Question

Honestly...does everyone just live with lip sync delay?


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Incredibly frustrating. Trying to use Sonos PLAYBAR + SUB + 2 PLAY 1s for home theater. Have tried it on two different TVs (Samsung & Vizio) with HDMI inputted content (cable box & DVD player), also with internal apps native to each TV.

No matter what there's a millisecond delay between video lip flap and sound coming through the Sonos system. Before you ask, yes of course I've tried every possible way to adjust sound sync using both the settings within the Sonos app and also within the TV menus. I've read every Sonos forum post on it, and it's never conclusive and only offers suggestions to do what I've already tried. And believe me: I've tried it all.

Anyone? I had high hopes for Sonos because I can't run wires in my house to the particular area I need the surround speakers to be. Alas nothing's working and the only remaining to do is return the whole thing.

Disappointed! (Kevin Sorbo voice)

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59 replies

Userlevel 4
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Hate to sound like a broken record here but I have the same audio lag issue as well . Just had my brand new LG OLED55C
and brand new Sonos playbar 5.1 installed 2 weeks ago . Been working with Best Buy who installed it and a Tech at Sonos to try and resolve ? I hope they can fix this as I do really like the set up but the lag is very annoying . I'll let ya know the results .


Don’t LG TVs have an A/V Sync option on them?
Userlevel 7
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Hate to sound like a broken record here but I have the same audio lag issue as well . Just had my brand new LG OLED55C
and brand new Sonos playbar 5.1 installed 2 weeks ago . Been working with Best Buy who installed it and a Tech at Sonos to try and resolve ? I hope they can fix this as I do really like the set up but the lag is very annoying . I'll let ya know the results .


Don’t LG TVs have an A/V Sync option on them?

We've been looking into some trouble with the newer LG OLED TVs outputting Dolby with lipsync issues. Some of them will have lip sync issues playing that audio content on the TVs built in speakers too, not just devices connected to the optical connection. Our team's currently investigating so if you'd like to work with one of our technicians to make sure this is what you're experiencing I'd suggest that you give us a call on our support line.
Userlevel 4
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Hate to sound like a broken record here but I have the same audio lag issue as well . Just had my brand new LG OLED55C
and brand new Sonos playbar 5.1 installed 2 weeks ago . Been working with Best Buy who installed it and a Tech at Sonos to try and resolve ? I hope they can fix this as I do really like the set up but the lag is very annoying . I'll let ya know the results .


Don’t LG TVs have an A/V Sync option on them?

We've been looking into some trouble with the newer LG OLED TVs outputting Dolby with lipsync issues. Some of them will have lip sync issues playing that audio content on the TVs built in speakers too, not just devices connected to the optical connection. Our team's currently investigating so if you'd like to work with one of our technicians to make sure this is what you're experiencing I'd suggest that you give us a call on our support line.


Ryan, is there a list of Sonos-approved TVs? I find myself sensitive to a/v sync and would like my next TV to be able to work well with my Playbase and support adjustment for a/v sync.
Userlevel 7
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We don't have an official list, but there are some great suggestions here. From community recommendations. You can even ask about TVs in there and someone might have the answer for what you're looking for.
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I'll chime in, I use my Sonos 5.1 with an HDMI switcher. I didn't notice any lip sync issues with Rogue One movie from Netflix played from the Apple TV last night. It sounded amazing, it was at half volume and my wife made me turn it down 😞. My daughter was entranced though.
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RRG follow up . Spoke to Sonos tech , A couple times , he YES , in fact they do have an audio issue with LG TV's , others ?
They are working with me to correct this . Stay tuned .
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RRG follow up . Spoke to Sonos tech , A couple times , he YES , in fact they do have an audio issue with LG TV's , others ?
They are working with me to correct this . Stay tuned .


Would it not save so much headache just to use a switcher and take away any TV processing issues?
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Honestly i don't know , I am not a tv electronics guy . I will say that Best Buy nor Sonos neither offered that as an option .
They also are aware of the issue and are working on correcting it . Why should anyone have to add an extra expense to get correct audio sinc ?
I had the same problem on my new Vizio TV. I did some research and followed the recommendation to go into the Menus and set the Digital Audio out to PCM. That instantly fixed my lip sync problem!
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I would research a little bit about HDMI switching. Essentially the only thing your TV will do is output the video.

