# No sound when using Pandora



## mohu_roamio (May 2, 2014)

On my new Tivo Roamio basic, I signed into my Pandora account, it comes up ok, I can play songs but there is no audio at all. So far this has only happened with Pandora.

After exiting Pandora and going back in twice, the sound magically came on...


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## ustavio (Oct 19, 2013)

Could be any of a number of reasons with Pandora. If you can actually get into Pandora, choose and play a song but there is no audio as you describe then it's probably Pandora being ornery. Especially if you can exit and re-enter and the audio kicks in. Sometimes, the HDUI can be a bit sluggish so doing an HDUI reset might help. With your remote try a thumbs down, thumbs up, play, play. After the "ding", the HDUI will reload and repopulate the icons. Expect Pandora to do things like this, especially if you play it for long periods. Every now and then a pop up will ask if you are still listening or not. Unless you happen to be sitting and staring at the album art, you'll probably miss it. Pandora will assume you aren't interested anymore and just stop playing. Usually takes exiting and re-entering again. I find that I can (usually) avoid this by zooming in to a song every now and then and thumbs up or down a currently playing song. 

Then again, I've also had to kick myself because I either turned down the volume or hit mute for a phone call or something and then wondered where the audio went.


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

Anyone still seeing this issue, or found a definitive fix? I've got the same problem on my Roamio OTA. Audio works fine for TV, streaming Netflix and even streaming audio off my Plex server, but when I go to play Pandora I see the song come up, the bar start moving like the sound is playing, but no audio.

I tried a reboot as well as a HDUI reset to no avail.

Strangely, the TIVO mini I have in another room has no problem and I get Pandora audio fine through that.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Meatball said:


> Anyone still seeing this issue, or found a definitive fix? I've got the same problem on my Roamio OTA. Audio works fine for TV, streaming Netflix and even streaming audio off my Plex server, but when I go to play Pandora I see the song come up, the bar start moving like the sound is playing, but no audio.
> 
> I tried a reboot as well as a HDUI reset to no avail.
> 
> Strangely, the TIVO mini I have in another room has no problem and I get Pandora audio fine through that.


Haven't seen it here and I use Pandora every weekend. Is there a difference in the audio feed between the Roamio and Mini? Can you try putting the Roamio where the Mini is located (same TV/audio output configuration)?

Scott


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

Yeah, there's a difference, both are using HDMI audio, but the Mini is plugged right into the TV where the Roamio goes through an A/V receiver first, then from receiver to TV.

I'll try shifting the Roamio to pump audio direct to the TV, though I can't imagine that's the issue, if that were the case I would assume I'd be having audio problems with everything on the Roamio, no? I get audio on the Roamio with that setup fine for Netflix, OTA TV, and Plex streaming, it's only the Pandora app that has the issue.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Meatball said:


> Yeah, there's a difference, both are using HDMI audio, but the Mini is plugged right into the TV where the Roamio goes through an A/V receiver first, then from receiver to TV.
> 
> I'll try shifting the Roamio to pump audio direct to the TV, though I can't imagine that's the issue, if that were the case I would assume I'd be having audio problems with everything on the Roamio, no? I get audio on the Roamio with that setup fine for Netflix, OTA TV, and Plex streaming, it's only the Pandora app that has the issue.


Have you played many other sources with stereo audio? Does your receiver report the audio type and if so, does it report stereo output when you have Pandora playing?

Scott


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

Hmm, you know, you might be onto something here. The HDMI audio light never switches off regardless of the 'source' coming out of the TIVO, but for some reason when I start up Pandora, all the lights showing my speakers go out. I've got a 5.1 setup and usually it shows all the speakers lit up. Could it be that I'm using the free version instead of paid version? 

I was hoping to give both Spotify and Pandora a try on the TIVO before I decided which one to spring for a subscription with.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

I'm just using the free version of Pandora for what it's worth. I'm using an Onkyo receiver with a 5.1 speaker setup but using Toslink for the audio connection.

Could be your receiver is having an issue with the stereo output (configuration?)?

Scott


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Meatball said:


> Hmm, you know, you might be onto something here. The HDMI audio light never switches off regardless of the 'source' coming out of the TIVO, but for some reason when I start up Pandora, all the lights showing my speakers go out. I've got a 5.1 setup and usually it shows all the speakers lit up. Could it be that I'm using the free version instead of paid version?
> 
> I was hoping to give both Spotify and Pandora a try on the TIVO before I decided which one to spring for a subscription with.


I've had a subscription for Pandora for a few years. The sub gets you a better quality stream (so they say), but it is only stereo. I have never found a streaming audio service beyond 2ch stereo. I prefer using my Roku 3, but have used my Roamio a lot also.

If your AVR indicates LFE at all times, something is wrong. But you may have it configured to do that, so it's a personal preference. Optical and HDMI from the TiVo box are the same. Composite is always PCM.


