Over the last couple of weeks many of our DirecTV viewers complained that there was a serious problem with the sound on KESQ-TV. We had no complaints from over-the-air, Dish network satellite, or cable TV viewers. But we had plenty of complaints from DirecTV viewers.
The sound would go "brrrrrrrrp" at random intervals, followed by a second of silence, and then would continue on until the next "brrrrrrrrp." And the sound would go out of synchronization with the lips. It made our programming look like a badly-dubbed Japanese Godzilla movie. Trying to figure out what caused this was a maddening puzzle.
I did some online research and found that this problem is happening in many DirecTV markets and the satellite company is trying to find a solution. It involves the equipment they use to translate our digital TV signal to fiber, then on to the satellite and into your home.
We worked very closely with DirecTV's engineering department, Heartland Video, our equipment vendor in Plymouth, Wisconsin; and the folks at Dolby laboratories to finally find a solution. DirecTV collected digital audio samples and sent them on to Heartland. Heartland technicians advised us to reduce the bit-rate of the Dolby 5.1 Encoder we have in our digital TV rack. Lo and behold, once we did this the "brrrrrrrp" went away, and so did lip sync problems that accompanied it.
We've passed this information on to DirecTV. Perhaps they can use it in similar situations. TV stations have Dolby 5.1 encoders all over the country, so this could be a common problem.
"I can hear clearly now"....to paraphrase the song. All's serene in the Desert again.
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