Freeview Prime makes small hiccups in sound every 10 secs or so

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netspanner

111 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 100575 13-Apr-2012 18:47
Since last night, (Thursday) Prime on the freeview terrestrial channel has small breaks in sound of about 1/2 a second every 12 seconds or so. Sort of like a little hiccup but not in the image, just the sound. Its not happening on the analogue Prime at all, and it doesn't happen on any other station. Just Prime. Its annoying. Does anyone else have problems? We are in sight of Sugerloaf Transmitter in Christchurch with a modern areal, and a new Samsung LED TV, and newish coaxel cables, and have never had anything like it in the past. The only thing I can think of is the neighbours seem to have a new sky dish on their house, but its pointing in the opposite direction to sugerloaf, away from us and is about 100 meters away from our arial. Its the sort of thing I would dismiss immediately normally, but its the only new thing around. Cheers

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1332 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 608911 13-Apr-2012 18:55
Does the TV report signal strength / quality?

netspanner

111 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 608947 13-Apr-2012 19:26
Yep, its just the same as for all the other stations. The only bad/low signal i get is from the station that shows TED videos (sigh).

nickt

23 posts

Geek

Reply # 608975 13-Apr-2012 19:56
I had a problem with recording Prime from 6:30-7pm this evening, using Sugarloaf transmitter and a MagicTV recorder. The sound would play for 1-2 seconds then loop back and keep repeat, and the video wouldn't advance. Fast forwarding just gave the same problem with different looping audio and frozen video. Now it's working fine to watch live and record, so possibly a glitch that went away ?

injuised

233 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 609023 13-Apr-2012 21:16
Sounds like a signal problem, check the direction and the polarity of your UHF aerial. check the polarity.... could be VHF interference or cell phone interference so might need some filters, could be your TV needs a firmware update , hard to know without test equipment, best to get a tech out with the right tools

jonolynn

17 posts

Geek

Reply # 609355 14-Apr-2012 17:47
Both my Dad and I (both in Christchurch, he's in Papanui and I'm in St Albans) are having this same issue. He has a Samsung Series 5 LED TV and I have a Samsung Series 4 LED TV, the sound cuts out for a split second every 10 secnods or so. It is very bad on parliament tv. The interesting thing is that the TiVo in the lounge is not having any issues. Could be something todo with the HE-ACC decoder in the Samsungs? I'm going to try my Sony which the TiVo is plugged into, but can't do it until it stops recording otherwise I'll get wife agro as well. Glad to know I'm not alone, going o check for a firmware update or something now will let you know how I go.

netspanner

111 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 609416 14-Apr-2012 20:46
Hurrah! Its not just me :-) I have a series 4 Samsung. I checked parliament TV and indeed its far worse than Prime. Look forward to hearing your update

Lurch

677 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 609417 14-Apr-2012 21:03
Never had much luck with Prime on Freeview.

Dratsab

1392 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 609437 14-Apr-2012 22:31
I only have problems with sound from programs broadcast off the Kordia mux (Maori, Prime, Parliament etc) when listening via my optical cable. However, it's nowhere near as regular as you describe. No problems at all via standard audio out. TV: Sony KDL-46EX720. Edit: watching freeview terrestrial :-) Chuck Norris has abolished the periodic table of elements. The only element he recognises is the element of surprise!

jonolynn

17 posts

Geek

Reply # 610042 16-Apr-2012 14:20
I emailed Prime via their contact page and just got an unhelpful response showing that they hadn't read my email at all. I have responed explaining in further detail but I'm not holding out much hope there. Also could not find any firmware updates for the TV's either. And my Grandparents can now be included with those with the problem as their new Samsung TV is having the issue as well. Thinking of calling Kordia but not sure how that will go, tried to call Freeview but there doesn't seem to be a valid tech issue area.

butlerboy

242 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 610088 16-Apr-2012 15:50
nickt: I had a problem with recording Prime from 6:30-7pm this evening, using Sugarloaf transmitter and a MagicTV recorder. The sound would play for 1-2 seconds then loop back and keep repeat, and the video wouldn't advance. Fast forwarding just gave the same problem with different looping audio and frozen video. Now it's working fine to watch live and record, so possibly a glitch that went away ? i had exactly the same problem last night recording top gear. also using a magic tv pvr and also get my signal from sugarloaf. all other channels are fine, just seems to be a prime issue.

nickt

23 posts

Geek

Reply # 610097 16-Apr-2012 16:07
butlerboy: i had exactly the same problem last night recording top gear. also using a magic tv pvr and also get my signal from sugarloaf. all other channels are fine, just seems to be a prime issue. So perhaps an encoding change on Prime ? Having said that I recorded It's in the Bag on the Maori TV (Sunday, 7-7:30) and it had the same glitch part way through. So possibly a problem with the Kordia transmitter on Sugarloaf (or two different issues getting mixed up here). You'd think it's probably a bit early for work for the channel move to be the problem.

jonolynn

17 posts

Geek

Reply # 610112 16-Apr-2012 16:43
I called Kordia earlier today and was told to call Freeview I ended up posting on their Facebook page as their 0800 was not helpful. Edit: Freeview just replied to my Facebook post and are looking into it.

tvninja

49 posts

Geek

Reply # 610119 16-Apr-2012 17:07
jonolynn: I called Kordia earlier today and was told to call Freeview I ended up posting on their Facebook page as their 0800 was not helpful. Edit: Freeview just replied to my Facebook post and are looking into it. Have you tried contacting SKY?

Thunderflash

33 posts

Geek

Reply # 610227 16-Apr-2012 21:12
I noticed this also on Prime, I'm in Nelson and also using a Samsung TV.

jonolynn

17 posts

Geek

Reply # 610452 17-Apr-2012 12:01
Just been told by Freeview that Kordia couldn't see any issues on their monitoring equipment but have changed something for the Samsung Televisions, got my Dad to check it out as I'm at work and it looks like its now fixed :D Will check myself when I get home and post another update then.

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