only one audio channel working

m_r · Post by **m_r** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 06:53

When I use my other STB to view TV, both audio speakers are functioning.
But when I switch on the Beyonwiz DP-H1, INSTANTLY I have only the left-hand speaker working.
Can anyone suggest why this is, please?

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 07:05

Hi M_r,

Welcome!

What connections are you using between the Beyonwiz and the TV? Have you checked all those cables and connections?

Regards,
Ian.

m_r · Post by **m_r** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 07:24

Yes, they're all attached.
I should've added - typical of me not to, alas! - that this is an intermittent problem; and that helps you understand that it's nothing to do with cable connection.
I just went and checked again, and this time the audio's fully centred.
But over the last fortnight I've had sound only from the left-hand speaker!
This has happened before, too: last time I updated the firmware and the problem seemed to go away.
This time? - whose nose?, as my husband would've said...

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 07:48

I would suggest firstly replacing the audio cable. If that doesn't fix the job, it could be your TV input is playing up, try another input on the TV if you can. Finally, make sure you haven't done any TV settings changes that might give only one channel.

m_r · Post by **m_r** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 07:56

I'll get my techo to check it. Unhappily, it costs me a motza for him to do this; but obviously it must be done.
Many thanks for the input; it's appreciated.

M.R.

prl · Post by **prl** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 08:05

m_r wrote:I'll get my techo to check it. Unhappily, it costs me a motza for him to do this; but obviously it must be done.
Many thanks for the input; it's appreciated.

M.R.

You can just try swapping the left/right audio cables between the TV and the H1 (swap both ends so that the L-L cable is nor R-R and vice versa). If the problem changes sides on the TV, it's a good indication that the cables are the cause.

m_r · Post by **m_r** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 08:19

Peter, over there on Black Mountain... could you tel me that again in words than a really, really ancient and really, really untechnical old fart can understand, please?

prl · Post by **prl** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 08:47

m_r wrote:Peter, over there on Black Mountain... could you tel me that again in words than a really, really ancient and really, really untechnical old fart can understand, please?

Seek the Wisdom of the Man of the Mountain ...

OK. If the audio connection is the kind that Tony and I have both been assuming it is...

Get out your DP-H1 manual. Have a look at the diagram of the back of the H1 in the Introduction section. There's a group of 6 sockets marked 9. 5.1 CH AUDIO. The top two connectors are used for analog stereo connections. There's another diagram in the How to Connect section with that connector highlihgted. Check the back of the H1 and find the connector. If you see two cables plugged into the top two sockets, then you have the kind of audio connection that we're talking about. The convention is that the cable for the stereo Left channel is white, and the Right channel is red; but your installer may have chosen different colours.

Follow these two cables (they may be two halves of a single paired cable) from the H1 to where they are plugged into the TV. Check with your TV manual and on the back panel that you've found the right connections. They should be part of a group of connectors marked A/V1 or A/V2, or similar, and that should correspond to the name that shows up on your TV screen when you switch to view the H1.

Now that you've found the connections, just swap them over at both ends. Turn the TV and DP-H1 off, and pull the two plugs out of the H1, and swap their sockets, and then pull the two plugs out of the TV and swap their sockets. The plugs simply pull straight out. They can be a little bit stiff. Pull the body of the plug, not the cable! Push them firmly back so that the outside part of the plug encloses most of the outside part of the socket.

This means that now the signal for the left hand speaker is carried by the cable that used to carry the signal for the right hand speaker, and vice versa. If the sound is now missing from the right-hand speaker, it pretty much proves that the problem is with the cables.

If the cable is the problem, buy a replacement cable from somewhere like Dick Smiths or JB HiFi, and replace the old cable with the new cable. You might want to change the colours back to the standard ones, so that the White plugs goe into the socket labelled FL on the Beyonwiz and (probably ) L on the TV, and the red plugs goe into FR on the Beyonwiz and R on the TV.

When you buy a cable, if you get it from a major retailer, just buy the least expensive one they have. For audio and the typical 1.5 metre cable length, paying more for the cable will gain you nothing.

If the cable wasn't the problem, you may want to swap the plugs back to the way they were on the TV.

m_r · Post by **m_r** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 09:02

Wow.
I say!
Ta ever so!
:-)
I'm now really, really grateful.
Which means only that I'm going to print your post out and read it VERY carefully.
But seriously, I AM grateful - truly grateful

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 09:30

Aha, if the H1 has 5.1 connectors, the problem will simply be the installer plugged it into the H1 C&L (centre and left) instead of L&R (left and right). Thus networks with 5.1 audio will give both channels working (but with poor separation) and networks with stereo audio will only give the left channel. Two things to resolve this.
1. Make sure the white and red or black and red audio RCA cable is plugged into the STB L&R outputs.
2. Make sure the audio output of the H1 is set to stereo or passthrough, NOT 5.1.

5.1 for the Beyonwiz output is ONLY if all 6 audio cables are connected to the L,R,C,rearL,rearR,Sub. This output option is no good for any other connection type. Given they have connected it to your TV, the only suitable option for that is STEREO (2 channel), or if you plan to connect an amplifier one day, Passthrough (with analogue output enabled).

Regards