Anyone else notice this?

I recently upgraded my home theatre system including a new audio receiver. Previously, I used the Stereo output on my receiver and audio levels between channels were fine.

I am now using the DVR530's Digital Optical Audio output into my receiver and the volume levels between channels, both HD and SD, are wildly inconsistent. Depending on the channel, I have to raise or lower the volume by 25 or more decibles just so that I can hear it.

This didn't happen with the Stereo output but now happens with the Digital Optical output.

Yep, it is normal.

the only problem is the difference between HD and sd channels.

If you want the sound normalized go to options-4-sound and change from home theater to dolby surround or something like that.

Actually, there are significant differences between HD and HD and SD and SD channels (not just HD to SD).

But in any case, check out this response. Apparently, ever single bug ever will soon be fixed. Heh.

"Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Star Choice is in the process of having another software download within the next few weeks. This should eliminate all the problems with the DSR 530 receivers.

We ask that you please bear with us and we also thank you for your unfailing patience in this regard.

Should you have any further question or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for choosing Star Choice.

Hawa J
Administration Team"

You may wish to check out the following thread. It's not a receiver "bug", so don't expect a "repair" unless *C actively does something to the various audio levels.

http://digitalhomecanada.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29732

"All the problems" - thats pretty ambitious. We'll see when it happens...

Hmm, pardon my pessimism but they said that the A4 release was going to get rid of all of the problems. The .A4 release did fix a variety of problems, but it introduced brand spanking new ones, and some of the more annoying bugs are still alive and well in the .A4 version. It is brave of them to make such a statement this time around. Maybe the extra delay in waiting for these additional fixes will mean they indeed fixed everything. My confidence in Motorola is not all that high considering their track record in the quality department.

Was talking to *C tech support on an unrelated matter last Friday. Later, we talked about the DSR 530 & the related bugs. He told me that the next software download would begin taking place on Sept 8th. Wouldn't mind hearing if this actually happens & if it fixes all of these bugs. The fall schedule will be starting soon & I'd like to get the 530 - but not until all the fixes are in place & actually working.

My machine is slated to download the .A8 version tonight, but there are no guarantees that this version will fix all of the bugs regardless of what StarChoice says. They told many people that the .A4 version was going to be the complete bug fix firmware upgrade, and it was not. 20 minutes after it was installed many people started finding problems with it. So much for testing! My faith will be restored in StarChoice if they do fix the annoying bugs, and if they do not introduce any additional bugs. If I find bugs again within 2 minutes of turning on the machine I'm going to really wonder what they are doing to test.

Every since I bought my DSR530 I have not been able to watch any shows that I have recorded, unless I stay on the channel that it was recorded on. If I change the channel at all and then try to playback a recorded program, I either get a black screen with no sound or it sends me back to my DVR list. When my software version was A4 *choice CSR told me it could be the software and that I should wait for A8 to see if that solves the problem. I now have A8 and *choice now says it could be an installation problem.

My signal power for tunner 1 is usually around 78, but tunner 2 is around 50. I have the reciever connected to an Eagle Aspen 5 X 8 multiswitch (provided to me by *choice) whice is connected to an older dish (not sure of the model but it is 4 years old and has the 2 LNBs that point in opposite directions). Any ideas where the problem could be? My older recievers show signal strength above 80, so I don't understand why tunner 2 on the 530 is only 50.

I have LNBs A & B connected to the corrisponding 13V A & B inputs of the multiswitch and the recivers are obviously connected to the output side of the switch.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Rave~Child

Just a thought, but I know the receiver has problems playing back when there is no tuner input - you need to turn off the buffer to solve the problem.
If you do that, are you able to playback properly?

You mean the live record to disk? I still have the same issue weather it is on or off.

Your Dish is an Eliptical with a dual-stacked LNB.
That's fine.

If you see the recordings in the DVR list and they have some non zero value, then they should play.

Obviously you have valid TV connections, else you wouldn't get the graphics up.

Are you using any HD outputs, DVI or Component?
What is the setting of the RED BUTTON, behind the fron panel on the right?

