Sound intermittently cuts out

[zeefour]

This has gone on for years randomly. It seems to sort itself but has come back with a vengeance recently...

Issue is the sound just cuts out when watching TV on Virgin. There are no issues with the internal digital TV sound or other sound into the TV. It happens on various TVs. Multiple HDMI leads (quality ones) ranging from 1.3 to 2.0 etc have made no difference. We have even had the TV looked at by Samsung engineers. Regaining sound only happens from one of: either forward / rewinding briefly; changing channels up/down; changing channels by typing in a channel number; switching to internal digital TV and back; putting Tivo on standby and back on; unplugging Tivo and back on.

I have also recently had this issue on a V6 box in the house upstairs with a new LG TV (again with no other sound issues whatsoever). Strange and it's never really been resolved, so any ideas welcome! Thanks!

[japitts]

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@zeefour wrote:

This has gone on for years randomly. It seems to sort itself but has come back with a vengeance recently...

Issue is the sound just cuts out when watching TV on Virgin.

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Is this on live (linear) TV? Or OnDemand? How about streaming (YouTube, iPlayer, Netflix, Amazon etc)?

Presumably your TiVo is connected directly to your TV using HDMI with nothing else in-between?

And when you say the sound cuts out, does it come back?

[virbob1]

Have you tried changing the Tivo sound output from Dolby Digital to PCM? That fixed my sound problems with an LG TV.

[zeefour]

Sorry for the delay replying to both who've offered advice (thank you!) I didn't get the emails sent due to having to reformat my hard drive! So, to answer the helpful questions...

The issue occurs on live TV. It tends not to happen on streaming or OnDemand.

Box is connected directly with an HDMI lead with nothing in between.

The sound cuts out but doesn't always come back until the box is unplugged and then re-booted. I've found that a quick forward or rewind often sorts it (but not always) or changing channel up and down (but not always).

I've tried the change from Dolby / PCM on both boxes before and this also doesn't bring the sound back unfortunately!

Interestingly this didn't happen once on an old Panasonic TV, or a slightly less 'old' Samsung TV. I have used the slightly less old Samsung to test the boxes when they cut out and that TV never has a sound issue. Only the two newer TVs.

Has been doing this today regularly when changing between two channels (Sky Sports, but could be any channel!)

[Katie_WT]

Morning @

zeefour

Thanks for popping back over the weekend - sorry that you're still having these sound issue. 

I have located your account from your forum information and can see that it's been around 10 days since the TiVo box was rebooted. All signal are looking ok as are the tuners for this box. 

In regard to the V6 box, I'm not getting a connection to this box; is it switched on and currently working? 

Please do advise which box you are currently having issues with and we can take a closer look for you. 

Cheers

[zeefour]

Thanks, both boxes are connected although the V6 box does get unplugged at night. 

The issue occurs with box boxes and is highly intermittent. For example no problems today (on the V6) until switching BBC2. Just after switching the sound disappeared, so I changed channel and then back to BBC2. Sound returned only for it to then cut out again almost immediately. Haven't had this exact issue before. Often the sound just disappears and mainly on the Tivo (although increasingly on the V6). The issue on the Tivo has gone on for years. As I say I've tried everything from changing settings, re-booting, changing HDMI leads, changing ethernet lead on the V6, using other TVs, connecting TV to other devices. As I say, on two old Panasonic TVs the sound issue never occurred, so can only guess a conflict between the TVs and the Virgin boxes that seems impossible to diagnose. Really weird!

[japitts]

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@zeefour wrote:

Thanks, both boxes are connected although the V6 box does get unplugged at night. 

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Why? All VM's TV boxes are designed to be powered-up 24/7. Unplugging them constantly is going to cause problems somewhere, sooner or later.

Can you try leaving the box powered up for a few days (by all means use standby/power-saving), and see if that makes any difference? It may not, but it's something else to eliminate.

[Katie_WT]

Hi there @zeefour

Cheers for popping back yesterday - as our VIP @japitts has advised, we would recommend leaving the boxes on overnight. This is when important updates are sent to the boxes and as they mentioned, unplugging it constantly will cause issues at some point. They are designed to be on 24/7 - just like your fridge! 

I have checked things from this end and whilst I am now able to connect to the V6 box, it looks like it was only turned on a few hour ago. Please do leave it on over night for the next couple of days and let us know how you get on. 

With the TiVo, I can see it's been around 15 days since a reboot. 

On both boxes, all signal levels are looking to be spot on at the time of writing. From from you have advised though, it sounds like it may be a TV error causing the sound drop out as you advised it's not happing on another model 

Keep us in the loop. 

[zeefour]

Thanks, one box is permanently turned on (this is the one where the issue with the sound is by far the most common). The other box lives in a bedroom and its whirring and lights don't help with sleep!

Strange it is happening on two separate newer (and different brand) TVs, especially the Samsung!

[Steven_L]

Thanks for coming back to us @zeefour.

I have looked into your account and can see that there is an issue with the signal input levels going into your V6 box, we will need a technician visit to be booked into fix this problem.

To get this booked in, we would need to confirm a few more details via a private message, I will drop this over in a moment.

Regards,

Steven_L