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What could be causing audio drop-outs on my HT-SS380?

post #1 of 5
1/8/13 at 10:16am
Thread Starter 
When watching BD movies on my HT setup which includes the Sony HT-SS380 HTIB, a Slim PS3, and a Samsung UN46EH6030 (all connected via HDMI), what could be causing intermittent audio drop-outs? They happen mainly when listening to BD movie audio in Bitstream mode on the PS3 and appear to occur randomly.

I got new RedMere HDMI cables from Monoprice that seem to have minimized this issue since they are very thin, light, and flexible and are also plenty long enough to avoid needing to bend them much. Prior to that I had tried much shorter 24 AWG cables, which were a complete disaster and made this audio issue very frequent (and even caused some video drop-outs that had never occurred before with older short cables that were probably 28 AWG).

So, at this point, which of the following could be causing the audio drop-outs?

-Sony AVR that is part of the HT-SS380 HTIB

-Sony Slim 160 GB PS3

-Samsung UN46EH6030 TV*

-current HDMI cables*


*I don't think so, but just asking to be safe
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post #2 of 5
1/8/13 at 1:37pm
If you haven't already done so, you might try disabling "deep color" in the ps3. It increases the HDMI audio/video bitrate but doesn't provide any benefit since all consumer source material has only 8 bits/color channel. Reducing the bitrate usually decreases the number of audio and video dropouts.
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post #3 of 5
1/10/13 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selden Ball View Post

If you haven't already done so, you might try disabling "deep color" in the ps3. It increases the HDMI audio/video bitrate but doesn't provide any benefit since all consumer source material has only 8 bits/color channel. Reducing the bitrate usually decreases the number of audio and video dropouts.

I was told in the Display Calibration sub-forum that it's best to leave that on (can't remember the exact reason why ATM though).

Regarding the switch to Monoprice's RedMere HDMI cables, it seems they have helped immensely, if for no other reason then being very light and flexible and plenty long enough (15' a piece vs. the older ones that were closer to 6' to 10'). This means the cables are not being bent at sharp angles and there is no stress on the HDMI ports of my devices, the exact opposite of what happened with the 24 AWG cables that were much shorter than 15' a piece and very heavy/rigid.
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post #4 of 5
1/17/13 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selden Ball View Post

If you haven't already done so, you might try disabling "deep color" in the ps3. It increases the HDMI audio/video bitrate but doesn't provide any benefit since all consumer source material has only 8 bits/color channel. Reducing the bitrate usually decreases the number of audio and video dropouts.

ok, I tried it but I still get the occasional audio drop-out when bitstreaming BD audio from my PS3... any other tips?
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post #5 of 5
1/17/13 at 1:58pm
Just as a test, you might try reducing the bitrate even more, just to see if that reduces the glitches. i.e. try to configure the PS3 to output either 1080i or 720p instead of 1080p. If that helps, then perhaps one of your Redmere cables isn't working as well as it should and its HDMI circuitry is not properly augmenting the high frequency signal.

Another possible cause of dropouts would be a loose connection in a cable or device connector. Vibrations (perhaps due to loud subwoofer output) might be causing intermittent contact, thus causing glitches in the signal. Verify that all of the cables, including speaker cables, are fully seated, tightly fastened, and not subjected to undue torque.

It shouldn't make any difference, but you might try setting the PS3 to output PCM instead of bitstreaming. In principle, it should make no difference in the quality of the sound you hear, but would shift the audio decoding from the HTIB into the PS3. Since the resulting digital audio signal would be uncompressed, it would result in a slight bitrate increase.
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