topic Sound dropouts in Archive

Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:40:49 GMT

Hi, joined Sky Sep 2020, and enjoying Sky Q, apart from sound dropouts, have read various threads and appreciate that this appears to an ongoing issue, thought I would add my experiance.....

I have a SkyQ1TB UHD box (32B206)

LG OLED CX65 TV

LG SL10Y Sound Bar

Apple 4K TV

I currently get UHD, Dolby Atmos and HDR when available, and it is superb, so my Sky Q box is setup for this using Ethernet Cat 7, I use HDMI ARC passthrough, the one issue I have is intermitant sound dropouts, annoying....this does not happen with live TV. I have changes HDMI cables, turned box off/on etc. The apple 4k TV box does not have this problem, Sky Q box problem ?

Re: Sound dropouts

oldfella — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:47:51 GMT

@jmaxy wrote:

Hi, joined Sky Sep 2020, and enjoying Sky Q, apart from sound dropouts, have read various threads and appreciate that this appears to an ongoing issue, thought I would add my experiance.....

I have a SkyQ1TB UHD box (32B206)

LG OLED CX65 TV

LG SL10Y Sound Bar

Apple 4K TV

I currently get UHD, Dolby Atmos and HDR when available, and it is superb, so my Sky Q box is setup for this using Ethernet Cat 7, I use HDMI ARC passthrough, the one issue I have is intermitant sound dropouts, annoying....this does not happen with live TV. I have changes HDMI cables, turned box off/on etc. The apple 4k TV box does not have this problem, Sky Q box problem ?

Hi @jmaxy

Are you connecting Q HDMI to TV then HDMI Arc to Soundbar ?

Or Q to Soundbar then HDMI Soundbar Arc to TV Arc ?

Re: Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:51:13 GMT

Hi, Q box HDMI to TV, TV HDMI (ARC) to Sound Bar....

Re: Sound dropouts

oldfella — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 10:55:34 GMT

@jmaxy wrote:

Hi, Q box HDMI to TV, TV HDMI (ARC) to Sound Bar....

Hi @jmaxy

As your Soundbar would appear to be HDCP 2.2 with 4K passthrough I would try Q HDMI to Soundbar then Soundbar HDMI Arc to TV Arc

Re: Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:34:55 GMT

Thanks for the reply, this would be the only thing I have not tried, although bear in mind it does not happen with live TV, which uses the same configuration, also the Apple 4K TV is attched to the TV and it works perfectly.

Re: Sound dropouts

oldfella — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 11:41:08 GMT

@jmaxy wrote:

Thanks for the reply, this would be the only thing I have not tried, although bear in mind it does not happen with live TV, which uses the same configuration, also the Apple 4K TV is attched to the TV and it works perfectly.

Hi @jmaxy

Preferred connection is always HDMI direct to Soundbar then via Arc to TV.

Of course the Soundbar needs to compatible for UHD passthrough which yours is.

Re: Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 13:25:45 GMT

Thanks, just changed the HDMI cable, Q box to sound bar, will be great if this solves the sound problem.....hopefully a days uasage should give the answer, I will post when I have the answer.....

Re: Sound dropouts

orpheum — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 13:47:06 GMT

This is a known issue to Sky and the reason I cancelled my Q subscription. It was first thought to be an issue with Samsung tv's but now other brands are affected too. Sky admitted to me that they had not found the cause of the problem and they seem to be quite happy to loan these boxes whilst knowing the fault is there. If ever the fault is fixed then I will happily return to Sky but I do not want to pay for an inferior product. My feeling is that they will have to start from scratch and produce a new box - maybe Sky R?

Re: Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sat, 07 Nov 2020 14:33:30 GMT

I thought as much, after doing all of the obvious and not so obvious things to correct the problem and reading other threads, it had to be the Q box, the one thing I had not tried, HDMI cable to soundbar, I have just made this change, will see if works.................Thanks for your reply....

Re: Sound dropouts

jmaxy — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 08:22:11 GMT

An update re sound dropouts, after making the change you suggested (Q to Soundbar) I watched a film, the sound dropped three times during the film, the good thing is they were much shorter breaks than before (Q to TV), infact very short, much easier to live with, another interesting thing is that each time the display on the Soundbar woke up.

