Hello everyone, just got my 950 and had a quick question. I have watched two DVD movies using DD and seem to get a sound drop out for about 1 or 2 second everyone so often. I have tried to rewind the movie and see if it does it again in the same spots but it does not. I do notice that the 950 display changes for those 1 or 2 second and then goes back to the original display. Since I don't know when it is going to happen, I never get to see what it changes to during those 2 seconds. Has anyone else experienced this or know what it might be?

If the display changes, sounds like you're losing signal lock. But I don't think I've personally had this happen on DVD material, just CDs...

http://ubb.outlawaudio.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000698.html

I have seen it on the DTS version of Jaws. I think it was at the layer change. I really didn't notice the sound disappearing but the display for volume, input source and surround formate did appear on the screen.

Scott

I know it wasn't the layer change because the picture freezes or pauses during a layer change, but during this, the picture was normal and only the audio was paused. Plus there is only one layer change and this happened a couple of times during each movie.
Actually, while watching the first moving I swear I saw the display switch to DD-EX for the 1 or 2 seconds and then back to DD. I then realized that I never switched the rear speakers to none and thought that was it. But it still happened after I made the correction.

Which DVD’s were you watching? There is a known flag issue on some prior releases. If you did not have the DTS DD 3.2:1 EX modes before you might have never noticed when viewing them in the past.
Is your player a new purchase? The only audio drops I have had on 3 950’s could be traced to a purchase of a player. At times I would loose audio without the pic freezing …sometimes the video would also skip.
Problem solved when I replaced the player.

Occasionally the 950 hunts the surround format (due to layer change, laser stops etc) but since I don’t’ use my OSD but rely on the LCD display on the front of the 950 for everything I do, its not an issue…as long as I don’t ‘hear’ an audio dropout its of no concern. I see the display changing when the DVD has DD 2.0 or some other format during credits, then switches and locks to DTS (if the soundtrack supports it…and I enabled it in the DVD menu) when the main film starts.during these I notice (if I watch the LCD) the 950 is acquiring DTS but I never hear any interruption of audio.

My DVD player is about 3.5 years old (Sony). It happened while watching Minority Report and Mission Impossible II. I know what your talking about in terms of flagging DD and non DD material. My old Yamaha receiver use to switch back and forth without any audio disruption.

I will try to watch another movie today, will be hard with the two football games, and pay more attention to the LCD screen to see what it switches during during the audio drop outs.

Just put in Saving Private Ryan real quick to see if it did it again. Within 5 minutes into the movie it happened. During the drop out, where it said Coax 1, it switched to Input Type 3/2.1 and then switched back to Coax 1 soon after the sound returned. Do I have something set up wrong?

Sony got you! I am guessing DVP 530. Sony had serious problems with over-heating. The best option is to trash that DVD player -- second best is to open the case and install a small cpu fan to cool DSP. I have this unit also -- put your hand on the top of the case after the unit has been used for a movie -- it has great function as a space heater. In extreme cases the player will lock-up and requires you to pull the plug to reset the unit.

Do a little search on AudioReview -- there are many upset owners of these units.

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Jeff

I have had this DVD player for a couple of years and it has never done this before. It appears to me that the 950 loses the DD signal for a second and then picks it back up.

Were you using the coax output before? The analog outputs do not suffer from this problem. Have you noticed any lip-sync problems? That is also a Sony trademark with their early DV players.

I'm not real familiar with the Sony player problems jkenvin has pointed out (have more experience with Panasonic and Toshiba players -- I know plenty about all the grief surrounding Panasonic's A110/A310 players...), but one thing occurs to me. If the player in question is one of these problem Sonys, did you re-arrange anything in the equipment rack when you installed the 950? If the player is in an environment with a higher ambient temperature and there's a part that has a reputation for overheating, that extra heat could push it to the overheating point even though it didn't exhibit the behavior previously. It is possible that the overheating causes the player to malfunction briefly, resulting in the audio signal disappearing momentarily (or perhaps dipping too far for the 950 to keep its lock) and the 950 being forced to re-acquire the signal. It's just a thought -- maybe move the player to a more ventilated location and try to reproduce the problem?

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gonk -- Saloon Links | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | 950 Review

I am using the same coax I used with my receiver.

I did not rearrange my equipment at all. The 950 simply replace my receiver (which I was using as a pre).

I will mess around with it some more this weekend. I would love to have a reason to get a new player (universal player that is). I think my better half would kill me.

DG- I moved to a uni-player, also because my previous DVD player was dying. It happens ...

I'm seeing this exact same thing and it is very annoying! I had it happen MANY times when I viewed a DVD last night and now it is happening when I'm watching a Digital signal with Digital Cable so I know it is not my DVD player. This never happenend with my old receiver and same cables, so I have no clue. guess it is time to call tech support... :-(