Sky+ HD sound drops out

[Mars]

First off... I've Googled. There are others with this problem but not with the Amstrad STB, and no comprehensive fix/solution.

I'm having sound drop-out problems with Sky+ HD. I'm pretty sure it's only with Sky - I've not noticed it when watching DVDs or the other analogue satellite system we have.

The sound just drops out for 3-ish seconds at a time. It's totally random though. Sometimes it's 2 or 3 times in half an hour. Then sometimes not at all.

My brother thinks it might be related to the HDD (mine has a 160GB HDD) being of inferior quality. If I got enough support for this view, I'd change it but he's the only person I've heard mention this.

By the way... this happens when watching live TV as well as recorded programmes. I assume it caches everything on the HDD anyway because you can pause/rewind etc.

Anyone else got any theories?

[F i F]

Mine is SD Sky+ but it does something very similar to this if I've paused / rewound but haven't quite caught up with the live transmission and watching only a few seconds delayed. Always cured by watching fully live or rewinding a bit more so watching about -1min or so.

Obviously bit of a guess but hth.

[Mars]

Thanks but the issue I have doesn't seem limited to one mode of operation. It happens with "live" TV, paused/restarted TV, rewound/restarted TV, as well as pre-recorded. It's totally random - sometimes it doesn't happen at all in the evening then other evenings it becomes quite painful to watch.

[JustinP1]

Is it on Dolby Digital programmes only?

[Mars]

JustinP1 said:

Is it on Dolby Digital programmes only?

That's an interesting question. I don't know. I'm not using any surround though - just stereo.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I have this same problem on my standard Sky+ (non-HD) box.
It only seems to happen on the movie channels?
The sound just cuts out for a spilt second...but it's pretty annoying.

My sound is fed via TosLink to my home cinema amp. I've tried turning off Dolby Digital on the Sky box, but it made no difference.

What could it be?

[FunkyGibbon]

I've had this with the amstrad 1TB box. There are many posts on avforums and sky forums.

My solution was to use digital coax connection to my amp rather than toslink. Solved the problem immediately.

HTH

[Mars]

I'm using an HDMI connection to my TV. No other boxes involved.

[Hoover.]

I don't have Sky+ HD, but I do have Virgin+ HD and experience the same issue via the Toslink....

I have noted that some channels are better then others..... some programmes are almost unwatchable due to sound drop out every 10 mins, where as others maybe once an hour... actually watched a HD film last night OD, and I don't recall one sound drop out.


So my theory is that signals being braodcast are not strong enough, or there is an issue with transmitting HD sound and then unscrambling via toslink..... not heard an issues with people using HDMI cables.

[Mars]

Interesting observation. The more people who post here, the better our knowledge. Thanks.