# Are there audio issues on Roamio or is it just me?



## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

I hooked up my Pro today through my Sony AV receiver and the sound doesn't seem to be as good as it was from the Premiere Elite. After fast forwarding it seems to be even worse and then improves as it plays. Is this just me or has anyone else with a Dolby Digital AV receiver noticed anything like this?


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

I use optical to a receiver and dolby digital. Sounds exactly the same as the Premiere and the HD did.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Sounds fine to me. I have HDMI directly to the receiver. 

Any chance you knocked something loose when you were hooking it up?


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> Sounds fine to me. I have HDMI directly to the receiver.
> 
> Any chance you knocked something loose when you were hooking it up?


I don't think so, but it's always possible. I'll check that later today.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

Dan203 said:


> Sounds fine to me. I have HDMI directly to the receiver.
> 
> Any chance you knocked something loose when you were hooking it up?


It's digital. Either it is perfect or it is nothing or it is digitally breaking up. There really aren't any other inbetweens...


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## wolfie3216 (Jun 24, 2004)

I have a Series 3 and a Premiere, and the Series 3 audio is hands-down better than the Premiere. The difference is night and day. The Series 3 is THX, while the Premiere is not.

Did the THX certification go away with the Roamio??

W.


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## Rkkeller (May 13, 2004)

Goober96 said:


> Is this just me or has anyone else with a Dolby Digital AV receiver noticed anything like this?


Mine seems to be a little lower volume when I first do some things, then increase a little back to normal after a second or two.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

wolfie3216 said:


> I have a Series 3 and a Premiere, and the Series 3 audio is hands-down better than the Premiere. The difference is night and day. The Series 3 is THX, while the Premiere is not.
> 
> Did the THX certification go away with the Roamio??
> 
> W.


I never had a difference with mine. They were identical with the audio output since both were bitstreamed to a receiver.

And no THX certification with the Roamio. Tivo must have finally figured out it was a waste of money.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Rkkeller said:


> Mine seems to be a little lower volume when I first do some things, then increase a little back to normal after a second or two.


Yeah that's what I'm experiencing. So it's not just me then. Do we have bad units then?


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

But if they would have paid for--I mean "earned" the THX certification, at least they could crow about some difference between the Plus and the Pro giving some people a reason to pay for the higher price giving the Pro grater "value." He, he. SARCASM! . I can't see any reason to buy the Pro at the MSRP because it is cheaper to get a Plus and put in your own larger HDD and save about $100 or more depending upon which HDD one installs, since TiVo has given us no indication that there is any technical or feature wise difference between the Plus and Pro except the larger HDD. Just when they need the THX Cert most, they don't want it. He, he, he,. I'm sorry but I still find this LOL. For what it is worth, I think the Pro is going to appeal to professional home theater builders/installers who are spending other people's (rich people's) money and they can proudly say they have the TiVo Roamio "PRO"! .


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

It appealed to me because I wanted 3 TB and didn't want to risk voiding the warranty to save $100 or less. Just because TiVo hasn't enforced that in the past doesn't mean they can't and won't in the future and the savings just wasn't worth that risk to me.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Another issue without starting another thread: how long should it take for all guide data to be loaded? I don't remember it taking this long with past models. Some channels are still "to be announced" after a day and I have forced multiple calls. Does forcing calls even help load guide data?


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Definitely noticing the audio issue after using replay to jump back 8 seconds. The audio level drops (but not completely out) and then increases a few seconds later. I just e-mailed TiVo to open a case on it to determine if it is a bad box or if there is some software issue they can fix. Would like to avoid a replacement if at all possible.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Goober96 said:


> Another issue without starting another thread: how long should it take for all guide data to be loaded? I don't remember it taking this long with past models. Some channels are still "to be announced" after a day and I have forced multiple calls. Does forcing calls even help load guide data?


My guide updated very quickly. When I checked a few hours after setting it up I was surprised the guide data already went out 12 days on my Roamio Pro.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> My guide updated very quickly. When I checked a few hours after setting it up I was surprised the guide data already went out 12 days on my Roamio Pro.


On all channels? I have most channels but some (CMT, FX, SyFy, Fox News for example) are still "to be announced."


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Goober96 said:


> On all channels? I have most channels but some (CMT, FX, SyFy, Fox News for example) are still "to be announced."


I checked a bunch of channels and they all went out for 12 days or so. One of the first things I do when setting up a TiVo is selecting the channel lineup. So on FiOS I have all the HD channels selected and a couple dozen SD channels selected so that could be part of the reason. But I did the same thing when I set up my Elites and they didn't update that quickly.


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## Smirks (Oct 7, 2002)

Goober96 said:


> On all channels? I have most channels but some (CMT, FX, SyFy, Fox News for example) are still "to be announced."


I had a similar problem where many of my channels were "to be announced" many hours after initial setup.

To fix I re-ran guided setup. After that everything was populated.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Smirks said:


> I had a similar problem where many of my channels were "to be announced" many hours after initial setup.
> 
> To fix I re-ran guided setup. After that everything was populated.


