HDR v3 box not fit for purpose (sound cutting out)

[notagain]

Try rebooting the box, thats helped some people, most are having no issues so if its not the box look elsewhere in your gear, but hopefully a box reboot will sort the issues out.

[ksaro1]

I've been monitoring this thread in order to know when Q160 was available. I've now used the tip published in this thread to power-cycle my Sky Q main box to force and update, which worked. I've never had any issues with sound dropouts, ever. Now, since the Q160 update while watching Rob & Romesh vs Team GB we had about a 20 second period of no sound!? I've never experienced this before. My H/W setup hasn't changed at all, I've just updated the main Sky Q box to Q160. Hmmmm.....

I've also continued to have this issue with loud static bursts from my soundbar since the Q160 update, which now looks like an HDMI issue, since the Q160 update obviously didn't fix this. (If I connect the Sky Q main box to an HDMI port on the TV I don't get these bursts. What are the pros/cons of connecting the Sky Q main box to the HDMI In of a soundbar vs connecting directly to and HDMI port on the TV? Other than freeing up an HDMI port on the TV.)

FWIW - I have a Sony Bravia KE55-A8 and a Sony HT-X8500 soundbar, with the Sky Q box connected to the HDMI In on the soundbar.

[notagain]

I have the Sony AF8 and a HTNT5 soundbar and no issues with loud sounds whatsoever, is your TV up to date? There was an update which included something about sound issues, it may be worth checking your set is running 6.5042 which is for the A8. Also check firmware updates for the soundbar, if this was a major issue lots more people I would have thought would be flooding the forum with it. I hope you get it fixed. Maybe try another HDMI port. Still no dropouts here on my box I have to say.

[ksaro1]

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@notagain wrote:

I have the Sony AF8 and a HTNT5 soundbar and no issues with loud sounds whatsoever, is your TV up to date? There was an update which included something about sound issues, it may be worth checking your set is running 6.5042 which is for the A8. Also check firmware updates for the soundbar, if this was a major issue lots more people I would have thought would be flooding the forum with it. I hope you get it fixed. Maybe try another HDMI port. Still no dropouts here on my box I have to say.

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Yes, both TV and soundbar are at latest F/W version. And I am sure this is a rare issue, as noone else seems to see it. It only began when I moved the HDMI connection for the Sky Q main box from the TV to the HDMI In of the soundbar. So, as I mentioned previously, I'll move the connection back to the TV and the issue will go away. 

However, someone on this forum had mentioned that it is best to use the HDMI In on the soundbar for the Sky Q box. But I am not sure why they said that? All I can think is that it frees up an HDMI  port on the TV.

[fizzdisco]

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@ksaro1 wrote:

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@notagain wrote:

I have the Sony AF8 and a HTNT5 soundbar and no issues with loud sounds whatsoever, is your TV up to date? There was an update which included something about sound issues, it may be worth checking your set is running 6.5042 which is for the A8. Also check firmware updates for the soundbar, if this was a major issue lots more people I would have thought would be flooding the forum with it. I hope you get it fixed. Maybe try another HDMI port. Still no dropouts here on my box I have to say.

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Yes, both TV and soundbar are at latest F/W version. And I am sure this is a rare issue, as noone else seems to see it. It only began when I moved the HDMI connection for the Sky Q main box from the TV to the HDMI In of the soundbar. So, as I mentioned previously, I'll move the connection back to the TV and the issue will go away. 

However, someone on this forum had mentioned that it is best to use the HDMI In on the soundbar for the Sky Q box. But I am not sure why they said that? All I can think is that it frees up an HDMI  port on the TV.

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It does indeed free up an HDMI socket on the TV but some people find they get better lip-sync by connecting the Q box to the HDMI input on a soundbar rather than relying on ARC or eARC from a TV. It also means the sound processing is done more directly from the box rather than from the box to the TV to the soundbar. Some TVs can't pass through certain types of audio stream.

Picture quality wise it shouldn't matter, as long as the soundbar has full 4K HDR passthrough capability.   

[SteveBass]

I find that I get terrible lip sync issues plugging the sky q  box direct into the tv then down to the soundbar, so I plug sky q into the soundbar. Strangely my oppo, Apple TV and freeview box can do Dolby Surround direct into the tv without lip sync issues.  

[statler]

Just watching a film on Netflix and sound dropouts have not happened. Not sure about downloads but the 160 update seems to have cured my LG tv and sound bar issue

[JackKerouac]

I got the update last week. Not one dropout for a week then out of nowhere tonight they are back again.

