Folks, can anyone shine some light on this....

I have a Motorola HD-DVR from Comcast running via optical to an Onkyo SR503 receiver. I have been lately loosing sound on the center channel on a few HD programs (ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, TNT HD, HBO HD).

What could be the culprit? I dont think its the receiver as all other channels come through OK, so does the DVD and HTPC.

Thanks!

I have been experiencing a similar problem, but instead of losing the center channel, I lose all audio or it stutters with a number of HD channels. The channels with no or choppy audio vary from day to day, seem to work with stereo audio and fail with Surround. Comcast has rolled a truck 3 times now to correct this and has failed.

A few channels are consistently bad, HDT, FX, USA, NG, TLC and A&E. UHD, Starz, HBO and Max have also been bad.

I am using a Sharp/HP LCD HDTV with a cablecard, not a DVR. Comcast has replaced all the lines to my set, the cablecard and concluded that my TV set was bad and that I should replace it.

Perhaps you could solve your problem by replacing the DVR. At least that is easier to do than for me to replace my TV. (I suspect a Comcast signal or encoding problem - if you replace your DVR and still have the problem, that will be confirmed, if not - then they must be correct about my TV).

Here is a similar thread on another board (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22960054-HD-SyFy-HD-Audio-cutouts)