For example using a cable box:

Cable box HDMI going to Switcher Input. Switcher audio optical cable goes to sound bar. HDMI out from switcher goes to the TV. The TV will not be processing the sound. It's a $40 solution that's worth a shot IMO. If it doesn't work - return it.
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The bigger the TV, the further back you sit. The speed of light is faster that the speed of sound so the light (picture image) will get to you faster than the sound. Adding any delay via the app will only make the matters worse. The solutions are to (a) sit closer, (b) mute the sound and read lips, (c) wait for the Universe to upgrade the speed of light.
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Yes switching to PMC will fix it but then you lose Dolby digital , That not a fix IMO . I believe Sonos will find a solution to correct it . Will see . Thx .
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The bigger the TV, the further back you sit. The speed of light is faster that the speed of sound so the light (picture image) will get to you fast than the sound. Adding any delay via the app will only make the matters worse. The solutions are to (a) sit closer, (b) mute the sound and read lips, (c) wait for the Universe to upgrade the speed of light.

what in the wild world of sports are you talkin bout'
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I'm talking about the picture and audio not being in sync. My wife is more sensitive to this than I am. It's most annoying when watching a news program. We have a 65" TV and sit 20 feet away from the screen (playbar, playsub, dual play:3s for rear). However, the audio is behind the image, not in front of it. There is no setting to delay the image unless you have adjustment settings in the television itself. The Sonos settings of lip sync delay only magnify the problem by adding delay. What's needed is a delay for the picture. My old 7.2 audiophile setup (pre-Sonos), had an AV receiver that had lip sync adjustments that allowed added time or subtracted time per input. That worked. Now, I just feed my wife a few drinks til the images are delayed from her eyeball to her brain and then it's in perfect sync for her. Too many drinks, and we even get dual 65" Sonys!
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From what I gather from most posts regarding audio sync being behind the image, there just is no way to match up unless your audio is ahead of the video signal. I am wondering if anyone in the SONOS design facility might have thought about passing signal through the various SONOS devices that accept audio input from a television monitor to add an I/O pass through for video as well - most preferably HDMI - as that is where the industry standard is for consumer electronics passing imbedded audio with video. This way the video and audio can be retimed automatically internally in the device - or at least fine tuned in the app - to adjust audio sync without latency problems. Thought?
I have the exact same problem as SonosSJM and other users with the audio being behind the video. I have a 65" Sony tv, model XBR65X850c paired with a Sonos Soundbar. Like most others, the optical cable line is connected from the tv to the soundbar. The audio is consistently behind the video and everything I've tried hasn't fixed the issue. I hope this issue is somehow resolved by Sonos!
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RRG UPDATE , The only way around this issue is to turn off Dolby Digital until Sonos comes up with a correction for this .
Of coarse that is not a fix , but a work around . This also happens when watching a DVD so I don't believe its a TV problem .
I have spoke to them several times , they are aware of it and tell me they are working on it . But they cant tell me when an update to fix it will be available which forces me to make a decision soon or I wont be able to return the Sonos to Best Buy .
I will also say that The geek Squad has been out to try to correct this several times with no success , this is a Sonos issue in my opinion so we have to wait .
Stay Tuned .
RRG,

Try connecting your optical connection directly from the PLAYBAR to the DVD player, and see if there's a difference while playing a DVD. That would help nail down whether it is a Sonos issue or a TV issue.
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What is strange to me is that in an earlier post from Sonos after mine , and many emails back and forth from Sonos to me , They said that " yes " in fact they do have an issue with audio lag with certain LG tv's and they are working on it . Also it appears it is not just LG tv's from these posts . Even if going direct to the DVD player would help i'm pretty sure Sonos would have instructed me to try that , They have not , ? But then what , buy a different tv ?
I wouldn't go to that extent...but then again, if I were in the market right now, both Samsung and LG wouldn't be on my list of possibilities, due to the issues that so many have reported here in these forums. But I also recognize that I could 'fix" that issue with an HDMI splitter device before it goes in to the TV set. There's many folks here who do such a thing.

I'll be honest, I'm about 99% sure it's an issue on the TV set, and not the Sonos. I would expect to see reports from Sony users, RCA, Pioneer, Vizio, shoot, pick any other manufacturer out there. But I only see complaints from LG and Samsung users. And I've seen that one of them has already introduced an update earlier this year to address this issue in some of their TVs (not sure I remember which one it was, as it didn't impact either of my Vizio's). And there's been multiple posts about both companies recognizing that there is an issue, and that they're working on it.

But I really don't want you to take my random word on it at all. Do the test yourself, and satisfy yourself whether or not the issue is the TV set. You don't know me from Adam, and I don't want/need you to trust me, but instead be able to say "I've done the test, and these are the results I got".

