I have a Panasonic DVD RP-56 and the Outlaw 1050. I just rented JPIII and the digital soundtrack has gaps. I got a second copy and same thing happened.
The silences are about 2 seconds long and occur *randomly* - not only in loud passages but anywhere, and when you repeat the passage, the gap does not repeat at the same spot. When there is a gap, the DD light flickers on the 1050.
So, is this a DAC problem on the 1050, or a problem with the RP-56 (and I have changed audio settings back and forth in infinite combinations here to no avail) or is JPIII running something weird on the DVD?
Possible clues: JPIII says it has both DD and DTS tracks. The 1050 manual says it automatically picks tracks, but it has never lit up the DTS light. I shut down DD on the RP56 by switching it to PCM, but then the 1050 chose PCM and not DTS. Under PCM there were no sound gaps, but obviously no 5.1 channels either. Also, feed from the analog stereo outputs is clean under all scenarios.
Clue #2 - when playing CDs through the optical cable, a CD that begins loudly causes *lots* of distortion on the speakers, particularly the rear ones, when the audio processing is set to any of the DSP modes. In stereo, no problemo. And, in DSP modes, if I *change* the mode the distortion goes away and doesn't come back.

I hate to think there is something wrong with the Outlaw, but IMHO the clues are pointing that way. Help?????

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==Those are my principles. If you don't like 'em, I have others.==

Oops. Left out a clue. The introductory loop, featuring creature sounds and music, lights the DD light and has no gaps at all. Plays perfectly. It's only when the movie starts that the gaps start.
Score a plus for the 1050, it seems.

-- Chuck

Hmmm... Interesting...

Did you select the DTS track on the DVD? The 1050 identifies which format the DVD player is providing, but the DVD will default to DD (since most people can't handle DTS). You'll have to select DTS from the DVD menu to get the DTS track.

As for the real question here -- the random gaps in the audio, which appears to be caused by the 1050 changing decoding mode from DD and back to DD real quickly. Do any other discs cause the problem? (And has anybody else around here watched JPIII through their 1050, or through an RP-56 to any receiver?) I'd be curious to know if the problem repeats for other DD sources, and if it occurs with DTS sources (see my first note to test that). If it's the DD only, I'd suspect the 1050's decoding. If it's DD and DTS, I'd start to wonder about the RP-56 a little as a possible culprit (although since PCM worked over the optical, the RP-56 is probably not at fault).

Have to think about this one some more...

I've had the same problem you are having on JP III, however, not on JP III....let me explain.

The short explanation is that when I changed my digital audio cable, the problem went away. I was using a Monster Cable Lightspeed Digital Optical cable. (I can't remember which one but it was about $50...D'oh!) I switched to a Digital Coax cable and it doesn't happen anymore. (I'm actually using a crappy rca cable that isn't really supposed to be used for what I'm using it for.) My DVD player is a Sony DVP-S330.

Anyway, I had the same problems. Random drop outs in sound and it didn't happen on every DVD I owned. Just a few. Galaxy Quest, X-men and Parent Trap are the ones that come to mind. I spoke to Scott about it and he suggested I try and switch from the optical cable and just try an rca cable out of the digital coax to see if it fixed the problem instead of running out and buying an expensive one. Well, it fixed it and I just haven't found the time or extra cash to buy a real one. (Outlaw, you'll receive my order soon.)

I've listened to the DD and the DTS tracks for JP III and I haven't experienced any drop outs. Gonk's right (of course Gonk's right! :-) about accessing the DTS track. On every DTS DVD I have, you have to select it manually from the DVD's menu. Sometimes it's under the 'Language' heading, sometimes it's under an 'Audio' heading.

Good luck and let us know if the cable change works.

i use the same monster cable you do and have had no problems at all with drop out.

scott

The cable!? I started to wonder about it, and then said "nah, it's an optical cable -- how could it be at fault?" Good info, kugumby.

Does the RP-56 have a coax digital out? I'm thinking that it's optical-only. If that is the case, a check to make sure the optical cable is solidly connected or (after the connection check) a cable change might be in order. The PDO from Outlaw is $20, a very good deal compared to the Monster opticals (as I've got a Monster optical sitting in "The Closet" -- where all computer spare parts, space cables, and other random stuff lives -- my wallet and I know well kugumby's pain on that count).

The JPIII and Pearl Harbor DVDs both appear to be affected by this anomaly. It has been reported on other forums that several other electronic manufacturers are also experiencing the same phenomenon. While we are not quite sure what is happening we are looking into it. For now, if you experience this issue with either of these discs, we recommend that you switch to the DTS track.

[This message has been edited by Scott (edited December 19, 2001).]

Fwiw this evening I picked up JP3 at the local SAMS Club for $17 & change. I tried both an optical and a coax digital cable. I got a repeatable pause & audio cut out at a bit after 1h17m, I believe this to be the layer change. Otherwise ... it was rock solid - under both DD6.1 and DTS. I was finally able to get a 1.5 to 2 second drop out if I manually set the 1050 to 5.1 mode - after several seconds there'd be an audio cut out, the mode indicator would alternate between DD & DD-Surround-6.1 and the Digital light would blink. After the 1.5 to 2 seconds (or 2 or 3 blinks) it would lock into 6.1 mode and stay rock stable. Identical behaviour regardless of whether I was using Optical or COAX cable.

Can anyone duplicate this?

Oh yeah, I am using a Panasonic DVDA-120.

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pat----

email: pat@sklenar.info ---===--- home page: Grumpy's Lair

[This message has been edited by psklenar (edited December 19, 2001).]

Thanks for all the replies! Being somewhat new to DVDs, I didn't know where to go on the JPIII choices to change to DTS. It was the *Language* menu. Who knew DTS was a language? Anyway, I set it for "English DTS 5.1" and as Scott says, it worked perfectly.

-- Chuck

PS - too bad JPIII is such a lousy movie. I never will understand how one can spend 100 million on special effects and use a two cent screenplay.

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==Those are my principles. If you don't like 'em, I have others.==

Glad that DTS worked for you (even if the script didn't!).

I'll be curious to hear what is eventually learned about the Pearl Harbor and JP3 discs. After Scott's post yesterday, I checked a few other forums -- seems like the problem is most common (or most often reported) by Onkyo receiver users, typically those using newer Panasonic players (RP-56, RV-30). It's possible that there's something going on with the DD track that Pat's older Panny A120 (and my even older A310) might not get tripped up by? Of course, it's also possible that my unscientific survey (a quick spin through 3 or 4 forums) is wrong. I'll have to try renting JP3 over the holidays and check it out for myself...

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Gonk

...and it only took 200 posts to get around to making a sig file...