Onkyo 797 or 898 DD dropouts on Satellite or Digital Cable Feeds (1 Viewer)

[Chris Sharp]

Hey Everyone,
After weeks of researching/agonizing over which receiver (the Denon 3802 or the Onkyo 797) to purchase I finally decided to go with the Onkyo 797 because I have owned onkyo before and for the most part have been very happy with them. I am aware of the ticking problems they have had and I hope the receiver I will be getting will have been fixed already.
I am also aware of the DD dropout issue on such DVDs as JPIII, Atlantis, and Pearl Harbor (I'm forgetting one other).
My question is has anyone with the 797 or 898 had problems with DD dropout while watching a movie on a premium channel over Satellite or Digital Cable. I was reading on another forum that people have been having dropouts while watching movies and was wondering if anyone here has experienced it. Is it the Cable/Satellite providers problem or is there another bug in the Onkyo's.
Please put my mind at ease :frowning:
Thanks,
~Chris

 

[WesleyHester]

Yes while watching The Cable Guy on HBO HD. The movie was OAR in 5.1. I've post in the AVS Forum also.

P. S. It's BOTH the source AND Onkyo receiver. The nature of the problem is an interplay of the two. The same "flag" on the DVDs is the same as the one encoded in The Cable Guy which cause the certain Onkyo's to mute the audio.

Although I don't own it, Beastmaster is the other DVD I believe.

 

[JoeyB]

I experienced frequent DD audio dropouts on regular HBO broadcast of Shrek, via Dish Network with my Onkyo 797. I haven't seen any reports of similar problems with other receivers. Looks like another "bug" to add to the growing list of problems with the 797.

 

[WesleyHester]

That's interesting JoeyB, I haven't had dropouts on Shrek on HD HBO Direct TV.

I will be sure to check out the SD broadcasts of Shrek from now on since they usually air together with the HD version.

I'll do this mainly to see if the Shrek SD (standard definition) material is "given" to DirecTV and Dish "as-is" or if they do any processing in-house at all. I actually hope I experience dropout on SD Shrek too as it would mean you and I will have seen the same "version" if you will. If that is true then I too should have audio dropout on my Onkyo 797 as well.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[Sean Dayton]

Thats wierd because I have the Onkyo 696 and experianced the dropouts with the list of DVD's with the flagging problem but I have never had a drop out from my digital cable box. I saw Shrek in DD a couple weeks ago, no problems.

 

[Seth T]

Chris-

I've got a 797 and have ZERO problems with it, other than the Pearl Harbor/Jurassic Park III/Atlantis Dolby Digital issue.

I've watched Band of Brothers in DD5.1 widescreen on HBO twice through now with no problems. I'm running a Mitsubishi DD DirectTV reciever, can't comment on whether it's a Dish Network problem or not.

-Seth

 

[WesleyHester]

Everyone keep in mind, I haven't experienced any problems with satellite, cable or antenna broadcasts 99.9% of the time. I've only had audio muting when I watched The Cable Guy on HBO HD channel 509 DirecTV, nothing else before or since.

 

[Charles_H]

I am also having problems with my Onkyo 898 dropping audio with Dolby Digital on certain movies (Angle Eyes) and not others (Cast Away) both on HBO. I have been able to change the Digital output on the Receiver from Dolby Digital to PCM audio and the problem goes away (of course this deprives me of 5.1!)
This definitely makes me believe that more and more companies are starting to use this "new" way of mixing Dolby Digital and the problem is going to get worse until Dolby (or DirectTv on the Satellite End if a remix is coming from them) steps in and puts a stop to it!

 

[Natalie M]

UM FYI, We have the Onkyo 595 and Dish. The premeire of Shrek On regular HBO in DD had droupouts. I was wondering if anyone else had this VIA Dish. You know, Ive heard many people mention the term "Dropout" and I was like, what is that? Well this was the first time I have ever experienced it with this receiver. We have watched many movies, DVD or on Dish, in both DTS and DD and have never seen the dropouts until this broadcast. I guess its not bad at all, maybe just a fluke somewhere in between HBO, DIsh and the receiver.

