Lip Sync Delay

I have a KLD40EX500 Bravia TV and have somewhat fixed the problem with lip sync.
It seems that reducing (turning off) Noice Reduction/MPEG Noice Reduction have a positive effect on the problem.
Processor speed might not be sufficient to provide picture with "filters" at the same time as sound arrives to the toslink.
Looks like it will NOT be a Sony next time...

That is good to know. Its good to have that stuff off anyway to be honest. I feel like the last sonos update reduced some of the delay also.

A few comments in general.

None of the TV's can do video processing without some delay. All TV's basically delay the audio, intentionally, so that theoretically it will be in sync with the picture which is delayed by video processing. In theory the TV should know how much to delay the audio based on whatever combination of video processing you're using. Its possible, but I don't know for sure, that Sony's sometimes delay the audio more or less then they should when some features are turned on or off.

Sonos on the other hand introduces a little delay to the audio. So actually turning those features ON would be more likely to match the audio to the video through the Sonos system, since it would delay the video a little bit and Sonos' audio delay would then be ok, plus Sonos will allow you to delay the audio even more if you need to. So turning video features ON, should improve the ability to get better lip sync through Sonos. But maybe the other way around through the TV speakers.

I found that the recent Sonos update seemed to reduce audio latency in some way. FWIW.

I have my Cable box hooked up to my Sony Bravia TV through an HDMI chord. Then from the TV to the sonos Playbar, I have a toslink optical cable. Because of this set up, the video is running faster than the audio from my sonos speakers This is causing a lip sync delay when watching TV. I already checked and my TV doesn't offer the functionality of delaying the video. I also checked and unfortunately the cable box doesn't have the option to delay the video either. And I know Sonos offers the ability to delay the audio for syncing purposes but I don't need to delay the audio, I need to speed up the audio or somehow delay the video.

What can I do? How can I speed up the audio or delay the video?

Just a quick note, I purchased my sonos playbar and sub last week and right away ran into similair issues. This time the cable box through the TV's HDMI and out through the TV's optical port was fine, even in DD 5.1 but my Xbox wasnt (when on DD 5.1, stereo was fine). There is of course the very slight lip sync delay that sonos has to counter the sub but you relaly have to concentrate to notice it - not a problem at all. My xbox though was unwatchable, even the sound delay browsing menu's was very annoying. Like yourself I have bypassed the TV to resolve this and in total only have the xbox one and cable box both of which have optical outs. Rather than manually changing the cables all the time I picked up a toslink switcher with 3 ports to 1 but it still needed a manual switch..... then yesterday I picked up a tiny and very cheap little toslink spliter https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/maplin-digital-optical-2-way-splitter-a12ny?cmpid=ppc:audio_entertainment:pla:google&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIvZryvsmf1wIVNCjTCh0EMw4mEAkYASABEgJ7FPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

That is mean to make 1 feed go into 2 but I have used it in reverse with no issues. Xbox and cable box go into this then the single port out to the sonos. Obviously it cant combine both signals so the xbox needs to be off to watch cable and cable box off to use xbox etc but you can only do 1 at a time anyway so its seamless and best of all back to only 1 single remote as it was intended without messing around.

If you need to use your TV optical out this method is useless because the TV optical port is on all the time. You'd need to put the TV on standby :| so if you have smart apps on the TV you use you would need the manual switcher. Also cheap just means having to manually switch it either with a remote that comes with the switcher or button on the switcher.

When I finally move to a 4k new TV I will probably make sure it has all the apps I use for video streaming built in and go back to the single optical from the TV to the playbar since there was no issue with my cable box sync this way. If the xbox still has issues I will change it to stereo as I will no longer be suing it for netfix etc if its on the TV in 4k just playing the odd game which I don't mind being stereo.

A bit longer than a quick note in the end...

Does anyone know if the tiny delay sonos adds for the sub to catch up etc can be avoided by hard wiring everything via Ethernet? I see 2 ports on the playbar can 1 go to the router and the other from playbar direct to sub? Effectively taking wifi completely out of the question.

You can simplify your setup a bit by getting an hdmi switch that has an optical audio out in it. That’s what I had running for a while with directv, Roku and Xbox all working fine through Sonos. I didn’t notice any lip sync problem with Xbox but I didn’t spend that much time checking it either. Couldn’t use the TV’s smart apps though for 4K Netflix with a hub solution.

With the recent update to Sonos firmware I noticed that audio delay was reduced somehow, so I have since stopped using the hdmi hub and lip sync is now acceptable and I can use the TV’s Netflix app for 4K.

Whatever delay that is present due to Sonos wireless is very minor compared to before. I am not sure at all about whether using wired Ethernet would help, I have wireless surrounds so that really isn’t an option though I wish they had a mode where the surrounds would have that latency and maybe the sub but the playbar not. Maybe that’s what they did already in this last update I’m not sure.

I will say that as of now it’s still not dead nuts perfect lip sync compared to when I used the hub, but it’s close enough now to not be noticeable and more convenient, plus I can use the tv’s Netflix app in 4K.

With the hub I could literally make the audio early and then use Sonos lip delay to get it dead on perfect with the lips but that was splitting hairs, it’s totally fine now without the hub since the last Sonos firmware.

If you are using a “game” mode on your tv with your Xbox it might be eliminating some video processing to reduce video lag to an absolute minimum which could cause the audio to be late if it’s calibrated for normal tv viewing. So in your case using a hub might be a good call but it might mean you have to use the Sonos app to adjust the lip sync delay for when you’re watching tv or playing games. Something like that.

