No sound on one channel - Recordings only

[selowan]

I have a strange issue where recordings on one channel have no sound, it's channel 797 UpTv HD.

I recently had to delete and re-add this channel: due to cable company (Comcast) changes, I wasn't getting a guide update for this channel.  There were three other channels re-added at the same time, and they are all working fine.

Here's the odd thing: sound works fine when that channel is viewed live using the NextPVR client.

Also, sound is fine on recordings made on other channels, including others that were re-added at the same time.

My Audio Renderer is "Default (Recommended)"
Audio decoders are:
MPEG1 Audio: LAV Video Decoder
AC3 Audio: LAV Audio Decoder
E-AC3 Audio: Disabled
AAC Audio: Disabled
HE-AAC Audio: Disabled

This setup was fine for years.  I wondered about the disabled decoders, but if I get sound when viewing that channel live, it seems like decoding is working.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Mike
.

The attached log was taken when one such recording was in progress, Gilmore Girls, starting at 1500 PDT.

[selowan]

I found a workaround, maybe this will help someone in the future.

First, to clarify, I use VLC to view recordings most of the time, I should have mentioned that in the original post. .  It's a bit more configurable, e.g. closed caption font face and size, and it's bit more responsive skipping forward and back, but mainly it's a lightweight program that can be installed on laptop and taken on the road, along with NextPvr recording *.ts files copied from the NextPvr PC.

Anyway, tried to play a recording made from the problem channel in the NextPVR client, and the sound worked. The same recording had no sound when played in VLC. 

Just for S&G, tried changing the audio track in VLC from English to Spanish.  Now I get sound in English. SO , for Channel 797 UpHd:
VLC Soundtrack set to English: No sound
VLC Soundtrack set to Spanish: English sound.

Recordings made on other channels:
VLC Soundtrack set to English: English sound.
VLC Soundtrack set to Spanish: No sound -- or -- English sound.

Also noted that some shows have more audio channels for other languages, and sometime an English option is provided twice.

[sub]

It'll likely be a VLC bug, but could possibly something in the original broadcast too. I use VLC a lot in my day job, and it definitely has bugs.

When recording in NextPVR, it just takes a copy of whatever the broadcast includes. ie, it doesn't manipulate the audio streams etc, it's just a copy of whatever was sent. It might have multiple audio tracks etc, so could be totally normal to have english listed more than once.

VLC Soundtrack set to English: No sound
VLC Soundtrack set to Spanish: English sound.

It could be a case of the broadcaster setting the language settings incorrectly on their audio streams.

[selowan]

I came to the same conclusion, that the broadcaster has changed the way audio is encoded in programs for UpTv. 

Playing around with VLC settings I found a better fix: In Simple Preferences | Audio Settings, set the Output Module to DirectX Audio Output.  This enabled the English audio track on UpTv programs.  I spot checked the audio in several recordings from other channels, and they still work fine.