VIP7802 video freezing & audio delay

[Jazoulay]

Freezing of picture & sound delays seem to be increasingly an issue and indicate one of two potential issues due to Bell Bandwidth insufficiencies and streaming could be the problem. This looks like low cost net work exploitation from Bell not rendering expected quality. This problem is one that you’ll find in very low cost TV and Internet third party providers. Unless Bell addresses this inadequate TV transmission quality, Bell is incentivizing users to go with lower end services that have 5his very same issue.

[kibosh]

I seem to be having audio and video glitching still. It seems to be occurring less for me but definitely still happening. Really noticing during the leafs game on sportsnet tonight.  

I still have 1.13 firmware as well. 

[rlight57]

Hello Southender. Thank you for your posts regarding this issue. I am a new Bell customer and am having the exact same problem with audio glitches on the VIP7802 with the Giga Hub (HH4000). I've had Bell installers at my home twice to try and fix it and have asked to have this issue escalated to tech support as well, but no one has been able to fix it so far!

I'd appreciate knowing if you were ever able to get it fixed? This has been an exercise in frustration for me and the worst new customer experience that I've had with any company.

[kibosh]

It hasn’t been fixed for me yet. All of the issues I had when I got fibe tv in October remain.   Video/audio stuttering and lower volume when playing back recorded content after fast forwarding. Some channels are worse than others.  I find the 4k feeds for hockey particularly bad.

[Southender]

Exactly the same here. Nothing has improved or gotten better despite replacing both the receiver and the modem. Still the exact same audio stuttering periodically on every channel, some worse than others, some time of days more than others.

Bell Escalations can’t fathom what is wrong, I feel like they are hoping a future firmware update will fix the issue. In the mean time they are crediting me back the charge for Fibe TV every month this problem continues.

[rlight57]

Thank you for the update Southender. Today, I was able to contact Bell's escalation department, and they pushed through a firmware update (Ver. 15.1) for my modem. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem with audio dropouts while watching HBO programing via Crave accessed through the channel guide. For example, while trying to watch just one episode of HBO's House of Dragons, I counted 13 audio dropouts before I got fed up and stopped counting. Escalations informed me that new updates will be released this week for the fibeTV boxes, so I'll let you know if that fixes anything.

Please note that when I watch Netflix or Prime Video through Bell's fibeTV box, I have no problems at all with either 5.1 audio or video glitches. So, I know the problem is a Bell issue and not my A/V setup.

Also, I can confirm other reports of problems with the volume changing after rewinding or fast forwarding. In my case, I tried rewinding a recorded program and when I played it the audio changed to stereo at a lower volume instead of 5.1, like the same program was originally outputting when played. I've also had the audio stop completely even though the video was playing.

So, it seems like there are numerous issues that need to be fixed with this version of fibeTV.

[rlight57]

I've been checking, but I've not had any update come through on my fibe TV receivers as promised by Bell. Audio and video glitches are happening regularly on live and recorded programming plus Crave/HBO content. Netflix and Prime video play flawless through bell's fibe TV receiver though. So, it's completely a bell problem! Also, when rewinding or fastforwarding recorded content the audio constantly changes from 5.1 to stereo. It's very annoying and unacceptable...just like the constant audio/video dropouts.

No one at Bell has been able to fix these issues for me yet! Very sad.

[AlexS]

What TV and sound sys do you have? Is there any buzz sound or dropout as if sounds like KTLA when the audio changes?

[kibosh]

I noticed the led on the front of the box was flashing a magenta colour?  Powered it up and about a minute later it asked to reboot for an update.  I just got 3.5.578.1. The HDR issue is still there on my LG OLED. I can’t tell if the audio issues have been fixed yet. Will have to report back after watching for a while. 

[ryanisntrad]

sorry to say - i got that update a little over a month ago and it didnt fix anything at all. not sure why it took so long to hit your system

[Zip92]

I’ve had the VIP7802 for a month now and the audio glitching is an issue for me too. It only happens on the BellTV channels, and not the other apps. 

Skipping back 7secs or ahead 30secs seems to toggle the volume level between high and low. 

No fancy setup here. Just the 7802 connected to the TV and then the TV to Sonos Playbar. 

[kibosh]

Agreed. The audio glitching is not fixed. I do think the volume issue during playback of recorded programmes is fixed. I watched 3 different shows last night and did not notice the low volume issue at all.

[rlight57]

Bell sent me a new HDMI cable and asked me to connect their FibeTV server directly to my TV instead of going into my AV receiver. So, I rewired everything and the exact same problems with audio/video glitches still occur. Also, the problem still exists with the playback of recorded programs changing from 5.1 sound to stereo whenever the rewind or fast-forward is used. Late last week I was told the update to the FibeTV servers was coming this week. Now it appears that might not be the case. Bell has now booked the third service call my home this weekend to try and fix things, but I'm not optimistic that anything will change, as this clearly is a problem with their FibeTV hardware/software. Uggghhh....this has been a horrible experience.

[rlight57]

I see that my Bell FibeTV servers have updated to version 10.04.02.03.172 from 10.04.02.03.159. Unfortunately, it didn't fix any of the problem that I'm having. Pixelization when playing back recorded programs is now worse!

[Southender]

Yes, the consensus seems to be the problem is with the Surround Sound output. 

Turning it off fixes the problem for me on all my TV's. But that's not an acceptable solution - I specifically went with Fibe TV (vs the cheaper Fibe App) because I want 4K and Dolby Digital.

[Southender]

Voicemail from a Bell tech today. Says that a new modem firmware has been pushed to my GigaHub and new software is available for the VIP7802.

I've checked and my GigaHub is now on 1.16 and my VIP7802 is on 3.5.578.1. Will report back after I've tested it out.