This tells me that firstly, switching the HDMI to the Soundbar and not the TV first produces a much shorter break in sound, ie the signal not going throught the TV shortens the duration of the break, understandable as the TV does not lengthen the break due to it's firmware etc. Secondly, the Soundbar display waking up each time indicating a signal change from the Q box. This indicates to me that the Q box has a problem, and reading the post above and other threads its not just me.........................

One good thing is the length of the breaks are now much shorter and as such easier to live with, although giving Sky £100 amonth I should not have to................Thanks for your help.

Re: Sound dropouts

Dazzasky — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 10:06:53 GMT

As you have discovered @jmaxy changing the combination of how you set the soundbar up makes no difference. You could take the soundbar out and you will still have dropouts. There is a fault somewhere that has yet to be discovered by Sky.

Re: Sound dropouts

pj1970 — Tue, 08 Dec 2020 20:27:18 GMT

I have had Sky Q for some time now and have never experienced this until in the last few weeks. Mine happens on Live TV. Tried resetting the box to no avail next stop will be contacting Sky as I find it strange as must have been a recent update that has caused it as had for over 12 months now and never been an issue.

Re: Sound dropouts

Martinmurph — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 20:41:41 GMT

Recently upgraded to SkyQ UHD

Sound dropping out on Samsung TV

Tried ALL options after searching threads but still facing the same issue

My old Sky box after turning off HDMI control strangely fixed the issue but not on this box

Can't turn off WI-FI as needed

This does also happen on Netflix through box but if watch Netflix on TV then no issues?!

Any advice greatly received

Re: Sound dropouts

Martinmurph — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:48:30 GMT

For those suffering this issue

(I think) I've found a workaround

Not ideal but......

I have a WiFi extender near my SkyQ box with an ethernet socket. I've deleted my WiFi details from the sky box and used wired connection.

No dropouts.

This would suggest as others have described an issue with WIFI.

Maybe Sky can find a permanent fix for this?

Re: Sound dropouts

Essex+Guy — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 20:56:36 GMT

If this works for you then great. I've been running everything hardwired and with WiFi disabled on all Sky Q equipment (I use a separate Orbi mesh for my WiFi) and I still get dropouts.

Re: Sound dropouts

Mike1001 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 21:22:29 GMT

I've started to experience the same issue this week. Never had it before- but then has not been much Atmos content on Sky previously. Only seems to occur on UHD and Atmos content, though oddly still happens even if I turn off my soundbar off. The drops outs are every 5 minutes or so and makes the program unwatchable- only way I've found to fix is to turn Atmos off on Sky 😕

Re: Sound dropouts

Essex+Guy — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:14:54 GMT

Yep, only way I can stop it is by changing the audio to PCM but then my surround system just gets stereo audio. I have no issues with atmos when using either the television's built in apps or my Apple TV the problem only occurs with Sky.

Re: Sound dropouts

Martinmurph — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 07:06:57 GMT

Tried UHD Movie last night and all was ok

If any of this helps others just to confirm my settings after reading loads of threads on this issue

HDMI control off

Hardwired Ethernet (Sky box to WIFI extender)

Samsung Curve TV MU6670 - (Bitstream audio input)

Dolby plus audio output on Sky box

Not sure if makes a difference as no sound bar but using HDMI 3(ARC) straight to Sky box

This definitely seems to have cured the problem for now.

No expert by a long shot but worth a punt

Re: Sound dropouts

Mike1001 — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:09:39 GMT

Dolby Digital works ok for me (so I still get Surround sound, just not Atmos).

Turning off wi-fi is not practical short term, though if there was more Atmost content on Sky maybe is something I'll consider. I ditched the Sky mesh a while back due to many problems and use my own wireless access points instead. However the main Sky box is the only thing left on the original Sky wi-fi (it would not talk to my access points), so have sometimes considered about hard-wiring that anyway so I can remove the Sky wi-fi network altogether...

Re: Sound dropouts

Martinmurph — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:53:16 GMT

Scrap everything I said about hard wired to extender

For some reason tonight watching 'The Undoing' dropouts have started again 🤦‍♂️.

Back open to offers of solution.