Major TWC Audio Issue Unresolved Over 3+ Years That Needs To Be Addressed

[Joseph S]

For the past years I have played the waiting game and tonight was the breaking point. There is absolutely no way to switch between digital and analog stations without pissing off myself or others.

The digital sound is at least twice the level of the analog sound and when you switch channels you must constantly either turn up or down the volume on your receiver so as either not to wake up the entire neighborhood or so you can hear the programming.

Tonight, please try switching between the two baseball games on ESPN2 and ESPN HD. The difference is absurd. This is not just an ESPN issue. Switching between any analog and any digital station will create the same effect.

We either need

1) Firmware update to allow boxes to boost analog channel audio to 250%
2) TWC to boost analog 250% and we can adjust down as needed
3) Digital audio to be cut to match.
4) All digital channels

This is repeatable with either mixed analog audio (L/R) our and spdif and only using a spdif out for both.

[summerfun]

I don't have that issue. All volumn levels are the same, analog or digital.

[murdoc]

I get that problem too with D* and OTA HDTV.  D* however, is twice as loud as the OTA signal.  I agree that something should be done as far as a standard volume level.

[Paul S.]

Same issue here with the extra volume on digital channels.

[aaron31182]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who notices this. This issue drives my household crazy, along with the bizzare weather alerts during the summer which completely disrupt television viewing. I understand there may be techincal issues that go beyond what Time Warner can do, but after over a year of digital service, the fact that none of these issues havn't been address or even acknowledged by their service center is upsetting.

[Mark Strube]

Just recently we've been getting a lot of annoying alert system "tests." And they don't go away for awhile!! Even if you press the INFO button a few times to make it go away, once you switch channels, it's back, and it messes up the sound too! I understand with the recent Amber alert, but the tests... once a week? That's a bit much, if their system is so jank that they must test it weekly it's time for a new system.

[RS922]

I believe it is an FCC requirement to test once/week for all cable systems that have the EAS in place.

[Mark Strube]

So they can follow the FCC rule to test the alert system once a week and annoy the hell out of viewers but they can't follow the FCC rule to provide firewire-enabled boxes. :bang:

[mhz40]

Originally posted by UnrealityS
So they can follow the FCC rule to test the alert system once a week and annoy the hell out of viewers but they can't follow the FCC rule to provide firewire-enabled boxes. :bang:

For the very, very last time...   firewire enabled set tops are available.  If you want/need one, go get it.  Like RS922 mentioned, the weekly (and in fact monthly) EAS tests are mandated by the FCC.  In fact, firewire is also an FCC mandate.  TW is compliant in both cases... as would be expected.
The weekly EAS tests are mandated to be performed on different days each week and at different times (usually during the day in TW's case).  So if you are getting the 'hell' annoyed out of you, it's because you watch a hell of a lot of daytime TV.
Go get back on topic:  The audio level issue has been a thorn in the hardware from the start.  I don't know why this has not been handled at the national level, but it hasn't --- or maybe can't be changed.  Although there is a difference, I can't agree that analog levels are 2 1/2 times lower than digital.  Audio levels on the analog side are set to industry standards.  Due to design parameters in the analog RF world, they can not and will not be changed.  On the digital side, audio levels are across the board there too.  Audio is received and transmitted at the digital AC-3 stream level, not baseband;  so no control of levels are available at that level within the transport.
You could try another set top to get a closer balance between digital & analog --- the one you have may have been setup wrong at the factory.  For differences in digital channel levels, all satellite programmers must get on the same standards page, including baseline levels and limits to audio compression. I don't think that will happen anytime soon.  Unlike video, every engineer out there has his or her own idea of what perfect audio is.