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

Alright, so it's definitely receiver related and I've figured out a kludge/work around, but it's a pain.

So, TIVO is setup to pass Dolby Digital audio out the HDMI port. I've got that fed into my Yamaha RX-V479 receiver. I've got a lot of decoder settings available on the receiver. The main ones I've messed with are 'Direct' (which turns off all decoder stuff and basically only does 2 channel for everything) or 'Straight' (which you can set the audio output to a lot of different settings, most of which are garbage).

I've got the receiver set to 'Straight' with 'Dolby Pro Logic' as the output/decoder on that. Get surround audio no problem on everything, when I switch to Pandora, once again I lose audio. But here's the Kludge. If I go up one input (HDMI 2) and back to the TIVO input (HDMI 1) with the receiver remote, I suddenly have surround audio with Pandora...

No idea why, seems like a glitch with the receiver to me...


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Meatball said:


> Alright, so it's definitely receiver related and I've figured out a kludge/work around, but it's a pain.
> 
> So, TIVO is setup to pass Dolby Digital audio out the HDMI port. I've got that fed into my Yamaha RX-V479 receiver. I've got a lot of decoder settings available on the receiver. The main ones I've messed with are 'Direct' (which turns off all decoder stuff and basically only does 2 channel for everything) or 'Straight' (which you can set the audio output to a lot of different settings, most of which are garbage).
> 
> ...


On a Yamaha AVR, Direct (Pure Direct) will cause the AVR to send out exactly what it receives with no processing. Straight gives you some processing but not DSP.

If you are getting your subwoofer to work with Pandora then it's the AVR causing it to be enabled, not the Pandora content. True, you can get DSP to make it sound better, but only an LFE signal should get the sub to work unless you have Extra Bass enabled.

Since the AVR supports Pandora internally, have you tried that?


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## Meatball (Jan 12, 2007)

JoeKustra said:


> On a Yamaha AVR, Direct (Pure Direct) will cause the AVR to send out exactly what it receives with no processing. Straight gives you some processing but not DSP.
> 
> If you are getting your subwoofer to work with Pandora then it's the AVR causing it to be enabled, not the Pandora content. True, you can get DSP to make it sound better, but only an LFE signal should get the sub to work unless you have Extra Bass enabled.
> 
> Since the AVR supports Pandora internally, have you tried that?


Not yet, mainly because I was trying to get everything working directly through the Tivo interface (be a lot easier for the family unit to just use a single remote). Still a bit confused as to why Tivo Pandora will throw out audio if I switch back and forth between AVR inputs, but unless Yamaha fixes that in firmware I don't think I'm going to get any better with the Tivo Pandora app.

Thanks everyone for the help so far!


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## Julian Reevess (Sep 25, 2018)

I am disappointed not to find any feedback about Pandora sound not working when using DirecTV. My Pandora works fine on my PCs, my Chromebook and my cell phone. However, when I attempt to use Pandora via DirecTV, I get sound only on the first station. Then the sound stops. Or, when choosing a station, I get no sound at all. DirecTV tells me the problem is with Pandora. I emailed their Tech Support with my concern earlier today and am awaiting a reply from them.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

Julian Reevess said:


> I am disappointed not to find any feedback about Pandora sound not working when using DirecTV. My Pandora works fine on my PCs, my Chromebook and my cell phone. However, when I attempt to use Pandora via DirecTV, I get sound only on the first station. Then the sound stops. Or, when choosing a station, I get no sound at all. DirecTV tells me the problem is with Pandora. I emailed their Tech Support with my concern earlier today and am awaiting a reply from them


This is a TiVo forum so nothing to do with DirectTV (exception being the old DirectTiVo's which I'm pretty sure did not have Pandora).

Scott


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## sindysanders (10 mo ago)

ustavio said:


> Could be any of a number of reasons with Pandora. If you can actually get into Pandora, choose and play a song but there is no audio as you describe then it's probably Pandora being ornery. Especially if you can exit and re-enter and the audio kicks in. Sometimes, the HDUI can be a bit sluggish so doing an HDUI reset might help. With your remote try a thumbs down, thumbs up, play, play. After the "ding", the HDUI will reload and repopulate the icons. Expect Pandora to do things like this, especially if you play it for long periods. Every now and then a pop up will ask if you are still listening or not. Unless you happen to be sitting and staring at the album art, you'll probably miss it. Pandora will assume you aren't interested anymore and just stop playing. Usually takes exiting and re-entering again. I find that I can (usually) avoid this by zooming in to a song every now and then and thumbs up or down a currently playing song.
> 
> Then again, I've also had to kick myself because I either turned down the volume or hit mute for a phone call or something and then wondered where the audio went.


The thumbs down, thumbs up thing worked. You are a genius. 😁


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