Oh forgot to mention, we have Pearl Harbor on DVD as well, no dropouts. Like I said, I had no idea what dropout was until that one Saturday.

 

[JoeyB]

So far, the problem seems to be limited to Onkyo receivers. Have any non-Onkyo owners out there had any DD dropout problems with DSS DD broadcasts?

 

[Dan Joy]

I have a DA5ES and have experienced several dropouts on channel 504 Direct Tv only. I have called direct tv but they are clueless and feel it is my equipment. This has occurred several times on Titan AE and other multiple movies (that I also own on dvd and have had NO problems with).
Mt multichannel blue light stays on , but I have a nanosecond interruption. I have had no problems on pay per view as of yet!

 

[Natalie M]

Well, based on my experience with my Onkyo, DD dropouts never happen, with exception of the Shrek broadcast on 300. We've watched the entire series of Band Of Brothers in DD 5.1 on the same channel without problems. All of our DD and DTS DVD's have no problems as well. Im just going to chalk it up to a possible SAT/HBO broadcast problem. Ive not had any trouble since.

 

[Jay_E]

I was able to duplicate the DD audio "muting" problem with today's HBO airing of "Cable Guy" with my Onkyo 898. I viewed it live and recorded the movie with my UltimateTV with the same results (audio muting present every 30 seconds or so). In fact the problem was present on 3 different STBs (2 UTVs and a DTC100). I then connected the UTV to my old Yamha RXV992 receiver and there were NO DD audio problems. This is definitely a problem that does not affect all AV receivers. Onkyo users (797 and 898) are the only ones I have seen report this problem yet. I can ony conclude that HBO is using the same "flag" when encoding the DD audio that was used on the Pearl Harbor (and other) DVDs. I sure hope this is not trend. I guess I will try to contact Onkyo to see if they are aware that the DD audio issue is not limited to just a few DVDs, but is now present in at least 2 HBO movies. This problem has also been reported in the avsforum and the hometheaterspot forum.

Jay

 

[Chris Sharp]

I guess I will try to contact Onkyo to see if they are aware that the DD audio issue is not limited to just a few DVDs, but is now present in at least 2 HBO movies

Jay,

Please keep us posted on what you find out.

Also, any other people with equipment other than Onkyo experiencing this problem? or is it just Onkyo?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Dan Joy]

Wife and I watched The Cable Guy last night on Direct tv channel 504. We had no dropouts or interruptions at all!
Also had Final Fantasy on earlier without problems

 

[Jay_E]

Dan,

Was Cable Guy broadcast in DD 5.1 on channel 504? I have only looked at 501 and 509. Does your Sony receiver have the DD problem with Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park III, etc. DVDs?. Thanks for the input.

Jay

 

[Natalie M]

Is this problem only with the Onkyo 797, 898's? As I said before we have the 595, and pearl harbor on DVD with no dropout.

 

[Jay_E]

As I said before we have the 595, and pearl harbor on DVD with no dropout.

Are you sure you are listening to the DD track? The DTS track on Pearl Harbor plays fine.

Jay

 

[Natalie M]

Well, we were listening in DTS. If my DVD has DTS, usually thats all we'll play it in, but I do have other DVD's that are only in 5.1 that have had no problems. Also as mentioned before, we have DISH and have watched the entire Band of Brothers on HBO in 5.1 with no problem. I didnt know what Dropout was until I met it on 1 broadcast of Shrek on HBO. But Ive never seen the problem since, either on DVD or Dish. Maybe it was a signal thing. We have had our Onkyo since November, and have really put it to the test, with no problems.

 

[Dan Joy]

Jay, Yes Cable Guy was in 5.1(although the sound mix was weak). I have had no problems with the above dvd's with my DA5ES. I only have problems infrequently on channel 504(501&504 are my only HBO DD stations).
I really think this is a DIRECT TV issue for me.