Dolby5.1 with the ringing. Changed cable channels and back to my show and the noise was gone.

[Roman]

I had exactly this issue with weird 'grease-proof paper 'sounds from the rears with two previous AV9s. With both of these units the fault occurred within a couple of weeks of me taking ownership of them. The first AV9 had that fault and several others. Other faults included dodgy on/off switch that wouldn't latch on properly and ear splitting pops and crackles from the rear speakers when using the built-in test tone. I'm now on my thrid AV9 and it's been fine since I got it about a year ago.

I have to say, when they work they do sound great!