TiVo : Dolby Digital

[steveh]

Surprised nobody's mentioned this problem here yet. There seem to be a bunch of issues with Dolby Digital that have appeared recently. Pausing live TV and rewinding or fast forwarding causes the sound over the optical out to stop. Past recordings similarly come out silent. When watching a channel live and a recording of the next programme kicks in then the sound goes off. Occasionally even switching to a channel live the sound fails to come through and there's no Dolby Digital message on the amp as normal. Possibly some channels have more of an issue than others, like Fox, though that might just be my viewing preferences. Doesn't seem to matter if it's 2.0 or 5.1 programmes.

Sometimes you can get the sound back by pressing My Shows and then TV or switching away to a non DD channel and back but not always. At times I've been forced into switching the amp to the HDMI input instead to get sound back, but for 5.1 programmes that's obviously a downgrade.

Not alone it seems: http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...v/td-p/2868329

[Joedm45]

Hi steveh

Yes, I have the same problem, I thought I was going mad! I mentioned it in the TiVo discussion thread but I must admit I was convinced it was my HDMI splitter that was faulty then I convinced myself that the optical output on my amp must be faulty so just left it connected via HDMI on the amp instead to get 5.1 working.

I did google it but nothing came up, that must have been before the thread started on the VM forum.

I'm going to ring up VM when I get a chance to add my name to the list of optical faults. I'll also mention the two days of not being able to use TiVo in July due to constant rebooting. Lets see if they offer anything, I won't hold my breath.

[Joedm45]

Looks like one of the admin on the VM forum has now admitted there is a problem with optical output.

Fingers crossed it doesn't take too long to fix

[steveh]

No news on when this might be fixed yet?

Not been able to play recordings in Dolby Digital for over a month now...

[steveh]

Four months now since the broken update started rolling out and no fix yet. That's a bit rubbish really. Is there some disagreement between Virgin and Tivo or Samsung preventing it being fixed?

[arcimedes]

Allegedly Tivo fixed the fault very quickly in the US but it took a long time even for VM to recognize there was a fault. A few users have got round it by installing a little box to extract the sound stream onto an optical cable. I have one and it works perfectly.

[Mythica]

Originally Posted by steveh

Surprised nobody's mentioned this problem here yet. There seem to be a bunch of issues with Dolby Digital that have appeared recently. Pausing live TV and rewinding or fast forwarding causes the sound over the optical out to stop. Past recordings similarly come out silent. When watching a channel live and a recording of the next programme kicks in then the sound goes off. Occasionally even switching to a channel live the sound fails to come through and there's no Dolby Digital message on the amp as normal. Possibly some channels have more of an issue than others, like Fox, though that might just be my viewing preferences. Doesn't seem to matter if it's 2.0 or 5.1 programmes.

Sometimes you can get the sound back by pressing My Shows and then TV or switching away to a non DD channel and back but not always. At times I've been forced into switching the amp to the HDMI input instead to get sound back, but for 5.1 programmes that's obviously a downgrade.

Not alone it seems: http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...v/td-p/2868329

Sorry I can't help with the issue but just wondering why switching to HDMI is a downgrade?

[steveh]

If you have a system connected using HDMI from TiVo -> TV -> Amp then under the HDMI spec (well, technically I think it's an HDCP copy protection requirement) then the TV is not allowed to forward on the Dolby Digital stream, only PCM, so the amp doesn't get 5.1 sound.

Some TVs will forward on the Dolby Digital stream from HDMI inputs over their own optical out but many (like my Panasonic) are more strict and will only allow optical output from their own internal tuner.

[Mythica]

Originally Posted by steveh

If you have a system connected using HDMI from TiVo -> TV -> Amp then under the HDMI spec (well, technically I think it's an HDCP copy protection requirement) then the TV is not allowed to forward on the Dolby Digital stream, only PCM, so the amp doesn't get 5.1 sound.

Some TVs will forward on the Dolby Digital stream from HDMI inputs over their own optical out but many (like my Panasonic) are more strict and will only allow optical output from their own internal tuner.

So your amp doesn't have any HDMI outputs?

[steveh]

It's a combined Blu-ray player / amp with just one HDMI socket for the TV so I can't go TiVo -> Amp -> TV.

[Mythica]

Originally Posted by steveh

It's a combined Blu-ray player / amp with just one HDMI socket for the TV so I can't go TiVo -> Amp -> TV.

Oh ok, that's where I was getting confused.

[Joedm45]

I too cannot believe it has been 4 months! There must not be enough complaints to make this issue high priority. I find it so frustrating that people spend a lot of money on surround sound set ups and then they are reduced to stereo just because VM messed up an TiVo update.

Has anyone got any form of compensation for this? I'd imagine it would be difficult seeing as sound is available even if it is only stereo.

[jobbie8]

Originally Posted by Joedm45

Has anyone got any form of compensation for this? I'd imagine it would be difficult seeing as sound is available even if it is only stereo.

I got a £30 credit when I complained to the CEO office.

Broken down:
£5 credit to cover the Tivo fee for each of my 3 Tivos for 2 months.

I was assured the problem would be fixed by then.

My contracts up end of November, so I will be looking elsewhere for my TV.

The whole Tivo experience is getting worse week by week.