Samsung TVs: HD 1080i/p change causes audio glitch

Dippy

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After having my UE60ES6300 exchanged and then refunded due to clouding, I was hoping that the PS60E6500 which I have now would be good. I am still hoping that it is, and seek feedback to confirm it with this post.

Watching the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday I was very disappointed to find that we were getting intermittent audio glitches - sound dropouts for half a second or so. I have the TV hooked up to a HT-E5500, so I changed the sound to the TV internal speakers. There seemed to be no problem with that (except of course that the sound is so much inferior).

I spent some of the weekend experimenting, including swapping for a different HT-E5500 box (I have another in a different room). I also tried different content. Since the problem is intermittent, I can't be sure but I think I heard some drop-outs with content from a PVR playing SD. However since the other HT-E5500 was the same I had to conclude that the TV was at fault.

Then today I came across a few posts (including this one http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-led-lcd-tvs/1645705-samsung-ue40es6710-dolby-digital-problem.html) about the change between 1080i and 1080p with Freeview HD. I checked, and indeed the dropouts appear to be linked to the change.

I still want to be 100% sure that this is not a hardware issue, especially as I am doubting that I only had the problem with Freeview HD. Please can I hear from anyone else who has had this problem?

Ultimately if it is a broadcast issue the solution has to be done in firmware, so maybe we can get together to put pressure on Samsung?
 
Yes, this is the kind of thing that can be fixed in the firmware.
 
Having the same problems. My UE40ES6710 suffers audio dropouts when the BBC HD signal switches between 1080i and 1080p which it can do with almost every shot for some types of transmission.

This completely killed my enjoyment of the Opening Ceremony of London 2012.

The problem was more evident with the Samsung HW-E450 sound bar than with the internal speakers.

NB there is a temporary fix - watch with the Freesat tuner which does not switch to 1080p.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the info. I had wondered if the issue might be avoided with Freesat, but I haven't got a dish yet. Maybe that is something I'll have to arrange.

I did some testing on my TV and there are NO dropouts with the internal speakers. It only happens with my HTE connected, whether with HDMI (ARC) or optical.

Have you raised a customer services query with Samsung yet? If not please do so as the more of us who complain the better the chances of getting a fix. No response to my query yet...
 
Yes, after being cut off by phone four times (!) I have raised it by email. No reply yet but on past experience, the first reply will not address the problem at all. I will push it hard as this is a problem that was already fixed in 2011.

Will let you know what they say.
 
Yes I have the same experience with Samsung, but find that if I keep pushing then eventually I get an answer. I'm on my 'follow-up' query so I hope that my next reply will have some substance!
 
The first reply from Samsung;

I have checked and there is no firmware available for this model so I would suspect that any previous issues would not have been resolved in this manner.

Can I check that after a few seconds the sound syncs back up when changing resolution? This should be a simple change in the decoding of the audio when transferred to the soundbar. I would also like to double check that the only time this should be happening is when changing channels from standard definition to high definition.


________________

Of course this refers to the soundbar firmware but it's quite likely that the solution would be with the TV firmware. I have replied with clarification that the problem only occurs with Freeview BBC HD channels and not SD or Freesat.
 
<<< Thread moved >>>

I've moved this into the Plasma sub-forum to get more views.
 
I was hoping that the PS60E6500 which I have now would be good. I am still hoping that it is, and seek feedback to confirm it with this post.

I'm having exactly the same issue http://www.avforums.com/forums/17375093-post454.html

My PS51D6900 is flawless, the PS60E6500 suffers from, as you described it, intermittent dropouts. I'm not sure whether this is caused by the 1080i/1080p switching though, e.g. watching F1 on sunday sound was dropping out each and every time during the animation they use as a cut scene for replays etc. On the other side I get this happen all the time on ITV HD or C4 HD.

I usually get 96-97 on E6500 and 92-93 on D6900 and both without errors, so it can't be caused by weak signal.

Luckily I'm getting mine replaced soon so will be able to confirm whether it is a faulty tuner.
 
On my set you can see the 1080i / 1080p change by selecting Info on the remote. It usually coincides with a change of shot and sometimes the inclusion of a graphic.

