Strato V black screen and audio cutout issues

[bkorek]

Hi DLCPhoto, everything has been working well for me since my Strato V received the update. As I understand it, the Strato V detects that my projector does not have Dolby Vision and plays movies in HDR10 for me automatically.

- Brian

 

[DLCPhoto]

I’ve watched a lot of movies and some tv since the December update and I have only had audio drop out since. It was in Desolation of Smaug during the barrel river rapids sequence at around 50m when the one dwarf goes to open the gate. Couldn’t reproduce it when I rewound though. Haven’t had interop issues either.

The one big remaining issue is that some DV movies have some errors. Disney movies, and at least so far it has been Disney for me, have desaturated colors, specifically red. It kind of looks like it’s in Rec 709/gamma sometimes instead of PQ/Rec 2020. But that’s already being investigated.

I also watched the Equalizer trilogy last few days and Equalizer 2 still has a ton of brightness fluctuations in DV all throughout the movie, while EQ3 does not.

Thanks for the reply. Was that the Desolation of Smaug a Dolby Vision title? I wouldn't be downloading or playing the Dolby Vision versions, so I'm trying to confirm if the audio dropout issues are limited to Dolby Vision downloads, or if they occur with SDR and HDR10 downloads as well.

I'm also assuming/hoping that the brightness fluctuations are also Dolby Vision downloads only, not HDR10 downloads.

 

[Jin-X]

Thanks for the reply. Was that the Desolation of Smaug a Dolby Vision title? I wouldn't be downloading or playing the Dolby Vision versions, so I'm trying to confirm if the audio dropout issues are limited to Dolby Vision downloads, or if they occur with SDR and HDR10 downloads as well.

I'm also assuming/hoping that the brightness fluctuations are also Dolby Vision downloads only, not HDR10 downloads.

Yeah both were DV though the audio dropouts used to happen on either.

 

[Wal99]

I still have occasional audio drop outs on all formats.

 

[Edub]

I have occasional drop outs and freezes when I skip forward or rewind. The time stamp also jumps to the end of the movie if I fast forward a little bit.

 

[rafaelsmith]

I have not had a audio drop out since update...but I only watch HDR10 versions of movies. I still have the odd color differences/dimming if I watch DV version of some titles...so I just avoid them since they really are of now benefit to projector. I will probably miss out on ATMOS for a few titles thou.

 

[DLCPhoto]

I appreciate the most recent replies. It sounds like the audio dropout problem is still present, and not limited to DV, which is what I was wanting to know. I may wait a bit, and hopefully firmware updates will get these issues resolved.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

I’ve only watched one movie since the update, IF and had a couple of very quick dropouts with the Strato V converting DV to HDR10 although I may try the LLDV update on the Lumagen to compare the difference and see if it’s the conversion causing issues.

Without it being repeatable I imagine it’s much harder to diagnose and could be something else in the chain as my Zidoo Z1000 Pro will also randomly have dropouts for no apparent reason and rewinding doesn’t do it again. Either that or just standard HDMI fuckery and more things in the chain create more chances for it to glitch.

 

[Trevor]

Soooo...not quite as good as I hoped. We've been watching Marvel movies on the V in DV and have experienced a monster full 3-second audio drop during Iron Man (during the press conference at the end), zero issues with Iron Man 2, and had a mini-stutter mid movie then another 3-second audio drop at end of Thor (when he drops the shield prior to confronting the destroyer). Never lost video though...it kept truckin' when the audio took a break.

Also, blacks were not lifted on these titles - no change to the config after watching Terminator.

Also watched The Incredible Hulk in HDR on my C and of that was trouble free (of course).

I've had a pretty good run lately on the DV front since this previous post...no issues whatsoever on 8 Marvel movies straight (first Capt America through Doctor Strange). Not sure if anything has happened in the background (outside of the OS update) but it's working for me.

 

[SJHT]

I wish there was some type of test mode for these kinds of issues. Example, plug your Strato DIRECTLY into the Terra bypassing your network. That could then rule out issues like this. I know… Easier said than done!

 

[Packers]

I do get audio drops with my V on occasion, whether its HDR10 or DV. I still have not heard back on the DV issues with muted colors at times. I opened a trouble ticket a few months ago. So for now, I have stopped making purchases until the issues are resolved.

