I also experienced lip-sync issues but managed to eliminate it.



My equipment and config:



LG OLED55C8 (HDMI ARC, DTV audio: Auto, AV sync adjustment: on, Bypass : on

Apple TV 4K (Change format:on, New format: Dolby Digital 5.1. Also enabled Match Frame Rate)

Sonos Beam (No change)

Sonos Ones x 2

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I have tested this audio delay issue with other manufacturer's audio equipment and noted the exact same symptoms. Whilst this proves SONOS technically correct when placing the blame on the TV manufacturers, it doesn't account for a couple of ridiculous decisions which would have alleviated the problem, and are entirely SONOS's fault



Why did SONOS insist on making their equipment dependent on the TV? The Beam has HDMI, but only a single port, necessitating the use of ARC. Adding HDMI passthrough would have allowed us to use an HDMI switch in front of the Beam, preventing these ARC issues becoming apparent.



Why are SONOS insistent in providing the absolute bare minimum codec support?! This ARC issue only occurs when outputting Dolby Digital. I can change the output of my TV to PCM and my AV receiver will provide full 5.1, with no audio delay, over ARC, from the TV. SONOS, for some completely nonsensical reason, have insisted on only providing 2 channel support for PCM. It's not like this is a licensing issue, so I really don't understand the logic here. Simply adding PCM 5.1 support would work around this issue!



As it stands, there's literally no way to make this work with any SONOS AV equipment, if you want surround audio output from external devices. This has meant that I, and I'm sure huge amounts others, have had to return over £1000 worth of equipment. How much is this losing SONOS as a company?

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And when was the PLAYBAR designed?



I haven't mentioned PLAYBAR or BASE anywhere above, except to mention that optical should work to them. I've made no comments to suggest that the hardware involved in these instances hold any kind of design limitation. That being said, clearly they do carry limitations, but only that derived from age. Clealy, common sense would dictate, when mentioning HDMI, or ARC, I'm referring to the BEAM.





I'd suggest that the Beam was one of the early users of the HDMI-ARC for speakers.



Nonsense, ARC has been around for an eternity. Hence my ability to test it using my ~7 year old AV receiver. Now relying on ARC exclusively however, perhaps was lead by SONOS. I would argue that considering this, it was perhaps SONOS' responsibilty to ensure this was properly tested before marketing it to paying customers. LG, Sony and (I believe) Panasonic are all affected by the ARC audio delay - not exactly small manufacturers. Now, SONOS either didn't realise this issue existed ahead of time, meaning their QA is not satisfactory, or they knew, but had sunk too much money into R&D, so just pushed ahead, letting the consumer reap the benefits. Either option is clearly not acceptable.





I consider the adherence to Dolby Digital and Stereo as the only options to be an aspect of the fact that the majority of devices that they've shipped are based on optical connections.



So you're defending SONOS releasing a brand new piece of equipment, limited in functionality in such a way that it actually causes compatibility problems in certain situations, purely because that's what the old equipment had?





I'll never expect a company that appears to be focused on ease of use and maximum market share to be a company that makes wild bets on tech that hasn't penetrated the marketplace to a certain extent



I'm not sure who you think suggested SONOS should be pushing cutting edge standards. The issues have come about, in part, because SONOS have tried to do things differently. Where every other AV equipment vendor bundles all the codecs they can manage on their equipment, SONOS seems to think it's better to include the bare minimum. As mentioned in the above post, simply adding PCM 5.1 would solve this issue, provided this is an output option for the TV in question.





And frankly, I'm not sure what you can expect Sonos to say here in this thread that would be beneficial to the marketing strategy of the company.



It's called public relations. When your customers have an issue, generally it's good practice to have the courtesy to keep them updated on the issue, otherwise people get a bitter taste in their mouths. At the very least, this could have an update post summarising that no progress has been made with the TV manufacturers. Clearly this wouldn't be the answer people want to hear, but this would at least show some level of respect towards the customer, and earn a certain amount of respect in return.





You're so heavily defending SONOS here, but do you not think that a large manufacturer should carry some level of responsibility for their equipment working correctly in the way it was designed to function? The fundamental failing here lies with the TV manufacturers, but their outlook can be understood to a point - ARC is simply one feature of many that their equipment supports and, up until recently, was fairly lightly utilised. SONOS, however, rely almost exclusively on ARC for the functionality of the BEAM, considering the fact that it doesn't work correctly with TVs from the largest manufactures makes the BEAM essentially not fit for purpose - You can bet SONOS aren't letting customers know about this ahead of purchase, despite proven knowledge of the issue. That's clearly unacceptable.



The bottom line here is that SONOS have a relatively simple action they can take to lessen this impact, by adding 5.1 PCM support to the BEAM and any future AV devices. Not only would this fix the issue for numerous customers who are stuck with the BEAM, but would gain them custom from people such as me, who returned the BEAM (and SUB), but would happily (and eagerly) buy again should this audio delay issue be resolved.

