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Confirmed: vip2250 fixes surround sound audio dropouts!

I had a vip1225 hooked up via HDMI to an Onkyo receiver (HT-S8400 to be specific) and I had problems with audio dropouts on surround. Every few seconds, for a fraction of a second, the audio would drop. It drove me nuts and I tried everything to fix it.. I tried different (new) HDMI cables, and even a different home theater system! In the end, I had to keep it on stereo.

I went over and over this with UVerse support. They kept wanting to send me to the paid support line for help configuring my home theater system and out of four techs I spoke to, none ackowledged hearing anything about audio dropouts over HDMI with surround. In fact, they kept insisting that I plug the HDMI straight to the TV and I kept having to explain my TV is a stereo device, not a surround device so it's not a good test. They also immediately started jumping on the bandwagen saying surround sound is out of scope. I saw a couple of posts about the vip2250 fixing this issue but none of the techs would entertain that idea.

Finally I pled my case to a very nice agent in billing who had to go WAY out of her way to get me a vip2250. Hooked it up and sure enough all audio dropout problems are resolved!

Responses

shoe47

Voyager

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1 Message

10 years ago

I had my VIP1216 replaced with the VIP2250 and my dropouts are gone!!! This is the fix.

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bp787

Tutor

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9 Messages

10 years ago

VIP2250 fixed my audio drop out problem.

I upgraded to an Onkyo tx-nr727 and began experiencing the DD 2.0 Audio Drop outs. After trying a number of things, I called uverse and had service scheduled. The installer was excellent. He quickly swapped me out for a VIP2250 and immediately fixed the audio drops.

One note though, was that he atttempted to have all of the video ran over ethernet instead of the COAX that I'm currently using. I agreed to give it a go. We received video freezing almost immediately on every channel. I have a router behind a router configuration, which I think was problem, and did not spend ANY time trying to change my internal router's configuration.

The tech also removed a few BALUNs from the outside box.

So far, the audio has been stable on all channels, and I personally do not see any of the video issues mentioned about the VIP2250.

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Razmatazz

Tutor

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8 Messages

10 years ago

I am experiencing same dropped audio with dvr motorolla vip1216, am using HDMI and uverse digital option is surround sound. it only happens on the few channels that do not broadcast in 5.1 I do not understand why at&t cannot correct this problem. One would think that a company is ahead of the curve and ready to handle issues. I am beginning the same path as the previous posts. I called at&t and was told i will receive a vip2250 but i feel i will receive a vip1225. i will keep fingers crossed.

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Razmatazz

Tutor

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8 Messages

10 years ago

Well, I received a vip1225. I am calling AGAIN tomorrow.

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MCharlie

Tutor

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5 Messages

10 years ago

Just curious....I too have this issue, and have been through the very same line of horse hockey with tech support....

I currently have the Scientific Atlanta DVR IPN4350..the surround drop out issue with my new Onkyo A/V receiver is awful. The cure appears to be moving up to the Motorola VIP 2250 DVR, but it is not available in my service area. The 'new' Pace IPH8005 - DVR, is. Has there been any reports on this box regarding the surround drop out issues? Does this box take care of the surround drop out issue?

Thanks!

MC

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infinity1976

Mentor

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40 Messages

10 years ago

@SomeJoe7777 wrote:
@infinity1976 wrote:
I confirmed today video problems with 2250 exist in both hdmi and component video outputs.

1. Video is clipping blacks
2. Gamma is off
3. Video is in wrong color space? In see tint in lower grayscale. Everything looks a bit off saturation wise. Tinted red tones in grayscale is bad.

4. Fix your video encoders so the video is stable in near black sections. All of the flickering in dark areas is very distracting. You see brightness pops in darker areas of video. The encoder is getting tripped up near black on some feeds.

They messed up pretty much everything, didn't they?

Hope it can be fixed in firmware, although prepare for it to take a while. The 1200 series had the same clipping black level problem early on in U-Verse's existence, and it took nearly 2 years before a firmware update was issued that fixed the problem.

They just updated the VIP2250 firmware in my area; posted about it here.

https://forums.att.com/t5/Receivers-Battery-Backup/New-firmware-on-STB-VIP2250-Kansas-city-area/td-p/4009448

I no longer see red tint near black.

HDMI black level is now 16-234 (was 0-255) before

appears to not be clipping blacks like it was

Need to check gamma still, but I can visually see it's better.

Not bad, 15 months! Thanks to whomever is listening and helped get this fixed 😉 😄

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dpearson118

Contributor

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1 Message

9 years ago

Just reconfirming the fix in this thread:

My config / complaint:

VIP1225 DVR or VIP1220 (non-DVR) STB with Onkyo TX-NR626 receiver.

I was getting sound dropouts, only when Uverse was delivering Dolby 2.0 content to the Onkyo.

If the content was Dolby 5.1 or PCM 2.0 everything sounded great. Switching the STB Digital Output from Surround to Stereo also stopped the dropouts.

The problem would come and go on the same channel, for example while watching a football game on Fox the game would be delivered in 5.1 and would sound great. Then they would switch to commercials and the audio format (which I can monitor on the Onkyo) would switch to DD 2.0 and the dropouts would occur. When the game would restart the format would go back to DD 5.1 and the sound would be good again.

After a few calls I got a tech visit, who came equipped with a VIP2250. Swapped it for the VIP1225 and problem solved!

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread...

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