| [CATV] ABC HD received in 2.0 only, no 5.1 audio I am posting this message because I've had no response from Cox customer support. I have phoned customer support four times in the last month, each time I was promised a call back. So far nothing.
I live in the Cleveland suburbs, Cox is my cable, phone and internet provider. Here's the issue I've reported to Cox support (4 times).
I receive the local ABC affiliate WEWS Channel 5 in 2.0 (Stereo) only. No Dobly 5.1 audio reception. The other local channels NBC, Fox, CW, WUAB, etc and almost all of the other HD channels are received in Dolby 5.1.
Here's my equipment setup:
Cox DVR Receiver: Scientific Atlanta 8240HDC
Receiver: Pioneer Audio/Video Receiver VSX1018-AH (7.1 surround)
TV: Sony XBR
The Cox DVR box is connected directly to the Pioneer via HDMI cable. The Pioneer receiver is connected to the Sony TV via HDMI.
Cox DVR - Pioneer receiver - Sony TV.
The first two times I called Cox, they checked the signal levels for the DVR box (which they said was strong) and they also did a reset of the box. No luck, same 2.0 for ABC HD, the other HD channels were 5.1.
During the second support call the tech suggested I contact ABC to find out if they were providing a 5.1 signal to Cox. I told the tech I thought that was something that Cox should do. He said they wouldn't. So I emailed WEWS (ABC in Cleveland) and the Director of Engineering emailed me back the next day with the following.
"Bud,
We are transmitting our station in 5.1 full time. Our encoder is set to 5.1 Dolby. Programs and commercials that are in stereo will air as 5.1. I am not sure why our station on Cox would not be in 5.1 because we are on Time Warner and DirecTV. We cannot monitor Cox so that makes it more difficult to find the problem.
If you cannot get them to resolve the issue then we will try to help."
I am with-holding the Directors name and contact info from this post. During the third customer support phone call I offered the ABC Directors contact information, the tech didn't want it.
If a Cox support rep would like the contact information, please email me at budevans@aol.com.
I hope to hear back from the Cox support persons that monitor this site. |
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| It happens all the time. Local station engineer forgot to flip the switch after a local commercial. Sometimes, I even only receive 4:3 SD pictures in HD station. When it comes to DD 5.1 broadcasting, each broadcasting network do it differently. NBC, ABC and CBS send 5.1 raw audio to local stations and the station then convert them into DD 5.1 for broadcasting. This results in a lot of human errors in early days of HDTV. Fox, on the other hand, mix the DD 5.1 in HQ and transmit them to local stations.
Cox just pick up whatever your local ABC is feeding them. It is not Cox's job to decide DD 5.1 or PCM 2.0. You have better luck speaking to someone in your local station.
Also, these broadcasting stations don't broadcast DD 5.1 all the time. Non-prime time shows are typically 2.0 stereo only. And I like it that way because some of local stations broadcast 2.0 stereo shows in DD 5.1 that only contains two front channels. This makes my receiver hard to process the signal that shows up as 5.1 but only 2.0 contains audio. |
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| reply to budevans3
you need to keep on them both. Our ABC affliate's fiber line to Cox went out and they were right on it knew what the problem was. I'd suggest try to find out how Cox gets the feed maybe some part of the line got cut bent and causes problems. |
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| reply to budevans3
Good news, ABC HD audio from Cox is now in Dobly 5.1. The change was made sometime last evening. I checked again this morning, it's still 5.1.
I was watching the NCAA Basketball on Fox last night and at 11 I decided to watch the news. When I went channel 1005 (ABC HD) I immediately heard the reporters voice coming from the center channel. I looked at the receiver and it showed Dobly Digital 5.1. 
Either Cox or ABC made a change to fix this issue. If I find out who or what, I'll post the info.
For now case closed. |
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| reply to budevans3
I'd bet money that it is your local ABC station. Cox simply take the raw feed (where audio and video are already encoded in a signle stream) and inject into the cable. It will cost more for Cox to re-mix the feed with nothing to gain.
And it will happen again. |
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| Foxbat121,
Good thing you didn't bet money. I emailed ABC's engineering director this morning to inform him that 5.1 is working and also to thank him for his help. He replied that he was glad to hear that it was working properly but, he couldn't take any credit. ABC made no changes.
He then congratulated me on staying after Cox till they fixed it. |
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| reply to budevans3
Usually that involves an engineer at the TV station to flip a switch back and forth between local commercials and network broadcasting. If he forgot to flip the switch one day, do you think he will inform this supervisor about it? Of course there is no thing needs to be done in station side but from time to time, humans do make mistakes.
We shall see. I still don't see how Cox get anything out of it. |
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 Optimus2357Premium
join:2010-11-21
West Warwick, RI
kudos:1 | Im with Foxbat on this one. Problem is proving it. Wouldn't the simplest way be to check the OTA feed if the problem with the Audio on Cox should return? If OTA feed has no 5.1 then its a broadcaster issue. |
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| said by Optimus2357:Im with Foxbat on this one. Problem is proving it. Wouldn't the simplest way be to check the OTA feed if the problem with the Audio on Cox should return? If OTA feed has no 5.1 then its a broadcaster issue.
The first thing I did was check the OTA, it was and is in 5.1. For brevity I didn't post all of the checking that I had done. But I did notify Cox of the tests and the results.
Also if you look at my original posting you will see the portion where I posted the comments from the director of engineering from WEWS ABC. He stated that Time Warner and Direct TV carry WEWS ABC in 5.1. But, he didn't have access to Cox to check what they were providing.
There was one thing that really bothered me. The fact that the Cox support group told me the customer that their was nothing they would do. It was up to me to contact ABC because they wouldn't. To me that's unacceptable. I'm the paying customer, Cox is the provider. It's Cox's responsibility (both legal and financial) to check out and resolve technical issues.
I'm a retired Director of IT with over 30 years in IT and Telecommunications of a multi billion dollar company. If any member of my staff had made that comment to one of our customers (internal or external), someone's head would have rolled.
One last comment. I keep seeing posts where folks make the statement, "they just pass the signal through". There is no such thing as just passing the signal through. Virtually every piece of equipment on both ends (sender and receiver) requires configuration.
Bottom line it's fixed. |
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