Contributor I

Answered

Beam and LG OLEDs -Audio delay over Dolby DIgital still a problem?

32 replies
13407 views

Has anyone connected a Beam to an LG OLED tv and tested whether the audio is delayed when using Dolby Digital? My Beam is scheduled to arrive tomorrow (canceled my B&H order and ordered on the Sonos site today). I have a 2016 LG E6P with the latest firmware (5.30.30). I wasn't aware of the Dolby Digital issue until I started reading these forums. I have read and watched a bunch of reviews of Beam and no one mentioned this issue, which is curious. You would think at least one reviewer would have used an LG OLED when testing the Beam. Hoping it won't be an issue.;)

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Ryan SAnswer

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi everyone,

When it comes to the lip sync, the Beam should be playing your audio as soon as it gets it, with a very minimal delay about 30ms (which is around 1.8 video frames at 60fps, considered to be imperceivable). The timing of the audio is based on when the TV sends it. We've found that some TVs have trouble sending Dolby Digital audio over HDMI-ARC while at the same time processing high-quality video.

In some cases, the manufacturer has addressed it already, and an update for the TV could solve the issue. I'd suggest making sure your TV is updated, and it would be good to contact the manufacturer to ask if they are investigating an audio delay issue with connected home theater devices playing audio.

Some TVs you can clear up any delay simply adjusting the settings can help improve things.

I'd suggest starting with checking the settings on the source device of your video that's behind. If it's a cable box or source where you can edit the audio settings, see if you can set it specifically to Dolby Digital 5.1. Also if the TV has any processing or audio effects that are adding extra processing like an ULTRA mode or Clear Audio+, try turning those off.

If you're not concerned about getting Dolby Digital audio, you can set the source device to PCM or Stereo and the delay will likely go away, as that format is easier to transmit.

Also, we're happy to take a look at your setup with you and see if we can help. We'd also like to get more details on what setups are seeing this sort of issue so we can investigate with the manufacturers further. I'd invite you to give us a call on our support line so we can work on this together.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

Show previous replies

P

pantspants

Lyricist I

Has anyone seen any progress here? I have a Beam and a LG C8 OLED. Through trial and error I was able to get the Apple TV to output 5.1 with no delay but my Xbox One has a beyond crazy delay in 5.1 which really sucks.

R

Ronnieuk

Lyricist III

Got the same problem with my Panasonic DX750B. No delay on pcm with the beam but very noticeable on bitstream. On my firestick it's only slight but on virgin it can vary between slight and well over a second. Flipping channels can cause it to get worse but also makes it better when it's really bad if I quickly change channel and back again. But it's a hassle and shouldn't be necessary.

Seems its multiple TV manufacturers and mostly sonos soundbars with this problem. Why do other soundbars seem to work ok? Some people in other threads have done tests and had no issue so the common denominator seems to be the sonos.

I have a few days left to return this to Amazon if I don't find an answer as £400gpb is too much for an out of sync soundbar.

Ken_Griffiths

Ronnieuk,

I think Ryan S. sums things up perfectly in his initial answer above. Some TV's internal processors cannot deal with and passthrough the audio stream quickly enough on some models. I will assume you have disabled the Panasonic audio enhancement features and have the latest firmware update for the TV, as suggested.

The proof of this matter, would be to get an audio splitter and connect the TV peripherals, like your VirginMedia TiVo Box for example, direct to the Beam using the optical adapter and see how that by bypassing your TV completely, the audio would be in perfect sync.

If you search the forum a number of users have successfully got that method to work for them.

R

Ronnieuk

Lyricist III

Just using pcm for now as there's no delay. I appreciate the help but buying extra equipment is a joke after buying an expensive TV and soundbar.

Been reading on a few sites which say pcm is fine as it just means that the beam is doing the processing instead of the TV. TBH I am no audiophile but I have a good ear and setting my TV to pcm sounds the same as bitstream. I might be wrong but have been reading everywhere and it's only this forum that says bitstream is gonna make a difference. Everywhere else says the only difference is which device is processing the signal.

C

CrispyRowe

Lyricist III

Just usin pcm for now as there's no delay. I appreciate the help but buying extra equipment is a joke after buying an expensive TV and soundbar.

Been reading on a few sites which say pcm is fine as it just means that the beam is doing the processing instead of the TV. TBH I am no audiophile but I have a good ear and setting my TV to pcm sounds the same as bitstream. I might be wrong but have been reading everywhere and it's only this forum that says bitstream is gonna make a difference. Everywhere else says the only difference is which device is processing the signal.

C

CrispyRowe

Lyricist III

What’s super annoying is that this would actually be a valid solution, and resolve the issue in almost all cases, if SONOS weren’t stubbornly refusing to support 6 channel PCM.

@Ryan S Will this ever be added? I appreciate SONOS are limited in their ability to resolve the root cause of these problems, but you seem to be taking very little action with changes you are able to make to help the situation.

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

I'm always happy to pass along the request for LPCM 5.1 support, though I'm not sure how many TVs are able to pass PCM with anything more than stereo audio. It's always good to ask, though I can't provide a roadmap or idea on if it'll be added one day.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

A

Atlas

Lyricist II

Just got my beam and I am using it with a LG OLED B7. I haven't noticed any lip sync issues so far. I am playing from an Apple TV 4k (set to output only dolby digital) and passing the audio via ARC (TV passthrough set to auto, if you set to PCM you will only get 2 channels instead of 3 on the beam).

@Ryan S As far as I am aware it's not possible to pass LPCM 5.1 via ARC, ARC doesn't support the bandwidth and neither does optical (new eARC supports but few TVs have it). I also can't find a way to have the Sonos Beam take an HDMI directly (not via ARC) even if that HDMI is only carrying audio. So it seems due to the input limitations on the beam there is literally no way to get uncompressed 5.1 through to the beam 😞 The limited inputs would still support DTS 5.1 if Sonos added the codec support. Considering the many limitations this would be the least Sonos could do for it's customers.

But unfortunately these limitations still leave Nintendo switch owners and anything really that needs 5.1 PCM out in the cold. Personally I won't bother adding surrounds to my Beam because of these limitations. As far as I know this is why most decent soundbars include multiple HDMI in's and have the soundbar be the hub that passes just the video through to the TV rather than using ARC. This also helps with lip sync issues but brings in new complications like having to find a soundbar that has 4k dolby vision passthrough for instance...

TLDR: The beam is a great 2.0 soundbar but do your research in a big way if you plan on adding to it or want 5.1

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi Atlas, you're correct, the Beam only has an HDMI-ARC connection, and is designed to receive the audio through there, linked with the TV directly. The industry is very slowly adopting eARC, as you said. It's only currently being used for future-proofing, where it's used, since not much out there makes use of it.

isn't the Switch outputting LPCM 5.1 via HDMI in already? I was under the impression HDMI could take the bandwidth for that, but I could be wrong.

As to using the Beam with surrounds, they add a lot to the audio, especially when you can get Dolby Digital to the Beam. Most streaming services these days use Dolby Digital, and most TVs that I've worked with from the last 3-4 years have all been able to pass it over HDMI, including the LG OLEDs.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

A

Atlas

Lyricist II

You are correct HDMI can carry 5.1 LPCM but apparently the arc hdmi port on the beam won’t accept a std full hdmi audio (not arc) so that’s where the hope lies if they can firmware update the beam to support a std hdmi input and accept 5.1 LPCM, then I think we could split off the HDMI with an extra piece of hardware not ideal but a potential workaround.

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community