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I’ve just purchased and set up a Beam Gen 2 to replace an old Samsung 2.1 system that finally began to kick the bucket. Even with just regular stereo content and no sub, it sounds much better with all kinds of media than the old Samsung.

 I’d love to make use of Dolby formats and even get surround sound set up (my fiancée and I both own Sonos Ones), but it seems my Panasonic TX-50DX750B television might be the weak link. There’s bothersome audio sync issues when playing Dolby Digital 5.1 content via Apple TV 4K or PS5 that aren’t resolved with the Sonos app offset.

 My TV’s got great picture quality, but only regular ARC, and the audio settings are incredibly limited. There’s not a single use of ‘passthrough’ in any of the menus; the closest option I can find is ‘HDMI Audio Format’. That only offers ‘Auto’, ‘Bitstream’ or ‘PCM’.

 From my research, it looks like my TV simply doesn’t handle processing DD fast enough for the Beam, and I might have to look into getting something like the HDFury Arcana or the FeinTech VAX04101 to get the benefits of eARC (plus an HDMI switch to handle all the external devices). Does this sound right? I definitely can’t afford a new TV, but I could save up for an arrangement like this.

Let’s check your settings first.
 

Set the HDMI Audio Format setting on the TV to Bitstream.
 

On the Apple TV under Audio Format, set Change Format to ON and the New Format to Dolby Digital 5.1.
 

Set the PS5 to these settings:

Output Device: HDMI Device (AV amplifier)

HDMI Device Type: AV amplifier

Number of Channels: 5.1 ch

Audio Format (Priority): Dolby Audio

 

Thanks for getting back to me! I applied these settings to the TV, Apple TV and PS5.

On the Apple TV side, there is a small but noticeable delay in lip sync during Dolby Digital 5.1 playback. I tested the difference by switching the TV audio output to PCM and the Apple audio output setting to Stereo, which immediately fixes the lip sync (but, of course, removes my ability to use Dolby audio). Trying to adjust the lip sync in the Sonos app actually makes it worse, because it only brings it forward.

Same story with the PS5; although the delay is even more prominent than the Apple TV. There’s (approximately) half a second in delay when scrolling through the menus and firing webs at a wall in Spider-Man 2. Not the case when PCM is forced.

EDIT: Also, I’ve realised my TV is actually the Panasonic TH-DX740, not the DX750 - although it doesn’t look like there’s any meaningful difference, settings-wise.

Have you tried connecting the Beam to the TV via optical? It wouldn’t hurt to try it.

Have you tried connecting the Beam to the TV via optical? It wouldn’t hurt to try it.

We’ve just tried the same process but with the optical connection instead - same issue! Which is funny, since that seems to fix it for a lot of people (temporarily, at least). No such luck for us.

Have you tried connecting the Beam to the TV via optical? It wouldn’t hurt to try it.

We’ve just tried the same process but with the optical connection instead - same issue! Which is funny, since that seems to fix it for a lot of people (temporarily, at least). No such luck for us.

The only other thing I can think of is turning off any setting on the TV that might be changing the video or audio in any way. But keep the HDMI Audio Format setting set to Bitstream.

Pleased to say that I ordered an HDFury Arcana, set it up and all my audio sync issues are solved! Didn’t even have to tweak any settings - the Auto settings worked out of the box. Appreciate your help regardless.

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