Sound drops?

[SnowJim]

Hi,

I often get short(1 sec) sound drops when watching video from a Nvidia Shield. Because my receiver is a old model that do not support HDR I have to connect the Shield directly to the TV with a certified 8K HDMI cable. To get the sound working I need to use ARC with another hi-speed HDMI cable or TOSLINK. I have tried several different cables, connections and settings but can´t remove these sound drops?

I'm not sure how important Nvidia shield Custom Display Modes is when using KODI and Netflix apps but it seems to have some impact. First I set it to 4K 59,940, YUV 422 12-bit Rec- 2020 with Dolby Vision and HDR10, this gave a lot of short sound drops with 4K HDR10 video in KODI. There was more or less none in Netflix with a older movie(Smokey and the Bandit). Then I change to 4K, 60Hz, RGB 8-bit Rec.709 without HDR and with this setting there was no longer any dropouts in KODI with the 4K HDR video(The HDR did still work), I tested a 4 min scene where I always could reproduce the sound drop. The Netflix movie did however got a lot of longer dropouts?

I have googled the problem and there is a lot of others that have the same problem. Some cases it´s solved with new cables(that I already tried) in other turning off Bluetooth remotes(not possible here) and whatnot solves it. But most seems to just give up and buy a new receiver. I have been in this situation before and for some time I used a HDMI switch to solve it but there is always some problem. According to the store a replacement for my receiver is about 250 EUR that is otherwise working great in my setup.

There is no problems with the picture.

In my case it does seems to have something to do with the custom display mode on the shield?

Hardware
Receiver : Yamaha RX-a3030
TV : LG OLED65C8
Playback unit : Nvidia Shield TV PRO (new model)

 

[Deleted member 39241]

Hi, I have an Nvidia Shield Pro and don't have this issue.

What 8k certified cables are you using?

 

[SnowJim]

Do you got the about same TV and Receiver to? If my receiver only handled HDR it would be solved, no TOSLINK or ARC would have to be used. This might also be a LG OLED problem in the passthrough.

The cable I bought is this :

NÖRDIC CERTIFIED CABLES Certifierad 2m HDMI Ultra High Speed 8K 60Hz 4K 120Hz 48Gbps Dynamic HDR eARC Game Mode VRR Dolby ATMOS nylonflätad kabel guldpläterade kontakter HDMI 2.1

Denna NÖRDIC Ultra High Speed HDMI kabel är certifierad enligt med HDMI organisationenens Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable Certification Program och det innebär att kabeln uppfyller alla tekniska specifikationer som defineras i programmet bl a upplösning upp till 8K i 60Hz, 4K i 120Hz, bandbredd upp...

noerdic.se

But I have several other Hi-Speed HDMI cables, thick and thin and I have tested them all. I did have problems with cable with my first NONE HDR Shield(first version) where a new HDMI cable in combination with the Shield Custom Display Mode solved the drop out. But now I can´t find a fully working solution. HDR seems to demand a lot more data, maybe there is a bottleneck on the way to the receiver that can´t handle it.

 

[Deleted member 39241]

Hi, no, I have my Shield Pro in my main system with an Arcam AVR550 and a Samsung 65Q90R, the Shield is connected directly to the AVR and 4K / HDR is passed through to the TV.

That cable looks the business, so it probably isn't a cable issue.

To replace your AVR with one of similar quality but has the video passthrough that you need, will be expensive. Maybe a break out box like the HD Fury will suit you?

 

[SnowJim]

Yes, that might be a solution its about $200 but it will be more expensive to replace the receiver it seems.

 

[Deleted member 39241]

There are lower cost, no brand devices on Amazon and eBay. As your needs are quite simple, you just want to split the audio and video from one source, you could give one of those a try, if they have an okay returns option.

 

[SnowJim]

After ALOT of testing and switching between settings, units and cables the problem is somewhat solved.

I connected a external soundcard with SPDIF output to the Shield. It demands a couple of tricky settings in both shield and apps but it solves the problem. Yes, I will lose some of the new sound formats that SPDIF can´t handle but I will still get good enough 5.1 sound. From what I understand this solution is better then change my Yamaha for a receiver in the 5000 EUR range like the Sony STR-DN1080.

There is clearly a defect in the LG OLED TV when it comes to passthrough of 4K HDR material.

 

[SnowJim]

This did not work in the long run, a lot of problems! Often the Shield will forget about the USB soundcard. Sometimes it works great but its to much hassle! They really work hard to force you to buy new stuff. A entire new Receiver is needed even when this is just a picture problem. If picture was not involved in the Receivers a Receiver would last a lot longer.