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TV_Addict's avatar
TV_Addict
New Contributor

Mini Box Intermittant Audio

I recently added a new mini box to my master bedroom tv.  Previously I had used a direct feed to my digital tv's quam tuner.  Initially the mini box operated terrifically, however, recently the audio has begun to drop out intermittently.  It started with various stations audio sounding hollow and now manifests itself, again intermittently, with the audio dropping out completely.

I reseated both the HDMI and wall cables, removed power and reset the mini box and tv, and even unselected multichannel decoding on the tv.  All to no avail.  Has anyone else experienced similar problems?

BTW, the tv works fine with other external devices using HDMI inputs.

audio problems
mini box

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  • StephanieA's avatar
    StephanieA
    Former Moderator
    Is the cable straight from the wall to the mini box or is there a splitter?

  • AllenP's avatar
    AllenP
    Valued Contributor

    Is the volume control setting set to Fixed or Variable? If variable, try fixed.

    Your old setup, using cable direct to the internal QAM tuner of the tv, would deliver digital channels in full DD 5.1 sound if broadcast that way. The best the minibox can do is 2.0 stereo. That could account for the hollow sound you are now getting. I've complained about this may times before, we lost surround sound when forced into the miniboxes

  • TV_Addict's avatar
    TV_Addict
    New Contributor

    The input is straight from the wall, however there are splitters in the entry and home demarcation boxes.  I think I know where you're going with this because some time ago when I was using the same analog input I actually lost the digital subcarrier stations (8.1, 8.2, 8.3 etc.) because I inserted a lightning protected AC outlet in the string.  The cable protection section did a marvelous job of stripping the multiplexed signals.

    Please see my other response for more.

    Thank you for responding.

  • TV_Addict's avatar
    TV_Addict
    New Contributor

    Hi AllenP.

    I suspect you're on to something.  The offenders seem to be the major network stations that do tend to broadcast in surround sound.  The stations with mono signals are just fine.

    I tried turning my tv's internal surround sound off and on but it made no difference.  Interestingly, other external devices receiving DD 5.1 signals work fine with my tv's HDMI inputs.  So it definately does point to a deficiency in the miniboxes.  On another front the minibox only supports 1080i while many other devices support 4K. 

    Many thanks for your input.