Digital output drop-outs (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Senez]

Hi,
My DVD player is connected to my AV Receiver with the optical digital cable. Here's my problem:
When I listen to audio CDs from my DVD player, I miss the first "note" from every song (1/4 of a sec maybe). I put my receiver in "source direct" mode so that only the 2 front speakers works and when there is a track change on the CD I can hear a very faint "pop" in the other speakers (center and surrounds). It's like there's silence between the tracks and that the digital signal is stopped. When you listen to CDs that you know by heart, it's very frustrating to miss the first not of each track ! In analog mode, there is no problem other that I find the signal is weaker (less bass).
It seems to be the DVD player that pauses digital transmission between tracks. Have any of you seen this problem before ?
Thank you in advance !
DVD Player: Pioneer DV333
Receiver: Marantz SR5200
Patrick

 

[Chris PC]

You're not the only one. Some other 6200/7200 owners have had the same problem. Some owners of other receivers have the problems too.
I HAD the exact same problem with my SR 6200. I may still have it, but I have to check it out again. I had mine in for repair for a bunch of other problems. Apparantly, the technician couldn't duplicate my problems, so I am worried that it is a problem between the compatibility of my DVD player and the SR 6200. I will hook up my receiver again today and test it all out to see how it works.
You might find that it only has drop-outs on certain CD's. have you noticed whether it is dropping out on CD's that have blank space with the time counter still going forward? I think it might be possible that the receiver losses the signal during the CD pause, you know where the data on the CD isn't actual silence, but a programmed blank space. The kind where the CD or DVD player is counting down from3 before the tracks starts.
Check out if it drops out only on certain CD's and try to figure out which ones.
[Edited last by Chris PC on November 17, 2001 at 09:42 AM]

 

[Patrick Senez]

If the CD has continuous tracks (no pause), I have no problem. It really happens with CDs that have pause between tracks.
2 CDs where the problem is very noticeable are:
- U2 - All That You Cant Leave Behind
- Depeche Mode - Exciter
I would think that the receiver plays what it receives. If the DVD player sends a nice signal (even between tracks) everything should be ok, no ?

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

I have a Marantz SR-5200, and I know about this muting at the beginning of CD tracks when the player is connected digitally. It must be the DAC's that have to use the first 1/4 second of the digital stream to deduce what format the stream is in (PCM or Dolby Digital or DTS). I also know about the faint clicking when a stream stops. Another peculiarity of the Marantz DAC's.
These problems with CD playback might not exist if it was possible to tell the DAC to be in "PCM-only" mode, for example. After all, there is a "DTS-only" mode on the SR-5200. I've found that when I'm playing a DTS DVD, there is a muting period when the SR-5200 is in the "DTS" surround mode (because it wants to make sure you're not going to create digital hiss if you're using the forward-search or reverse-search buttons on your DVD, so it waits until an even digital stream is present before allowing sound to be output). However, if the SR-5200 is in the "Auto" surround mode then the muting symptom disappears, but at a cost: whenever you forward-search or reverse-search you hear a "ts-ts-ts-ts-ts-ts-ts-ts-ts" digital hiss sound because the way DTS streams are encoded, you cannot "hear the song" as you skim forward or back.
As far as I can tell, these digital muting symptoms are just part of the decoding process from direct-digital inputs. Perhaps a future solution for designers of receivers would to be to buffer incoming streams so the receiver could deduce the stream type, and properly decode a slightly delayed stream. You'd have a 1/4-second cuing lag, but at least the first notes of songs wouldn't be sacrificed.
-JNS

 

[Chris PC]

I have this problem with my Sr 6200 and its really annoying. I've littered the message boards with my problems.
My setup is SR 6200 with Panasonic Cv51 dvd changer connected using optical digital cable.
When a CD is playing and the player goes from track to track, there is no problem. Here is when the DROPOUTS happen for me:
1) First playing a disc after turning on the CV51. The SR 6200 doesn't know what the signal is yet.
2) Changing tracks, forward or back or pressing the track #
3) Changing discs
All of the above cause the first 1/4 second to be missing, resulting is, for instance "aanngg" instead of "BAaanngg".
The SR 6200 stops its PCM mode and assumes the next signal could be anything. What a stupid flaw. All the engineers had to do was insert code to make sure the SR x200 receivers stayed in the current decode mode until a different signal was detected, or until it stopped detecting the signal.
If I cannot have this fixed, my receiver is going back and I will replace it with another receiver.
Question:
WHAT OTHER RECEIVERS DO THIS AND WHAT RECEIVERS DO NOT ????