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Author Topic: Question for audio gurus **POSSIBLY SOLVED**  (Read 2171 times)
The Burgomaster
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« on: August 16, 2011, 10:25:48 PM »

On certain blu-ray discs (GREEN HORNET, for instance) I get occasional sound distortion, but it only seems to happen with dialogue, not with music or sound effects.  One example is the scene in GREEN HORNET where Seth Rogen and Kato are arguing because Seth belittled Kato by asking him to make coffee in front of Cameron Diaz.  Kato's voice is fine during the argument, but Rogen's is distorted.  In other scenes, all the voices are fine.  LITTLE FOCKERS is another one that had occasional voice distortion.  I've watched other blu-rays such as FULL METAL JACKET, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, and SPLICE and had no problems at all.

I'm running my audio through an older digital receiver, so I'm using optical rather than HDMI cables.  I read that this could cause distortion in certain circumstances.  Before I fiddle around with anything, can anyone offer some advice?  Otherwise, I'll be calling the Best Buy Geek Squad for some troubleshooting help.

Thanks!

 
« Last Edit: August 18, 2011, 06:43:09 AM by The Burgomaster » Logged

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dean
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« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2011, 01:23:33 AM »


I'm hardly a guru, but I should chime in since I sell home theatre equipment...  Thumbup

What sort of distortion are you getting?  A crackling or a hiss?

Give me the specs on what you're connecting and I can give you some better advice, but off the top of my head, without knowing the equipment you're using, it'll either be a decoding issue [unlikely though] or potentially a wiring issue.

First thing I would do is turn it all off and leave it off for about 5mins, then boot it all back up: if it's intermittent it could be a software issue. [I imagine you may have done that already, but that's always the first thing to try]

If it only happens with dialogue, dialogue is usually running off the centre channel, if you can tell, are you getting distortion through just one speaker or all five? [Assuming you have a 5.1 set up]

Either reply here or PM me and I can help from there, possibly.  I can also do service calls, but you'd have to pay for me to fly out.  It's really not much considering how awesome the service will be, but still  Wink

Let me know what you've got so I can give you some things to check, but try the reboot first.

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Trevor
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2011, 02:38:11 AM »

Either reply here or PM me and I can help from there, possibly.  I can also do service calls, but you'd have to pay for me to fly out.  It's really not much considering how awesome the service will be, but still  Wink

 TeddyR TeddyR TeddyR

Seriously, Dean: I think you may have cleared up a problem for me with my sound.  Thumbup
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dean
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« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2011, 02:45:15 AM »

Either reply here or PM me and I can help from there, possibly.  I can also do service calls, but you'd have to pay for me to fly out.  It's really not much considering how awesome the service will be, but still  Wink

 TeddyR TeddyR TeddyR

Seriously, Dean: I think you may have cleared up a problem for me with my sound.  Thumbup

Sounds like I helped then...

[Ok that's it, it's been too long a day at work, I really should get home before I make more god awful puns]
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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2011, 06:21:37 AM »

Dean:

Thanks for the quick response.

It's neither a hiss nor crackling.  It's distortion, sort of like someone talking underwater with a slight echo and it only happens during certain scenes of certain movies.  It's not what I'd call truly intermittent because it doesn't happen at random times.  If I play the same scene over and over, I get the same distortion every time.

Mostly it comes off the center channel, but when the dialogue occasionally comes through the left and right front speakers, the distortion comes through those speakers, too.  The rear speakers are never distorted.

Also, this has not happened on regular DVDs yet . . . just certain blu-rays.

I'll post the equipment specs later, but I'm using a Sony 3D blu-ray player, a Sony digital surround receiver (probably 10 - 13 years old), a Bose 100 center channel speaker, a pair of Bose 500 front speakers, and wall-mounted Cambridge Soundworks rear speakers.  The front and center speakers are at least 13 years old, the rear are less than 7 years old. 

The room was wired by Cambridge Soundworks when my house was being built and Best Buy hooked everything up when they delivered my TV and blu-ray player about a month ago.

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Jack
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« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2011, 06:51:28 AM »

To check if it's your speaker, you could switch your center channel with a speaker you know to be good, play the same scene and see if the distortion is still there.  But if you sometimes get it through the fronts as well, chances are that's not it. 

You could try replacing the optical cable.  Though since that's digital, I kind of think it either works or it doesn't;  but it's possible that something's gone weird and is causing it to become distorted.

Are there any audio output options on your Blu ray player?  My PS3 has a bunch of options, I really have no idea what all that stuff means, various bitrates and all that junk   BounceGiggle  You could try un-selecting some of the more exotic sounding ones and sticking with the regular Dolby and DTS outputs.  Who knows, it might be sending out a type of audio designed for HDMI / tru HD sound or something that your system isn't set up to handle.
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dean
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« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2011, 09:38:55 AM »

Jacks suggestion is a good one: swapping the center speaker with say the front left speaker can give more info. If the problem stays with the speaker then it means there's something wrong with the wiring or the speaker, if the problem swaps to the front left it's a problem with the amp/settings.

Based on what you told me just then though, I suspect that the speaker is out of phase: try swapping the  positive and negative wires around on the amp for the center channel.

If the wires are crossed the wrong way it makes certain sounds dissappear because the current is flowing in the wrong way.

  It may be intermittent because certain DVDs may have a dedicated mix for the center channel so you'd only notice when the sound is output only on the centre. Other DVDs may put the dialogue through more channels and therefore you wouldn't notice the issue as much. That would also explain why it happens in the same scene each time. It's unlikely to be settings as I've never heard of a speaker that's 'underwater' because of a setting, though I can't rule it out completely...

My money is on out of phase or a faulty amp for now.

Next step would be to play with the bluray audio output settings, but to be honest, with such a kickass tv and speaker set up shouldn't you get an amp that does it justice? :-)  (I kid, I kid, those 501s would do an awesome job up front with almost any amp)
« Last Edit: August 17, 2011, 09:44:36 AM by dean » Logged

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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2011, 10:33:09 AM »

Next step would be to play with the bluray audio output settings, but to be honest, with such a kickass tv and speaker set up shouldn't you get an amp that does it justice? :-)  (I kid, I kid, those 501s would do an awesome job up front with almost any amp)

Actually, a new amp is in my sights.  I just wanted to wait awhile because I just paid a lot for the TV and stuff.  I may need to accelerate the purchase and get a true blu-ray compatible amp.  I'll leep you posted after I fiddle with a few things.
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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2011, 12:55:30 PM »

I stopped at Best Buy during my lunch hour and the guy there seemed to be stumped.  At first, he thought it might be a problem with the capacitor, but then he said capacitor problems would affect all sounds, not just voices.  I guess I'll fiddle around with my set-up this weekend and see what happens.
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The Burgomaster
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« Reply #9 on: August 18, 2011, 06:45:27 AM »

I went through the owners manual for my blu-ray player last night and changed some of the audio settings.  Then I played some of the scenes in GREEN HORNET that had distorted dialogue and they played PERFECTLY.  I hope this solves the problem.  Surprised Best Buy didn't adjust the settings when they installed my stuff.
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dean
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« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2011, 07:38:51 AM »

Interesting... my knowledge of Sony amps are sadly lacking, and whilst I'm not surprised that it seems to be a setting that was astray, given the age of your amp, I've never come across a setting that makes sound distort like what you had.  That's what I get for working for a speaker company that makes life incredibly easy for me...

Glad it seems to be working!

 Thumbup
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