IS TIME-WARNER CABLE SCREWING YOU TOO?
September 23, 2009
For the last two nights TIME-WARNER in Desert Hot Springs, California has been transmitting “Dancing With The Stars” out of synch, with the picture ahead of the sound! IF THIS IS NOT CORRECTED by tonights show…THE CLIPS OF THE 3 SHOWS WILL BE POSTED ON YOUTUBE IN THE MORNING!
The last time that this happened I didn’t have a blog that’s had over a MILLION VISITORS… SO IF TIME-WARNER CABLE IS SCREWING YOU TOO LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW AND MENTION THE PROBLEM YOU’RE HAVING…YOU CAN BE SURE SOMEONE AT THE COMPANY WILL SEE IT BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY!
Artie Wayne https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/thank-you-for-one-million-hits/
Artie Wayne On The Web 
September 24, 2009 at 3:04 am
Artie I understand your frustration and discontent over the “audio sync” issue on your cable service.
I think I may have addressed this on a comment I made in response to another blog about the subject you posted a couple years ago, but, then again, maybe I didn’t, so, here goes (again)…..
Audio sync problems are very common now on cable television and, even more common on satellite television signals. It’s a pretty complicated issue that involves lots of technical stuff like dolby-digital decoding, cable and satellite television receiver “buffering” and the tens of thousands of miles that television’s video and audio signals now must travel to be beamed to virtually every point on the globe.
The encoding and decoding of the video and audio signals along the path to your home, the additional decoding done by the home receiver and all the signal handling and routing that goes on at the cable company’s distribution center all add up to an electronic “road” filled with thousands of “twists and turns.” At each bend lies the possibility for the video and audio signal losing sync, to put it simply.
If, like me, you have “high-def” television delivered via satellite (which is comprised of high-definition video and Dolby digital surround audio signals), perfect audio and video synchronization is a rarity. Each home receiver processes and decodes Dolby digital audio at a slightly different rate, so it’s difficult to put out a signal that will be in perfect sync on every home television or theater system.
Most of the time the sync is just off by a few “frames.” You get used to it and I have found that the brain learns to compensate and acutally adjust to audio and video that are slightly out of sync.
At times television can be VERY MUCH out of sync and I admit can be VERY annoying! As you pointed out, on shows that involve music, where rhythm is important and the picture and sound being out of sync is enough to drive the viewer crazy! (Seeing a close up of drummer hitting a drum head and hearing it a bit later, or watching dancers appear to be dancing “out of rhythm” is pretty unbearable to be sure!)
The cable and satellite companies are aware of the problem and addressing it on an ongoing basis? But, as outlined above, it’s a difficult problem to solve, and just another drawback to all this wonderful technology used to deliver us our media these days. Is this an excuse for the problem or am I taking sides with the cable and satellite providers? Not at all!
We put a man on the moon forty years ago. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in the four decades since the moon landing. Desktop and laptop computers today do more and are more infinitely more powerful than they were as recently as the dawn of the 21st century. Even crazier is that this was not even a problem that existed in the old, bygone days of analog television and analog video and audio. It’s the digital conversion process that started all of these sync problems.
So, why the hell can’t we get a cable or satellite television picture that ‘s perfectly synchronized with the sound in this high-tech day and age? Perhaps the best answer I can offer up now is,
“Damned if I know!”
Wish I could offer up better news on this subject! Meanwhile, my best advice to anyone irritated by the sunc problem is to turn down the sound or close your eyes! Seriously, though, with digital satellite or cable television, sometimes changing the channel or turning the receiver off, leaving it sit for a bit and then turning it back on (or even “re-booting the receiver entirely) can result in a better sync of sight and sound.
Hope this helps, at least a little!
September 24, 2009 at 12:44 pm
new software problems:
goes back too far when you rewind
no slow motion or frame by frame anymore
cannot do untitled recordings at specific times
banner is too big–covers up info as you scan
minutes used are now on far left-not in middle
no more actual time of movie
sometimes doesn’t rewind at all
more re-boots
stops on black when scanning thru commercials
doesn’t stay on last channel watched
when you freeze frame, info stays on screen unless you hit info twice
cannot set a search for actors or movies desired
macroblocking/pixellation causing constant sound dropouts
if you use the Start Over feature, you have to watch all the commercials because it won’t scan thru them
gotta hit the info button twice in order to see what you freeze frame
April 27, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I just switched form DIRECTV to TW. What a mistake! The guide sucks, when it’s not frozen. Most of the time when I turn on the box it has to load. Sometimes when I leave it on I have to turn it off to reset. The search feature sucks and don’t even try to use their web sight. It’s down half the time. I’m going back to DIRECTV asap.