HD 200 Digital audio dropout - Page 4  

I just got off the phone with Sony 2nd level support. They are finally aware of the issue and they said that there is an engineering group working on it. Unfortunately there is no timeframe. He also stated that if I do not receive a call in 72hours to call back otherwise the call will be closed.

For those of you have not called Sony PLEASE PLEASE call Sony, that is the only way they will know that more and more people are having this issue. Returning it to the Store you purchased it from will not tell Sony that there is an audio dropout problem, it simply tells Sony (long after the fact) that people are returning them.
I called 1-800-222-SONY and went through the DSS support line for assistance. I tried calling the 1-800-838-SONY number but kept getting a busy signal, the technician told me that at this time of the year the 838 number is always busy until February.
He also mentioned that Sony does monitor newsgroups like this yet they don't post to them.
So for those of you that want to stick with it, and can deal with the Sound Quality not being as great as Digital for now, I would urge you to call Sony and escalate, and use RCA audio cables until there is a fix. Like a caller said before, Sony does take care of their customers, I actually had a problem years ago with a Satellite receiver and after 6 months they just gave me the next model that came out, at no additional charge.

Well, the question was why haven't more people come forward with this problem. :) The poster clearly thought not many people were reporting it, and the usual reason for that would be that not many people are having it. I don't know which of you is right about the relative complaint level. Regardless, it is not something that should be happening at this point.

I guess I would argue that plenty of people are having problems just based on the number of affected processors. One of the Level 2 techs I spoke to told me about an issue with the HD100 that first popped up here at AVS. Sony engineering came to the conclusion that only a small number of people (a hundred or less) were affected based on the number of posts here. As time went on they discovered that tens of thousands were affected. The conclusion I'd take from that is that there are lots of people in the world that buy this stuff that do not frequent the AVS forum.

In any case as you said, this shouldn't be happening, and LG really dropped the ball on this.

Once again, they just carried over the audio dropout problem from the DTV1080 to the HD SAT520 and the HD200.

I wish Zenith would acknowledge the problem with the HD SAT520.

mmereos,

I'm waiting on Sony to solve this issue but I did return '2' units and finally received a full refund. When I first called Sony they told me this is not an issue with their unit therefore my first unit was defective. After I called them again with the exact same problem with the second unit their Engineering group confirmed there was an issue and they were working on it. Neal, from Sony Engineering, assured me I would have an answer within my '30' day return window which has come and gone. I did however return the second HD200 for a full refund so I know their service department has at least two units to use for testing.

I disagree that we should hang on to see if Sony / LG Electronics is going to fix this issue. All AVS members should return their units for a full refund and then and if Sony / LG Electronics fixes the problem we can purchase the updated unit.

Why should I pay out my hard earned money for a defective receiver. I will purchase another HD200 when I see in this forum the problem has been resolved. I'll keep my money in the bank until then.

Let Sony know about this issue where it hurts in their bottom line profit. If we all start returning the units I guarantee the problem will be resolved immediately.

My '2' cents!

Back to my HD100 until HD200 is FIXED!
John

John,

I agrree with your actions. I wish I did not let the restocking fee keep me past my 30 day refund period. IMHO, the only way Sony/LG will listen is if we hit them where it hurts, the bottom line. It has been my experience that companies like LG rarely fix problems unless it cause harm to the public and the FTC or some other government body forces them to fix the problem. As we have seen with owners of the SAT1080, LG does not care about the consumer and they have no problem selling defective products with no intent of fixing the problems. I will keep my HD200 in my rack as a reminder never to buy another LG product again.

My friend, I hope you are the leader of a movement that could lead to change and a resolution. Sitting around and waiting does not effect change, taking action does.

John, I don't know if you're referring to something I posted or not, but my intent was not to persuade people to follow one course of action or another. For me to follow your suggestion is not convenient simply because I don't have a spare HD STB lying around. I'd have to replace it with something, and that creates its own set of problems.

This is the current state of affairs: Sony has (finally) stated that this is a known issue, that it's being worked on, and that if it's not fixed to my satisfaction they will give me my money back. Short of changing the past, I don't know what else I can ask them to do. As I've said before, however, if they don't fix this and they renege on their promise to refund my money, I'll be howling much louder that you or anyone has thus far.

All,

I just found this thread. I have had the HD200 for about 2.5 months and have noticed the drop out (Primarily on HDNET after 10-15 seconds). Also very occasionally on other channels.

