Hi, is it normal that there is a slight delay when a digital audio signal is introduced? For example, the thx trailer misses the first 1/2 sec then when the movie starts, it misses the first half second again. I have never experienced this with my old Sony reciever...I hope its just a setting I may have missed.

Thanks for any help fixing this!

Lou

i don't own a 990 but my 1050 always has a delay when introducing dd, a bit more(almost annoying) when in dts.coming off pause can take a couple seconds,when you think it would be locked in.

So you think this is normal operation for the 990? How is it that a $400 sony reciever can lock onto a DD or DTS signal without any noticeable audio dropout?

Would this be possibly fixed in a firmware update? Ive only played around for two days and its already annoying...it will be very embarrasing when guests are over too.

can't say if it's normal or not.my buddy's sherwood does the same.i'm really surprised a 990 owner hasn't replied yet.

gonk???

My experience with the 990's signal acquisition is a significant improvement from the 1050 and 950 - both had signal acquisition times that were very noticeable (the 950 was to the point that I had to leave the cable box set to analog inputs to keep my wife from tearing her hair out when channel surfing). The 990's signal acquisition seems to hover between invisible (primarily with cable TV sources, where the cable box itself creates an unavoidable delay) and occasionally detectable for those who know about signal acquisition (depending on the disc, there may be strong audio from the very first moment that a disc menu / title / first track loads that can help reveal the acquisition process). I guess that a lip sync delay setting could exascerbate this, but I haven't noticed when experimenting with delay (my DVD input has some delay set for my Yamaha, but I watch most DVD's on my Oppo these days).

thanks for the info gonk. Do you think this could be addressed through a firmware update? Im wondering why cheaper recievers are able to acquire the signal quickly whereas this unit cannot do as quickly.

I was playing my star wars Ep2 dvd and I noticed during the intros...First the THX trailer was cut off at the beginning then it was cut again for the studio trailer.

Oh well...I guess I am going to have to get used to it.

FYI, I am using an HTPC and an Oppo for DVD playback...and it occurs on both.

buggdog,i doubt a firmware update would be a fix,i've found alot of times is was the way the dvd was mixed.i say was because my dvd died,now i do low listening to 'dish',high volume on 2(.1)ch listening.i distinctly remember different dvds(mostly concerts,music anyway),where there would be talking between tunes that would switch to different processing.next song starts there would be a 'dropout' while the processing switched from 'dolby' to dd or dts.hope i don't confuse you,just trying to help:)

joe

Scan down to the Oct. 20th post on the 990 page about the same issue. I guess its sometning we all have to live with.

For those of you who listen mostly to 2-channel audio, changing the CD/DVD player's output from bitsream to PCM will probably eliminate the problem.

Cheers,

I have always found the 1/2 second loss more disconcerting at the start of the first track on the first CD even though the CD input on my 990 is always configured for COAX2 and UPSAMPLE. If a $10 CD player can save a buffer for skip protection and not lose anything, why can't the 990?

I guess I will have to live with it then...its the only thing thats bothering me right now...maybe I will get used to it.

Otherwise the 990 is great. I love it.

Anyone from Outlaw know why this happens. What exactly is the issue? I know ive said this in my previous post but why can a cheaper unit do this with no noticebale delay..what is causing the delay in the 990? I realize it is an improvement over the 950 and 1050 but why couldnt it be eliminated in the 990 if it was a huge issue in the other units?

The buffer in a portable CD player is dealing with a different issue than the 990 is - the CD player knows exactly what audio format it is dealing with (PCM that it converts to analog; players of this type would not support DTS CD's) and is only concerned with getting jostled and getting the laser knocked off track briefly. In a portable player that is at risk for such jostling, the player has the buffer and then reads ahead of what is being passed to the output. The 990, on the other hand, is trying to determine if the incoming bitstream signal is PCM, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS, or DTS-ES. Starting to pass audio with the wrong processing applied would produce a really nasty noise (and would risk potentially damaging speakers) so the unit has to keep quiet while it determines what it is working with. Buffering the signal and starting it once the format is determined would leave the audio out of sync with any associated video, so all the unit can do is hurry to figure out what the format is.

It may be possible for a firmware update to improve the signal acquisition time, but at some point you run into the limits of the hardware's ability to react. We'll see what the future brings, but in the meanwhile I do feel it's worth giving the 990 credit for making a significant improvement in this department over its predecessor (the 990's delay is probably on the order of 20% of the 950's delay).

Does this delay happen if you start the first track over?

Good question Bugbitten! I was sondering the same thing.

No, it does not - if you start the track and immediately skip back to the start, there should be no delay because the player should not interrupt the signal. Likewise, you should be able to skip between tracks or chapters without experiencing any signal acquisition delay. I've done this with all three of my DVD sources (Oppo, Panasonic DMR-E80 DVD-R, and Yamaha DVD-S1500). Good point, bugbitten.

I was keeping it short. Yes, if you restart the track, there is no delay/loss. And I did say the first track on the first CD. If you put in other CDs without switching inputs on the 990 I believe the first track you play starts just fine.

I've noticed this delay happens when I start the CD with "Play", but there's no delay if I start with "1", i.e., the first track.

Then the problem is not just the 990. My 3805 has the same problem. I am constantly restarting cds.

That is quite correct, bugbitten - it's a problem that every surround receiver or processor faces. Any unit will introduce at least some delay, it's just a matter of how much.