The guys at Sonos are in a somewhat compromised position. They rely on partnerships with lots of random companies, from TV manufacturers to streaming companies. So they're somewhat beholden not to throw a partner under the bus when it's someone else's fault, as they want that company to continue to "tolerate/support" Sonos. So they may not just come out and say "it's the manufacturer's fault", especially if it is. My guess is that Sonos implemented the Dolby Digital spec to the letter, and these companies have inserted random things into it that make their own soundbars work well, but end up interfering with the Dolby Digital original specification, and hence Sonos' ability to deal with it.

In my mind, the PLAYBAR and PLAYBASE, for TV purposes, are pretty "dumb" speakers. i.e they take the signal that they're fed, and don't do any processing to them other than splitting out the signal to the various speakers (the full 5.1). So there's just not a lot of lag involved, evidenced by the fact that they work so well on almost all other TV sets. So, that leaves something before the optical signal is sent to the Sonos device. Of which there's several. Working back from the speaker is the TV set. And before that is many devices, a cable box, a DVD player, a whatever.

There's two commonalities in the setup. The soundbar and the TV set. Everything else is upstream from that. So if we assume that it's not an issue in the speaker, that leaves the TV set as a common device. So, as a test, let's remove the TV set's sound processing, and test whether it is an issue by taking sound directly from the DVD player to the speaker. And leave the HDMI signal carrying the video to the TV. That way, we've removed the TV set from the audio stream, and can prove (or disprove) that there's a problem with the audio processing of the TV set. If it's still delayed, then absolutely we should be flaying Sonos for an issue. If it's not delayed, then we should be flaying the TV manufacturer.

It's easy for me to say "well, it works for me" and brush you off. But that doesn't solve the problem in any way for you, and I want you to be effective in railing against the appropriate company, whether it is Sonos or someone else. So try the test, and determine for yourself.

If I'm wrong, and the test does point to Sonos, continue to be vocal. Call in to Sonos, and raise some hell. Get it fixed. But if it's not, take that same frustration and ire, and apply it to the correct place. In either case, you're 100% correct to be unhappy. I just want your energy pointed in the correct direction, without relying on my "word" to do so :)

And truly, I do hope this issue gets resolved. It's a constant irritant here in the boards, and I may be in the market for a new TV anyway soon, and would like to have all options open 🙂
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Thank you for the input , I will try it , but also note there are the same issues with Sony above . I fully understand the situation Sonos is in with respect to other manufactures and the support they provide but when we as a consumer go to Best Buy and spend thousands of dollars on new equipment we don't expect to have to go thru all this for it to work properly regardless of equipment type . If you would , please advise the exact connection sequence for the following .
1. Direct TV wireless box
2. LG OLED TV
3. DVD PLAYER
4. SONOS 5.1 W / SOUND BAR
Thanks,
My suggestion is only for testing purposes, not a full time deal. To identify the culprit.

My current setup is the DirecTV box and DVD player connected via HDMI to my Vizio, and then the PLAYBAR is connected to the Vizio via optical. But in the past, I've identified an issue with the Vizio by connecting my optical cable directly to the DirecTV box, and identified that it was the Vizio having issues with re-initializing the data stream on the optical output when switching between SD and HD channels. And that was on only one of the two Vizios I had, which gave me a pretty good idea it was a problem with that particular TV's audio processing stream.
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I understand . Again what erks me is the GEEK guys FROM BEST BUY have been out to address this at least 4 times and none could fix the issue . Ya know there suppose to be the experts and also I assume work with sonos directly ? All I get is ,
( WELL WE CAN TAKE IT BACK OR CHANGE IT OUT OR TRY ANOTHER TV ) I'm also having issues with my right rear speaker cutting out , which by the way Best buy is installing a brand new Sonos system today to try and fix that and the delay . Not sure it will fix either ? Stay tuned .
Yea, I'm not a fan of the Geeks, or the salesmen at Best Buy. Even here in the silicon valley, they just aren't very knowledgeable. But then again, someone who would be working for relative minimum wage isn't someone I'm going to rely on for a lot of information.

I hope that you get one of the ones who isn't the standard, and can help figure things out.
Hi

We set our SAMSUNG KS8000 audio delay settings without a hitch when we first set up the SONOS sound system. All was well until the latest SONOS software update. We've been unable to get lip sync accurately matched. It's the same 'need a negative audio delay' issue that many people have. We have set Samsung TV audio delay to 0 and Sonos to 0. There is still a minimal delay and unfortunately I am one of those OCD type people that cannot unsee the delay and I fixate on it....so frustrating! We've noticed that there is a different delay from channel to channel and I can't watch some channels any more as it's infuriating.

Did anyone ever find a satisfactory solution?

Maybe either TV or Home theatre systems manufacturers should come up with an inline processing unit with large memory and storage that will accurately sync both video and audio before outputting through TV and speakers. Come on INNOVATORS, get developing to perfect your products.