Question

Audio sync issue with Sonos Arc and Philips OLED903 TV

  • 25 August 2020
  • 10 replies
  • 3435 views

I have upgraded from a Sonos Playbar (probably the best purchase I have made) to the Sonos ARC with the view to obtaining Dolby Atmos.  The Arc is connected to two Play One’s as surround speakers.  I have the Arc connected to the an HDMI ARC port (4) on the TV via the supplied HDMI cable.  I have a Sky Q box connected to HDMIARC 1 and an Apple 4k streamer connected to HDMIARC2.  The TV is able to have HDMIs 1 and 2 set to HDMI 2.1 which is enabled.  I get significant lipsync issues with all sources including the inbuilt Netflix and Prime Video apps on the Philips TV.  The audio sync issue is in the opposite direction to the adjustments that can be applied to the TV and SONOS ARC so I have no way to alter through settings.  If I switch to optical using the supplied adapter, the sync issue disappears so it is HDMI related although I am unsure whether the issue lies with the TV or the ARC.  I also had no prior issues with the Playbar which was Optically connected.  Dolby Atmos wise, I have only been able to get this via the Sky Q box and with audio output on the TV set to Dolby Digital Plus.  Switching to Multichannel (Bypass) which is what I thought would be needed stops dolby Atmos from Sky Q (based on the lack of Dolby Atmos displaying in the S2 app).  I suspect the apps on the Philips TV do not support Dolby Atmos so I am not overly concerned on that front however I cant get the Apple TV to even display the Dolby Atmos settings.  I know the TV supports it from external sources or the Sky Q wouldn’t work.  I have purchased a new HDMI cable for the Apple TV just in case but it made no change.  I did look to return the ARC as I do not see Philips updating addressing anything in the TV and I am not sure Sonos sees an issue with the lipsync on the Arc.  However the fact I can drop back to optical means at least I have an option whilst I pray for Sonos and or Apple to update things and or I change the TV in the future.  I would find it difficult to move away from Philips and lose the Ambilight which I live so i would like to know if anyone has an ATV4K working with an OLED philips and the ARC obtaining Dolby Atmos and no lipsync issues.  I may well try the Fury Arcana if I cant find any other option.  I do wish that Sonos had looked to provide more HDMI inputs on the ARC and at the price, as others do this it would have solved my issue and also provided better value for money.  The connectivity of the ARC I do think is an issue and from what I have seen, there are significant compatibility issues with ARC owners based around issues with the TV which could have been avoided by more HDMI inputs.  Having spent £800, I do begrudge having to spend a significant amount of money on the FURY Arcana and a high quality HDMI switch just to get the functions I would have expected from the Arc.  I welcome any comments and any confirmations from other Philips TV owners.


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10 replies

I have upgraded from a Sonos Playbar (probably the best purchase I have made) to the Sonos ARC with the view to obtaining Dolby Atmos.  The Arc is connected to two Play One’s as surround speakers.  I have the Arc connected to the an HDMI ARC port (4) on the TV via the supplied HDMI cable.  I have a Sky Q box connected to HDMIARC 1 and an Apple 4k streamer connected to HDMIARC2. 

 

 

Not really important, but your TV is only going to have a single HDMI-ARC port, not several.  It seem like you have it connected correctly though

 

 

The TV is able to have HDMIs 1 and 2 set to HDMI 2.1 which is enabled.  I get significant lipsync issues with all sources including the inbuilt Netflix and Prime Video apps on the Philips TV.  The audio sync issue is in the opposite direction to the adjustments that can be applied to the TV and SONOS ARC so I have no way to alter through settings.  If I switch to optical using the supplied adapter, the sync issue disappears so it is HDMI related although I am unsure whether the issue lies with the TV or the ARC.  I also had no prior issues with the Playbar which was Optically connected.

 

 

This sounds like your TV is doing additional audio processing to cause the delay.

 

 

  Dolby Atmos wise, I have only been able to get this via the Sky Q box and with audio output on the TV set to Dolby Digital Plus.  Switching to Multichannel (Bypass) which is what I thought would be needed stops dolby Atmos from Sky Q (based on the lack of Dolby Atmos displaying in the S2 app).  I suspect the apps on the Philips TV do not support Dolby Atmos so I am not overly concerned on that front however I cant get the Apple TV to even display the Dolby Atmos settings.  I know the TV supports it from external sources or the Sky Q wouldn’t work.  I have purchased a new HDMI cable for the Apple TV just in case but it made no change.  I did look to return the ARC as I do not see Philips updating addressing anything in the TV and I am not sure Sonos sees an issue with the lipsync on the Arc.  However the fact I can drop back to optical means at least I have an option whilst I pray for Sonos and or Apple to update things and or I change the TV in the future.  I would find it difficult to move away from Philips and lose the Ambilight which I live so i would like to know if anyone has an ATV4K working with an OLED philips and the ARC obtaining Dolby Atmos and no lipsync issues.