 

[Jin-X]

I do get audio drops with my V on occasion, whether its HDR10 or DV. I still have not heard back on the DV issues with muted colors at times. I opened a trouble ticket a few months ago. So for now, I have stopped making purchases until the issues are resolved.

Have you seen it in other studio releases besides Disney ones (MCU, Star Wars, Fox, Pixar etc)? It’s something I’ve wondered if it’s isolated to them or it’s just a coincidence borne out of the popularity and wide net of their catalog.

 

[Packers]

Have you seen it in other studio releases besides Disney ones (MCU, Star Wars, Fox, Pixar etc)? It’s something I’ve wondered if it’s isolated to them or it’s just a coincidence borne out of the popularity and wide net of their catalog.

I only had a few discs to compare to the V, and they were Disney releases.

 

[DaveN]

Had audio dropouts at 1:49 watching The Matrix Reloaded not DV. Went back a minute and replayed without incident.

 

[DLCPhoto]

I was almost getting ready to pull the trigger here, having come to accept the 1080p UI, but these reports of audio dropouts, with or without DV, are of concern.

People who experience problems will obviously report them, and for this reason they will likely be over-represented here. But are people with sporadic audio dropouts 1% of Strato V owners, 10%, 50%, 90%?

Are there lots of people who never see these? I guess a poll might provide some idea of the prevalence of these issues.

 

[Trevor]

I've had a pretty good run lately on the DV front since this previous post...no issues whatsoever on 8 Marvel movies straight (first Capt America through Doctor Strange). Not sure if anything has happened in the background (outside of the OS update) but it's working for me.

And then we watched Guardians Vol 2 and had a full 2-second audio drop when

Spoiler

Groot is getting bullied by the ravagers.

I'd hate to be the crew troubleshooting this. Super intermittent - yet important to get right.

Side note...the colors were outstanding on GotG V2 in DV on my Sony Z9K TV. I mean...wow...I've seen this so many times in many formats (Blu, 3D, & 4K disc) and I can't recall it ever looking this rich. That and it made great use of HDR. The red lasers in the finale were incredible.

 

[Packers]

I wonder if this has nothing to do with DV or HDR10. But more to do with atmos. Are these drops occurring with atmos playback, or also with 5.1, PCM, etc.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

I wonder if this has nothing to do with DV or HDR10. But more to do with atmos. Are these drops occurring with atmos playback, or also with 5.1, PCM, etc.

It could potentially be a Dolby issue, I remember Kodi had issues with high bitrate TrueHD/Atmos tracks for years that caused audio dropouts which is one of the main reasons I got a Zidoo over a Vero 4K at the time.

I watched Renfield yesterday which is HDR10 and again one single unrepeatable audio dropout. Same settings on my Lumagen as the Zidoo which has no dropouts with identical setup and both using the HDMI cables that came in the box so nothing fancy.

EDIT: Just went back to see which ones I had dropouts on before and which ones not, Transformers One and Deadpool 3 had no dropouts and both are Dolby Atmos but most TrueHD/Atmos discs were also fine in Kodi unless they went above a certain bandwidth which was mostly Disney stuff at the time so could still be something like that.

Or maybe it’s just completely random .

 

[Jin-X]

It could potentially be a Dolby issue, I remember Kodi had issues with high bitrate TrueHD/Atmos tracks for years that caused audio dropouts which is one of the main reasons I got a Zidoo over a Vero 4K at the time.

I watched Renfield yesterday which is HDR10 and again one single unrepeatable audio dropout. Same settings on my Lumagen as the Zidoo which has no dropouts with identical setup and both using the HDMI cables that came in the box so nothing fancy.

EDIT: Just went back to see which ones I had dropouts on before and which ones not, Transformers One and Deadpool 3 had no dropouts and both are Dolby Atmos but most TrueHD/Atmos discs were also fine in Kodi unless they went above a certain bandwidth which was mostly Disney stuff at the time so could still be something like that.

Or maybe it’s just completely random .

Wish I could help, but for me the December update took care of the 99.99% of it. Only 1 audio drop out that couldn’t reproduced and I have used it a lot since the update. Main thing I still want improved is the janky fast forward/rewind.

 

[Nick Beecham]

That's my experience too. In any event, on a completely different level to playing UHD discs which nearly all jammed - even those purchased brand new and played for the first time. This is the main reason I purchased the Strato V.