PS4 Pro sound delay (Panasonic Viera TV)

  • 21 December 2018
  • 9 replies
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Hi all! I eventually went for the Beam + 2 One's and I'm super excited, loving it so much.
I had some issues when connecting it to my TV, as it did not work with DD 5.0 at the beginning, but after some hard treatment (connecting & reconnecting, switching on and off several times), it did work.

My TV is a 2016 Panasonic Viera 50DX730 (4K). After that first struggle I've had no issues when watching TV and movies/series via the Netflix native Panasonic app, and also when streaming movies from my Synology NAS. The Dolby Digital sounds great (I've checked with the app and the input is DD 5.1 all the time).

However, when I use my PS4 Pro (currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2), I experience a lag with the sound, which is specially noticeable in shooter games, as the sound of the guns shooting do sound slightly delayed and it's very annoying.

I've read that more people had this issues when setting up the Beam, specially with a PS4. Does anyone have a solution after all this time? I've been playing around the menus:
- PS4: sound output to Bit Steam (DD) - I tried putting it in Stereo and the lag disappeared
- TV: all tweaks to image deactivated. Sound in automatic (sets to DD, the other option is PCM stereo which I don't want)

Beam is connected to TV via HDMI ARC and PS4 is connected to TV via HDMI. My HDMI wires are 1.4, so I'm planning on buying 2.0 ones as an option. I'd love to hear your suggestions. Thanks a lot!

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9 replies

If the lag disappears when you put it in to stereo, that's a pretty good indicator that there's some extra processing going on somewhere when it's in Dolby Digital. Could be in the TV, could be in the PS4. Does the PS4 have an optical port that you could try to connecting the Beam to?

Turning off all tweaks to image is good, but you should absolutely turn off all the tweaks to the audio. Any "extras" will take time to add to the existing processing, such as "extra surround" which some TVs seem to have.
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This is what I’ve tried (and have not achieved anything so far):

- I’ve connected the PS4 to the TV via optical. However, this makes the sound stereo only.

- I’ve purchased a good 2.0 Hdmi cable, and connected it both from the PS4 to the TV, on the one side, and from the Beam to the TV on the other side. The delay is still there.

Any ideas? Again, the delay is not there when using the PS4 in stereo, only in DD, and the lag only happens with the PS4 (not with the native Netflix app or with normal Tv). Thanks!
If it’s only when the sound is in DD, that’s a good indicator that the TV is adding delay for doing extra processing. I’d be checking to see if there are any “extras” that the TV might be doing to the audio. The closer you can have to direct pass through, the better. Turn off any changes to the audio that may be happening. It’s also telling that this extra processing time is only occurring on the HDMI input, and not the internal apps.

I’m confused as to how you connected the PS4 to the TV via optical. I don’t have your model of TV, but most TVs that I’m familiar with only have an optical output, and no optical input. You should try connecting the PS4 to the Beam with the optical, and keep the TV connected with HDMI, and see if that gives you sound in sync....which would be the evidence that there is definitely something going on in the TV. And if you’re only getting stereo out of the PS4 on optical, take a look at the audio settings on the PS4
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Yes you are right, the optical connection PS4 to TV is not working, as they are both outputs. I'll try the HDMI to optical adapter the Beam comes with, but one of the selling points of the Beam is the HDMI ARC connection, and I wouldn't like losing that...

Is there anything else I could try?
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All right guys, so I connected the PS4 to the Beam directly, using the optical output of the PS4 and the HDMI adapter of the Beam. The lag disappeared!

This tells me that it’s the TV that is causing the delay, ain’t it?

Also, would a HDMI splitter for the Beam help me? On one end, I’d keep the HDMI ARC from the Beam to the TV, on the other end, I’d connect the PS4 to the Beam using the optical adapter.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
Yes, you’ve identified that the issue is in the TV’s processing of the audio signal.

I’ve never seen an HDMI splitter that passes HDMI-CEC/ARC, but it may exist.
I’m having the same exact issue with my Samsung TV and Sonos Beam 5.1 setup with a PS4. I can confirm the delay only happens in 5.1 DD which I can “fix” by turning game mode OFF. However this obviously adds input lag which makes games unplayable. Putting Game Mode ON and the TV is causing a delay on the audio. :@

Any luck in finding a suitable HDMI switcher as it seems that’s the only possible option 😞
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Hi. I purchased this: HDMI Switch, Techole Conmutador... https://www.amazon.es/dp/B079FLNWJY?ref=yo_pop_ma_share

It’s a bit uncomfortable, as it some times messes up the Beam and you have to configure it all over again. When I use the PS4 I switch to the second out and connect to it via its optical in. Then I have to switch the TV off (if I switch to the first out it messes up for sure) and then switch to the first out. This way most times I can go back to watching TV without issues. This is the best answer I’ve found so far, I hope I can buy a new tv next year and solve this.
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I have the same issues with my Panasonic 902B. The lag from external sources is awful. I am either considering a new hdmi switch with audio extractor or just a standard toslink switch and forgo the advantages of the ARC. I am not really bothered about Alexa turning my TV on as I use a harmony remote which should control the Beam volume via IR.