IF your mode was set for something that your TV couldn't display, like 720p on some older 1080i only sets, then it might be black but that doesn't explain your ability to watch it live.

Try turning the LOD buffer off and see what happens.

Also try swapping around tuner 1 & 2 cables from the LNB and see it that makes a difference.

The signals strength WILL be different as they show the values for whatever channel they are tuned to and in most cases, each tuner is on a different transponder, unless you are wathcing and recording the same program at the same time. If they values are wildly different THEN, you may have a tuner, LNB or Switch problem.
The eagle aspen is considered quite good., SO I suspect the LNB or Cabling.

Also call and have them do a factory reset with a hard disk format and have them stay on the line while you impulse record a few minutes of programming.
Once you see a minute or 2 in the list. Stop the recording. Change to a different channel and try and play the recording.

Also turn on LOD and try and PAUSE some show after a minute or so, If none of that works, insist that they replace the unit, it is defective and I'm not convinced that is a software problem, at least any I've come across since the beginning.

Thanks for the replies. I was just playing around with it and I noticed that my signal power for tuner 1 in channels around 300 is only 56. But at channels around 500 it is 86.

I am connected to a standard def TV with the coax connected to the TV and the componant connected though my home theater reciever. I have the same problem on both of these connections.

The "red button" is set to 00000 and I have no problems with pausing or rewinding live TV. The issue only seems to be with recorded programs.

Thanks Again

ARR has given you some good things to try; if they don't correct the problem you surely must have a defective unit because nobody else I have seen has posted they ares having your issues.

Good luck
Peter

So far A8 is working pretty well for me; no reboots since it loaded.

I have lost video playback when setting the red button on the outside to 0000. Try changing it to 480i if you have a standard Def TV, or 1080 if you have a high def set. This fixed the problem for me.

Currently mine is set to 0000, but occasionally this screws up for some reason.

It's not only on digital output that the audio is wildly different. I notice it on analog audio also. It's not only on the 530 as I notice the same on my 401. The various audio levels are not only annoying while channel surfing, the loudness on some channels (ie: 387 CBS) is distorting the audio quality. The distorted audio makes it very difficult to get an acceptable quality when transferring "Rock Star INXS" video clips from the 530 DVR to my PC. I'm trying to adjust audio levels when recording but "garbage in / garbage out" as they say. I just realized that DVR recordings made of same show on channel 345 CH are very good compared to those on channel 387.
Too bad we have to settle for distorted loud audio on such a basic channel as CBS (387).

Thanks for the input everyone, but it is looking like it is possible a dish alignment issue as it only seems to be certain channels. It is my understanding that some channels are recieved through the right LNB and some are recieved through the left. I am going to request a service call to have the alignment of the dish checked.

I have the dsr530 and a Sanyo AVP428 42" HDTV Plasma.

I am using composite video inputs.

When I set to 720p everything looks great but the SD channels have black bars and the Sanyo will not allow zooming in 720p mode.
When I set to 480p the SD channels zoom appropriately.

My question... for the life of me I can't see any difference on the HD channels between 480p and 720p. Do the HD channels automatically output at different settings or I am just not good at seeing differences that would be obvious for experienced videophiles.

Thanks for your input.

It's the same on cable and other satellite systems.
It's just something that happens when you collect so many different signals whose local broadcast engineer thinks is set up correctly.

IF/WHEN 100 % of ALL audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 AND the source material is calibrated to the correct dialnorm setting for the type of content, THEN maybe the problem will go away.

I did see some gizmo in a London Drugs flyer or something today that claimed to normalise all audio levels.

You can probably minimise the fluctuation by going into audio settings and making it TV (Heavy) compression.

Correct, HD and ethnic and a 'few' others are on Anik F2, while the majority of SD English is on Anik F1.

On top of that, ~ 1/2 the signals are vertical and the rest horizontal polarity.

Any problems in a LNB or multiswitch setup can cause your symptons.

If either F1 or F2 signals were low across the board, that might mean alignment.

My money is on the LNB/Switch.

Let the group know what is found out.