Daniel W. Rouse Jr. wrote:
> This concerns OTA DTV audio dropouts, will this problem eventually get
> fixed?
>
> Currently, it seems that if the picture develops more than just a small
> amount of artifacts, even if the picture is still in motion and is still
> mostly discernable, the audio immediately drops out once the artifacts
start
> to appear. (In that respect, analog broadcast seems much more robust in
the
> audio aspect of the picture, in that even a snowy analog picture that
was
> still able to broadcast in color retained its audio, albeit with audible
> noise within the audio.)
>
> My own expectations are that the audio should only drop out when the
picture
> actually freezes, before it recovers or when No Signal gets displayed.
> Digital TV is supposed to be better picture (which it is, when a
situation
> that causes the display artifacts doesn't occur) and better sound (Dolby
> Digital up to 5.1 channels) but I am also expecting better reliability
> (i.e., less signal drift and less audio loss).
>
> Further discussion is welcome.
You need more gain on the antenna setup. Glitches in the station
transmission do occur, but for me, audio and/or picture dropouts are
pretty infrequent. If you are getting frequent dropouts, you either have
a marginal signal or multi-path problems. A newer generation ATSC tuner
can improve the reception reliability for multi-path and marginal
signals, but you have not stated anything about your setup.
A 3rd possible cause for dropouts is co- or adjacent channel
interference. A number of analog <-> digital interference issues will be
resolved next February 18, 2009 when the remaining subset of 1800 full
service stations turn off their analog signals. But this would likely be
a problem for a specific channels, not all of them, which your post
implies. But there will be no magic improvement next year, except for
the stations that will be providing a stronger digital signal.
Alan F
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