David Farber wrote:
I have Charter cable tv. I use the direct analog input to my Sony
KV-27V36. I use the analog signal because I like to be able to use
the pip function on my tv. Over the past few weeks I have noticed
that the left channel audio is very low and distorted, guessing about
-30dB as compared to the right channel, but only while tuned into the
local Fox station. To make a very long story short, the Charter tech
comes to my house to tell me that some tv's don't pick up the stereo
signal properly and I should switch my tv to mono. Huh??? His
suggested fix? Use the cable box. I told him I don't want to use the
cable box. I'm happy with less cables, wires, and boxes going through
my system. At some point the tech tells me that all the analog
channels are being broadcast mono but are converted by Charter to a
dual mono signal so both speakers operate. However he says that they
(Charter) are in the process of upgrading the Fox station and are
using one of the stereo channels (supposedly the one that is down
30dB and distorted) to use for other purposes. Again, huh? I've
requested a call back from one of the people in the Charter office
that can give me a more logical technical explanation. I'm not
holding my breath. It's been a week since the tech's visit here and
after many phone calls to Charter and talking to their friendly
support staff, nobody has called me back from their technical
department.
By the way, I did call the local Fox station to see if they were
having transmission problems and I was able to talk to their chief
engineer within 5 MINUTES. He told me their signal was fine and that
it was Charter's responsibility to take their 5.1 signal, decode it
properly, then pass it on to their subscribers.

So, I thought I'd ask the only place left on earth where you can get a
straight answer. That of course is s.e.r. Fellow techs, what the heck
is going on here?

Thanks for your reply.

I was finally put in contact with Charter's corporate office. Soon after,
another Charter representative from my local office called me and he wanted
to send out their chief tech to inspect the audio problem. Keep in mind that
this would have been the third time a tech would have I told them to save
their time and just figure out what was wrong with the audio coming out of
their offices. He finally relented and alerted the engineers to what I was
saying. And what do you know, the problem got fixed. It only took eight days
after I first reported the problem to have even someone consider the fact
that the problem might be a Charter malfunction. So much time wasted.

--

David Farber
Los Osos, CA