Thanks I'll try that.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Smirks said:


> I had a similar problem where many of my channels were "to be announced" many hours after initial setup.
> 
> To fix I re-ran guided setup. After that everything was populated.


That worked. Thanks so much for the suggestion!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The audio is pure digital, so there is nothing TiVo could be doing to effect the volume. You can't effect the volume of Dolby Digital audio without recoding, and you can't recode DD audio without a hefty license which I'm sure they don't have. Because if they did have a DD license then they would be able to properly overlay the BeeDoop sounds when using trickplay on a DD show.

So if you hear this weird audio volume drop it's likely your receiver. Maybe you have some sort of auto equalizer or normalization setting set and the silence produced by the trickplay is causing it to ramp up the volume like that. A lot of TVs have settings like that to prevent you from getting blasted by loud commercials.


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

Dan203 said:


> The audio is pure digital, so there is nothing TiVo could be doing to effect the volume. You can't effect the volume of Dolby Digital audio without recoding, and you can't recode DD audio without a hefty license which I'm sure they don't have. Because if they did have a DD license then they would be able to properly overlay the BeeDoop sounds when using trickplay on a DD show.
> 
> So if you hear this weird audio volume drop it's likely your receiver. Maybe you have some sort of auto equalizer or normalization setting set and the silence produced by the trickplay is causing it to ramp up the volume like that. A lot of TVs have settings like that to prevent you from getting blasted by loud commercials.


I don't have the TiVo sounds turned on and the receiver was working fine with the Elite. I have changed the HDMI cable and I still have the problem. I can try changing the HDMI port on the receiver but I haven't made any changes to it since the Elite was hooked up.


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## ScaryMike (Aug 23, 2002)

Goober96 said:


> I don't have the TiVo sounds turned on and the receiver was working fine with the Elite. I have changed the HDMI cable and I still have the problem. I can try changing the HDMI port on the receiver but I haven't made any changes to it since the Elite was hooked up.


Could you try hooking the tivo directly to the TV as a test? If you still have the problem, you know its the TiVO, if the problem goes away, its something to do with the receiver.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Goober96 said:


> I don't have the TiVo sounds turned on and the receiver was working fine with the Elite. I have changed the HDMI cable and I still have the problem. I can try changing the HDMI port on the receiver but I haven't made any changes to it since the Elite was hooked up.


The TiVo sounds don't work with DD audio anyway, so any time you do a trick play a tiny bit of silence is introduced. If you are using any sort of auto normalization setting then that bit of silence could confuse the algorithm and cause the effect you describe.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

wolfie3216 said:


> I have a Series 3 and a Premiere, and the Series 3 audio is hands-down better than the Premiere. The difference is night and day. The Series 3 is THX, while the Premiere is not.
> 
> Did the THX certification go away with the Roamio??


THX certification means absolutely nothing.
I am using an optical connection to the Roamio just like on my Premiere and the HD before that. Sound is exactly identical (as one would expect).

If there is a change, it is something you introduced outside the TiVo or your audio settings are not the same (or your Roamio is just broken, which is the most unlikely case).

Don't know about the postings about audio volume changing on jumping back in video. I have had my Roamio for weeks and have not had that happen.


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## KingPenguin (Dec 26, 2005)

I've experienced similar "symptoms" before which turned out to be an audio cut out of digital audio out to the receiver, but the audio on the TV was enabled at a lower volume so it seemed as though the volume was cut down when really there were 2 audio sources and one was dropping out entirely.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

KingPenguin said:


> I've experienced similar "symptoms" before which turned out to be an audio cut out of digital audio out to the receiver, but the audio on the TV was enabled at a lower volume so it seemed as though the volume was cut down when really there were 2 audio sources and one was dropping out entirely.


Haha, hadn't even considered that. I always turn off my TV speakers and use the receiver exclusively, but this makes perfect sense for those who use both.


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## rehr0001 (Sep 17, 2006)

I lose sync on my old receiver (hk avr8000) when I'm using DD and switch from live TV to Netflix or other apps. In order to get it back, I have to cycle the digital mode on the receiver to force another handshake and get my audio back. Had this on my series 3, went away on my premiere, and is back on the Roamio. I just set it to PCM and use Logic 7 on my receiver to get it back to "multi-channel" and it still sounds great.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

rehr0001 said:


> I just set it to PCM and use Logic 7 on my receiver to get it back to "multi-channel" and it still sounds great.


Logic 7?


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## Goober96 (Jun 28, 2005)

The sound on the TV is off. I don't have the problem when turning off Dolby in the TiVo's settings so it's definitely something to do with Dolby Digital. I'm working with Margaret on it through e-mail and there has been mention of an audio problem with Netflix (which I haven't used yet on the Roamio). If this problem is related to that one, hopefully the fix for it will fix my issue as well.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

There is absolutely no way TiVo could effect just a single channel of the Dolby stream. It's just not possible with compressed format like AC3. The only thing they might be doing wrong is reporting the wrong format to the receiver via HDMI. Then your reciver could be trying to decode the wrong format and get an error. If it was something similar, but different, like EAC3 it could result in a minor error that only sounded like slight distortion.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

What is the audio problem with Netflix? The only thing I've noticed is when I pause and resume, it takes 1.5 to 2 seconds for the DD+ audio to return. It's not instant but 2 seconds it not a big deal.

