Bell Sat TV... Simultaneous Substitution Practice Has Audio Problems

[budwich]

The practice is bad in general but it is even worst when it has audio drop out problems because the substituted channels isn't really the "same quality".... maybe.   No sure how many channels are impacted but its an issue with channel 1202 (CBS) when Bell decides to substitute the "YES TV" feed over the wheel of fortune program at 7 pm weekdays.   There appears to some sort of audio decode / sync issue of the stream.   I suspect the cbs channel is a "normal" video channel while the YES TV feed is a "rebroadcast streaming channel" much like some of the other channels that Bell recently "switched" from SD bandwidth to "HD" as part of the satellite "situation".  It has had jitter problems with the conversion.   In this case (substitution), the video is OK but the audio drops here and there (less than 1 second) as the decoder appears to have some issue with buffering / syncing.  

Anyone else notice this?   other channels?

[BellPatricia]

Good day @budwich 

Thank you for reaching out to the Bell community 🙂

When you notice this occur are you using a TV receiver (if so which model)? Or, are you using a different device with the Fibe TV app?

@BellPatricia 

[budwich]

I am using a sat receiver (9242).   Not sure when the problem started although its been happening for a while.   I would say when the substitution of yes tv started although we don't always watch that time slot as the program (in this case, wheel of fortune) can be "grabbed" at 3:30 on ntv.  It has no problems then as no substitution is happening as far as I know.

[budwich]

I was just watching the next time period (ie. 7:30 slot) on the same channel (1202).   Its jeopardy.   It is being substituted with yestv and has the same audio drop issue.   😞

[BellNick]

Hi @budwich 
We've been keeping an eye on this and our teams were not able to replicate the issue you are experiencing. We wanted to check in to see if you're still experiencing this issue or if it has gone away?
Looking forward to hearing back.

[budwich]

Thanks for the reply... I am just watching the channel now (7:00pm tuesday).   It is still happening.   I haven't been watching very much at this time slot as we normally try to catch the program earlier.

As far as I can tell, the hdmi stream is basically ok as the picture doesn't appear to have an issue but somehow the audio gets dropped... for a split second here and there.   Again only when the channel (in this case 1202) is operating in substitution mode.   Other wise, the channel does not have a problem with "regular programming".

ADDED:   can you tell me what the incoming bit rate for the audio stream (at the "bell pickup / feed") is on the yestv substitution channel?

[budwich]

As a side note and somewhat related, channel 509 (cnbc which was an "SD resolution channel" and is now some sort of "720p type" channel) has some sort of video issue (jitter) while the audio is ok.   It appears that the channel is not a regular broadcast channel but is some form of a streaming channel in its origin (based on my limited experience of seeing this channel "elsewhere" / on the internet) and is thus similar to yestv channel that this thread was commenting about.   

[dks]

What you are seeing may well be attributable to a geomagnetic storm event. There currently a Geomagnetic Storm Watch (G2) issued for Dec. 3/4 by NOAA. While these storms can cause the Northern Lights over much of Canada, they can also affect communications satellites by disrupting equipment and interfering with radio signals. This may cause the symptoms you are seeing. Here is a good summary of the effects of geomagnetic storms on everything from power systems to radio to fibre optics. 

[budwich]

Well that could be true... BUT how does the storm know to cause the problem when I am watching a certain channel / program as opposed "blanket issue" across many different channels.   Further, why are there issues with portions of the signal and not the entire channel signal (ie. video and audio).... pretty impressive "selective geo storm".  Anyway, from other threads in similar issues somewhat related to bell's migration to another satellite and signal characteristic (SD versus HD, compression, etc), it would appear they have a few "underlying" issues in the area... some of which they seem to have addressed in some fashion although the specifics of any solution seems to be "thin".   I realize that the receivers involved in most of these observations are old so expectations are somewhat capped.   At the same time, if the issue does indeed exist and can be addressed, then I hope that this forum is a way to get there.   It can only help Bell and its customers in terms of satisfaction with the service.

[dks]

Geomagnetic storms can affect one segment of a radio signal but not another. Or the whole spectrum. My understanding is that Bell staff do monitor the forum, as you have seen already posted here, do relay issues to the relevant team and respond with any appropriate information they receive.