Just curious....

[xboxweasel]

When I still had my old $400 Kenwood AV 5.1 receiver and my $400 RCA DVD player I would have the audio drop out for a split second while watching movies. If I went back over the same section on the DVD a second time it worked fine. No interruption in video though. The digital audio output from the DVD player was connected via a coaxial cable. Let's say this was really irritating. The kind of irritating that required counseling to cure.

When the RCA died I bought a $90 Apex DVD player. I figured I'd buy a cheap one and it would last for ever. It too had the same problem. I figured it must be the Kenwood receiver. It too was connected via a coax. I did not have any spare optical cables/connections available at the time.

Then I upgraded to my more expensive HT setup. I replaced every single AV component, wire, cable, TV stand, etc. Except for the Apex DVD player. Guess what. Same problem. Now I thought it was the player. Even though the RCA exhibited the same problem. I mean, I just spend enough cash to buy a car with on my HT, so there is no way the problem lies there.

When the Apex died I bought a $100 Toshiba DVD player. It did not last long. I think I killed that one with a screw driver through the DVD mechanism. Then I got a $120 Sony DVD player. Same problem. I promptly put that player to it's grave too. I have a lot of spare remotes.

Since then I bought myself an Onkyo and a Yamaha DVD player. I never had that problem again.

Any ideas out there?

 

[j_garcia]

I believe this is mostly the receiver, but it is also related to the player. Try an analog connection to verify. I tried a few receivers before I found the 8300, which still has the problem, but only in the very rarest of occasion is it even noticable. Most receivers do this with a digital signal. I believe it has to do with the receiver muting the sound while it figures out what that signal is (starting a disc, switching from menu to menu or menu to movie), and some are worse about it than others.

Now, it does have to do with how the player sends the signal too; either breaking the digital stream or the laser on the disc while they skip from point to point on the disc or something. Some players don't cause the receiver to "hiccup", and I haven't found anyone who can tell me why. I've had a number of DVD and CD players and most of them still cause this, but I had a Marantz CC4000 and it never had this problem. It died after just a few months and I didn't bother replacing it with another one.

 

[zumbo]

I prefer the Yamaha players. I have a very old Yamaha cd player that will play some nasty looking disc that other players just won't play. Since I had such good luck with it, I purchased a Yamaha dvd player two years ago. It will play some nasty looking rentals with no problem at all. Got my mother-in-law a low priced Yamaha dvd player from 6th AVE. It plays the bad ones as well.

 

[Jack Hammer]

My player(pioneer dv578a) does that sometimes too, but I've noticed it only seems to happen when the dvd is changing chapters. I'm not sure if that is what yours is doing. I don't know if there is much one can do about it. I believe it is fairly normal.

Sometimes, though, I have noticed the sound will play way out of sync. It's just like watching an old kung fu movie. If I go to the menu and reselect the audio option it seems to correct it.

 

[xboxweasel]

I will destroy expensive equipment when this happens. When I watch a movie I want to live in that moment, and not get pulled out by some glitch in the audio. It ruins the moment.

I have never had this problem with my old and cheap Kenwood CD player. It too is connected via a digital fibre optic cable. Sounds great. I have no complaints in that department. That is the only reason I still have it. I was dretting the day I would have to replace it. Everything these days will play CDs/MP3s/WMAs, etc, etc. I hate that. I want it to only play CDs, and play those very well. I have recently found CD only players. Yamaha makes some. So others must too.

 

[xboxweasel]

I killed the Sony while watching Blade Trinity. Every chapter change the audio dropped out. I know it was the disk. I could duplicate the problem. I just had enough. I had to vent some of my frustrations. My poor knuckle took a while to heal.

Any other instance it was not a chapter change, or layer change. It was random.

I have seen the sync problem many times. Usually on my friends Sony. I believe my Apex did the same. Any of the other players I've owned never had that problem. On the Sony it always happened when the player changed layers.

I would like to believe that by purchasing in the next price bracket that one would not have these problems. I will never purchase anything at Future Shop and Best Buy anymore. Cheap stuff. I'd rather spend twice as much on something that (I hope) is better.

 

[Jack Hammer]

My old dvd player was made by RCA (I forget the model #) and never had any problems with chapter changes. It loaded up right away sounded better than what I have now. Unfortunately, it crapped out last year after years of service, I bought it in late 1996 or early 1997. The one I have now does more, but it does it less effectively.

Like many, I'm holding off on buying something new until the HD thing settles and prices become reasonable for a good player that won't be instantly outdated.