EricReesor... I truly hope that works, but a quick test might be to go to TSN HD and you may witness a dropout... I hope not, but these vicious gremlins lurk and rear their ugly heads in an unpredictable manner.
I just watched a TSN replay of the first 25 minutes of the Canada Sweden game on TSNHD to check it out and there was no audio drop. Earlier in the day my wife watched NCIS on the American feed and there were frequent major drops. Then I decided to try to send the digital audio directly to the tv through the hdmi out on the stb. So far it seems to have worked to stop the audio problems on all feeds including music and all the HD channels. I do have a very good signal and my install is flawless so it might just be that Shaw HD is better where I live and my audio drops were being cause by double sending the timing bits between two local pcms.

I have seen computers choke on real time audio pcm timers through optical because of issues with pcm timers. So it only stands to reason that the cable stb pcm might cause trouble with a tv pcm if they try to sync their bits and the timer signal is dropped. Afterall we are watching and listening in real time to a digital broadcast. It is not the same as a buffered recording.

I suspect that Shaw is very aware of what is going on in other cities but I still believe that some of the issues might be with degraded signal in some areas causing dropout and still more issues might be coming from bad installs as well as TV pcms trying to get audio timing bits on time with the video.

Watching satellite over the years the first thing to be effected by signal degradation was always the audio, the MPEG2 codec is such that audio is the first to drop then video. When clouds got too dense Expressvu always started to audio stutter before the screen dropped out. Just remember Shaw gets most of their signals by satellite then redistributes it. If they experience a signal drop from the sats then we all get hooped. HD is a hard task master and does not tolerate signal drops very well at all.

It's been a week since the last post in this thread has there been any improvement in the HD service around BC? Hopefully the lack of posts mean people are spending more time enjoying HDTV :)

On my end, worse than ever. Just got back from a trip to the East Coast where I got to see Eastlink and Aliant HD in action. Neither were what I'd consider great but I think Shaw might be even worse.

HDPQ is as bad as ever.

A question for the people saying PQ is terrible and they are dissatisfied with Shaw, why not cancel your Shaw services? Canceling is the only real way to tell Shaw you are truly dissatisfied with their services and products.

I took the step. WHO'S WITH ME!?!?

</maguire>

the macoblocking during American Idol last night was pretty bad whenever they showed the crowds running. The rest of the show looked pretty good though.

5 audio drops during CRIMINAL MINDS in HD here in winnipeg, all came back with the rewind button, meaning HARDWARE problem. they have reset the box from their end, sent someone out today and he reset something (took 1 hr to d/l the firmware etc).

time to DEMAND a new PVR, but which one do i ask for the 3416 or the 6416?

You think you're going to get a replacement pvr because of a few audio drops?

The audio drop outs are not a hardware issue (at least not on the user end).

Almost everyone has audio dropouts.

I'm just watching the feed of Lost on ABC right now, and I have to say the audio drop outs are getting SOOO annoying I just had to come and post up right now. I've probably had over 20 drop outs in less than one hour so far.

You think you're going to get a replacement pvr because of a few audio drops?

The audio drop outs are not a hardware issue (at least not on the user end).

Almost everyone has audio dropouts.
first off, when they offered me the PVR, they did NOT mention it being a REFURB, so i was already pissed.

secondly, they are not just audio drops from the signal, they come back with the rewind, meaning they were not dropped by shaw, they were dropped going from the PVR to the RECEIVER.

when you buy a PVR you expect it to be NEW, unless they come right out and tell you that you are getting a REFURB. they made NO mention of it to me when they offered me the PVR.

I can almost guarantee that you'll still have audio drops even if you get another pvr.
The problem lies with shaw, not on your end.

Even if it is not a hardware issue (and I think that is one part of it), by having a tech come out and by replacing your PVR, you are costing Shaw money, which is the only way to encourage them to try to fix the problem.

Since when was it decided that if you rewind your PVR, and the audio drop is there, it's the PVR's problem?
In fact, I posted the exact OPPOSITE a while ago.
Think about it - if your PVR records an audio drop, wouldn't the audio drop be in the signal GOING TO the PVR? Before it even REACHES the PVR? The PVR is just recording what it sees, after all.
That is not to say the PVR's are not the problem. I have a suspicion BOTH cases are true - Audio drops occur from both the SIGNAL and the PVR - which is why it's so hard to diagnose.

The audio dropouts are also happening on cogeco. Quite possibly other providers as well. Chances are it hasn't been fixed, because none of the cable providers know exactly what is causing the problem. An alternative would be that they have a good idea, but the 'fix' would cost millions of dollars to implement.

Ignore this if you do not have an hdmi input and a tv that does d/a. First of all if you are using an hdmi cable from the pvr reset the hdmi auto setting. This is done with the tv on and the Motorola pvr off. Hit the ok/select button twice and wait for the menu to come up. Select addition hdmi settings and change the audio setting to pass through this will make certain the tv is the only device doing d/a conversion.

This setup cured my problems with device caused audio drop. Here in Victoria there still are some provider caused audio drops but they mostly happen on the American commercial network channels. I have seen none on HD CBC, PBS, Discovery, and very little on TSN or CTV. I have seen no drops on the SD side.

The SD feeds for channels like History and Space have terrible picture quality on some shows and then excellent quality pq when a commercial comes on or other times the picture is good. So go figure CBC news sucks in pq. None of these picture quality issues are being caused by my setup they all originate with the provider.

That's great advice Eric. But it makes me wonder... why do people have to come to a forum to find great advice? People who experience issues usually call Shaw, and get told either nothing or a story - nothing to fix the issues everyone is experiencing. I just wish Shaw would educate their TSR's better so that if the problem CAN be fixed, then they would be able to relate this information. Point being - Shaw's customer service needs just as much improvement as their quality of service.

I can almost guarantee that you'll still have audio drops even if you get another pvr.
The problem lies with shaw, not on your end.

I have the Basic Shaw 6200 box. I also get audio drops.:confused:

Lately (the past 2 days) the SD picture quality has become tolerable with our HD pvr (Motorola6412 V3)...at least in Victoria. There have been fewer audio drops and channels like space and history have become almost worth watching. I guess there are some Shaw people listening to what we are saying. The ghosting on CTVNewsnet and CBCnews ch20 have disappeared almost like magic. They must have done some serious work down town.;)

I think they may have shuffled some channels onto different QAM's or something. I find the HD PQ to vary wildly now, whereas before it was all pretty much crap.

Certain channels now look beautiful, SNETHD and TSN2 look great, as does HDNET. CTV looks pretty muddy to me, and TLCHD is utter rubbish, embarrasingly youtube-like.

After I filled out the feedback form on the website and listed what I thought could be improved (HD audio dropouts, PQ, VOIP, etc) I got a call asking me about them and actually providing me with a reply to each one!

Regarding PQ the guy said yes they know some QAM's have 2 and some 3, and they would like to only put 2 per, but space is tight (he agreed with me and also wanted Shaw to do this) but conceded that would not be happening soon.

For the audio dropouts I got a the more standard "that's the first time I have heard of that problem" right out of complaints 101 class :p He started in about wiring and I told him this happened on Vancouver Island as well as here (Edmonton) so I doubt it was the wires, especially since they redid the whole house in Nanaimo.