Question

TV Recommendations to Reduce Pass Through Audio Lag - HDMI-ARC for Beam or Optical with Playbar

  • 31 May 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 549 views
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The LG OLED audio passthrough has been pretty well discussed on this forum. I’ve also had similar issues with other TV’s on non-Sonos audio equipment, so this seems to be a big issue among television manufacturers. This wasn’t an issue when everybody went through a home theater receiver, but now that cord cutting is common and there are fewer devices involved, this is becoming an issue. HDMI-ARC was supposed to solve this, but it just seemed to introduce another point of delay. I’m familiar with the hdmi/optical splitter workaround and would be willing to use it if all else fails.

I have two rooms, one with a Beam and one with a Playbar. The TV’s in both rooms are very, very old and in need of replacement. It sounds like LG’s of any year and some Samsung’s introduce delays when passing through advanced 5.1 audio. Are there any TV’s that do a good job of optical pass through or HDMI-ARC?

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2 replies

Airgetlam

I’ve never had an issue with optical on three different Vizio TV’s, or an older (2009?] Sony. Haven’t ever had a Beam, so I can’t evaluate the HDMI ARC on any of these.

Bruce
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@RichInLV , I also have dealt with this on a 2019 Samsung Q80 75”.  After trying a few alternatives, I implemented this approach.   The cable box DVR has two outputs available.  Output 1 - HDMI direct to TV, Output 2 - Optical to an Optical 3-to-1 switch.  Then another Optical cable from the TV Optical Out to the Optical Switch.   This second output from the TV was done so I could also use the TV Apps with the Beam.   Lastly, the Optical Switch Output runs to the Optical/HDMI adapter, which in turn plugs into the Beam.  All has worked quite well.  I may not be getting the perfect sound experience, but the video and audio are in sync.  And I’m not sure what I’m missing.  

I would love to find a splitter/switch that would take input from an HDMI and then allow for both a regular HDMI for the video to the TV and an HDMI ARC that could directly go to the Beam.  I have not been able to find that.  Also, I don’t know how much I would notice in sound difference.

 

I have a Denon AVR for powering some other speakers on the patio.  It has two outputs, one is HDMI ARC and the other is HDMI.  The AVR has a standby pass-through, that I know can push the signal to both of the HDMI outputs.  But I have not tried to use it as a ‘switch’ like I described above, because I didn’t want by chance ruin the Beam if it’s not meant for this idea.

 

When I’m playing music using the Beam, I just use the Sonos App, so I don’t have any issues with that.

 

Michael
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