Although I'm curious what it does on the Mini. I need to try that and see if there is a difference.

EDIT: I see with the Mini the audio comes back slight faster. But only half a second faster. It takes 1 second to 1.5 seconds for the DD+ audio to resume from pausing on the Mini.

Although it's really not an apples to apples comparison since the Mini in this room is connected to a Sony 2.1 Speaker Bar while my Roamio is connected to a Denon receiver and DVDO DUO.

EDIT: I found teh thread about it. A long pause causes a longer amount of time for the audio to return. But with my Roamio connected to my Denon receiver and DVDO DUO, it results in the audio taking only 5 seconds. While my Mini connected to the Speaker bar takes several times longer.


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## rehr0001 (Sep 17, 2006)

crxssi said:


> Logic 7?


It's a Harmon Kardon/lexicon processing mode that turns 2 channel sound into 5/7 channel sound and does it really well


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

rehr0001 said:


> It's a Harmon Kardon/lexicon processing mode that turns 2 channel sound into 5/7 channel sound and does it really well


Does it work better than Dolby Pro Logic IIx?


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## rehr0001 (Sep 17, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> Does it work better than Dolby Pro Logic IIx?


Personal preference, but I definitely think so.


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## crxssi (Apr 5, 2010)

rehr0001 said:


> It's a Harmon Kardon/lexicon processing mode that turns 2 channel sound into 5/7 channel sound and does it really well


So it is totally fake, made-up surround? Or is it analog Dolby Pro Logic or something?


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## rehr0001 (Sep 17, 2006)

crxssi said:


> So it is totally fake, made-up surround? Or is it analog Dolby Pro Logic or something?


Read here- http://www.avsforum.com/t/1408362/logic7-beats-dolby

they'll do a much better job than I will. My avr will apply logic 7 over dd, too, and I use it exclusively. Just sounds better to me


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

rehr0001 said:


> Read here- http://www.avsforum.com/t/1408362/logic7-beats-dolby
> 
> they'll do a much better job than I will. My avr will apply logic 7 over dd, too, and I use it exclusively. Just sounds better to me


I would think it's similar to DPLIIx which creates up to 7.1 discrete audio from 2 channel audio. Either way that is much better than the Sony 7.1 receiver I had back in 2001 which used DPL(Or was it DPLII?), but I think the back surround channels were mono instead of simulating discrete audio.

I just know the first 7.1 receiver I had with DPLIIx was a big improvement.


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## Starter17 (Feb 10, 2014)

crxssi said:


> It's digital. Either it is perfect or it is nothing or it is digitally breaking up. There really aren't any other inbetweens...


This is incorrect. DACs (digital audio converters) vary widely in quality. You will absolutely hear the difference between an audiophile-grade DAC and a cheap one.

I'm also having audio issues with my Roamio, the OP is correct, the sound is off. Coming from an Xbox One, music sounds slightly muffled and compressed, with a far narrower sound-stage. The Spotify service on the Roamio streams at 320kbs (roughly CD quality) whereas Xbox Music is only 190kbs (older MP3 quality)... So if the chipsets were comparable, the Roamio should have the edge. This points to lower-end audio hardware at work within the Roamio.

Frankly, it may be a deal-breaker for me. I like the all-in-one convenience of the Roamio, but I'm not going to tolerate bad sound when I've spent thousands on ultra high-end speakers and amplifier. Granted, I often listen to vinyl or HD CD's, but I enjoy streaming music services for quick listening and discovering new music.

I'm using a basic 4-tuner Roamio, perhaps the higher-end models utilize a better chipset for audio. I'll investigate... If the sound is the same, I'll unfortunately have to return the Tivo and continue using the Xbox One with my cable box as an all-in-one interface...


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## srazook (Mar 28, 2010)

I realized that my Roamio Pro does not output Dolby Digital audio using the HDMI connection when using the streaming apps like Netflix, Vudu or Amazon. It does work fine and output DD via HDMI when viewing my normal cable shows. Furthermore, for me to get DD output when viewing Netflix, Vudu or Amazon I need to use the Digital Optical port. I have called Tivo support several times trying to figure out if this is a problem just with my unit or if all Tivo Roamios have this same problem. Has anyone else noticed this?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

srazook said:


> I realized that my Roamio Pro does not output Dolby Digital audio using the HDMI connection when using the streaming apps like Netflix, Vudu or Amazon. It does work fine and output DD via HDMI when viewing my normal cable shows. Furthermore, for me to get DD output when viewing Netflix, Vudu or Amazon I need to use the Digital Optical port. I have called Tivo support several times trying to figure out if this is a problem just with my unit or if all Tivo Roamio's have this same problem. Has anyone else noticed this?


I get 5.1 sound with Netflix, if the movie has 5.1, some movies don't have that type of sound. When you start watching a Netflix program just push the TiVo info button and all the picture and sound info will show up in the top right of your screen.
I am using HDMI to my HDTV than using the optical cable from the TV to my sound system, and my sound system shows 5.1 sound when it is there.


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