[lhamp]

There is only one thing more accurate than the atomic clock. It's the dropouts on my sat-hd100. Every day at EXACTLY 8:30, 9, 9:30, 10, 10:30, etc, my screen goes black and sound cuts out for about 5-10 seconds. (one nice thing about the clock on the front of the sony is that you can time your dropouts...how's that for a selling point!) Only happens with dss channels, not ota. These are the only dropouts I have, but they are major. The regularity of them leads me to believe that it's something in the area. Any thoughts or any similar occurences?


Thanks.


[This message has been edited by lhamp (edited 04-01-2001).]

 

[Ken Ross]

lhamp,

Now that's a new one!! It certainly does sound like something local. Maybe some kind of time signal being generated in your area on a frequency that interferes? Is it possible for you to take your box to a friend's house to try it out?

 

[ricka]

Man,


That some pretty scary ****. Does it happen every half hour, or only in prime time? It sounds like the problem I was having. I didn't measure the time, I just new that every so often (fairly regular interval) the video and audio cut out for a few seconds.


--Rick

 

[lhamp]

Rick... not sure... I just realized the regularity of the dropouts so I don't know if it happens all day long, all week long. I started noticing it because I watch the sopranos every week at the same time and each week, about half way through I'd get a dropout. Weird, huh?


Gotta run... 11:00 is coming up... gotta check all the clocks in my place.

 

[lhamp]

well, 11:00 came and went without a dropout. Man, I knew this was a bad week to give up crack.

 

[GScott]

lhamp,


I had dropouts last night at 10:00pm and 10:30pm. How's this for a theory. If you notice the guide always reaquires data on the half hour and it blacks out the channel while it does it. Seems a little to coincidental to me. Anyway, I am returning mine at the end of my 30 days and I will wait for the next round of STB's. The more I think about it the less I am able to justify paying $800 to be a beta tester and only receive 2 HD channels (HBO, CBS).


Gary

 

[RZ]

This happens to me also(NYC)-at the half hour. Maybe we should only watch from 10 after to 10 to the hour...then there would be no problems !

 

[lhamp]

Interesting theory Gary. Seems like it isn't a local problem, but a sony problem.


Time to write another email.

 

[Roger Clark]

Maybe just a Northeast problem? I watched the entire evening last night, I had one dropout during a movie. Overall, I've had very few dropouts. BTW, the download every half hour will only interrupt the sound and picture if you have the guide up at the time. Yes, I have the Sony Sat-HD100.


Roger

 

[btmoore]

It is interesting that you have noticed a pattern with the dropouts and the time on the hour or halfs. I have not been checking for this but I do recall looking at the time once when I had an HBO-HD dropout and it was exactly 6:00pm per the clock on the hd100. I will watch for this next time it I get a dropout. If I see the same pattern I will add this information to my existing trouble ticket with sony and report it back here.


Thanks for the observation.


Regards,


Brian

 

[lhamp]

brian... I don't know if this is happening all day long because I'm not home... but 6:00 your time is 9:00 my time, and that's definitely when mine are happening.


I have yet to open a trouble ticket but I have emailed sony... I might call them tonight if I have the time (and the patience to deal with the people answering the phone).




[This message has been edited by lhamp (edited 04-02-2001).]

 

[btmoore]

Lhamp,


How responsive is sony with email support?

 

[Roger Clark]

lhamp, I will check mine at 6:00 tonight as well. Does this happen on any station, or just HD stations (like 509)?


btmoore, Sony has responded to my emails within 24 hours. I have posted the response to the fan noise level in another thread (they are looking into it, no eta). http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/Forum11/HTML/012592.html



Roger

 

[lhamp]

roger... You may want to check it around 9 (6 west coast time)... that's when I first noticed it.


thanks.

 

[dmbatch]

lhamp,


I started watching this tonight at 5 pm EDT. So far, 5:00, 5:30 and 6:00 exactly I have had dropouts.



------------------

Dave B.

ODAT

 

[lhamp]

well, at very least, it's nice to know I haven't totally lost my mind. At best, we have some more information to foward to sony. I emailed them today, but should probably call as well.


Btmoore... to answer your question, I don't know how responsive sony is to emails... just sent it off this morning and haven't heard back yet. I did send a copy to directv and get a response pretty quickly, but it was just one of those "noted" type replies.


More later.

 

[dmbatch]

6:30, 7:00 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 and still going.


I sent Sony an Email about the sync problem. They responded within 12 hours with this.


Thank you for contacting SONY.


This situation would best be addressed by troubleshooting through the

Customer Information Services Center. They will be able to discuss this

with you and ask the pertinent questions necessary to discern the problem.


Please contact our Information center and speak with a representative for

assistance.


SONY ELECTRONICS INC.

DSS Hotline

1-800-838-7669


Eastern Standard Time

Monday--Friday 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.


Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.


The SONY Internet Group

Customer Information Services Center

CV99


So, it looks like they have a Hotline number just for DSS problems. Hmmmm...wonder why that is.





------------------

Dave B.

ODAT

 

[davebach]

Sorry ihamp,


I didn't get any timed dropout at 9 PM ET with my HD 100.


Dave

 

[davebach]

OK, I got the big D at 9:30 exactly!


Dave

 

[lhamp]

Me too Dave... didn't get one at 9, but at 9:29 I switched over from the basketball (ota) and sure enough, 9:30 on the dot... it lasted, I'd say, about ten seconds.