You can simplify your setup a bit by getting an hdmi switch that has an optical audio out in it. That’s what I had running for a while with directv, Roku and Xbox all working fine through Sonos. I didn’t notice any lip sync problem with Xbox but I didn’t spend that much time checking it either. Couldn’t use the TV’s smart apps though for 4K Netflix with a hub solution.

With the recent update to Sonos firmware I noticed that audio delay was reduced somehow, so I have since stopped using the hdmi hub and lip sync is now acceptable and I can use the TV’s Netflix app for 4K.

Whatever delay that is present due to Sonos wireless is very minor compared to before. I am not sure at all about whether using wired Ethernet would help, I have wireless surrounds so that really isn’t an option though I wish they had a mode where the surrounds would have that latency and maybe the sub but the playbar not. Maybe that’s what they did already in this last update I’m not sure.

I will say that as of now it’s still not dead nuts perfect lip sync compared to when I used the hub, but it’s close enough now to not be noticeable and more convenient, plus I can use the tv’s Netflix app in 4K.

With the hub I could literally make the audio early and then use Sonos lip delay to get it dead on perfect with the lips but that was splitting hairs, it’s totally fine now without the hub since the last Sonos firmware.

If you are using a “game” mode on your tv with your Xbox it might be eliminating some video processing to reduce video lag to an absolute minimum which could cause the audio to be late if it’s calibrated for normal tv viewing. So in your case using a hub might be a good call but it might mean you have to use the Sonos app to adjust the lip sync delay for when you’re watching tv or playing games. Something like that.

I would have thought since my cable box had no issues with HDMI to tv and optical to sonos the problem was more the Xbox side so assumed a hub would have the same issue. If I need to run more than 2 devices my splitter will no longer e any good and either. A manual optical switch or HDMI switch will need bought. If I do get a new tv and it’s the same with the Xbox running groovy the tv am optical switch is an option for multiple devices and atill being able to get sound from the TVs own apps.

What kind of switch did you have? Read about some switches on here like Monoprice but not available here in the UK.

Most likely both the xbox and the cable box are sending video and audio in sync. The problem is not with the source devices it has more to do with the TV.

When it goes into your TV, your TV does some video processing that delays the video signal. The TV will also add some delay to the audio in order to theoretically have it in sync with the now-delayed video signal. your TV may or may not be doing that accurately, and different kinds of video processing can result in different amounts of video delay, which hopefully the TV should automatically delay the audio the correct amount for all of them. (knock on wood)

Some TV's have game modes which may attempt to minimize the video delay in order to have responsive game play, as well as enhance the picture for game graphics, etc.

So in theory if you are playing xbox and cable box through the TV, then in both cases the TV should attempt to delay the audio signal by just the right amount to match whatever video processing is happening which might be less for game mode, or might not. Its always possible that your TV is not accurately calculating the amount of audio delay to add for game mode. So first test should be, if you plug your cable box and xbox both directly into the TV and use the TV speakers, does everything appear and sound in sync? Is xbox video and audio responsive to your actions? If you change the TV to normal TV viewing display preferences rather then using "game" mode, then what are the results?

Now when you use a hub or splitter, the audio is pulled off of the signal before hitting the TV. The TV still delays the video, but now the audio will be early for everything since the TV isn't delaying it to keep it in sync with the video delay. And since the TV might be delaying the video more or less depending on what video processing is happening, then the amount of time the audio would be early might not be consistent. Let's say the audio might be a little early for xbox and a lot early for regular TV...or might not..just depends on the video processing in those two modes in the TV. when you use the Hub you need to use the Sonos lip sync delay slider to add some delay back to the audio again, by just the right amount. But if the game mode on your TV has different video delay then TV mode...then you will have inconsistent results and have to constantly adjust the sonos slider depending on what you're trying to do. If you can use one consistent TV video preferences...even for playing games...then it will be more consistent that way.

The main reason to use the hub was in order to get the audio a little bit early to the Sonos, which makes up for the wireless latency that sonos introduces. But you do lose the TV's ability to automatically keep picture and audio in sync as mentioned above.

Yes I was using a monoprice. It worked well. But like I said, its all better now with recent sonos firmware update...I don't use it anymore.

I had a signicant audio delay, luckily my LG C7 had a option in the sound menu to adjust audio timing to sync with video, look for this solution

Have an LG C7, but the AV / Bypass option on the tv does not fix my sync issue. It's evidently a problem with the tv (not SONOS). LG is aware of this, has escalated, and is currently working on (per another thread).

SONOS support advises wiring directly to the device (i.e., SONOS to cable box), which does fix the issue. Unfortunately, this requires manually rewiring every time I switch devices. This was not a viable solution for me & I bought a splitter. Sucks that I had to spend the extra $$$ on top of the sound system + tv, but oh well... Audio is now in sync for all devices.

FWIW, here's a link to the splitter I settled on: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VJ8VS62/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

@lfallo - where is the thread about the LG C7 issue?

I personally found that if I run the audio output in stereo, there is no problem with sync. If I run the audio output in Dolby Digital, then the sound de-syncs. I can’t imagine that this is only a problem with the LG TV, since the Sonos is receiving the audio...?

@lfallo - where is the thread about the LG C7 issue?

I personally found that if I run the audio output in stereo, there is no problem with sync. If I run the audio output in Dolby Digital, then the sound de-syncs. I can’t imagine that this is only a problem with the LG TV, since the Sonos is receiving the audio...?

Yea, I saw the same thing. Switching my LG's audio mode to "LG sync" (which outputs in stereo), I didn't get a delay. During my conversation with Sonos I asked why this was, and they basically ignored the question. I honestly didn't feel like pressing for an answer.

Anyway, here's the link to the other thread: https://en.community.sonos.com/home-theater-228993/if-you-re-experiencing-audio-delay-issues-read-this-6793458