Sound cutting out and periodic loss of surround channels after upgrading to 4.0
Answered
I have a home theater group set up with a Pulse Soundbar+ in front and speakers connected to a Powernode for surround. After upgrading to 4.0.2, I’m having issues when streaming music from both Tidal and Radio Paradise. The sound is cutting out periodically and I keep losing the surround channels completely. Sometimes it comes back but usually I have to reboot the soundbar to get all channels back.
I have checked diagnostics and all devices are upgraded to 4.0.2. Signal strength to the soundbar is good (-51 dBm) and the Powernode is directly connected via Ethernet cable. Since I was losing surround, I thought it might be an issue with the Powernode and because I have another Powernode for the patio, I swapped them. The problem persisted.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.
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Official comment
Hi Matthew
This actually does not sound 4.0 related but may be something else we have seen in a small handful of SOUNDBAR+ Cases.
Please destroy the Home Theatre Group, wait 5 minutes, reboot your SOUNDBAR+ (Settings, Diagnostics, Reboot) and once rebooted, recreate the group. If the problem persist, please then select Settings, Send Support Request in the App so our Support Crew can take a closer look.
If you forgot how, this was how you created the Home Theatre Group originally; https://support.bluos.net/hc/en-us/articles/360000220107-How-to-create-Fixed-Groups- -
Hi Matthew it is possible that during the firmware updates and all the reboots the Router has lost track of IP addresses, this does self heal when the IPs issued by the router expire but can take time depending on the routers lease time. You can try powering off your Bluesound devices, reboot the router and the turn your Bluesound equipment back on.
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Hi Tony & Seppi,
Thank you both for your rapid responses. I tried Seppi's suggestion first and it had no effect but then I saw the update from Tony, tried that, and so far it appears to have fixed the issue! The problem was intermittent so I'll need a few days to feel sure that it's resolved, but so far, so good. One other change I made is that the soundbar is now plugged directly into ethernet. However, I still experienced the problem after doing that, but before recreating the home theater setup. So it definitely appears that Tony's suggestion is what fixed the issue.
Thanks again for the quick turnaround!
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This happened to me last night watching a movie, powernode surrounds stopped after 30 mins or so.
Couldnt get it back up and running last night.
Tested again this morning with some atmos music and same again, the powernode surrounds stopped after approx 30 mins.
This time I pressed the play pause button on top of powernode and started to work again.
This leads me to think is the amplifier standby kicking in for the powernode surrounds but not the soundbar+ as that is working via earc?
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To follow up, I am still experiencing this issue where I lose surround on the Powernode. One way I have found to quickly fix it, is to toggle my Subwoofer off then back on in my Home Theater group. Yesterday I tried your approach, James, of pressing play/pause on top of the Powernode. That worked for me as well. I was hopeful that the recent upgrade to 4.2.6 would fix it, but it hasn't. Sometimes it plays for hours before cutting out, other times it happens within 15 minutes or so. And on occasion, instead of cutting out, it will get out of sync and I will have a noticeable delay/echo in the surround channels. Lastly, this seems to only affect me when streaming music, not watching a movie through eARC...
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Thanks for the additional info Bodi. For reference, my Soundbar+ and Powernode are both hardwired with ethernet cables. Only the Subwoofer is wireless.
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happened again to me last night watching a movie after 30 mins :0(
I need to test with amplifier standby turned off at some point but not great for the environment or my wallet!
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Recently I had a similar problem with a Node2 and an amplifier with "auto power down" activated.
The source of the problem was that my output volume signal was too low to keep the ampli alive.
I ramped up the volume of the Node2 a bit and the problem was solved.
Setting output to "fixed" may also work.
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Same issue. Extremely frustrating the “support” doesn’t just come out and explain exactly what the problem is and provide a timeline for a fix, instead it’s spend weeks of waiting for them to answer emails with paths that lead no where.
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Exact same issue here, has been happening since owning the system for 2 years!!
Pulse sound bar with 2 Pulse 2i in theater group.
temporary fix is play pause, virtual sound stage on then off or sub on then off.
Very frustrating
Also no permanent solutions from support.
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The only solution is plug the 2 Pulse speakers in with Ethernet cables. This fixes the problem but of course gives your “wireless” speakers twice as many wires as a traditional wired speaker. Someday he company will make amends for its false claims or a class action lawsuit will emerge.
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Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately not an option for my setup. I bought this system for its wireless capabilities. I'm disappointed.
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My powernode is wired to the internet via cat 5 and still drops off the surround sound after 30 mins.
I am convinced it is down to the power saving option amplifier standby.
