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Prodan
Avid Contributor I
November 3, 2017

If you're experiencing audio delay issues, read this

I've been living with lip sync issues (audio behind the video) since I got my Playbar about a year ago but I finally decided to do something about it. After multiple conversations with Sonos support and the LG's support people (they kept blaming each other for the audio delay), I decided to email Sonos' CEO about the issue.

After a few hours, I got a reply back from him, CCing a team manager who was going to look into the issue. We scheduled a call and he had me send various diagnostics to him. He said that the engineering team was going to investigate and get back to me.

A week later, I got an update. He told that they are still working on the issue. He also said that only one other person had reported the same issue (I assume that means that only one other person with an LG TV). So, if you're having audio delay issues and you've tried all other troubleshooting, reach out to Sonos support and have them look into it. If it helps you might mention my reference number, which has already been escalated:

Keep in mind that my setup is pretty straight forward (LG C6 OLED TV connected directly to the Playbar via Optical, audio playing from the built-in apps) and every single thing LG and Sonos suggested, including going into the TV's service menu and changing things there.

I know there are multiple post on the topic so hopefully we can solve at least some of the issues causing audio delay.

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    551 replies

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    jordieg03
    Lyricist I
    July 16, 2018
    Any update on this? Is this something likely to be fixed or would I have to use one of the workarounds detailed above?

    I'm about to pull the trigger on purchasing an LG OLED but seeing these issues makes me question if that's the right decision...
    Onbeatontime
    Contributor I
    July 16, 2018
    Any update on this? Is this something likely to be fixed or would I have to use one of the workarounds detailed above?

    I'm about to pull the trigger on purchasing an LG OLED but seeing these issues makes me question if that's the right decision...

    I'm in the same boat. I'm about to purchase an LG OLED B7 + Sonos Beam, Plays: 1s and Sub. Any LG owners received their Beam yet?

    I've seen a few Beam reviews using an LG OLED (e.g. https://www.androidcentral.com/sonos-beam-review) and no one has mentioned sync issues so am hopeful (although none mention whether they tested external hdmi sources e.g. sky q, apple tv as part of the review).
    robby818
    Contributor I
    July 16, 2018
    Sorry, I was responding to the statement "I just hope the beam doesn't suffer from audio delay,", but you do have a point, assuming that you're connecting with the HDMI cable rather than the optical cable. I would expect that if it was connected with the optical cable, it would have the same delay.

    I'd be fascinated to hear from someone who can test this.
    I will be testing this tomorrow on my 2016 E6P when my Beam arrives. 🆒
      Joshbear
      Avid Contributor I
      July 16, 2018
      All.

      I solved the delay issue by running optical cables from my LG tv, x box and sky q to an optical switcher and then optical from there to the play bar. The only issue was remembering to select the right channel on the optical switcher.

      Tonight I set up my new beat through hdmi arc and the issue still exists if you try and use DD. If you set the sky q output to normal. No issue but that obviously does not give me the sound I am looking for. My TV is the LG C7 65.

      This is a bit rubbish to say the least!
      Joshbear
      Avid Contributor I
      July 16, 2018
      Update. I have retained the set up through optical I describe above and used the hdmi optical adapter that comes with the beam to go from the switcher to the beam.

      So in summary Dolby digital with no sync issues on a LG TV acheived by
      Running optical from sky Q to optical switcher
      Running optical from x box to optical switcher
      Running optical from the LG TV to optical switcher

      Running optical to hdmi optical adapter that came with the beam and then connected to the beam.

      It all works except Alexa will now not control the tv.

      Hope this is useful. Regards

      Josh
        Onbeatontime
        Contributor I
        July 16, 2018
        Update. I have retained the set up through optical I describe above and used the hdmi optical adapter that comes with the beam to go from the switcher to the beam.

        So in summary Dolby digital with no sync issues on a LG TV acheived by
        Running optical from sky Q to optical switcher
        Running optical from x box to optical switcher
        Running optical from the LG TV to optical switcher

        Running optical to hdmi optical adapter that came with the beam and then connected to the beam.

        It all works except Alexa will now not control the tv.

        Hope this is useful. Regards

        Josh

        So the beam itself (hdmi arc) did nothing to improve the sync issues? I’m assuming you tried that entire setup without the optical switcher before connecting all that up.
        Joshbear
        Avid Contributor I
        July 16, 2018
        Update. I have retained the set up through optical I describe above and used the hdmi optical adapter that comes with the beam to go from the switcher to the beam.

        So in summary Dolby digital with no sync issues on a LG TV acheived by
        Running optical from sky Q to optical switcher
        Running optical from x box to optical switcher
        Running optical from the LG TV to optical switcher

        Running optical to hdmi optical adapter that came with the beam and then connected to the beam.

        It all works except Alexa will now not control the tv.

        Hope this is useful. Regards

        Josh

        So the beam itself (hdmi arc) did nothing to improve the sync issues? I’m assuming you tried that entire setup without the optical switcher before connecting all that up.

        Hi

        Yes tried arc first but prudently left all the optical cables in place but not connected. Like i said the moment i switched to DD from normal on the Q the sync issue appeared. Very disappointing that this still happens. The beam was no better than the playbar re this. Re sound, the beam is excellent, got it setup with a sub and 2 play threes as surrounds.

        Josh
        robby818
        Contributor I
        July 16, 2018
        Update. I have retained the set up through optical I describe above and used the hdmi optical adapter that comes with the beam to go from the switcher to the beam.

        So in summary Dolby digital with no sync issues on a LG TV acheived by
        Running optical from sky Q to optical switcher
        Running optical from x box to optical switcher
        Running optical from the LG TV to optical switcher

        Running optical to hdmi optical adapter that came with the beam and then connected to the beam.

        It all works except Alexa will now not control the tv.

        Hope this is useful. Regards

        Josh

        So, what is the switcher doing to the signal that fixes the audio sync issue?
        Joshbear
        Avid Contributor I
        July 16, 2018
        I’m afraid you are asking the wrong person 😃. No idea but it works. Maybe the fact that all the audio is going through optical and not being processed someway by the tv as it bypasses the Tv. One way to check that would be to go back to hdmi from tv to beam and only use the tv Netflix app ie the sound doesn’t come from an external box. That would then show it is some sort of issue caused by how the LG processes sound from external sources. Complete guess as this is not my area of expertise !
        marksawbo
        Trending Lyricist II
        July 17, 2018
        I’m afraid you are asking the wrong person 😃. No idea but it works. Maybe the fact that all the audio is going through optical and not being processed someway by the tv as it bypasses the Tv. One way to check that would be to go back to hdmi from tv to beam and only use the tv Netflix app ie the sound doesn’t come from an external box. That would then show it is some sort of issue caused by how the LG processes sound from external sources. Complete guess as this is not my area of expertise !

        You are correct. It is down to the TV.

        For anyone who joins this thread please have a read and you will see most if not all troubleshooting has been done. It will save you some time trying to work it out. I welcome any new ideas but I think we can safely say this is a TV processing issue. There is a lot of doubt as to whether LG will fix this issue and the optical splitter work around is the only solution. Any device that doesn’t have an optical port will unfortunately not be fixed unless it has its own delay correction, e.g. Kodi or Nvidia Shield.

        It would be great if a Sonos rep could chime in here with an update. I feel that only Sonos can provide the pressure on LG to fix this issue.
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