Possible problem with DTS ES after upgrade...

[jprafter]

I upgraded the C2 firmware yesterday afternoon. I decided to watch my Gladiator DVD to see how the DTS ES sound was after getting home from work. I have an A21 driving the fronts and an A51 for the center, surround and the newly added back speakers. I have a Sony DVP-CX777ES DVD player. I was watching the DVD and the sound was incredible. However, at a certain point, I think at a layer change, the DVD slightly paused. After this slight pause it started again as usual with a DVD layer change, only one problem... I could no longer hear the dialog. I think I lost the center channel only, because all other sound was still there. I tried stopping the DVD and restarting it with no success. Finally I turned off the 777 and the C2. I restarted from the beginning of that chapter. This time it passed the layer change, still with a slight pause, and did NOT loose the center (dialog). Because I turned off the DVD player as well as the C2, I can not be sure which was the soucre of the problem. I'm hoping it was a one time glitch. But if anyone else has this DVD, maybe they can try it out. I've searched the web to see if this may have been a specific problem with the Gladiator DVD itself, but have not found this exact problem. I will see if I have any other DTS ES DVD's and try them, also I will attempt to recreate this problem with the Gladiator DVD and report back.

[Peter Nielsen]

Might be time to upgrade the DVD player. My Sony DVP-S7700 probably is about to throw in the towel any day now... Hopefully it does not give up until the Halo DVD is available! :B

FWIW, I think every time I begin playing a CD, my C2 says "ERR" or something like that on the display. Obviously the Sony is outputting some digital info that the C2 does not like...

Peter

[jprafter]

The DVP-CX777ES is a fairly new 400 DVD changer. It's still one of the few 400 dvd changers on the market. I don't think it has had any problems playing any DVD's. I'm new to playback with DTS-ES, but it always performed well with DTS and DD disks in the past. I've always used my preamp for the D/A conversions however.

[Peter Nielsen]

If the layer changes are that obvious, it sounds like it's not working right.

(My S7700 used to do layer changes perfectly, but as time goes by, layer changes have become more and more obvious on discs where I did not notice them before. On some discs the player now pauses for seconds... It never did anything like that when it was new. Maybe a simple recalibration or something would do the trick).

Peter

[bhuskins]

The 777ES doesn't handle layer changes very well.

I install a lot of them with Escient's Fireball and that is really my main complaint with the 777ES is that most discs layer changes are very noticeable.

I have several DVD players in my house as well as a 777ES hooked into a C2 through a Fireball. The Sony is just really flaky when it comes to layer changes and the worst of any DVD player I've ever owned. I've seen this a bunch.

They have a replacement coming out pretty soon that includes DVI/HDMI.

[jprafter]

So you are saying that it is possible that the layer change stopped the digital audio signal from being sent for just the center channel? The funny thing is, I had layer changes slow video transmission but it has never affected the audio in such a way. This disk is one of the few that offer DTS ES discrete, so I guess it's possible.

[bhuskins]

Yep...

It could effect both A & V...

[Kingdaddy]

I agree with Brent, I also have a CX777ES (had 2 at one time) and they all have layer change issues and I have had similer (short channel dropout) problems before, if the C2 breaks lock of the signal for long enough it might not be able to get it back. If this continues i would look at the C2 at the problem, it should be able to pick up the signal even after a long pause or signal loss, might have somethig to do with the new firmware.

[jprafter]

Kingdaddy, thanks for that information. I have had channel drop outs before using my TAE9000ES, but they were always short duration and all channels always returned. This was different in that once the center channel was lost, it did not come back, even when I restarted the chapter. The good news is I haven't been able to recreate the problem. So for now all is OK. I got a list of DTS-ES discrete DVD's off of the web and will be renting some to test for this problem. Thanks again for the input.

[nicholtl]

This same problem of the center-channel cutting out happened to me last night, while watching Without A Paddle. But it didn't happen after a layer change, it happened after I had the movie on pause for a few minutes.

And the DVD player I'm using is a Denon 3800. So I'm guessing this is a glitch in the firmware. A simple "stop," and then "play" resumed the movie just fine, however.

[jprafter]

Guess we should keep watching this then.

[jprafter]

I had it happen again, like nicholtl, after leaving the unit on pause for a few minutes. I'm getting a Denon 3910 and will see if I can recreate with that unit.

[Chris D]

Hey, jprafter, welcome to the Halo/3910 club! We should probably start a separate thread on those two things, as many of us own them.

[Dave0604]

I know there hasn't been any activity on this thread for years, but I'm curious to know if anyone with the center channel drop out problem ever got the problem resolved. I've had this for years, with multiple sources, losing the center channel if a DVD is paused and re-started, or with my DVR using the pause function. I sent the unit in for service and Tony could not re-create and identify the problem - perhaps something was lost in my explanation to Tony.

Any updates?

[brodricj]

I too have experienced center channel drop-out issues like this with my C2, but not with the Gladiator DTS-ES disc (which we have watched many many times). However I do get channel drop-outs when I use my Kaleidescape as the source with some discs (notably Amadeus). These drop outs also occur with my Halcro SSP as well (much of the Halcro internals are identical to the C2). I've put the cause of this down to the Kaleidescape, but until I send the symptomatic discs to K for analysis then the cause is indeterminate. From memory the Amadeus disc is DD5.1 not DTE-ES, and there is no way to get the center channel coming through when using the Kaleidescape as the source, either on the Halcro SSP or the C2.

In any event, there is no way we will see a new firmware for the C1/2 at any point in the future.