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So after 30 mins (which is what I'm noticing) The pair of Pulse 2i go to sleep even with a live signal?......perfect
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Thats my theory yes, give it a few years and support will acknowledge this.
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Hi Rob
Please see the Offical Comment to send us a log file so our Support Crew may review. Please include the make and model of the TV along with the source of the content (TV's App, Apple TV) and the content itself (Netflix, OTA TV...)
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Currently experiencing a similar problem here.
Rynning Samsung Frame -> optical - > Pulse Soundbar (ethernet).
First noticed when making "Home Theatre group" with 2x Pulse Flex as surround. Heavy glitching after a few minutes. After destroying the group, rebooting WiFi and players, I tried with only the Soundbar again (no groups). It still cuts/glitches a bit, but mainly when sound is close to silence.
Also, adding a Powernode to the group, only makes things worse.
Only grouping the Soundbar (TV-optical) with the Powernode (for additional sound) works more or less similar to only playing the Soundbar (glitches at near silence).
Now trying this: TV -> HDMI e-ARC -> Powernode N330 fixed home theater grouping with 2 x Flex. That is: not using the Soundbar at all. Will try grouping later, but letting the Powernode handle the source (e-ARC).
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I was watching a movie again last night and rears dropped off after 30 mins as usual.
Kinda giving up using them as bluesound has been ignoring this bug for so many months now.
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Just sent yet another service request and log file. we'll see what comes of it. I've also noticed the WIFI signal the pulse 2i's receive from the soundbar is always weak even when only 10 feet apart. There is no microwave on the living room table either!
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I can appreciate that there is an issue to find and solve. @James, when you say "after 30 mins" did you send in a log file? And @Rob appreciate you sent in a log file on it. We have some folks looking at it, but as it is something that we see occasionally we haven't been able to reproduce yet. The key to solving the issue is finding it first.
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@Andrew I will gladly mail you my soundbar, sub and two pulses or welcome a tech into my home in PDX. To date I’ve had zero effective support and with this drop out issue and it was only “fixed” when I connected everything via Ethernet. The problem is clearly a network issue in home theater group as the logs on the pulses show poor connectivity a foot from a router when in the group when not hardwired. Anyways offer is open.
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@Geoff, I appreciate the rich offer, the issue that needs to be found is in the audio subsystem (we think) as the same mechanism that the soundbar and flexes use is the same as the PSB alphas and they are pretty much bullet proof. So this has something likely to do with specifically the HT mechanisms. We have the hardware, but it is in the router, configuration or specifically the network conditions that causes it to change/stop transmitting. That's why I mentioned previously when James said "after 30-mins" as that is a place in time
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Hi Andrew, I have diagnostics turned on it it helps, I have just submitted a request via the bluesound app ref #415453.
I have reported this before 4 months ago as part of case #395231.
I am super confident it is down to amplifier standby causing the issues.
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Hi James, thanks for the additional feedback, I'll definitely pass it along. I'll collect both of the reference points and pass them along as well, more logs are good logs and thanks for sending!
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Glad you guys are working on it! Hopefully we can get it sorted.
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Just received an email from support stating its my television settings.
Quote
In this case, kindly check your TV's HDMI settings and disable the Enhance mode (HDMI eARC) and set it to standard HDMI ARC, if possible.
If you are unable to find the settings above, then I would advise consulting the TV's owner's manual OR contacting the TV's manufacturer directly for further assistance from here.
If the issue persists, then kindly stream from TuneIn music service to check if you are experiencing the same issue.I've already stated that it is every source possible.
By the sounds of it I have to replace my 65 inch OLED.
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Hey Rob that sounds like support have told you utter rubbish!
Why would you be told to downgrade earc to arc ? They may as well tell you to watch movies in 720p.
I have just run a test, prior to setting up the theatre group I set my powernode amp standby to off.
Then I linked my soundbar + to powernode as a theatre group.
Set a timer for 40 mins and surround sound was still there.
I told BS 4 months ago this seems to be the problem.
I also have a 65 inch oled connected via earc.
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As suggested, you can check the TV Settings and set it to ARC mode rather than eARC mode and see if that helps. If you are unsure, how to do that, you can let Vivek know the make and model of the TV and he can assist you.
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quote from what hifi
It’s worth noting ARC doesn’t allow you to bitstream the full-fat high-quality codecs such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS:Xsoundtracks that you find on Blu-rays and 4K Blu-rays. It simply strips out the core 5.1 data stream. If you want this level of functionality, you’ll need HDMI eARC.
ARC can, however, allow you to receive Dolby Atmos audio from streaming services such as Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video, as these services embed Dolby Atmos in the lossy Dolby Digital Plus format, which ARC can handle.
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