I have also had a few audio dropouts on the soundbar with no obvious change of scene so there may be a wider problem.
 
Ah ok, I've not paid too much attention to that. AFAIR, last years models were updated for this issue with FW 1016 I think. That would explain why my d6900 is ok.
 
It gets worse...

I have now noticed that sound and vision from my new Samsung PVR (BD-E8900) to my new Samsung TV (UE40ES6710) also drop out momentarily during a 10801 / 1080p change over. Just like the soundbar when receiving a signal from the TV alone.

It may be that the same tuner is used in different products in the 2012 range and they display the same fault.
 
You only get this wth freeview I take it?
Seems to happen on SkyHD a lot recently as well, just wondered if it was a known issue with the bbc only
 
It happens to me on BBC and ITV Freeview HD channels which switch dynamically between 1080i and 1080p. Not on Freesat which is only in 1080i.

It's been very evident with the Olympics coverage which have a lot of edits and captions.
 
how do you output sound from your telly to the receiver, using optical/spdif or HDMI ARC?
 
HDMI out on the soundbar to HDMI2 ARC on TV. Also HDMI from the PVR. Both high speed cables.

I tried optical cable from the TV to the soundbar but it was the same. Analogue from the headphones output was OK, though.
 
I use optical out. Did Samsung acknowledge the issue in any way?
 
For me it's only when using my Home Theatre box (either HDMI ARC or optical). It does not happen with the TV internal speakers.

Orson - I didn't post in Plasma because I could imagine that this is not an issue which is related to the display technology and might very well affect the LCD TVs too.

I have a response from Samsung as below. At least it is positive even though it leaves us without a known solution (yet).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you for contacting Samsung.
I am sorry you are having this issue with your sound on your devices. I
understand that this can be frustrating when trying to enjoy your
favourite shows.
We are aware of an issue with audio dropouts at present. Our engineers
are currently working on a firmware to resolve this issue.
We have no information as to when this will be made available, but I
recommend you keep your firmware up-to-date to resolve any issues.
I apologise for any inconvenience caused, and thank you for your
patience in this matter.
 
Cool, so there is a chance that this one time Samsung will do something to fix what their ***** quality control missed. Let's not get too excited before we see something concrete though.

It does drive me mad this, it almost makes the HD freeview unwatchable.
 
Reply from Samsung today;

I can concur that there are no further updates available at present to correct this fault. I will however escalate the query to see about having this patch created.

I will not, I'm afraid, be able to give you a lead time on it's availability but you can check the website for future updates.


At least they are acknowledging a fault, but I will reply that it's not just audio dropouts, I am suffering video and audio dropouts between PVR and TV in the same scenario.

This is wider than Plasma - my TV is LED and it affects the tuners in the PVR too.
 
I have a UE40ES6710 TV. The first one had the sound problem and an internet connection problem. Sent it back for exchange and the replacement has not got the sound problem. For info I have a Yamaha YAS101 sound bar. Can only think it was a software issue that is now solved.
The internet problem was still there and it would not connect using my Wi-Fi even though I get over 7mbit speed. I have sorted using a powerline adaptor and ethernet cable. Now great. Why couldn’t Samsung or the retailer have told me to do that?
 
My new 60e6500 suffers from the audio dropping out issue hence I'm assuming it's software related. If not it will be an interesting thing for them to sort out. LOL.
 
davidhussein - that's very interesting. Could you tell us your current firmware?
 
Hi. New to this. Just bought Samsung smart tv 550 model to watch the Olympics. Had to return the first (3 times) during the first week due to it switching on and off on its own. Replacement has the frequent sound drop out on bbc hd due to 1080i / 1080p switching - took a bit of working out on the Internet - currys support say its the first they've heard of it - yeah !

Interested in comments that Samsung are working on firmware update - from what I see they've known about this for 12 months... !! Looks like Sony and toshiba fixed theirs quite quick. Question why they are still selling this set with known problem ?

Giving some thought as to whether to return this now but of course the sale has finished and I sold my reliable Panasonic on eBay ! So not sure what to replace it with.. No confidence that Samsung will fix the problem now though.
 

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