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I just set up LG C9 65” with the playbar and the audio synch was pretty bad (audio slower than video). I found a setting that seemed to help. On the LG optical out menu I changed it from “auto” to “pass through” and it seemed to be a big help. I also set my xfinity box to Dolby 5.1 and my Apple TV to Dolby 5.1. I am still testing it out a bit during the playbar return period. But it seems like pass through may have worked for now.



if not I will try the hdmi switch next although I would rather not deal with that if it can be avoided.



Would be interested to know if the audio pass through setting works for others.

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For those of you who have the LG B6 or C6 and have been having the delay issue, there is new firmware available on the Korean LG site. They usually release first in Korea and it takes months if not longer for it to make it to North America. I've installed on my C6 and am seeing very positive results. Both PCM and DD 5.1 look in sync on multiple sources (Tivo, Apple TV, Xbox).



From the release notes, it specifically mentions an audio fix:: "Improved watch / play game's game subtitles and video / audio time mismatch (05.30.70)"



If you use Chrome and navigate to the Korea LG support site it will offer to translate which makes things easier to find. The firmware itself is not specific to Korea and works fine on a North American model.



Link: https://www.lgservice.co.kr/download/selectSearchView.do#none



For C6 filename is webOS3.0_M16_F16_75UH6850_93XX_96XX_05.30.70.zip

For B6 filename is webOS3.0_K2L_UH79_87_05.30.75.zip

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While I agree with your irritation, this isn’t something that Sonos can be involved in. As has been repeatedly shown by people who “spend extra money”, as you’ve accurately put it, the Sonos works properly. The issue is in the ability for LG (and Samsung) to not delay the signal as it goes through the TV.

I replaced a TV recently, and looked at both LG and Samsung as potentials. I ended up with another Vizio, because I was confident it could pass through a Dolby Digital signal without delaying it. And I was correct, my Sonos continues to work perfectly, as it had on my previous Vizio. 

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That takes no optical inputs so your hdmi connection from your ps4 would need to connect to it and then optical split from the switch to the beam via an optical cable and the supplied sonos converter cable.  However, as you are using the inbuilt apps on your TV you need to get the audio out from there as well to beam which is where this solution might break.  The switch says arc compatible but I suspect that might only be on the output hdmi of the switch and not the inputs. 

If it were me to be safe I would get a optical/toslink switch without the hdmi, that way you can take optical audio feeds from ps4 and TV to the optical inputs of the switch then to a single optical output going to beam.

As for switch control, that depends on the switch. Most come with remotes which you could consolidate with a harmony device. 

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No, sorry, I don’t have any personal experience with them. My Vizio doesn’t mess with the pass through signal. Just search on Amazon, there are dozens, you can choose based on which features you want, and once you know which brand/model you want, you can get it anywhere that has it. Amazon is a great place to do research, but sometimes not necessarily the place to purchase.

Which connection on the TV would depend on whether you’re using apps on the TV, and a switch that accepts an ARC signal to send out through the optical signal. But if you’re not, the an HDMI video signal is the same across all inputs. 

Thank you so much for all of your help. I have a switch here at home I am going to try first prior to making a purchase to see if that helps solve the problem. Thank you all that responded and answered my questions. Stay safe out there! 

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Nor would it be there if some TV manufacturers would pass through the audio without adding a delay to the signal. 

For instance, I have two Vizio TVs, and not an issue at all. 

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I've developed the same issue as of two days ago, and I've got 2 Playbars that have been in use for over a year suddenly lagging behind. Adjusting the delay has zero effect. Nothing has changed in my gear and one is off a FiOS box and the other off an Xbox One.

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Got exactly the same issue with LG C7 . Playbar - sub and all the rest basic setup connect straight . Let me know if they want more “case” users.



And also, keep us post !

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I have the same problem with a Panasonic DX802b. Audio delay as discussed while bit-streaming to Playbar.



No issues when I directly play from the TV i.e built in apps or tv tuner but happens when passing through 5.1 via HDMI.



Temporary fixed by using a HDMI switch with optical out to the playbar which is a pity as I would like to use the TV to "manage" all my inputs.



Numerous people over at AVforums have the same issue but Panasonic is made aware by myself and others but their recent update did nothing to resolve the issue.

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I got a new 60inch Sony and a play at for Black Friday. After returning the first play bar because it made smoke when I plugged it in.. it was dead on arrival. I got the second one hooked up today. It worked but there is a crazy delay that only gets worse with the lip sync delay setting. I’m going straight out of the TV via optical and just using the built in smart apps. It’s just aweful, being a filmmaker myself it makes me cringe. I’ll be returning this second one tomorrow if I can’t find a fix.

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I have the same issue with my LG OLED55B... I have gotten it pretty close by setting the avsync setting on the TV to -3 or -4 when watching blu-ray's. However, it seems like every device i plug in wants a little different adjustment which is super annoying. I also haven't tried it yet, but using a built-in app I am guessing i'll have to change that value also.