 

 

I don’t have ATV4K or Philips, so can’t provide any insight there specifically.  However, I would not expect them to make changes.  Neither has enough motivation to satisfy the Sonos market.  Sonos has said they will adopt LPCM, which may help you out as I understand it.

 

  I may well try the Fury Arcana if I cant find any other option.  I do wish that Sonos had looked to provide more HDMI inputs on the ARC and at the price, as others do this it would have solved my issue and also provided better value for money. 

 

 

I’ve preorder Arcana myself and looking forward to it.  I get how having HDMI inputs would make these easier in the short term, but it also means that the Arc now becomes a bottleneck for your video sources.  Sonos would control HDMI switching, and need to be able to handle/pass through all your video requirements now and in the future.  I like the idea of having a separate device, or devices that make sure audio goes to Sonos and video to the TV without either device having to do any processing or passthrough.

 

The connectivity of the ARC I do think is an issue and from what I have seen, there are significant compatibility issues with ARC owners based around issues with the TV which could have been avoided by more HDMI inputs.  Having spent £800, I do begrudge having to spend a significant amount of money on the FURY Arcana and a high quality HDMI switch just to get the functions I would have expected from the Arc.  I welcome any comments and any confirmations from other Philips TV owners.

 

Hi Danny.  I really appreciate you taking the time to reply in detail and agree with the points raised especially the additional ports on the ARC being a bottleneck which I hadnt considered in the past.  It does look like the Arcana may be the answer to keep the switching and conversions away from the ARC and TV.  From what i have read so far, the Arcana plus a switch will be a good robust solution and it appears even an upgrade of TV wouldnt guarantee a working solution which I do think the Arcana would at a fraction of the cost.  Im off to review preordering (sadly I think Nov for shipping to the UK) and a suitable 4 input switch.

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I have recently purchased both the OLED Philips805 TV and Sonos Arc, which I thought would be simple solution to less wires and a cleaner set up than my previous 5.1 set up. The apps on the TV work perfectly and I am getting Atmos DD+ which I’m more than happy with. The problem is trying to watch TV via my V6 Virgin Media box, where Dolby 2.1 and 5.1 Lags behind the picture. It is beyond frustrating! It also looks like my Apple TV box will suffer the same lag, which is also very disappointing. 

Suffering the same issue here. Philips Amblight, Apple TV and Sonos Beam (connected via HDMI Arc). Constantly fiddling with the settings across all 3 devices is driving me mad, without resolving the even more frustrating audio sync issues. 
 

Has anyone found a fix/ workaround yet? (Other than the added expense of the HDFury)
 

I have not tried connecting the Sonos by optical yet.

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The optical cable fixes the issues for external devices, but you won’t get Atmos which means it’s no long term fix. As it stands on the Arcana can fix the issue, but you will need a switch as well by the sounds of it. I’m waiting to see the reviews of the Philips Fidelio B95 & B97, if the sound is as good as the Arc I will look to make the swap. 

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I just clicked, you are using the Beam, I imagine the optical lead will fix all the issues for you.

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Philips don’t appear to sell TVs in the USA, so there are no details on the rtings.com site for any Philips TV that I could see.

This is not the only report of this issue on Philips TVs, so unless you can get Philips to acknowledge the issue and do a firmware update (eg like Samsung), using optical is your easiest “fix”.

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Have Samsung fixed the issues with their TVs? Was this done with a firmware update?

Apparently on some models, perhaps not in all, and apparently not in all regions. I’d assume that each “line” has different electronics which require different firmware updates. 

The optical cable fixes the issues for external devices, but you won’t get Atmos which means it’s no long term fix. As it stands on the Arcana can fix the issue, but you will need a switch as well by the sounds of it. I’m waiting to see the reviews of the Philips Fidelio B95 & B97, if the sound is as good as the Arc I will look to make the swap. 

You’re absolutely correct; connecting Beam to my Philips 65PUS6754 using the optical cable fixed the audio sync issues (thanks for the tip!). 

I am now wondering if the audio sync issues when connected via HDMI Arc had anything to do with the Dolby Atmos setting switched on on Apple TV (given Beam does not support Dolby Atmos)?