I just called Sony and their 1st Level Support knew nothing about this. Their 2nd Level Support also knew nothing. Their tech promised to escalate and said he would call within 2-3 days.

I had assumed this problem was an HDNET and/or DIRECTV Issue. I am not convinced it is the HD200 . More distressing is the fact that Sony's Support Organization had no idea (or at least their Customer Interface Group had no idea).

Will post an update, when I hear back from Sony.

MDM

John

I can understand what you are saying but I have worked and dealt with retail most of my life, and I can tell you that Sony will never know what is wrong with these product by the fact that hundreds or thousands of them are being returned. I can imagine what the reseller put on the return form, I would have a big doubt that they actually put Audio Dropout, and even if they did, I can assure you that receiver you returned probably is still sitting at the reseller’s warehouse to be returned. So your returned unit may not make it back to Sony for another month, maybe more????? I'm not saying keep it until they fix it, but I know if you did, Sony would work with you and if they didn't fix it you would not be out of your hard earned money. As a side joke people like us that spend 634 or 800 dollars on a satellite/HD receiver do it because we have the money. People that work hard for their money don't buy the fun toys we buy.
I also have a theory about why it took Sony so long to acknowledge the problem. I would guess that the majority of the people are not using Digital Output. I know I wasn't until I replace my 13 year old receiver last week.

Happy New Years!!!!

Has anyone used the HD200 with a Lexicon processor and experienced audio dropouts?

I've got a hughes e86 tuner that I've been thinking of switching out for the sony since I need greater signal sensitivity and want better PQ, but the problems mentioned on this thread give me pause.

imdoug, good question. I'm using mine with a yamaha rcvr right now, and have experienced zero dropouts. I will however be upgrading to a lexicon processor in the next few months, and I'm afraid the problems might start them, especially now that i'm out of the 30 day return period.

If someone knew which processor chips were used in the receivers and pre/pros that are experiencing problems, you might be able to predict what will happen. It does seem that the HD200/520 is having issues with a number of the more expensive pre/pros: B&K, TAG McLaren, the higher-end Sonys, etc. If I were a betting man, I'd say the chances are pretty high you'll have issues with a Lexicon.

Just what I didn't want to hear. Thanks for the replies, though. I'll try and get my installer to hook up the 200 to a lexicon dc-2 at his store to see if it has problems before I shell out the money and put it in my component rack.

Also, some people on the thread said they've had problems with units made in August 2002, while others have said they've had no problems with units made in October 2002. Could the problem have been fixed between the two dates, or are people still having problems with October or later units?

I version I had the audio drop out problem that I'm returning
has an Oct 2002 date...

Sony has just acknowledged this as an issue within the last few weeks, so I can guarantee that nothing has been fixed yet. I'm not sure about Zenith, but at least one poster reported that the techs that answer the phones there know nothing about this. Big surprise.

I've had no problems worth dealing with on a unit with a manufacture date of August 2002.

My unit is connected to a Sony V555ES receiver. I do see the "DOLBY DIGITAL (2/0)" message come up once in a while, so maybe my audio receiver is re-interpreting the stream fast enough that I don't hear any problem.

Both HD 200 units I returned to CC, which droped digital audio to my Sony TAE9000ES, were manufactured in October 2002.

It has now been over three weeks since Sony's Engineering department (Neal) has contacted me with a solution to this problem. Sony indicated to me they would have a solution before my 30 day return window expired. I returned the unit anyway because there is always the option to re-purchase another HD200 after they solve this problem. Even though I currently do not own a HD200 I'm still anxious to here from Sony with a solution.

Who knows if they solve this issue I may buy another unit or skip this generation and wait on the next generation (HD300).

John

I'll be very surprised if this is fixed that quickly. Large corporations like Sony can't move that quickly, and the fact that two are involved makes me even less optimistic.

Maybe contacting LG Electronics directly would help?

I am reading this thread with increasing alarm. I bought an HD200 from CC more than 30 days ago, so my return option has expired. Right now, it is connected directly to a 34XBR800 and I have had absolutely no drop out or reboot problems. My inputs are an OTA antenna (can receive 5 digital stations) and DirecTV. I have no problems with either HD Net or HBO.

In the future I will be connecting it to a receiver or pre/pro, but I have not yet decided which one. Is there any way I can find out whether my HD200 is going to have drop out problems, short of buying a pre/pro and trying it?