Not sure if it is the same for you, but in Stereo there are no issues, but as soon as it goes to DD 5.1 the lag starts. I was wondering if this has to do with the amount of data going through there, or whether the 5.1 triggers the addition of the bass track or something.

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so glad i stumbled on this. just bought a LG OLED, apple tv 4k and the whole playbar sub play1 setup dropping north of $5k and this audio sync thing is asinine. i am so mad at myself for the wasted cash that could have gone into a solid wired setup. my setup is so barebones but i am constantly fiddling with the tv audio sync options depending on what apple movie, or nhl hockey game on the apple tv, or netflix on the apple tv etc and it is still never sync’d. dead simple setup - apple tv hdmi to LG, optical cable from LG to playbar. model is OLED65B7A-U running 04.70.36.



someone please fix this.

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Just hooked up my two Sonos 1 rears & tested out a few cable channels (as previously mentioned, I have an xfinity box). I do get surround sound with the option LG Sync enabled - no audio delay - but it only outputs in Stereo.



Switching over to Audio Out (Optical, Digital: auto), Sonos outputs in DD 5.1 - but I get the subtle audio delay of death.



Kind of what I expected.... Oh well. Frustration continues... Here's to hoping LG will have a fix.

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FWIW, I bought a splitter and am now going directly from Sonos to each device. This did resolve the sync issue & everything is working great. I don't think relying on a 3rd party is acceptable, but is what it is I suppose....

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Thanks for writing up your findings in this thread. I'm also seeing audio delay issues, which are exacerbated by the fact that I just added surround speakers to my setup.



Config:

LG C7

SONOS Playbase

Sonos One x2 (surround)



Inputs:

Xbox One X

Apple TV 4K

PS4 Pro

Nintendo Switch



My findings are that if I configure the inputs to use Stereo only, there is no delay. However, if I switch to Dolby Digital, then I start seeing audio sync issues.



I'm currently testing having the Xbox plugged directly into the SONOS. I can't currently perceive any difference between Surround and Dolby Digital when bypassing the TV, so it does suggest that the TV is munging with the audio stream when it's being sent in anything other than Stereo. Is the packet encoding on the wire that much more with surround that it causes a delay?

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I have the same issue using the PLAYBASE + SUB, both on wired Ethernet, using the LG OLED65E7P TV. No amount of adjusting A/V sync settings on the TV or the SONOS app have resolved the issue. I can get close to great A/V sync as long as each output device is set to stereo only. That sucks, but at least it’s watchable.



I’ll keep monitoring this thread for a fix, and I’ll contact LG and SONOS again. It’s really disappointing to experience this with such otherwise great (and expensive) equipment.

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Hey guys,



Same here Im afraid. Just purchased a week ago :

LG B7

SONOS Playbase



...Delighted by the display but really disappointed by the Lip Sync.

I especially purchased a Playbase as my 2 Play 5 Gen 2 suffered (as expected) of bad audio delay.



I tried all fixes that I read online and here on particular but I can't seem to fix it.

This ruins my overall excitement to have acquired such great piece of hardwares.



I was on the market to invest in 2 more play 1 + Sub to complete my 5.1 equipment but I won't go ahead until this is fixed. To be fair I feel a bit of a fool now that I ditch over 2,500 Euros !



I will contact both Sonos and LG Support Team but reading your previous feedback I am not overly optimistic.



N.

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You need a HDMI splitter with audio out such as a viewhd box from amazon. If you have a harmony remote you can give everything to switch correctly automatcially, or LG could address the issue. Better still sonos should get with the modern age and use HDMI for audio, ridiculous

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Redesign the SONOS playbar/playbase to use HDMI passthrough so embedded audio stays synced.

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I have an oled c7 with the playbase 5.1 setup and i have this terrible lag problem. I also have ks9000 that i had previously setup with the playbase 5.1 setup and guess what, same problem. All sonos keep saying its the tv. Really?!?!

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I have the same problem - lipsync is hosed on my LG OLED with audio connected to Play Base via optical audio. But I've had the set up for a while (since just after Christmas) and haven't noticed this problem till just now. AND my setup has been disconnected for about 3-4 weeks (renovations). Could something have happened since say the middle of February? Some auto update of Sonos or LG? My Sonos did update today when I hooked it up again and turned it on for the first time in weeks. Don't know if OLED TV updated. SOMETHING has changed... (and thanks for all this info: I'll watch for solution...)

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Hey Bigmanibids. You mentioned 5 days ago there would be an update to resolve this unbelievable unacceptable sync problem. Still no update. $700 for a soundbar and it can’t do its main job correct. We are all idiots. I own 17 Sonos products and up until this I’ve had no real complaint. I bought a cheap $99 soundbar to compare and it worked flawlessly. Hope that it comes out soon or the playbar is going on eBay. What a joke.

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