A/V Sync

OK, you've mildly confused me. I tend to think in connections in the direction of the signal travels in. So, the DirecTV HDMI goes to the TV, the optical cable goes to the PLAYBASE. But yes, that's exactly what you've done, and the way I would be doing it as well.

Setting the TV to PCM will restrict everything to stereo, and you wouldn't be getting any Dolby Digital, which means that the center channel, surrounds, and SUB won't be getting a lot of exercise. While it does reduce the delay, since you're not allowing the TV to handle the Dolby Digital signal, it's not something that makes me happy/comfortable.

In my home, with a Vizio TV rather than a Sony, I have a similar setup. The DirecTV Genie connects to the TV via HDMI, and the optical cable runs from my TV to my PLAYBAR. I have the DirecTV set to (oh, god, I hate, hate, hate the current slow DirecTV interface) Dolby Digital, by going to Settings/Audio/Dolby Audio(tm) and turning that to "On". Then in my Vizio, I have the TV locked to Dolby Digital as well. In my case, that means setting the Digital Audio Out to Bitstream, rather than PCM. Fortunately, my current TV doesn't have any other settings to modify the sound, such as SRS, or other "bonus" features. The absolute closest you can get to a direct passthrough of the audio signal, the better off you are.

Bluray is more challenging. If you have a bluray player that can transcode DTS to Dolby Digital (see DTS transcoders ) then you just need to adjust the settings. I used to have to go in to each disc's audio settings to see if it had a Dolby Digital soundtrack, and select that, otherwise I'd watch in stereo. These days, I stream most of my movies, and they automatically come with a Dolby Digital soundtrack from Apple.

Worst offender? All three. It would be delightful if Sonos were to decode DTS....but it can't be carried on an optical cable, which would require new hardware from them to deal with that. Obviously Sony isn't processing the signal properly and handing it out on the optical output on the TV, and DirecTV doesn't even handle DTS, as near as I can tell. I don't use their "purchase movies" option, so I don't know if it's available in that area, but it certainly isn't a normal setting on my Genie device.

If you were to add a SUB to a PCM signal, you'd get a little bit of benefit, but not enough, in my opinion, to justify the cost. You really need a full Dolby Digital signal to exercise that device properly.

In your case, I still recommend an external HDMI switch. If Sony can't handle the processing of the digital signal properly, you should be pulling it off before it reaches the TV. That won't help with your Bluray issues, but it would resolve your DirecTV issues.

DirecTV via HDMI to the switch
Switch via HDMI to the TV
Switch via optical to your PLAYBASE

That way, you'd get a true Dolby Digital signal with no lipsync issues.

You could then choose to connect your Bluray player to either the TV via HDMI, or connect it to the switch, your choice.

I left one key fact out. Sonos had me use the optical directly from the directv box which in fact produced higher fidelity (I’m dating myself) and absolutely no sync issues, so this supports your recommendation for an external hdmi switch.

But if I connect my blue ray or Apple TV to the tv how would audio get to the play base. Seems like I’d have to connect every source device to the hdmi switch at that point.

I can still return the Sony which btw has a great picture. What else to buy, that avoids this problem?

One more idea,,, what about using an optical audio switch. This way Directv can be wired thru the switch to the play base and similarity the Sony can have its optical audio connection to the switch to the play base. Then need a remote to make switch. Wonder if I can somehow train a harmony remote?

And if its a Android tv, then turn the samba off in the Android system the samba can be the problem

What and where is samba

https://youtu.be/w3ZnPq06jjA take a look at the you tube link:D

As long as the Apple TV and bluray device is sending a Dolby Digital signal, sure, you could attach them both to the switch. The switch doesn't change DTS to Dolby though. Most of them come with 4 HDMI inputs, sometimes more, and one out, along with an optical out.

Glad Sonos proved to you that it was (as I suspected, just never 100% sure, since I can't put my hands/ears/eyes on it) the TV set.

And if you're dating yourself, you're my age :)

You could potentially do the optical switch, but that actually is more problematic. You'd need to be sure that all your other devices also have an optical output. As an example, my old Apple TV device does, my newer one doesn't. I would find it easier to go with the lowest common denominator, which is HDMI, across all of my devices. And I don't think the cost would be substantially different.

You and I seem to be fairly similar. I too have a couple of Harmony/Logitech remotes, and yes, I'm sure that you could either "learn" the IR codes for the switch, or I'd bet that they're already in their database.

Hey Bruce, I’m hoping the optical switch would actually be simpler and preserve the built in apps like Netflix (4K).

If I used an hdmi splitter there would be no way to extract the audio from the tv for their internal streaming apps. Am I right?

I suppose that would work, but I’d be questioning whether the output from the TV on those internal apps is delayed in the same manner as the data coming in from an HDMI input.

But that’s relatively easily testable. :)

But then all devices you want to be using must have an optical output. Which may restrict future purchases. As previously indicated, you can no longer get an Apple TV with an optical output. I’ve not shopped for a Blu-ray player recently, but were you to need a new one, there’s the potential there that selection may be limited. My perception is that optical is waning, and HDMI in its various forms is rising, due to its ability to carry higher rates of data.