I've been watching Yesterday, the film, downloaded from iplayer. Dropouts have happened every few minutes which is a real shame as I thought it was cured.

Mine is the V2 box rather than the V3 so I don't know if the fix is permanent for the V3 or not.

[Tuskerbeast+Beast]

Have had 160 for best part of a week. Sound drop offs better on main box but not minis. Has not fixed the problems with pixelation (mini hard wired to main box) and whilst SSDP flooding appears to be partly solved, Wi-Fi is now slowing to a crawl at times and is no longer fixed by resetting the main Q box. Customer support have advised this is a known issue with 2.4 ghz, which slows connectivity (if using V3 box?). They are apparently working on a fix as they have only known about it for 2 weeks, despite telling me about in in February! Fix is new software to SR 203 router probably in a month or so but can't give time lines (again) or tell me what the fixes are meant to fix. They apparently are unaware of the pixelation issues which is not a known issue despite having previously been told 160 was meant to fix this. This has been going on for far too long and getting too many conflicting stories from Exec Cust Priority. Getting to the stage just can't trust what I am being told anymore as it lurches from one problem to another and just want to use what I am paying a lot of money for.

[MHMHMH7875e5]

It's because there is a lack of interest in customer satisfaction. They have our money.

[notagain]

@ksaro1Did you turn on Enhanced HDMI passthough on your soundbar? Also does your soundbar pass though 4K HLG and HDR10 and Dolbyvision?  I have my Q box straight to the TV and I get no lip sync issues, but my PS4 (cant find a PS5 still) is attached straight to the soundbar. Since my TV passes DD and DTS though ARC it makes no odds really which way round it goes. It's odd how it varies with different makes and TV's of the same manufacturer though.

[notagain]

I am not with Sky, and to be fair their routers are not great. Most ISP routers are cheap and not very powerful, I use a seperate router and modem. A Netgear wifi 6 RAX120 router which covers about 3500 square feet and has a 2.2Ghz quadcore CPU and a gig of ram and 512Mb of Flash memory too. It handles everything I thow at it and no issues on wifi at all on 2.4Ghz. I wish ISP's would make it easier for users to use thier own equipoment if they want to as you can get a better experience with most third party gear, rather like seperate amps and turntables etc. Im not saying all third party gear is perfect, far from it but it generally does a better job if you have the inclination to upgrade.

[ksaro1]

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@notagain wrote:

@ksaro1Did you turn on Enhanced HDMI passthough on your soundbar? Also does your soundbar pass though 4K HLG and HDR10 and Dolbyvision?  ....

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Yes to both questions. But, tbh, I use the in-built Bravia apps for most streaming content that offers HDR and/or Dolby Vision/Sound, so I'm not sure how the Sky Q box performs with that content. And, I find there is little HDR and Dolby Vision/Sound offered via Sky Q anyway. E.g. I'll be watching the Euro 2020 final via Iplayer on my Bravia because with it I get UHD, which isn't available under Sky, either via its Iplayer or its BBC channel.

I don't know about other Sony soundbars, but my HT-X8500 doesn't automatically detect and switch between audio inputs. So, if I was to use the Sky Q main box's audio preocessed via the soundbar via HDMI In then I'd have to  manually select it, then manually select the TV input when watching an in-built Bravia app. I'm not keen on all that switching via remotes. So, I've now connected my Sky Q main box to an HDMI port on my Bravia and so far, as expected, I've not had any loud static bursts.

[notagain]

My Sony AF8 TV detects the sound input and changes from say Stereo to Dolby digital to DTS automatically via the eArc/ARC HDMI so the Sony soundbar gets the right sound input to it. Might be worth checking your soundbars settings. It may be worth while resetting the soundbars back to factory settings and settiing it up again, that can cure a lot of sins. On mine you can do individual ones so maybe reset the sound one if yours has that.

[ksaro1]

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@notagain wrote:

My Sony AF8 TV detects the sound input and changes from say Stereo to Dolby digital to DTS automatically via the eArc/ARC HDMI so the Sony soundbar gets the right sound input to it. 

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So does mine. It's the sound bar's input source you have to select manually. You have TV or HDMI or BT as input sources. TV is the eARC port, HDMI is the HDMI In port and BT is bluetooth. These you select which to use via the remote. AFAIK, if I want to use the Sky Q main box as the audio input source then I connect it to the HDMI In port on the sound bar and select HDMI as the input on the sound bar's remote. Which is too much faff for me😘 Otherwise the TV receives the audio from the Sky Q main box and processes it and sends it to the sound bar. At least that's how I understand things work?