First second skips when playing music through HD100

[brb84]

I've got my HD100 connected via optical cable to my receiver. I have noticed that when I try and play music through it, the first second or so of the song is always skipped and then the song catches on. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it my receiver somehow delaying the audio?

[chrisc16]

This happens to me too, both through my HD100 and HD200 extenders. It's quite annoying.

-Chris

[brb84]

Oh well. At least it's not me. Wish I knew what was causing it and if there was anything I could do about it.

[reggie14]

I think this is a receiver issue. The receiver has to figure out what audio stream its getting from the extender, and play it back appropriate. For instance, maybe it's Dolby Digital, DTS, PCM, etc. Maybe it has to send it through the Pro Logic II circuitry. I'm pretty sure that's what is causing the delay.

[Rob]

I have three hd100's two are connected via optical to a reciever. The third is connected via analog cables straight to a TV. Seems like if it was a reciever then the direct connect to the TV would not have the same issue since it is alway analog. Yet it has the same symptoms.

It is particualrly annoying when one track on an album is supposed to seamlessly play into the next track and there is a second gap in between. Seems like the next song just does not get started soon enough.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Rob

The third is connected via analog cables straight to a TV. Seems like if it was a reciever then the direct connect to the TV would not have the same issue since it is alway analog. Yet it has the same symptoms.

That's interesting. I agree with you- I wouldn't think the TV would have that problem. I have a TV directly connected to an extender (and an HD200 connected to a receiver). When I get home I'll try it to see if I notice the problem on the TV that's directly hooked up. I never listen to music over the TV's awful speakers, so I haven't tried it yet.

[Rob]

I'm with you on the never listening to music on the TV's wimpy speakers. I only did it to test this issue (about 6 month ago) and did not persue investigating changing reciever settings because it did not work on the tv only setup.

I should probably retest since the extender firmware has changed since I tested.

Would love to hear your results.

[pjpjpjpj]

It's not the receivers, it's on Sage's end. My HD100's and HD200 are just playing through the TV speakers - some on HDMI and some on analog stereo - and they all do that (skip the first second or so). I guess I just never listen to enough music to have contacted support about it... or figured someone else would, and I'd just see the fix... I'd be happy if it would get fixed.

[reggie14]

This issue has been discussed several times before. I think I might have even sent a support request long, long ago after I noticed this issue on my old MVP.

Receivers will introduce a delay like this, but it's certainly possible the extenders are introducing their own delays as well. It wouldn't surprise me if all digital outputs get delayed, regardless of whether they go to a TV or receiver, but I wouldn't really expect it on the analog out. I'll try it when I get home, but I expect I will find the same thing that both of you are finding. If you submit a support request, be sure to say you have it hooked up via the analog outs directly to the TV.

[reggie14]

I tried this last night on an HD100 connected directly to a TV via the analog-outs. While I notice a big gap in playback between audio files, I don't notice the first 0.5-1.0 seconds of a track getting cut off, like I do with my HD200 that is connected to a receiver. I think I am hearing everything, or very close to everything, there's just the gap between tracks. Gapless playback would be nice, but I'm not sure how practical that is to implement on the extenders.

[Rob]

Your findings mirror mine. The gapless playback only really impacts certain albums, unfortunately for me, that is how I listen to music (by album or playlists of albums, rather that playlists of songs). I do not know if it is proactical or not. I do know that my ipod plays seamlessly, but my new LG phone has the same gaps the extender has.

I'm thinking of investigating how to combine the songs on the album that should be seamless into single mp3s. I've combined multiple disk DVD's using DVD shrink, but don't yet know how to do music.

[brb84]

Has anyone else had any luck with this? Losing the first .5-1 seconds is a major buzzkill, especially on songs where the intro really matters.

I shouldn't have to drop down to analog outputs for this. It's like the extenders just drop the first piece of songs when using digital outputs.

[Evil_Attorney]

I have this problem too with my hd200 connected to my receiver via HDMI. It's annoying. It appears to be caused by my receiver trying to figure out what format the music is in (I have an Onkyo HT RC160). I would think this could be fixed by adding an option to adjustably pad the front of each song, or by somehow playing back all music in a single stream.