Yeah we’ve been running 3.0 for almost a year now in Tampa!
Also in the Tampa market and frustrated that Plex won’t update their audio codecs to support ATSC 3.0!
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Per FCC those channels that have started to move to ATSC 3.0 are required to continue broadcasting in ATSC 1.0 for 3 to 5 years to give the local populace time to upgrade their reception devices to receive the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast, to include AC4 audio support. So while waiting for the legal teams to work on getting permission to legally use Dolby’s AC4 audio codec, switch back to the ATSC 1.0 broadcast and inform your local broadcasters that you don’t have the equipment to receive the AC4 audio part of their ATSC 3.0 broadcasts and don’t plan on purchasing new equipment for another 3 years.
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They are working on it: ATSC3.0 Broadcast and AC-4 Sound - #63 by gbooker02
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You are right that they still have their atsc1 channels. But where I live the signal quality on them makes them unwatchable. But with the improvements to atsc3, I have get all 4 network channels perfectly (minus sound) (: That is why I am anxious about them finalizing this update.
Not that it changes your situation, but as a FYI, if you are having trouble getting some ATSC 1.0 stations but can get all the ATSC 3.0 ones, the reason is likely because the “lighthouse” antenna where all the atsc 3.0 stations currently are is closer to you than where the 1.0 antenna is for the problematic station. In the future (many years from now) once they drop 1.0, the 3.0 stations will likely go back to where the 1.0 is broadcast from and you’ll have the same problem. Obviously not a near term problem of course.
That is what I thought at first, but here (Ann Arbor) The 1.0 and 3.0 both come from the same tower. It seems what is helping me is that 3.0 is better with multi-path interference, it is smarter at canceling out the slower/worse signals. huge improvements.
There’s another factor at play here as well that @memeringue hinted at. ATSC 1 uses 8VSB for its modulation scheme but ATSC 3 uses OFDM. The latter is more resilient against multi-path interference (where you get the signal coming directly to you and you also get a reflection of some other object slightly delayed). Additionally ATSC 3 has a periodic bootstrap signal which enables the receiver to characterize the channel (understand what’s happening to the signal on its route to the receiver) and compensate for multipath as well as fading. These add robustness to the signal.
Furthermore ATSC 3 also has the ability to encode its data with varying degrees of error correction for its multiple “pipes” where one carries an lower quality stream and others carry enhancement streams. So it is capable of making it so a weak reception allows you to see an HD picture but a strong reception allows you to see a UHD picture. I don’t know if this is actually used anywhere but its an interesting possibility.
So, being able to receive ATSC 3 when you can’t receive 1 is a very real possibility. The only concern that ATSC 3 gave me in terms of looking at its robustness is whether it would keep better integrity when the bitrate was at its maximum bandwidth (because ATSC 3 has a maximum bitrate of about 3 times that of ATSC 1)
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The Detroit ATSC 3.0 does not come from the same tower as 1.0. They (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, ‘TV 20’) do have a lighthouse location that they are all on, WMYD (tower 74211). From a general point in Ann Arbor, Rabbit Ears and FCC both show that tower as being the strongest reception. Given you are in a ‘fair’ reception area, not strong, any improvement in signal strength could be making the material difference in reception quality. But as the antenna locations and RX strength aren’t dramatically different as I’ve seen from some others who thought the same (that it was ATSC 3.0 making the difference when it was really tower location), it could also be that you do have some interference that the OFDM is helping with.
https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php?request=result&study_id=394355
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Hey nice. I appreciate the research! So I am half right (:
I have found a work around. Watch the 3.0 broadcast on the tv with great quality, and listen to the broadcast on my phone with the 1.0 audio (:
Maybe that is a work around Plex can do. Let me use the audio from a different channel!!
The odds of them being in sync are zero and none where I live.
You are right, they were off by what seemed like 2 seconds, still better than nothing. And that is correctable by the dvr.
I waited for years for ATSC 3 to arrive and fix my problem my area has with not receiving CBS. Now that my networks are all on Atsc3, CBS come in perfectly with no sound. Going back to 1.0 was never an option as it doesn’t come in. It’s ver frustrating.
It would be nice to have an eta for support on atsc-3 audio from Plex with a 3 month window.
Are the things blocking out of Plex’s control? Please assign resources to this enhancement
What would be nice while we are waiting for the work with Dolby to be finished is if the DVR actually just recorded the full transport stream. Then folks who want it could at least use the DVR and then watch the recording from something else that supports ac4 playback like VLC. I understand why it can’t play it back or transcode it, but I don’t understand why it doesn’t simply save the raw Transport Stream. It strips out the audio for unknown reasons.
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I just purchased the Plex Pass in hopes of running live TV through and also found out the hard way that 3.0 displays a beautiful picture, but no sound. Just posting to add another voice to the crowd begging for this to be fixed. I can only receive my CBS station on the 3.0 signal - the 1.0 won’t come in. All the others do fine on 1.0. Plex, I see the licensing issue - please do what you can to get us up and running. Please.
Also BTW, in desperation, I went and tried Emby out as someone mentioned the Beta is passing the sound. I signed up for a month of their premiere and at least on the Mac versions, both the beta and the release, the sound still doesn’t come through.
I’ve been loving Plex - but I really need this sound issue fixed. Help, Plex!
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I just purchased a Lifetime Plex Pass only to discover this issue after setting up new HD Home Run hardware. Plex specifically list the HDHR Quatro 4K as “Fully Compatible” for Live TV. Now I want a refund. This is not a good place for Plex to be sitting. Too many competitors have this sorted already. I’ve been using Plex for years and want to continue supporting them, but I’m angered that I didn’t know about this until after I’ve made financial investments. That’s bad on my part.
Plex, you need to get with the program and get this fixed.
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It is amazing the number of Plex users who can’t be bothered to read a forum thread.
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Let’s just be clear about what that post says. Plex is waiting. There is no indication anyone is “working” on anything, including driving the third party to deliver. Meanwhile others do appear to be figuring this out. We can’t blame consumers for missed expectations. This thread is over a year old and it’s not clear if we’ll be waiting another year or possibly longer. Lacking any other data, it feels to me like this just isn’t their priority, which I find unfortunate.
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That’s a whole lot of speculation.
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