Audio Drop outs

[mailman1988 8]

I have a new build HTPC.

It's got plenty of power and 4g of ram. Running Windows 7 Home Premium.

I've been experiencing Sporadic Audio Drop outs. It is on a 50' Cat 5 from the Gigabit Switch.

I'm not getting any video drop outs. This problem does not exist on my other HTPC that is closer to the switch.

Audio is via HDMI to the TV, than to the Sound Bar.

I've backed up the playing section and found the missing audio plays just fine. source file i

Any ideas?

 

[oj88 130]

Does this happen with any video you play, or just specific ones?

 

Oterwise, it could be an HDMI/HDCP acting up.

[cskenney 150]

Does this occur with files played locally off the HTPC (not pulled off the network)?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mailman1988 8]

This seems to happen with either Live TV or Recorded TV.

It does not seem to happen with a recorded Movie.

[ikon 439]

I think cskenney's question is crucial. You need to isolate whether the issue is something on the HTPC itself, or if it's related to something else, such as the LAN or server.

[mailman1988 8]

For Source signal, that is coming from my HD Home Run Dual.

The problem seems to only exist on TV related signals.

I could be watching Live TV or a pre-recorded show coming from my server. Both get drop outs.

My Vizio Sound bar get's it signal via a Digital Coax cable from the TV output. When the signal drops and than comes back, there is No issue with timing or lag.

Is it possible that the switch is a problem? Guess I could try running directly from the router for a test.

[oj88 130]

You can also try putting the sound bar out of the loop by disconnecting it from the TV temporarily and listen to the audio from the TV speakers. If there are still audio dropouts, work your way back and try using  a different HDMI cable.

 

From your description so far, I doubt if it's a LAN/network problem. I'm more inclined to think it's a digital audio transmission issue between the HDMI link to the TV or the digital coax/SPDIF to the sound bar.

 

Another thing to look into is that the sound bar may be having difficulty decoding certain types of audio. To test this, try disabling all but the most basic audio options on the HTPC (ie. disable surround, Dolby, DTS, etc.) and just allow 2.0 Stereo. Let's see where it goes from there.