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.
Has ANYONE been able to successfully use the Sonos Arc as advertised for AtmosDD+ or even DD 5.1 content via external devices (Roku, AppleTV, Xbox, PS, BluRay) routed through ARC/eARC without experiencing punishing lip sync audio delays?
It seems like everyone’s experience boils down to one of these unsatisfactory outcomes
- I use splitter device so I can bypass TV and send my digital audio straight to my Sonos (negating the simplicity of Sonos’ design)
- I only use my TV’s internal streaming apps (which seem to be able to pass Atmos to the Arc without audio delay issues)
- I’ve turned off digital bitstream and am just using PCM (killing Atmos and just giving you stereo)
- I fiddle with the audio delay settings on the TV (if it even goes in the right direction) which works sometimes but of course the delay depends on the type of content, so therefore not a reliable fix.
I also haven’t seen any evidence that eARC solves this problem. Lots of people are experiencing all these issues with eARC televisions according to what I read in these threads.
I would love a list of eARC compatible televisions that do not create delays when passing through Atmos bitstream content from external devices. If buying a new eARC television was the $2000 fix to this solution I would be open to it, but I have no confidence that this will fix it. I notice people here are quick to blame the TV manufacturers here, but if Sonos releases a device that is MADE for Atmos and forces us to use a much more nascent technology (ARC and/or eARC) for that Atmos, and all new HDTVs including the new eARC ones from reputable manufacturers systematically introduce horrible delays, then this product isn’t ready for prime time.
I do not have those audio delays you describe with my equipment utilizing hdmi e-arc. As posted in this thread previously, all tvs with e-arc capability must include mandatory lip sync correction.
I had some prior issues with audio dropouts via hdmi e-arc, but they were eventually resolved by a Sony firmware update (not Sonos). And based on the reported firmware updates by other tv manufacturers (LG, Samsung) over the past year to address various hdmi related issues, its pretty clear to me that the tv industry’s hdmi implementation has fallen short of reasonable expectations. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I cannot.
@Jimmy C glad to hear you aren’t having any delay issues with e-arc. Can you please describe your setup further?
- What model TV do you have?
- What is the source material for the Atmos content? (Streaming Box? Built-in TV apps? Game Console?)
Trying to isolate why some people aren’t having issues. As you can see with the post from Matt87, even those with “Standard Bearer” EARC TVs like the LG CX OLED are having this issue.
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