Why am I getting short (2-3 sec) interruptions to the sound on my HDTV?

Question

My home theater is digital cable connected via HDMI to an Onkyo 605 receiver then into a Toshiba 1080p monitor. Every once in a while, sometimes many times at a sitting, the sound will disappear for a few moments, then reappear. This happens intermittently. Anyone have an idea what is wrong? Cable company? Receiver?

Thanks much.

Answer 1

It's probably the HDMI connection.  Either the cable was not properly certified or your device is not receiving or sending authentication.  HDMI sends an AF (authenticate forever) signal every 2 seconds over the HDMI cable.  The fact that you mentioned the interruption is every 2-3 seconds means it's the most likely reason.  Try another HDMI cable or different connections (such as TOS-link - otherwise known as digital optical; or even just stereo cables) and see if the issue persists.

Answer 2

Not that uncommon. That's one of the "joys" of digital television.

It could be from the Cable, or the station/network, or even a glitch in your system.

Errors in the data can cause video and/or audio dropouts.

Try to track it, is it only one channel? or all of them? Too difficult to answer without enough specifics.