If/when Sony announces a fix for the problem, are they likely to make it available to all HD200 owners?

There are a number of posts in this thread in which people have reported no drop-outs and mentioned their processor model. When and if this gets fixed, I'm sure it will be made available to anyone who needs it. If it's a firmware update that comes through D*, you'll get the update whether you want it or not (unless of course you're not a DirecTV subscriber or you unplug your box).

For those asking about receivers and drop outs. I have the Denon
AVR-5703, which is about as high end of a recevier as you can get
and it's new, bought in the last year.
I had problems with the Oct 2002 HD200, mainly on the Starz movie channel.
I have a Philips TIVO system with DD to this same Denon receiver
with NO drop out problems. So It's NOT strictly a AMP issue. Combo
AMP and Sony Sat problem, if others truly aren't having the problem.

I sure wish the RCA DTC200 would hit the market!!!

I have the HD200 hooked up digitally to a Sony AVD-S50ES. I too have audio dropout problems. I also have a Sony SAT-T60 and XBox connected to this receiver digitally, and they never have problems.

My problems occur on HDNet and on OTA digital channels. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure this problem out, originally thinking that I was having signal quality issues.

After realigning my dish and antenna and reading this thread, this is obviously not the case.

My gut feeling is that this unit is extremely sensitive to electrical anomalies. I realized on Wednesday that I can reproduce audio dropouts on both OTA digital channels and HDNet by activating the water dispenser in my refrigerator.

I'm pretty confident that I don't have wiring or other electrical problems. The place is only two years old and no other equipment exhibits electrical interference problems.

Anyway, I'm calling Sony this evening to report the issue (I didn't think it was an issue until reading this thread today), but I'm also going to conduct a few more tests:

1. Shut off all circuits in the house except for the one that my system is connected to, unplug the SAT-T60 and XBox, and see if the problem goes away.

2. If it does not, I'm going to borrow a professional line conditioner from a friend and plug the HD200 into it and see if the problem goes away.

I'm concerned that if this can be fixed by controlling external conditions that Sony will consider it a non-issue.

bocktar,

Keep us informed on the line conditioner. I personally have very little faith in Sony/LG fixing the problem and if a line conditioner will fix it I will make the adjustments.

I'm using an APC power conditioner. It's not going to get a review in Stereophile, but it does eliminate power as a source of the dropout problem.

david_dallas
Copperbox.com has the RCA DTC200 listed as a preorder, but an email from them yesterday said they have no idea when it would be available. Hopefully RCA will do a better job testing... RCA showed this at CEDIA show in Sept/Oct. I would guess it will be at CES in a few days. The writeup on the RCA site says the composite/s-video is active when outputting component/RBG also. If someone who reads this is going to CES---could you please confirm this and when it will be in stores---and IF Hughes has a booth--- if they will have the composite/s-video active when outputting the component/RGB and when their new units will be available... maybe this needs a seperate thread----

You also mentioned your TIVO with DD has no problems with your 5703. Does this mean---if a program has dropouts, but when you playback from the TIVO the same program it does not?? And both the HD200 & TIVO are outputting DD 5.1? just wondering---

I'm using a Sony T-60 TiVo with only the optical hooked up to my B&K Ref50. I get no dropouts whatsoever with it on live TV or playback. Both the HD200 and TiVo put out DD 5.1.

Some people have already noted, but of the rest of you, how many had trouble right out of the box and how many had trouble after some time had passed?

At this point I doubt that a line conditioner will make any difference. I shut off everything in the house today, which dramatically reduced, but did not eliminate the audio dropouts.

After that, I plugged the HD200 (only) into a Tripp-Lite Smart 450RT, which is a rackmount UPS with integrated line conditioning. Going through the 450RT, even on battery power only, had no noticeable effect...the dropouts still occured.

I have 'good' (by the HD200 meter) and stable OTA digital signal strength, so either I'm picking up external interference on the antenna of some sort, or something weird is happening in the HD200.

Is it possible that the decoder in the HD200 is more tolerant than those in most A/V receivers...ie, has been built with the expectation of getting datastreams that are periodically interrupted, and thus corrected prior to D -> A, as compared to external decoders that may expect perfect datastreams? (Just a thought...it seems weird that the dropouts don't seem to occur while on analog outputs, but do occur when using the digital outputs).