Freesat 4K Recorder (Arris) - No Surround Sound and signal loss over Cat6 to Projector

[Bodovlov]

Hi,

I had a Sky box with the HDMI feeding into a powered splitter, then 1 HDMI lead going to TV and the other HDMI lead going to my Home Cinema projector via a CAT6 convertor as it's about 12M cable length away. Audio to the TV is over HDMI but for the Home Cinema it is Digital Optical into an Onkyo Receiver.

All was working perfectly but then I decided to ditch Sky and recently bought a 4K Freesat Recorder (I believe it is manufactured by Arris).

I wired up the Freesat box exactly the same as previous on the Sky box, Picture and sound on the TV is perfect, however I have 2 issues with the Home Cinema...

1. I get virtually no picture on the projector - it flickers on and off, mostly off. I took the HDMI splitter out of the equation and connected straight to the Cat6 but this made no difference so it's not the splitter.

2. I'm only getting stereo audio feed out of the Freesat box, if I select "Surround" in the menu and save it just reverts back to Stereo.

Appreciate any suggestions from the group.

Thanks.

 

[Rodders53]

In reverse order
2). freesat 4k (Arris) box no DD 5.1 out is a "known issue" from day 1 of its release. Had you read the long thread on it you'd have known that, before purchase.

1). The HDCP over Cat5/6 'hdmi' must be the suspect?

Have you set the freesat box to output a fixed resolution the PJ can definitely handle? 1080P is probably wise? Especially as the freesat 4k box outputs HDR otherwise (aiui) when upscaling SDR content.

Probably difficult to do but try direct hdmi cable to the PJ? (Coaxial sat cable extenders may not be needed if, say, playing back a recording). It will eliminate any freesat 4k-PJ hdmi interface/connection issue.

 

[Clem_Dye]

Funnily enough, I was thinking of emailing Freesat again to ask them about the 5.1 fix. It was due this month. Still, there's still 4 days for them to come across with it ...

 

[Bodovlov]

Thanks for the feedback.

Don't want to start ripping out cables to investigate the video issue until I know we can get DD5.1 out of the Freesat box so I have decided to return the 4K Freesat Recorder and wait until it is fit for home cinema purposes.

Maybe Arris will release the dd5.1 firmware update this month but, based on their performance to date, I'm not holding my breath.

I've ordered a Humax HDR-1100S to replace the Skybox for now, I know it's end-of-life but happy to use that for a couple of years until Arris get their together.

 

[Clem_Dye]

I sent a missive to Freesat today, asking when the 5.1 fix will be available. I shan't be holding my breath waiting for a reply.

The Contact Us web page on the Freesat website suggests that visitors can contact Freesat by completing a form, a form that seems missing on every browser that I tried. I think that that just sums up the state of Freesat software to me.

 

[Clem_Dye]

Here's the response that I've just received from Freesat regarding the audio issue.

----- begin -----

Dear Clem,

Thank you for contacting Freesat with your enquiry.

I do apologise for the delay with our team producing a fix for this issue and the length of time you have anticipated this. I have escalated this to our technical team to obtain further information on this situation, and have been advised that later in May/June time they will be releasing a software update that will allow customers to individually change the audio settings for the HDMI and optical ports separately which should resolve this issue.

Unfortunately, as they are still going through rigorous testing to ensure the update is released smoothly, we are not able to provide an exact release date just yet but as mentioned this should be May/June time.

Apologies again as you were informed this would be April, but we endeavour to get this resolved as soon as possible.

In regards to your further comment regarding the contact us page, I will have this looked into as it has not been risen to our attention thus far and apologise for the inconvenience. I have tried this on my own web browser and have experienced no issues with this form so it may be worth refreshing the page and trying again.


If you require any further assistance from us, please feel welcome to reply to this email.

Many thanks,
Customer Support Team

----- end -----

Make of it what you will. As for the web page thing, it doesn't work for me, either on my iMac or iPad. Having tried 4 different browsers, the page is busted for me. Anyone else having the same issue? Luckily, I had an email address to use. Ho-hum.

 

[logiciel]

The form is, perversely, on the Support button.

 

[Clem_Dye]

Really? I've just looked and I can't see it anywhere. However, it seems that if you block cookies (sic) from the site you don't see the Support button, which is pretty cr*p. I've tried it again, allowing all and the button appears. If I understand things, then in order to get Support I've got to allow a whole heap of web tracking stuff that I don't want. What great web site design.

 

[logiciel]

That must be the answer and I get your comment.

 

[Bodovlov]

Thanks for the update on the DD5.1 fix Clem.

Hooked up the Humax HDR1100S last night and it's working like a dream so the 4K Freesat box will be going back today.

Strange that both the SKyHD box and the Humax send video perfectly to the projector over my HDMI-CAT6-HDMI convertor set up but the 4K Freesat box won't.

I'll investigate that further when my Humax box gives up and I'm forced back to an Arris box

 

[Rezillo]

Here's the response that I've just received from Freesat regarding the audio issue.

----- begin -----

Dear Clem,

Thank you for contacting Freesat with your enquiry.

I do apologise for the delay with our team producing a fix for this issue and the length of time you have anticipated this. I have escalated this to our technical team to obtain further information on this situation, and have been advised that later in May/June time they will be releasing a software update that will allow customers to individually change the audio settings for the HDMI and optical ports separately which should resolve this issue.

Unfortunately, as they are still going through rigorous testing to ensure the update is released smoothly, we are not able to provide an exact release date just yet but as mentioned this should be May/June time.

Apologies again as you were informed this would be April, but we endeavour to get this resolved as soon as possible.

In regards to your further comment regarding the contact us page, I will have this looked into as it has not been risen to our attention thus far and apologise for the inconvenience. I have tried this on my own web browser and have experienced no issues with this form so it may be worth refreshing the page and trying again.


If you require any further assistance from us, please feel welcome to reply to this email.

Many thanks,
Customer Support Team

----- end -----

Make of it what you will. As for the web page thing, it doesn't work for me, either on my iMac or iPad. Having tried 4 different browsers, the page is busted for me. Anyone else having the same issue? Luckily, I had an email address to use. Ho-hum.

Thanks Clem,

To be honest, this doesn't sound that encouraging. Adding the ability to change the audio settings for the HDMI and optical ports separately has not been the issue. It is simply having the box respond, when in surround setting, to the type of audio set in the broadcast (be it non-DD stereo, DD2.0 or DD5.1) rather than it blanket converting everything to DD5.1 and forcing receivers etc. into the wrong audio mode for a non-5.1 source.

I guess we will have to see what happens.

 

[Clem_Dye]

I’d like to think that the developers have an understanding of the issue, but I suppose time will tell.

I still don’t understand why it’s been so much of a problem. Given that Freesat produce the specs. and are in the driving seat, and Humax boxes, for all their niggles, got it right on day one, I would have thought that decoding audio would have been a no-brainer.

I suspect that the issue, along with the forced HDR debacle, is down to Arris trying to repurpose existing hardware, rather than produce something new. A guess on my part, but I wish that Humax were still on the scene.

 

[rs101]

I’d like to think that the developers have an understanding of the issue, but I suppose time will tell.

I still don’t understand why it’s been so much of a problem. Given that Freesat produce the specs. and are in the driving seat, and Humax boxes, for all their niggles, got it right on day one, I would have thought that decoding audio would have been a no-brainer.

I suspect that the issue, along with the forced HDR debacle, is down to Arris trying to repurpose existing hardware, rather than produce something new. A guess on my part, but I wish that Humax were still on the scene.

That was my feeling after discussing the HDR issue with them - they simply don't understand how it works on every other device.