Sagem Axium HD-D45 - Audio Fault

[ManSpyder]

Hi there, been looking on the forums for a while, looking for a bit of advice.

I've had my Sagem Axium HD-D45 G4 DLP television for 3-and-a-half years, and have noticed a fault with the machine's audio.

Quite a while back, I had an upscaling DVD player, a Denon 2910. When played through the HDMI to the DLP, I noticed some quite obvious sound distortion. It was unusual, but at the time, I didn't upscale much so didn't pay much attention to it. I sold the DVD player shortly after that.

Recently, I have subscribed to Sky and their HD box deal. When the HD box arrived at my house and after connection via HDMI to the DLP, I notice a distorted sound. It is then I remember the distortion caused by the DVD player, and deduced that the problem lies within the TV and not my sources.

The distorted sound is best described as an electronic interference that is intermittent - sometimes its there, but if not, then simply changing the Sky channel (NOT the TV channel, the Sky channel) promptly brings the audio fault back. Another way to describe it is as if a radio station is slightly off-tune - causing a hiss to all audio effects, whether ambience or speech, music or explosions.

Also noticable is the fact that I have to turn the DLP's volume up to 45-50% for decent listening in my living room, sometimes even 60%, even at night-time. The volume levels for the machine are unusually low in comparison to other sets I've used. I've never had or seen a TV at this unusually high volume level where the sound is more suited to a 25-30% volume.

My TV is luckily under a 5 year warranty from our retailer. Upon notifying them of the fault, they promptly sent engineers around to view the issue. I showed them the problem, which they admitted was indeed a fault. They came back a week later to pick up the TV, leaving me with a 28" temporary replacement.

Nearly 2 months pass, with not much knowledge of whats happening. I call the repair service several times, to find out that they had a problem sourcing a part, which took an unusually long amount of time. In the end, I was told that the DLP was fixed and on its way back to me.

The TV arrived shortly after. The repairmen replaced it on the stand, took the replacement TV and left. As soon as I put the TV back on, would you believe it, the problem had not been fixed.

I called the retailer and told them I was disappointed in the fact that my DLP had been away for 2 months only to be returned without any signs of being fixed. They arranged for themselves, not the repair service, to pick up the TV. While doing so, they told me that the entire motherboard of the TV was replaced during the repair - though obviously this made no difference.

They came for my DLP to take it back into the store to 'test' it themselves. No idea why. They called me a short while later the same day and told me that there was no problem with the audio. I took myself down to the store and explained that the problem was intermittent, and asked them to change the source of the audio. Sure enough, the problem was there in all its glory, yet the three members of staff told me they couldn't hear the fault at all. Or at least they claimed to be deaf to its unusual electronic hiss.

My TV is now to be collected from their store and seen to by a 'senior technician' within the repair company. I have another replacement TV for now (which is one good thing), but obviously I want this problem dealt with.

I've checked all my sources, my Sky works perfectly via my amp, and on the two replacement televisions provided to me by the company, as do all my other HDMI devices. It is definite that the audio fault lies in the TV itself and not the sources. Also, my Xbox, connected by Composite connectors, also has distortion, but is not connected by HDMI. A problem with the sound in general?

Has anyone else here had this problem? And does anyone have any advice as to what I can do now? Does anyone know of any TV that has to be turned up to 60% or more to actually hear the thing in regular viewing, or is this only Sagem?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[devbod]

I think you are running into several different issues.

Sky HD channels seem to have lower audio volume. This was an issue that came up on the Sky HD forum hereabouts. There was also an issue with the HDMI output producing a metalic background noise. I don't follow that forum much now so don't know the status of these issues.

The assignment of % values to audio volume is arbitary so you cannot compare between TVs. As long as it does what you want I wouldnt worry.

There does seem to be a hardware/software fault with the sagems audio. On mine this manifests itself as the audio completely cutting out when changing source to HDMI. I have to mute/unmute to clear the fault. Worth trying to see if it clears the noise you get.

Regardless I think the HDMI fault on the sagem was never fixed and as sagem no longer do TVs probably never will be. I detached the speakers from my sagem and use one of the intelligent power saver switches to turn on my surround amp when the tv comes on. Sky remote can be setup so the volume control sends the surround amp codes making the whole thing seamless. Audio is better too.

I appreciate you have the warranty but there's no way your TV people can fix your issues unless they replace your tv with a different make. Arguably you could push for a refund as I think thats the usual fallback if the tv cannot be fixed. Choice is between working around the fault or having a prolonged dispute with the potential of a lucrative outcome.

[ManSpyder]

Hi there, thanks for replying, Devbod.

My SkyHD is fine, been running it through my 2 replacement TVs I've had and its all OK, no noise or problems, only thru the Sagem.

Sometimes my audio does cut out completely, then returns in a crackly or regular form. Its very random, it does go wrong within the first 3 channel changes and comes and goes from there. I've noticed its also somewhat apparent on the Composite inputs too, but less often as HDMI.

Im aware that I could have connected the Sky to the amp and bypassed the speakers on the TV, but to be honest, I don't really want my amp on unneccesarily, when going through the TV should be fine.

I've never heard of the Sagems having an audio problem before. I hear about the picture troubles (colour wheels, bulb replacement etc).

The audio levels, I know, are different from model and make. But when the retailer took it to the showroom where they set up my TV to test it, it was only as loud as the other TVs, not much louder, and it was up to 85 out of what i assume to be 100. It did not seem loud at all, taking into account other showroom noises. I doubt the other TVs that were on at the time were up to more than 50.

All sources are lower than they really should be. I doubt the speakers should really be turned up that loud - I'm sure that would actually be likely to cause damage to the speakers themselves, don't you agree?

Who has honestly had to turn their TV up to near max?

[jmgripper]

Hiya,

Mine is exactly the same and only started with the introduction of a SkyHD box. My 360 is connected via component. I assumed it was the HD box, but obviously not.
To get around it (and it happens with each change of Sky channel) I flick between sources. ie. press right then left on the remote. This cures it until I change Sky channel again! It a pita, but now I know it's inherent in the TV, I won't waste any money on new cables or calls to Sky.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

[ManSpyder]

Hey jmgripper, thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I knew of that workaround, but its very impractical to keep having to do that every time a channel is changed.

They've now been trying to fix it for 3 months and still no joy. I feel that this has gone on too long. Heres hoping I get this matter dealt with.

[DJACID]

if it was a pc connected you could have changed the res from 50hz to 60hz and this sorts it out,
same by changing channels,
or switching the tv on last after everything else has been switch on

[happeemonkee]

Has anyone got a resolution for this problem yet? Just bought a Samsung HD box and I'm having the same problem.

My TV is the HD-50 and in all other respects it is still fantastic after 4 years of ownership but I can't put with changing the input back and forth to get the sound back on everytime I change channel on Sky or use the fast forward/rewind on the remote. It's a pain in the "rear"