Cable (TWC) TV question(s)

[Brian Bowers]

I have 3 TWC cable boxes in my house. I am just noticing 2 of the 3 are not putting out stereo audio. I have checked all of my connections and settings, but haven't found any reason why this is happening. Any ideas? One of the boxes that is putting out mono audio is a most recently acquired HDTV box. No picture problems exist with any of these boxes. I should mention that the two boxes giving me mono audio are both Cisco (Systems?) boxes. The Scientific Atlanta box is giving me stereo. On all three boxes, I am simply using the analog out RCA jacks. Going thru the settings menu, I see nothing that would permit me to tailor the output of these jacks from stereo to mono, or vice versa. I have called TWC, and of course, they aren't sure what is going on either. Could this be a firmware update problem with only Cisco boxes?

 

[Brian Bowers]

I realize we mainly discuss radio engineering topics on this board, as I have in the past brought many radio issues to it, but I have limited resources when it comes to my technical cable problems, so sometimes I will present them on this board. I also realize not many people pay as close of attention to their cable audio as I do. Although I'm not even utilizing 5.1 or 7.1, I am still just using basic stereo, but I utilize it in the 3 rooms I have the cable boxes in. The Cisco cable boxes I was having issues with, I had obtained 3 months ago and 2 years ago. Since my 3rd box (Scientific Atlanta) was already giving me stereo audio, I kept that one, and asked TWC if I could exchange my Cisco boxes for 2 Scientific Atlanta boxes. They said OK, and reserved 2 at their local outlet (which they would only hold for 1 day). When I walked in, the clerk said to me "I don't know why you'd want these, they are around 5 years old already. Your Cisco boxes are newer." I said that maybe there is a firmware issue regarding the mono audio out of the Cisco boxes no one has discovered yet. Or maybe there is a mono stereo switch in the box, which only needs to be flipped (highly doubtful). I didn't want to break the seal to find out though. So I was doubting myself driving the new boxes home. Now, I know something about audio, and was 100% sure the problem was not with my equipment. Still, after his remark, I began doubting myself. What really sucks about exchanging converter boxes is that you need to re-enter all of your favorite channels. The whole process can be very time consuming. Anyways...plugged in the new (old) Scientific Atlanta boxes, and bingo, stereo audio was playing immediately from them. I did call TWC back and let them know what I discovered, whether or not they cared. I just wanted the info to go on my history file. If there is a software/firmware issue with Cisco boxes, I just wonder how many are out in the field with cable subscribers thinking they are hearing stereo audio from them. I would love to find out what if anything ever becomes of this issue, but doubt I will. Just thought I'd keep you up to date on this topic.

 

[unitron]

You trust TWC to get anything right?

 

[Brian Bowers]

Not really, but what are you going to do when they have the most, if not all of the control? It's pretty damn frustrating when you know something technically isn't right, but you can't get to the key people to talk to. I once had a TWC tech (who was actually a subcontractor) converting me from Dish Network back to TWC. Well I had just had a picture on one of my TVs with Dish, the tech unplugged everything and connected up the TWC gear. All of a sudden he can't get video. After a half hour of this, I told him to leave, and I will investigate. Turns out he wasn't looking at the connectors close enough, as he was trying to plug the TWC composite video out, into the TV composite video out. It took me 15 seconds to figure that out, and an entire afternoon to shed the headache the tech gave me.